If you’re going to be in New York this weekend and you love travel, consider checking out the New York Times Travel Show, a veritable smorgasbord of travel information from resorts, hotels, spas, cruise lines, tour operators, tourist agencies and adventure travel companies from around the world. Along with vendor booths and live entertainment performances representing a vast array of cultures, the show features a Taste of the World Pavilion filled with international cuisine and cooking demonstrations, a Spa Pavilion offering sample treatments and discounted packages at spa resorts, travel author appearances and special travel deals offered to folks brave enough to book their next vacation on the spot. And with travel experts Rick Steves, Arthur Frommer, Ian Wright and Stephanie Abrams - among many others - leading seminars, the show offers a rare chance for face-to-face learning from leading peeps in the industry. Cost: $15.

Yeah, last minute travel can be cool. But it can also leave you cash poor, especially when you’re talking high-season travel in major vacation destinations. But as with most things in life, a just little edumuhcation can go a long way. Case in point: Kayak.com’s Fare Alerts.

Create a Fare Alert (or 12) on Kayak.com or SideStep.com for the summer getaway(s) currently sequestered in your noggin by clicking on the “Get fare alerts for this trip” link on the top right-hand corner of the flight results page. You can track fares for specific dates, a flexible span of time (e.g. summer weekends or, say, the month of June) or an entire region (e.g. Europe). When your daily or weekly Fare Alert (you choose how often it arrives) touches down in your email inbox, you’ll be able to make informed travel decisions.

Depending on what you ask it to track (specific dates, flexible span of time or even top cities in a region), each Fare Alert can show you:

- How much the fare for specific dates has increased or decreased in dollars since the last alert

- The airfare history for your trip dates based on searches made by Kayakers over the past 90 days

- A snapshot of prices in Kayak.com’s matrix view, so you can quickly compare prices by carrier and number of stops

- The lowest fare available during a specific span of time (e.g. the next four weekends)

- The best fares available for popular destination cities in a region you want to visit (e.g. Africa)

Who knows, maybe you’ll still pay craptons to travel to the most expensive resort on the hottest island right in the middle of the high season. After all, it’s high season for a reason. But at least you’ll be pimping it out with full knowledge of your unbridled American excess. Just remember the wisdom of G.I. Joe.

(**Editor’s note: Yeah, Kayak.com owns us. You wanna make something of it? I’ll have you know I was surreptitiously using Fare Alerts to aid in making my personal travel plans long before Kayak.com bought our parent company SideStep.com in December. Nepotism, bias, blah, blah, blah. Fare Alerts just make good travel sense.)

With two weeks of the year under our belts, we’ve taken stock of the current travel landscape, checked our trend gauges and looked into our crystal balls to come up with our favorite travel trends for 2008.

Flight Flux

Just about the only thing frequent air travelers can count on this year is more change in the friendly skies. Just as the Open Skies agreement ushers in myriad new options for passengers traveling between the United States and Europe when it goes into effect on March 28, the U.S. Department of transportation is considering changes to the rules that govern how airports charge airlines for landing privileges. Instead of basing fees on airplane weight, a recently announced proposal to charge more for flights landing during peak times has the potential to free up airspace, ease airport congestion and encourage airlines to use add flight routes at regional airports. At the same time, the old-guard U.S. carriers (United Airlines, Delta, Northwest, etc.) are considering mergers and threatening to cut the number of flights they offer to offset the now-hideous cost of fuel.

What does all this mean for travelers? Expect frequent changes in flight schedules, available routes and ticket fares in the months to come.

Tech Boom at 30,000 feet

While airlines from JetBlue to American Airlines test in-flight Internet services like web browsing and others usher in the era of mile-high mobile phoning (Emirates, Air France, Qantas), and some are even hard at work on both (Norwegian Air), carriers like 2007’s much-talked about newcomer Virgin Atlantic are spending big bucks to outfit main cabins with high-tech amenities like in-seat chat messaging and myriad personal media options.

We expect this trend to continue as passengers cry for more in-flight services, just as airlines are dying for more ways to make a buck. After all, we may balk at paying for a half-dead turkey sandwich, but many of us would cheerily fork over cash for on-demand movies, in-flight web access and other high-tech perks that make our lives easier and provide much-need distraction from uncomfortable seats, runway delays and annoying seatmates.

Business Lodging Goes Boutique

Once upon at time, boutique hotels were the provenance of moneyed leisure travelers seeking alternatives to business-oriented hotels in destination cities. But now the tables have turned. New brands like NYLO, InterContinental’s Hotel Indigo and Starwood’s Aloft are betting business and frequent travelers will respond to the combination of hip interiors, high-tech business amenities and conveniences like 24-hour and to-go dining options. Thus far, these business boutique properties have flocked not to business hubs like New York and Los Angeles, but to airport locations and nearby secondary cities like Plano, Schaumberg and Nashville.

Looking Beyond Europe

With the both the Euro and the British Pound kicking the dollar’s sorry arse these days, expect fewer Americans to choose Europe as a vacation destination. Instead, more stateside travelers will opt for places where their hard-earned dollars stretch a bit farther. As more flights between North America and Asian countries appear in the coming year, Americans will have increased options for visiting countries like China, Vietnam and Thailand. At the same time, Latin and South American countries also continue to promise a good value for U.S. travelers, many of whom have been trading Paris, Rome and Madrid for places like Buenos Aires, Cusco and Santiago.

Amped-Up Airports

As passengers become more accustomed to delays, flight cancellations and the general uncertainty of modern-day travel, airports around the United States are realizing that, now more than ever, travelers stuck in terminals are veritable cash cows. Along with the airport quick-spas, souped-up luxury lounges for elite travelers and premium retail shops that have been popping up in terminals over the last two years, evermore diversions for travelers are on their way. In the coming year, it will not be unusual for a traveler to sample local vintages at an airport wine bar before settling into a branded high-tech lounge to check email or surf the web before catching a table massage (not just the chair variety) prior to boarding. Increases in practical amenities like cell phone parking lots, universal charging stations, product vending machines and airport pharmacies are also part of this trend, which aims to make airports more than just places to wait.

Maturing Metasearch

We predict that metasearch tools will continue to attract more travelers seeking an efficient way to find airline fares, hotel rates and relevant destination information. With Kayak.com’s recent acquisition of SideStep (parent company of TravelPost.com) and newcomers like Kango busting onto the scene with a ton of buzz, sites that search hundreds of sources for fares and travel information are poised to mature from tools used by the savviest travelers to tools used by everyone.

Freelance writer Lorraine Sanders has been editing the TravelPost.com Insider blog since 2005. You can reach her at news (at) lorrainesanders (dot) com.

US Airways is rolling out new coach class meal options that it says are healthier and made with higher quality ingredients. Of course, along with the “premium” edibles come matching prices. Up until now, US Airways has charged $5 for its in-flight dining options and snack boxes. Now the price will be $7. For your extra $2, here are examples of the new options you’ll find onboard your next flight (I say examples because the choices will change every few months):

Breakfast: a deli plate with mini bagels, slices of peppered turkey, provolone and cheddar cheese served with red grapes and cream cheese or cinnamon-flavored French toast with a honey-nut cream cheese spread and sliced deli ham served with a side of red grapes.

Lunch: a marinated, grilled chicken salad served on a bed of romaine lettuce and garnished with roasted pecans and mandarin oranges or sliced turkey on molasses bread with green leaf lettuce and a jellied cranberry sauce, served with Kettle Classic natural potato chips.

Snack: The new snack box includes chicken salad, garlic and rosemary crackers, a fruit bar, fruit and nut mix and chocolate mint chip cookies.

Note that in-flight meals are available on select domestic, Caribbean and Latin America flights over 3.5 hours between 5am and 8pm (hence the lack of dinner options).

Here’s a cool new offering from Lonely Planet: Pick & Mix downloads that allow customers to buy individual chapters from Lonely Planet guidebooks and download them as PDFs. The Caribbean Islands, Latin America and South America are the first regions available through this buy-by-chapter download program. It’s a great option if you plan to visit, say, the Guatemala highlands and the Pacific Slope, but could care less about Guatemala City or Central and Eastern Guatemala. Just throw down for the chapters you need. And at $2 a pop, it’s totally affordable.

Students take note. STA Travel’s Blowout Sale is offering low fares on roundtrip tickets, hostels and other adventures in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Asia. Basically everywhere but the U.S. and Canada. The sale runs through Thursday, March 22. Among the discounted deals:

- $913 rountrip airfare to South Africa

- $5 hostel overnight stays

- Round the world tickets from $1193

- Roundtrip tickets to Europe starting at $139

Ch-ch-check it out.
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If you live in or near one of the following cities, and you’ve been planning a trip to Mexico or one of Aeromexioco’s destinations, you should think about buying your ticket this weekend, during the airline’s four-day two for one fare sale. Buy one adult ticket from one of the destinations below, and you can get a second ticket for the same itinerary for free. You will have to pay taxes and additional fees for each passenger. Tickets must be purchased by Monday, though travel - excluding the inevitable black out dates - is allowed through Dec. 14, 2007.

Austin

Boston

Chicago

Ft. Lauderdale

Houston

Las Vegas

Los Angeles

Miami

New York City

Ontario, Calif.

Orlando

Phoenix

San Antonio

San Diego

Aeromexico 2 for 1 Sale

Travelers can find lots of meaty “best of” picks in Conde Nast Traveler’s 2007 Gold List, its definitive guide to the best hotels and cruise accommodations the world has to offer. Search by location or categories like rooms, service, design, food and activities. If, for example, you wanted to know which hotels have the most impressive rooms on each continent, you’d find these results:

United States

Four Seasons Resort Hualalai (Hawaii)

Inn at Palmetto Bluff (Bluffton, SC)

Rancho Valencia Resort (Rancho Santa Fe, CA)

Africa

Bateleur Camp (Kenya)

Chobe Chilwero (Botswana)

Singita Private Game Reserve (South Africa)

Asia

Amandari (Indonesia)

Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan (Indonesia)

JW Marriott Seoul (South Korea)

Australia and Pacific Nations

Rialto Hotel on Collins (Melbourne, Australia)

Park Hyatt Sydney (Australia)

Huka Lodge (Taupo, New Zealand)

Canada

Auberge du Vieux-Port (Montreal)

Pan Pacific WHistler Mountainside (Whistler)

Auberge Saint-Antoine (Quebec)

Caribbean and Atlantic Islands

Hotel St. Barth Isle de France (Guadeloupe)

Sandy Lane (St. James, Barbados)

Malliouhana Hotel & Spa (Anguilla)

Central America and South America

Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo (Costa Rica)

Swisshotel Quito (Ecuador)

Ritz Carlton Santiago (Chile)

Europe

Buckland Manor (Gloucestershire, UK)

Chateau Les Crayeres (Reims, Frances)

Four Seasons Gresham Palace (Budapest, Hungary)

Mexico

Las Casa Que Canta (Zihuatanejo)

Four Seasons Resort (Punta Mita)

JW Marriott Mexico City

Middle East

Four Seasons Cairo Nile Plaza (Cairo, Egypt)

Four Seasons Cairo at the First Residence (Cairo, Egypt)

Burj Al Arab (Dubai)

The complete guide is too exhaustive to publish here, but this is definitely a good resource to browse if you’re planning a luxury getaway, honeymoon or world adventure for the coming year.

Instead of kicking off your holiday shopping with a visit to the local mall, you might want to head to the nearest post office instead and start filling out your passport application. On January 23, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security will begin requiring all people enterting the U.S. to show passports - even U.S. citizens and those visiting from Canada, Bermuda and Mexico.

Want more info on how to get your passport? Check out the TravelPost.com Insider’s How to Get a Passport.

Just when you thought we couldn’t get any cooler, we come out with our brand-new, super fabulous Guide to Wireless Access at 80 International Airports. See, we’re thinkin’ about ya and your tech addictions wherever it is that you roam, not just within the US of A.

Where can you find free wi-fi? These airports offer it:

Vienna International Airport

Moscow-Sheremetyevo Airport

Madrid Barajas International Airport

Montreal - Trudeau International Airport

Vancouver International Airport

Toronto - Pearson International Airport

Nassau International Airport

Grantley Adams International Airport (Barbados)

Antigua - VC Bird International Airport

San Jose - Juan Santamaria Airport (Costa Rica)

Sao Paulo - Guarulhos International Airport (Brazil)

Beijing - Capital International Airport

Hong Kong International Airport

Osaka - Kansai International Airport

Tokyo - Narita International Airport

Taipei - Chiang Kai Shek International Airport

Each of the above airports offers free wi-fi somewhere - not necessarily throughout the airport. Clearly, Canada and the Caribbean are kicking all our international butts with the free access, though many Asian countries also offer free wi-fi. Check out the chart for more juicy wi-fi info from around the world.