Visiting Pittsburg, PA this summer? Then you’ll be happy to learn that there are plenty of free activities on tap for locals and visitors in the coming months.

In fact, the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau has compiled a list of 35 Free Things to Do in Pittsburgh.

Included are suggestions such as guided architectural walks to see city bridges or historic homes along Grant Street, edgy arts and crafts exhibitions on display the Society for Contemporary Craft and starting the weekend each week with the outdoor summer concerts Fridays at the Frick.

If you’re looking for a great Pittsburgh hotel for the trip, we’ve got a few suggestions.

- For posh Pittsburgh accommodations, try the Omni William Penn Hotel, the city’s highest-rated property, according to hotel reviews by TravelPosters.

- A great moderately-priced option with a unique historic twist? The Priory, a 25-room hotel housed in a former Benedictine monastery.

- On a limited budget? We hear the Carefree Inn and Suites will set you up in clean (albeit, no-frills) accommodations for $50-$60 a night.

Despite the recession, 85 percent of travelers plan to stay in a hotel this summer, according to a recent survey conducted by TravelPost, the most comprehensive hotel information site on the Web.

Sixty-five percent of those surveyed will consider visiting a nearby U.S. city this summer in order to save money. Even cities like New York and Los Angeles offer reasonably priced accommodations. Here are TravelPost’s hotel picks for the Best Big City Bargains:

1. The Pod Hotel (pictured), New York, NY (Rates start at $106 per night)

2. The Standard Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif. (Rates start at $149 per night)

3. Hotel Indigo Chicago Downtown Gold Coast, Chicago, Ill. (Rates start at $219 per night)

4. Hotel Sofitel, Philadelphia, Penn. (Rates start at $162 per night)

5. Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, Dallas, Texas (Rates start at $86 per night)

6. Hotel Vertigo, San Francisco, Calif. (Rates start at $116 per night)

7. Constitution Inn, Boston, Mass. (Rates start at $169 per night)

8. Doubletree Guest Suites Atlanta-Galleria, Atlanta, Ga. (Rates start at $83 per night)

9. Residence Inn Washington, Washington, D.C. (Rates start at $231 per night)

10. Hotel Icon, Houston, Texas (Rates start at $167 per night)

Keep reading the TravelPost Insider for more Top 10 Travel Lists….

Staycations are, like, so last summer, according to the Annual Summer Travel Survey by our sister site Kayak.com. Of the 4,100 people in this year’s survey, an impressive 95 percent said they plan to travel this summer. And while travelers remain concious of the economy, more than 41 percent of respondants said the recession would not affect their summer travel plans in any way.

Why the enthusiam for travel this summer? For one thing, lower airfares and frequent fare sales are making it more affordable to fly in ‘09, while an abundance of travel deals are taking some of the burden off lodging at resorts and hotels.

For summer trips, major U.S. cities and European countries are among the most popular destinations, while domestic beaches and the Caribbean are close runners up.

Even though they plan to travel this summeer, travelers say they are embracing all the cost-saving strategies they can find. To help travelers stay on top of extra fees and find the best deals available, Kayak has launched new tools that include a baggage fee calculator to instantly add additional fees and update airfare prices on its search results page, a hotel rate calendar that shows the average daily rate over the last two months for any of its 197,000+ hotels and an option to select the airports you want searched when you look for airfare.

Along with its own travel tools, Kayak offered up the following tips and reminders for recession-proofing your summer 2009 vacation:

- Try a cruise if you’re looking for a serious bargain

- The Caribbean offers many deals during summer months

- Visiting Europe is much cheaper this summer now that fuel surcharges are gone and the dollar is strengthening against the Euro and British Pound

For more ways to save, try Kayak.com tools such as Kayak Flexible Search, Weekend Search, Buzz Calendar, Airfare History charts and Fare Alert tracker.

Keep reading the TravelPost.com Insider’s deals section for more ways to save on your summer 2009 travel….

For travelers during the down economy, it’s becoming more important than ever to research hotels carefully before booking. Who knows, you might find out that your hotel has halted a partial renovation to drum up extra cash, a trend the New York Times reports is growing among hoteliers.

And when that happens, one floor can make all the difference in your stay. Take the Hotel Vertigo in San Francisco, for example. Formerly the York Hotel (as TravelPosters’ uploaded photos reveal), the property offers the smartly renovated rooms shown above on its fourth floor, while the third floor remains unchanged. Yes, rates for yet-to-be renovated rooms are apparently lower, but many travelers don’t mind shelling out a few extra bucks for a better room.

So how’s a traveler to know what to expect? Our two favorite methods:

- Reading hotel reviews before you book

- Calling the hotel directly to ask whether the hotel is undergoing renovations or has temporarily closed any facilities

Keep reading the TravelPost Insider for more recent travel news….

For all fun and adventure traveling entails, those who do it frequently know how difficult it is to eat healthy meals when you’re dining out day after day – and often grabbing whatever is within arm’s reach between flights at airport kiosks and eateries. When you’re on vacation, what you eat may not matter as much. After all, you’ll be back home and on your normal routine again all too soon. But for business travelers, the challenges of eating on the road can easily lead to a 10 lb weight increase over the course of a year, warns personal trainer Annette Lang in her recent post on Peter Greenberg’s site.

To combat unintended traveler’s tummy, Lang recommends spending some time trying to identify the times when you overeat so you can be on the alert and act differently in the future. She also suggests taking time to prep before meals during a trip by checking menus for healthy items in advance online, staying away from the bread basket, watching alcohol intake, halving large portions and bringing your own sandwich to snack on.

Perhaps Lang’s best advice, though, is to think of eating healthy much like you’d think about work by creating a strategy that works for you, planning ahead and focusing on one change at a time in order to reach your goals.

[Source: Gulliver]

[Photo: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos]

If visiting the impressively eco-minded and kid-friendly California Academy of Sciences (the living roof is pictured here) during your next San Francisco trip is a must-do (as it seems to be for every man, woman and child to hit the city since its re-opening in Golden Gate Park last fall), here are 5 essential things you’ll want to know before you go:

1. Purchase tickets in advance. When you buy tickets online before you go, you’ll be able to skip the line at the ticket window and proceed directly to the front door.

2. Prepare for crowds. On a recent Sunday afternoon visit, the place was so crowded that it was difficult to get an unobstructed view of the exhibit tanks in the Steinhart Aquarium or make it to the front of the crowd oohing and ahhing over the creatures in the hands-on tidepool. On weekends, expect waits of up to an hour to enter the four-level living Rainforest and plan on tickets for Planetarium shows selling out before noon.

3. Take public transportation, if possible. There are underground parking garages, but they fill up fast (they serve all visitors to Golden Gate Park, not just those heading to the Academy) and there’s often a slow line of traffic waiting to get in. Buses that stop a short walk from the venue include the #5-Fulton and #21-Hayes, as well as the N-Judah streetcar. If you do drive, consider parking near Ninth & Irving in the Inner Sunset neighborhood (a short walk away and also a great place to stop before or after the visit for food, drinks or shopping).

4. Visit on free admission days. If you can stand the crowds that descend here on free days, you’ll save yourself the hefty ticket price ($14.95 for kids, $24.95 for adults). Admission is free on every third Wednesday of the month, as well as on special neighborhood free days on weekends throughout the year for San Francisco residents.

5. Request Planetarium tickets when you arrive. Tickets for the popular Planetarium shows (every hour on the half-hour) are free with general admission, but they are only available on a first-come, first-served basis and can easily run out in the morning for afternoon shows. If you’d like to see a show during your visit, head to the kiosk at the Planetarium entrance as soon as you arrive to up your chances of scoring seats for your preferred showtime.

[Photo: Marlith]

Visit: Zilker Metropolitan Park. All ages will enjoy an adventure in this 351-acre park, home to hiking and biking trails, a miniature train ride, picnic areas, botanical gardens and the Austin Nature and Science Center.

See: The world’s largest urban bat colony, which lives under the Congress Avenue Bridge during summer months. Over 100,000 people visit the bridge each year to catch a glimpse of the 1.5 million-member colony taking flight at dusk.

Eat: Austin Farmers Market. If your visit falls on a Saturday or Wednesday, venture to the downtown farmers’ market to sample locally-grown produce and Texas-made edibles.

Drink: Sixth Street. When nightlife needs come calling, look no further than this stretch of bars, music venues and clubs. From dives where you can knock back shots like a burly cowboy to clubs where the music thumps well past midnight, it’s hard not to have fun here.

Buy: Tears of Joy Hot Sauces. Take home hot sauces, marinades, glazes and preserves from this longtime local purveyor of all things hot and spicy.

Here at TravelPost.com, we’re big fans of listening to what everyday travelers have to say about hotels. But that doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to opinions from travel industry experts – after all, other than the most frequent world travelers, they’re the people most likely to live and breathe travel day-in, day-out – not to mention the people on top of the latest lodging options, travel trends and recent developments in major cities.

So we had fun perusing the destination picks from top travel industry players in a recent survey by our friends at NileGuide, a site that allows travelers to find recommendations from local experts in destinations around the world and create custom trip guides. Along with folks like Lonely Planet’s Todd Sotkiewicz and Five Star Alliance Cal Simmons, our own Ross Weber was even one of the experts chosen to weigh in.

Here are the places the experts chose:

Top country to visit: United States

Top city: New York

Top journey: Driving Highway 1, California Coast

Top region: The Big Island, Hawaii

Top icon: Golden Gate Bridge

Top hotel: The Four Seasons Maui (pictured) vs. The Peninsula Hong Kong

You can find the complete the results here and here.

There’s nothing like a big pack of diapers to foil a traveling parent’s packing light strategy. But thankfully for those flying with kids in tow, there are ways to get around checking an extra bag filled exclusively with bulky baby necessities.

JetSetBabies offers worldwide shipping to hotels and residential addresses for just about anything a young child will need on a vacation. Necessities like diapers, baby food, wipes and bibs cover the basics, while special offerings such as swim pants with built-in diapers, sunblock, roadtrip toys and games and toddler-friendly snack items are among the vacation must haves.

The service works like any other online shopping site, but goes an extra step: once you’ve placed your order, JetSetBabies will ship the items to your destination for up to 15 percent less than you’d normally pay FedEx, track your order’s progress, follow-up with hotel staff to double-check that all items have arrived in good condition and let you know how and from whom to retrieve your items at the hotel. They’ll ship to international destinations, as well, provided that you place your order far enough in advance. For domestic orders, the company recommends ordering a week or more before your destination arrival date.

The site’s organic baby section is also worth noting, as it makes sticking to organic products possible during a family trip. In most destinations, buying organic products will require an extra trip to a second or specialty grocery store, not something many of us want to do on vacation. In many other places, organic baby food, snacks and supplies just won’t be available.

Wyndham Hotel guests will also receive a free gift when they buy items through JetSetBabies and stay at a Wyndham property.

[Photo: D Sharon Pruitt via Flickr]

Good news for those of you who have frequent flier miles on both Delta and Northwest: you can now start using them on either airline and transfer them between accounts. Delta, we hear, will issue a formal announcement about the merging of the mileage programs later this month. But the system is apparently up and running already.

It’s a boon for anyone who has a smattering of miles saved up from travel on both of these airlines, but not enough miles to trade in for a free flight. Going forward, you’ll be able to pool your miles together – and we expect that will be just the mileage boost many travelers need to fly for free in 2009.

To use a combination of miles from both accounts for travel, shopping or upgrades, you’ll first need to link your Delta SkyMiles and Northwest WorldPerks accounts. It’s an easy process that you can do online with your account numbers and PINS, so have those ready before you start.

And here’s a cool little perk of completing the process before March 15, 2009: 500 SkyMiles bonus miles. Guess they don’t want everyone trying to link up their accounts all at the same time later in the year, when Delta will formally absorb Northwest once and for all.

Have other questions regarding the Delta-Northwest merger? Visit Delta and Northwest Merger: The Basic FAQs.