Jaunted

Los Angeles Travel / Arthur Frommer / Samantha Brown / Rick Steves / Travel Writing / → All Tags

Feel the Warm Glow of Samantha Brown and Arthur Frommer at the LA Times Travel Show

Travel junkies can hang with their more-well-known peers, like Samantha Brown, Arthur Frommer and Rick Steves at the 13th annual Los Angeles Times Travel & Adventure Show. The globetrotting group will gather at the Los Angeles Convention Center on March 19 and 20 for the biggest travel show in the West, with more than 20,000 expected to attend.

Among the headliners, Frommer will chat about "Thinking Outside the Suitcase—Injecting New Life Into Your Vacation Plans," Brown will impart "Lessons from the Road & a Life on the Go" and Steves will give budget travel tips in Europe (of course he will).

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Travel Magazines / Budget Travel / Arthur Frommer / Travel Media / → All Tags

What Is Going On At Budget Travel Magazine?

After the recent chopping of magazines like Gourmet, it's safe to say that print media is beyond shaking in their boots; they're already cleaning out desks. The latest magazine closure scare came at Budget Travel, formerly under Arthur Frommer's wing but now controlled by the Washington Post Co.

On Friday, rumors began that the magazine would announce its closure on Monday (today). NY Mag reached Editor-In-Chief Nina Willdorf for comments only to receive a cryptic "heading out town"-type response.

Instead of closing today, it was only reported that "it's business as usual," but execs did hold a meeting to discuss the future of the magazine. Although it looks like no one lost their jobs today, employees in ad sales were told to hold on the February issues. Will the scythe of death fall on Budget Travel in January 2010, or—even worse—around the holidays? Rest assured that we'll continue to follow this story.

Related Stories:
· Magazine Deathwatch: Budget Travel [Mediabistro]
· Budget Travel Shuttering? [NYMag]
· Travel Magazines [Jaunted]

[Photo: Kenn Wilson]

Travel Guides / Vikings / Arthur Frommer / Books / Guidebooks / Grjotgard / → All Tags

Attention Medieval Vikings: Visit Skotland At Your Peril

The modern travel guidebook genre is usually traced to Arthur Frommer's seminal 1957 book Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, but tips on making the most of your time abroad have been published in some form or another for centuries. A 13th century Viking travel guide, for example, highlights some of the potential pitfalls of visiting Scotland. A nifty story in the Telegraph points out that the Norse Vikings, as fierce as they may have been, were no match for some of the rougher tribes of Scotland and Ireland, who were said to butcher invaders on arrival.

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Fall Travel / Surveys / Travel News / Tourism / Arthur Frommer / Arizona Travel / → All Tags

Frommer's Arizona Boycott Can't Keep This State Down

Despite Arthur Frommer’s feelings about the Grand Canyon State, people seem to be ready to head out to Phoenix this fall. It is possible that his opinion might not have made it through to everyone yet, or it’s possible that nobody cares what Frommer thinks. Even though things are slow due to the economy, the Valley of the Sun appears to keep drawing the crowds into town.

According to the 2009 Travel Leaders Fall Travel Trends Survey—catchy name—the Phoenix and Scottsdale area sits just outside the top ten at number 11 among destinations booked throughout the rest of the year. People must want to avoid the cool crisp days of autumn at any cost. About 75 percent of those asked said that trips were down compared to last year overall, and about 60 percent said they had a good feeling about the strength of the fall travel season. Let's just hope the travel season isn't too strong, we're getting used to all the great deals.

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Weird Travel / Lists / Travel Boycotts / Dangerous Travel / Arthur Frommer / → All Tags

Top Five States Travelers Should Avoid Due To Crazy Laws

Topless shenanigans in New York City's Washington Square Park fountain

Last week, travel guru Arthur Frommer announced that he's boycotting travel to the state of Arizona on account of their lax gun laws.

Because of such (lack of) laws, protestors at an Obama speech were allowed to carry guns, including assault rifles, and Frommer worried about safety. Even some commenters piped in to talk about machete spotting in Arizona and another boycott of a rude and scam-ridden town in France.

Inspired and equally creeped out, we've compiled a Top Five list of some other states you can add to the boycott list on account of their crazy rules. While they might not be as disturbing as Arizona, there are nude boobs (SFW) and dead Senators involved. Enjoy and be sure to let us know if you've got a few more juicy ones to add.

Top Five States Travelers Should Avoid Due To Crazy Laws, after the jump.

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Open Threads / Dangerous Travel / Arizona Travel / Arthur Frommer / Travel Boycotts / → All Tags

Frommer Announces Arizona Travel Boycott; Do You Agree?

Travel guru Art Frommer proclaimed on his blog recently that he's putting a moratorium on vacationing in Arizona because of its lax gun laws. To clarify his position, Frommer said he was alarmed that the state's gun statutes allowed about a dozen armed people, including one toting an assault rifle, to sit outside a place where President Obama was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He said:

I will not personally travel in a state where civilians carry loaded weapons onto the sidewalks and as a means of political protest. I not only believe such practices are a threat to the future of our democracy, but I am firmly convinced that they would also endanger my own personal safety there. And therefore I will cancel any plans to vacation or otherwise visit in Arizona until I learn more.

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Overrated Places / Arthur Frommer / TripAdvisor / Surveys / → All Tags

Art Frommer Really Ticked Off By Latest TripAdvisor Survey

We can't make up our minds about Art Frommer. Does he like the internet or not? On one hand, he has his own blog and he owns a Kindle. On the other hand, he's not a big fan of other online travel sites, especially review sites where amateur travelers detail their experiences.

His latest victim is TripAdvisor, a site with "some of the looniest opinions about travel." That's because TripAdvisor released a survey in which travelers said :

London has the worst food, Paris is the most overrated and Brussels is the most boring, according to a survey of what travelers think about European cities.

The report also said Prague was a bargain destination which practically made Frommer throw his typewriter in disgust. But you wanna know what? We agree with Frommer. Not necessarily because we think TripAdvisor is full of "loonies" or anything (their hotel reviews are always helpful) but these opinions of European cities are really off-mark.

Paris--overrated? Never. Prague may have been a bargain destination 10 years ago before people "rediscovered" it, but it's a bit of a tourist trap these days. Not to mention that one of the newest hotels there opened with rates starting at $444 a night. As if!

And London having the worst food also doesn't make sense. What about the gastropub invasion? The city has good mix of Michelin Stars and more affordable but still tasty options too. We're so angry we're about to throw our typewriter in disgust...if we hadn't thrown out our typewriter back in 1996.

Related Stories
· So What Makes a Place Overrated? [Jaunted]
· To find some of the looniest opinions about travel, head to TripAdvisor.com [Jaunted]
· Grazing on the Cheap in London [Jaunted]

Travel News Briefs / Cruises / Salma Hayek / Arthur Frommer / Inauguration Travel / → All Tags

The Cruises (Not Tom and Katie) Get Recession-Friendly

With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.

· Arthur Frommer Hits Up the LA Times Travel Show: On the heels of the NYT Travel Show, the LA Times held their event. Frommer and Samantha Brown were just some of the big travel names discussing traveling in these depressing times. [LA Times]

· It's Not Pretty When You Miss a Flight: A woman who misses her flight in Hong Kong; YouTube "translates." [YouTube]

· Legoland's Inauguration Scene: Comedian Dave Barry has some snaps of Legoland's awesome inauguration setup which includes Aretha Franklin's hat. [Dave Barry]

· Who Wants to Go on Sea Cruise?: Lucky for you, the NY Times Travel section has just put out their Cruise Issue and there's some good news as cruises are getting cheaper. The bad news? You're on a cruise. And now we await your hate comments. [NY Times]

· Salma Hayek Will Always Have Paris...And Billions: Salma Hayek and on-again, off-again baby daddy and heir to the LVMH fortune, Francois-Henri Pinault, got married in quickie service in Paris on Valentine's Day. [AP News]

[Photo: NY Times]

Travel Shows / New York City / Rick Steves / Arthur Frommer / Samantha Brown / → All Tags

Travel Trends at the NYT Travel Show

The New York Times held their annual travel show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City this weekend. The show caters to both travel professionals and those looking for a deal on their next vacation. Booking stations throughout the exhibition floor let travelers book cruises, international tours or a spa vacation.

The show also lets the novice traveler learn form the best in private seminars hosted by Rick Steves, Arthur Frommer and Samantha Brown. Most of the destinations represented also showcase their unique cultural through food, dancing or everyone’s favorite, freebies.

Walking the floor of the NYT Travel Show it became clear that this year’s political message of taking personal responsibility is being reflected in the year’s travel trends too. Philanthropic Travel, Eco-Travel and given the status of today's economy, less expensive local journeys all took center stage at this year’s show.

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Man Bites Dog / Travel Media / Arthur Frommer / → All Tags

Jaunted Makes Arthur Frommer Burn His Guidebook

News of our existence has apparently now reached the old media headquarters of Arthur Frommer's publishing empire, and the travel sage himself is lauding our inauguration travel coverage!

Says Frommer:

I never thought I'd ever discover anything of practical travel assistance on the trendy Jaunted.com website designed for social climbers who aspire to travel. But in an unguarded moment--and alerted to it by a young relative who actually does look at the jaunty Jaunted--I discovered their recent advice to buy Metro passes in advance of your trip to Washington, DC for the inaugural ceremonies and parade on January 20.

Hey, if he loved that advice, he'd probably get a thrill out of our tips on how to get inauguration tickets, suggestions on how to actually get to DC for the event and our sister site HotelChatter's extensive coverage of inauguration hotels. And while we're at it, we also have "practical travel assistance" when it comes to good eats and free museums in the District.

With all this, maybe he can finally carve out some space for us on his Google Reader. He does roll with RSS feeds, right?

Related Stories:
· Man Bites Dog: I've Found a Genuine Travel Tip for Real People on Jaunted.com [Frommers.com]

Eurofly / Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / Arthur Frommer / Airfare Deals / → All Tags

Italy Travel: Arthur Frommer "Leaks" a "Secret" Fare Sale

It's apparently airfare deal day on Jaunted...

Original travel deal guru Arthur Frommer has the early word on an upcoming fare special for flights to Italy that's admittedly buzzworthy--though posting it online doesn't exactly keep it secret:

No other newspaper, internet site or blog will get word about this extraordinary bonanza until Wednesday....

On the three days from Wednesday through Friday of this week, September 10 to 12, Eurofly will be selling round-trip flights in September and October between New York and either Rome, Naples, Palermo or Bologna, for the exceptional price of only $399 per person, including fuel surcharge.

The problem with this great deal, of course, is that you have to actually travel on Eurofly.

Related Stories:
· Have I Got an Airfare Sale for You! [Frommer's]
· LCC Deal or No Deal: How Ghetto Is Eurofly? [Jaunted]

Travel Media / Travel Blogs / Blogs / Arthur Frommer / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: Arthur Frommer Celebrates 1,000 Blog Posts

Travel writing curmudgeon Arthur Frommer is celebrating his 1,000 blog update today by announcing that he's paring back on posting. Given his description of what it does to him, we can't blame the guy:

Back in May of 2007, I began this daily blog about travel and soon turned into a creature of bloodshot eyes and an exhausted, shuffling walk. Gone were the days when I could turn in around 11 pm and put myself out with a relaxing mystery novel.

Our two "favorite" things about his blog are the epically long titles on posts and the lack of linkage Frommer hands out. But you gotta admire a titan in the industry who cranks out his own stuff. (You are writing these yourself, aren't you, Arthur?)

In honor of his accomplishment, we took a look back at some of his more memorable posts.

Related Stories:
· The First Post, May 8, 2007 [AF]
· The Time Frommer Advocated for Ancient Airliners [AF]
· The Time Frommer Lambasted "The 53 Places to Go" [AF]
· The Time Frommer Accused the NYT of Ethics Violations [AF]
· The Time Frommer Acknowledge New Orleans' Recovery, Nearly Three Years after Katrina [AF]