Travelocity's 2009 'Rudeness Poll' results have just been announced and it seems travelers are misbehaving at every stage of the trip. I bet you think you're not guily, but read on and see if you recognize any of these traits.

Do you shower before you get on a plane? If not, you are the most disliked passenger on your flight. In fact, people would rather sit next to a person who is coughing and sneezing than sit next to you.

Do you try to bring too-large carry-on luggage on the plane? Nearly 1,600 North Americans agrees that is the most irritating passenger behavior when boarding the plane. If you're a loud talker, you are the most annoying person during the flight, though you have some competition form the person who kicks the back of the seat in front of them.

Does the phrase “home-exchange vacation” pique your interest or make you shudder? (Or maybe it depends on which end of the bargain you’re thinking about.) If you could acquire a house (if only temporarily) anywhere in the world, where would you go?

IgoUgo has posted a quick snap poll to collect travelers’ opinions about home exchanges and would love to include your votes. So if you’ve got 30 seconds, give it a look! The worst that can happen is you spend the rest of the day browsing swap sites while wondering if your apartment building’s super would notice...not that I'm speaking from personal experience.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member NiceGinna

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? The Washington Post asked this question in a fun reader poll recently, and top answers, unsurprisingly, had to do with travel. In first place, with 46% of the vote, was time-travel, and coming in at second place with 31% of the vote was teleportation. The other options were flight (surprisingly, only 12%), super-strength, and x-ray vision.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member writeonthespot.

You’ve heard the term Ugly American. You may have even been called an Ugly American at some point during your travels. (Although, you probably didn’t know it!) It’s a term used to describe the loud, arrogant, thoughtless and ethnocentric behavior that some Americans display when they travel abroad; characteristics that other world citizens find demeaning and downright rude.

To re-evaluate the Ugly American sentiment and find out what Europeans really think of us and each other, lastminute.com conducted a global poll, asking the British, French, Spanish, Italians, Germans and Americans what they thought about each other. Results show that perhaps we have been somewhat brainwashed by the Ugly American sentiment and have started to believe it ourselves. In the poll, Americans called themselves greedy, rude and poorly dressed, but Europeans disagreed.

I’ve been shocked (not really) and outraged (very) at recent airline cuts including in-flight movies, snacks, and magazines. But I would lose it if access to the airplane restrooms was taken away, or only available for an extra fee. I love those things. Even if I don’t have to go, I’ll take a stroll over just to exercise my legs and see what kind of hand lotion is on offer.

So how is it possible that in one recent U.S. poll, over 40% of respondents said they would give up bathroom privileges on planes in exchange for half-price airfare? Evidently, just because these respondents didn’t have to go to the bathroom at the moment they were asked, they neglected to feel the, uh, urgency of having bathroom rights. Is this really what air travel has come to? Passengers are so irked at rising ticket prices—along with new fees for luggage, award-ticket redemption, beverages, and the like—that they’ll go to such extremes to shave off some dollars?

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo Member Ozzy-Dave

Travel mooching: many are guilty of it (I’m talking to those of you in the back, trying sheepishly to avoid eye contact). They take that trip to Prague with a friend whose brother lives there and can offer free accommodations; they show a keen interest in visiting those distant relatives with a house in the Hamptons; they call up that high-school classmate they ran into over the holidays to announce—surprise!—that they’re planning to visit the city, but man are hotels expensive. Sound familiar? Few of us have escaped: it’s hard to avoid the advances of a mooch.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member vondrejech

There was a time when “Want to go away this weekend?” meant one duffel bag, two nights, and a half-tank of gas to get you across the state line.

These days, it seems, agreeing to the same question could land you in Bangkok for 24 thrilling hours sandwiched between two long-haul flights.

Alright, I'm biased. If asked to name my favorite American city, I wouldn't hesitate to bestow the honor on San Francisco---but that's because I've wanted to live here since first visiting at the tender age of eighteen, and now that I do, I can hardly believe my luck.

But what about where I'd most like to go for a romantic break? Well, um, San Francisco, I'm afraid. And my pick for the city with the best ethnic eats? You guessed it---San Francisco again.

Travel + Leisure magazine is currently conducting its annual America's Favorite Cities survey, and if you don't want San Francisco to steal the show in every single category---oh, you know I'll be voting for it again and again---you might want to head over there and start ticking a few boxes.

Tree hugger or not, we’re all aware by now of the undeniable global warming crisis. While there are many causes for the climate change, many are quick to point fingers at the airline industry (even though, according to an NPR report I heard earlier this week, travel accounts for less than 4 percent of the world’s carbon emissions.)

With so much focus on climate change in today’s world, a recent Consumer Reports analysis grabbed my attention: what is the “greenest” way to travel? To determine this, they went to Web sites that help consumers calculate carbon output, and the results varied dramatically.

Bill McGee of USA Today conducted much of the research for this study, which he outlined in his On the Road column. The bottom line, he writes, is that “if you're using carbon calculators to determine what your offsetting tab should be, you'd better cross-check your math.”

I’m torn. Austin or San Francisco?

Travel+Leisure magazine asks travelers to rank America’s favorite cities in a poll that features 25 of the countries best destinations. Some of my personal favorites made the ballot – Charleston, New Orleans, New York, Austin and San Francisco – but my vote for number one came down to two inspiring cities that are actually very similar to one another.

Both Austin and San Francisco have a hip and funky vibe, but the similarities that stand out to me are their live music hot spots, love of food and outdoor pursuits. Growing up in Texas, Austin has always been one of my favorite weekend getaways. It’s a haven for music junkies and bar flies with blocks and blocks of local pubs, Mexican food joints and live music dives. Similarly, SF (my new home) boasts a bar on every block, worldly cuisine and iconic music venues.

With these two cities on the list, I’m struggling to cast my vote (maybe I’ll just cheat and vote for both!). What’s your favorite American city?