Recently I discovered How I Met Your Mother, which means I was the second-to-last person on Earth to get obsessed with it. This show nails what it's like to be a young adult in the city. And so far my favorite episode has been "Murtaugh." In it, Ted says he has a list of things he is now too old to do, like pull an all-nighter or drink from a beer bong. The list is named after the main character in Lethal Weapon, Roger Murtaugh, who famously says, "I'm gettin' too old for this sh*t." But the item on Ted's Murtaugh List that resonated the most with me was: Crash on a friend's futon for the night instead of getting a hotel room.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a native of Panama City, Florida. Very few of us have left the Redneck Riviera--and that is probably because the Emerald Coast is one of our nation's best kept secrets. It's gorgeous there. Hand on my heart, the beaches blow away anything I've ever seen in Hawaii or California and are on par with the best shores of the Caribbean. But my quiet--and okay, a bit backwater--town may soon be thrust into the tourism spotlight.

I'm all about getting sporty on my trips. When I was training for the NYC marathon, I had to visit Washington, D.C. at a crucial point of my training. Instead of halting training or spending hours running on the hotel treadmill, I hired a running guide through City Running Tours who took me on a sightseeing run through our nation's capital.

So when I heard about a physical fitness event  -- again, in Washington, DC -- coming up on October 11, I thought I would share it with you. Bike for the Heart is a day-long event put on by the Sister to Sister organization, a group dedicated to educating women about heart health and risk prevention and providing free heart health checkups.

The day consists of four events:

 - a family-friendly five-mile bike ride around our nation's capital (this would be my choice)

Deal alert: If you've been thinking about taking a volunteer vacation, there's almost never been a better time to book. Globe Aware is offering 15% off trips booked before October 12, 2009 and completed by November 20, 2010. How are they doing this? The devoted employees at Globe Aware are donating hours so the organization can pass along savings to you!

Choose from volunteer vacations to Peru, Costa Rica, Thailand, Brazil, Romania, Jamaica, China, and more! Plus, don't forget that the program fee and airfare are 100% tax deductible for U.S. and Canadian citizens.

So let's recap the deal. You get:

1) Warm fuzzies from helping people in need around the world

2) 15% off your volunteer vacation program fee

3) An awesome tax write-off

Missoula, Mi-zoo-lah: It’s a name that trips off the tongue singingly. And I’m hearing it sung through the travel grapevine that it’s where in Montana you want to be the last weekend of this month and the first weekend of September, for two very different reasons.

First, on the weekend of August 29 and 30, it’ll be time to put down your fishing pole, hang up your hiking shoes, get off your high horse (or llama), and come on down to Missoula for the fourth annual River City Roots Festival, which is absolutely free for all who attend!

Not sure if you've heard, but travel is a great deal right now. That's a joke, of course. If you've ever read this blog (or really, a newspaper or any other news source) in the last eight months, you already know travel is a great deal! In fact, our first-ever Traveler Confidence Report confirmed what we at Travelocity long suspected -- that travelers are encouraged by price decreases in airfare and hotels and plan to take advantage of the deals available.

But what interests me is not the fact that prices across the industry are down (one exception: rental cars) but that there are a few easy steps anyone can take to shave big bucks off the total cost of a vacation. Here are seven easy steps to saving $1,000 or more.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo.com member ripplefan2.  

This weekend, I went from New York City to Washington, D.C., for one dollar on the BoltBus. Was it luxurious? No way—it was a 5-hour trip, and I can tell you that by hour three, I would have traded anything, including the free Wi-Fi and leather seats, for a foot rest (or, heck, an arm rest). But it cost me one dollar.

As a frequent traveler, I rely on deals like that one to keep traveling frequently. I’m lucky to work for a company that enables cheap travel, so I tend to be up-to-date on the latest deals. But it’s still a challenge to find those bargain-basement travel steals that become the stuff of legend, whispered to disbelieving friends of friends on planes and in pubs everywhere.

Today is round two of JetBlue's "cheep" fares on Twitter. Launched last week and already nearly 10,000 followers strong, word is out on these ultra-low fares. The "cheeps" are announced each Monday morning at 10am and are for one-way travel the following Saturday. The catch? You'll have to pay the regular fare for one leg of your trip. Still, the super-low one-way fare significantly decreases the total cost of flying.

Staying on top of these "cheeps" and being decisive is key to snagging one-way fares for as little as $9. I considered taking advantage of a $9 Portland to New York fare for this Saturday, but delayed on making a decision and ultimately missed out. There are between 25 - 50 seats allotted at the rock-bottom prices and once they're gone, they're gone. This morning's sale included:

Long Beach to San Francisco - $9

Burbank to Las Vegas - $9

Portland (ME) to New York - $9

New York to Washington, DC - $9

Last week in an unprecedented move, the House narrowly approved an energy bill that would limit harmful greenhouse gases--the first time any chamber of Congress has ever approved limits of this kind. Now the energy bill faces a tough battle in the Senate and already there is vocal opposition from many different camps.

Without access to Capitol Hill, I settled for the next best thing: taking straw polls at happy hour. I asked one simple question: If the climate bill passes, would you be more likely to offset your travels?

Recently, the Roaming Gnome and I had the opportunity to visit Universal Orlando. Oh the fun we had -- I faced my fear and rode The Incredible Hulk Coaster and R.Gnome got down and sang "All the Small Things" at the Rising Star karaoke bar.

But it was not all fun and games! There was work to be done as well. At the top of the list was spreading the word about Universal Orlando's sweet summer offer. There were lots of interviews on that deal and others, but just in case you missed it, you can watch this video for details on the deal, our Traveler Confidence Report and Universal Orlando's soon-to-open Rip Ride Rockit!