Back in November, I was riding the elevator up to work--staring as the numbers lit-up… 2, 3, 4..., and then I started eavesdropping. During our six-floor ascent, I overheard someone mentioning that soon travelers will be able to hook up iPods in-flight. No pun intended, but that was music to my ears.

Whether I’m in the market for shoes or electronics or vacations, I’m a staunch believer in getting the biggest bang for my buck. I always shop around to make sure I’m getting the best deal, and I rarely let my impulsive, girly, gotta-have-it-now instincts take control. Call me cheap, but why dole out more cash than you really have to – for anything? Perhaps it’s this commitment to saving a pretty penny that has cultivated my appreciation for cruising.

I've just returned from Copenhagen, where I indulged my love all things Danish: furniture, design, and the hygge culture. There’s so much about the Scandinavian vibe that we as American travelers can take home. For starters, the Danes are by and large a humble population. In fact, it is considered extremely rude to stand out from the crowd by bragging or being showy. Everywhere I went, I experienced a sense of community—people let others pass first, bus riders pick up trash after themselves, and all-around, everyone seems to have a sense of hygge.

Wouldn't you think after all of the publicity of late on the airline debacles and the passenger bill of rights that an airline would really try to resolve things? If a single airline could step out and be that – would they engender longtime customer loyalty or what? Oh JetBlue….You can come out of hiding now.

But no. You're back to business as usual. Last night a relatively measly storm hit the northeast and you cancelled 68 flights. 68 flights?

While I liked your apology last week and thought it was a pretty nice PR counter-attack – especially to have David Neeleman's apology on YouTube. (I understand that must have cost a pretty penny.) And don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of JetBlue. For a while I thought you might be the only airline who truly gets me, and millions of other leisure travelers. But the apology rings hollow if it doesn't hold up. I wonder if there isn't something more you could do….

It seems the whole hotel industry is just trying to get me into bed these days. Yeah, I said it. In TV commercials and in four-color magazine ads, I’m being seduced by pillow-menu promises and lumbar-support lullabies, which are no longer just for high rollers. Many a time, I’ve found myself at check-in jonesing for a sleep fix, so I appreciate the extra efforts toward knocking me out cold, particularly since a bad mattress can put quite a crick into a vacation.

Maybe it’s because I’m slightly fatigued by the outbreak of Gordon Ramsey fever here in NYC, or maybe it’s because my husband took me to London to celebrate the fact that I am now a year older. Whatever the impetus, I am suddenly finding inspiration in all things with patina, character, and moreover, age. On this recent trip, we eschewed the new and shiny in search of ye goode olde services and products with the distinction being awarded royal warrants--even if we are just hoi polloi.

At our holiday party a few months ago, I won the Grand Prize: A trip to Paris! The last time I toured the City of Light, I was a junior in college. It was 1994 and I was studying abroad in Stockholm, so I spent my spring break visiting pals in Madrid and Paris. I'm sure Paris has changed a lot in the (gulp) 13 years since my last visit. One change I'm especially excited about is that Paris is rolling out a bike-loan program to provide thousands of bikes to commuters and tourists for free.

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived in New Orleans for this year’s Mardi Gras festivities. As I do with any getaway, I did my research before I left and found out that popular areas such as the French Quarter and Garden District were up and running, ready to accommodate tourists once again. I hadn’t been to NOLA since pre-Katrina times and was eager to see this rebirth with my own eyes.

I wondered if the contagious spirit of this vibrant city would infuse its visitors just as it did in the past. Would the courtyard at Pat O’Brien’s still be packed with intoxicated tourists who go there to knock back a Hurricane or two before begging for beads on Bourbon Street? Would freshly baked beignets topped with heaps of powdered sugar still beckon patrons to Café Du Monde’s canopy-covered patio? Would jazz musicians dot the sidewalks, propelling those make-you-wanna-dance tunes through the air for all to hear? Basically, would all-things-NOLA still make New Orleans, well, New Orleans?

Although the highest paying passengers are most often business clientele, the masses at the airports are most often leisure travelers. We make up a significant bunch yet we don't have a powerful lobby group to fight on our behalf and we're often forgotten. Frankly, I think the time has come for that to change. I want to see congress pass a passenger bill of rights.

The Year of the Pig begins on Sunday, and condom sales are super sluggish in China and South Korea. You can read that line again, but it’s not a non-sequitur. This Chinese New Year, the presiding pig sign brings especially good fortune to anyone born during its reign. As a result, lots of people are getting busy trying to make babies. And I mean lots: Many Chinese maternity hospitals are booked up for the rest of the year, and a population surge is expected across the country, according to CNN.

If this sounds like a compelling reason to learn more about Chinese culture, you need not dig a hole to China. The good news for those of us on a limited budget is that there are Lunar New Year celebrations taking place much closer to home.

The Amazing Race: All-Stars premieres this Sunday. It's the eleventh season of this, my favorite, reality show, and they're featuring competitors from past races. Deep down, I've always wanted the chance to battle for a million dollars while discovering exotic places that I might never see otherwise. What's holding me back? Part of it is that I can't find that perfect partner. (The other part is that I get cranky when I'm hungry and nobody needs to see that!)

Actually, even when a million dollars isn't on the line, selecting a co-traveler is tough.

Nothing says I love you like getting your Valentine tipsy off an herb-laced aphrodisiac nicknamed The Baby Maker and Vitality in a Bottle. Mamajuana hails from the Dominican Republic, and until today, Americans who wanted to taste the Caribbean love potion had to travel there to get it.

Heidi Ewing has produced and directed documentaries for The Discovery Channel, Britain's Channel 4, the BBC, A&E Network and Arte. Previously, Heidi produced and co-directed a one-hour film for the Discovery Channel on the ancient origins of tribal and religious body modification, a documentary shot on location in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia.

More recently, Heidi and her Loki Films partner Rachel Grady were aboard an early morning United flight from NYC to Santa Barbara when the captain announced that their documentary film Jesus Camp was nominated for this year's Academy Awards. The entire plane went crazy with applause. I caught up with Heidi in between Oscar-nominee lunches and meetings to glean her perspective on seeing the world through the eyes of a filmmaker.

If you ask me it's a crime that KT Tunstall didn't win the Grammy last night for best female pop vocalist. But no matter, she's still a huge winner in my book. She's sassy, sexy and sensational. If you haven't heard her album Eye To The Telescope buy it immediately. You see, KT is not only a gifted songwriter with an amazing voice and creativity that rarely shines in the manufactured artists who top the charts these days but she also stands up for what she believes in.

What does any of this have with travel you ask? Actually, a lot. You see, KT Tunstall took a side-trip on her way to the Grammys to perform in Las Vegas at the Flamingo last week for a very special concert put together by Virgin and Travelocity.

I staunchly believe that smoking is a vile, wretched act. Raised in L.A., I was aghast when I moved to NYC and spied spandexed crowds huddled outside of gyms, puffing in between Pilates and mat classes. I’ve since abandoned my SoCal sanctimony, preferring to make like a New Yorker when I travel internationally. My When in Rome... ethos gives me license to smoke when I’m off gallivanting in places where cigarettes are as fundamental as bread and coffee. It’s a sacrifice I "selflessly" make for cultural immersion, which is why I am so confounded by France’s ban on smoking in public places, which was announced this week. Quell horror!

As an east coaster transplanted in California, I didn't make it to Hawaii until my 31st birthday. Since then I've been nine times, including the trip I just returned from--celebrating my 34th on Kauai. Averaging about three visits a year, I can't seem to get enough. Plus, with tourism being the islands' biggest moneymaker, I rationalize that I'm doing my part to support their economy. Truthfully though, I just love it.

It was my first time in Kauai, and we didn't stop for six days straight.

Born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I’m quite familiar with the unspoken rivalry between the two cities, which are separated only by a 35 miles stretch of highway. Dallasites turn their noses up at the prospect of venturing to the city known as Cowtown, and Fort Worth natives have probably been guilty at one time or another of calling their neighbors to the east snobs.

From Angelina’s tattoos and necklaces to Britney’s possible conversion, the flutter of the heart has caused many a romantic to fall out of the coo-coo’s nest. With Valentine’s Day just over a week away, this makes for some interesting tourism possibilities. Most famous of these is, of course, the Taj Mahal. I’ve never been, but imagine it blows the neon-pink petals off the papier-mâché flower given to me by a well-intended but not particularly artistic ex-boyfriend. In this vein of the love-struck homage is the Coral Castle, which bakes like a beautiful but overheated valentine in the Florida sun just outside Miami.

It's getting close, that beloved and begrudged holiday oft known as V-Day. Hint, hint, hint. (And feel free to forward this little bloglet to your loved ones and crushes.) But no matter what you've got going this Valentine's Day, there's simply no excuse to come up empty handed.

Today, the fate of travel weather forecasts for the next six weeks rests upon the shoulders of a super-sized squirrel who subsists on dog food and ice cream. He also happens to be scared of his own shadow. But whether or not the much-loved groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, predicts more winter or the start of spring, the crowd that comes to learn his prognostication grows by the year.

*Photo courtesy of Alan Freed/PunxsutawneyPhil.com