What’s better than a relaxing day off work spent lounging in the countryside? Nothing, except that same day spent imbibing some of California’s finest wines, nibbling on exquisite appetizers, and chatting with friendly vintners in a quaint, bucolic atmosphere.

I just got back from a one-day wine tasting excursion to Napa Valley. Napa is a world-famous destination for wine lovers of all kinds, and is also known for its lush scenery. Framed by rolling hills shrouded in stout oak trees, and sprinkled liberally with brilliant California poppies, olive trees, and those famous vineyards, Napa is a true treat for the senses, even for those who are not particularly wine-inclined.

One of my duties at Travelocity is writing about cruises. Here’s the typical response I get when I announce this at dinner parties.

“Cruises”?! (Person chokes on a bite of food.) “Aren’t they for old people”?

If you tuned into the premiere of the modern-day TV classic America’s Next Top Model, then you would have seen Cycle 9 kicking off onboard Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas. There, the model hopefuls were coming down with seasickness, noshing on rich cruise cuisine while accusing one another of eating disorders, and even attempting to “work it” on the jogging track, much to the displeasure of runway expert Miss J.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member PNelson

Some people are all work and no play, others are merely slackers holding down a day job to fund their fun. Others still work hard and play harder. Then, there is that nearly imperceptible minority that simply cannot bear to be separated from their coworkers for even the slightest passage of time and so engage in some sort of fun jaunt on the weekend with their various professional counterparts. The office outing can be a dreaded affair but not at IgoUgo. I don’t mind telling you that here we take our fun seriously, and we settle any in-house issues the old-fashioned way: with duels.

I’ve never really understood the appeal of the spa, let alone spa travel. I bruise easily, am ticklish, and have frighteningly sensitive skin, so my spa visits (mostly results of misguided gift certificates) have been somewhat traumatic. But ever since I visited China, where inexpensive spas were ubiquitous and my body sore from traveling, I’ve begun to rethink my position. Luckily, should I decide to become a true Spahound, my en-route options are fast becoming endless as transportation hubs take notice of spas’ popularity.

From October 31 to November 3, Spa Finder will assemble representatives from 50 of the world’s leading spas at New York’s Grand Central Station for The Spa Experience, allowing commuters to receive treatments or attend seminars on their way to work. I’m not sure I like the idea of taking to the massage table or cozying up to any sort of seaweed in public, but I’ll admit that an on-the-go massage does sound like the ultimate antidote to Grand Central’s legendary hustle and bustle.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member smmmarti guide

Bottoms up: Oktoberfest has begun! The largest beer festival in the world, this 2-week party kicked off on Saturday and has brew-lovers coming together for a rousing, collective cry of "Prost!"

Northwest Airlines seems to think so. The Detroit Free Press reports the airline's workers, including flight attendants and reservation agents, will undergo intensive training to improve customer service. The airline was the subject of countless news reports this summer, when it cancelled more than 4,000 flights in a two-month period.

Here's the question -- will better customer service make a difference the next time you need to book a flight? Or does price trump all?

I'd never flown Southwest until a few weeks ago, when I made the short hop from Oakland International to LAX on the famous low-budget carrier and experienced its infamous "cattle call" boarding process firsthand.

Rather than assigning seats, of course, Southwest follows a policy whereby the letter printed on your boarding pass--A, B, or C--determines the order in which you're allowed to board the plane and choose your seat (those with the coveted As go first.) Imagine how surprised my boyfriend and I were when we decided it was finally time to join one of those long lines snaking through the departure lounge, and found that Sean's boarding pass bore a sucks-to-be-you C and mine a proud, triumphant A.

Why? Well, your guess is as good as mine. We booked our tickets together, checked in (early) together, and were obviously traveling together. Perhaps the gate agent just liked the look of me or something.

(Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member Torpedo1962)

We’ve all played the what would you do if you were a millionaire game. Fancy cars, big houses and world travel probably top many a list. But, how many people would actually spend $30k per night on a hotel suite? Coming from a person who considers $300 per night a splurge, you could say that the Ty Warner Suite at the Four Seasons in New York induces a case of sticker shock.

If you were a millionaire, would this splurge be on your list?

What do Cher, Whoopie Goldberg, and Kate Bosworth have in common? Apparently, they’re all afraid of flying. According to FearlessFlight.com, your chances of being in an air accident are just one in 11 million. To me, this statistic doesn’t make soaring along the jet stream any less freaky, though. My airplane nerves used to keep me on hyper-alert for potential problems—as if there was anything I’d be able to do about a catastrophe.

Whenever I traveled with my sister, I was even worse. Each of our fears would foment the other’s, egging each other on to new heights of hysteria. Even in a pre-9/11 world we had our eye on all the passengers, ready to hit the call button for suspicious behavior or grab our armrests to steel ourselves through turbulence at a second’s notice.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member rokiss.ch.

Coming off a pricey, overcrowded summer travel season can there be any relief in sight for the fall? That's what most travelers I talk to want to know anyway. So here's the skinny on fall travel and what you can do to make your traveling life a little better.

You can still expect fall travel to be busy – but the good news is it won't be quite as busy as it was all summer long. According to the International Air transit Association (IATA) airline passenger growth is slowing. IATA reports that global growth weakened slightly in the first half of the year. They also have reported that load factors (that means the percentage of people in seats on a given plane) aren't growing nearly as fast as they have been. Well what does this mean aside from a few less people in the skies? It means that we could finally see what we call in the travel biz a "softening" of demand. And the reason that is important is it means that you might just see some lower prices out there!

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member Panda1

“I will drop you off at the first beach I see; I need to take a sleep. It will be better for me and much better for you!”

File that under Things You Never Want to Hear Your Boat Captain Say After an Alcohol-Soaked Lunch on Your Island Excursion. Three friends and I were staying on the island of Hvar, Croatia, for a week, and we’d decided to depart from our daily beach-lunch-beach routine to take an excursion to nearby Vis, the furthest island in the Middle Dalmatian chain. Vis is known for its unspoiled landscapes, quaint towns, and excellent gourmet specialties, and there was a man in our tiny fishing village who ran day-long excursions there for less than $100 per person. It seemed too good to be true. Turns out, it was.

There's something about travel that imbues even those of us who always wear a seatbelt in the back of a cab and return our books to the library on time with a suddenly fearless sort of "now or never!" mentality that we'd never find present in ourselves at home. "Ah, when else am I going to swim with sharks / eat deep-fried grasshoppers / try skydiving?" we think to ourselves. "I'm on vacation! What can go wrong?"

Why, just last week, my boyfriend and I were cycling across a bridge in Banos, Ecuador, when a few men approached us with a rope and a harness and asked if we were interested in bungee jumping. I admit I just couldn't work up the nerve to voluntarily throw myself off a bridge---perhaps if the Macarena had been playing on a loop for the last six hours it would have been a different story---but Sean decided that bungee jumping in Ecuador was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And with only a fleeting thought as to how safe it might be, this impromptu act of kamikaze craziness, he paid the ten bucks and stepped into the harness.

In my youth, I spent a good deal of time playing after-school sports on Randall’s Island in the shadows of Manhattan. On Sunday, however, I sat on the hay and grass field next to Icahn Stadium and took in some great music at Farm Aid. Though the spirit of most open-air concerts, particularly ones headed by Willie Nelson and promoting homegrown food, tends to be pretty friendly, I was still reminded of New York at another time. Immediately after 9/11, New York was transformed in so many ways: it was scarred, terrified, and numb. It was also friendly, kind, and supportive. While I witnessed the typical kindnesses amongst people at the concert—bumming cigarettes, sharing sunscreen, dancing, and chatting—it all felt reminiscent of those precarious days of aftermath when doors, along with handshakes, hugs, and goodbyes, were held for just a little bit longer.

Airports were difficult enough to navigate before security measures began to change from one trip—and one airport—to the next. Terror threats may never escape our minds or our headlines, but have they rendered air travel safer than ever or simply more confusing?

August saw some restrictions lifted as lighters and breast milk became permitted in carry-on luggage, and other measures tightened as DVD players and video game consoles became subjected to the same screening processes as laptop computers. Other practices changed, too; while the Transportation Security Administration says it does not conduct ethnic or religious profiling, it now warns that all head coverings face “the possibility of additional security screening.”

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member World_Explorer

With the Western world’s growing leeriness of terrorism, many alluring destinations experiencing social unrest conjure up more fear than gusto. But how dangerous are these places, really?

Part of the equation depends on who you are, where you're from, and where you're going. A good friend of mine recently enjoyed a two-week vacation in Iran. She visited the mountain capital, Tehran, went to the awe-inspiring Persepolis ruins near Shiraz, and got a great tan on the shores of the Caspian Sea. I should mention that she's a second-generation Iranian-American, speaks fluent Farsi, and has family in Tehran. Even so, she was hassled regularly by both police and private citizens, mostly for being an improperly covered woman.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member writeonthespot.

When a passenger on Southwest Airlines was asked to deplane for wearing clothes a flight attendant deemed inappropriate, it got me thinking. Well actually, first it got me curious. What could this woman have been wearing that prompted her to be asked to leave a flight? I’ve seen some serious fashion faux pas in my travels – from people who refuse to travel in anything other than their pajamas (this includes my own brother by the way) to passengers wearing clothing that seems better suited to a poorly lit street corner than an airplane in broad daylight.

Kyla Ebbert was wearing a miniskirt, high heels, a tank top, and a sweater (See her in the same outfit she wore on the flight and hear her account of the story on MSNBC.com). Not my attire of choice for a flight (or any other time for that matter), but hardly offensive in an age where bellies and behinds are hanging out all over the place.

Before I travel, I look up the delicacies of the region I’m going to visit. I’ve eaten a Hot Brown in Kentucky, enjoyed escargot in France, and noshed on poutine in Montreal. But there are certain delicacies I just can’t stomach. I call them mind-block foods, and the list includes insects, certain organs, and animals considered members of the family in America. Beyond that, I try to keep an open mind. After all, I recently treated my coworkers to my dad’s famous boiled peanuts, and they’re not exactly an appealing-looking food.

Photo courtesy of Rachel Berg.

With the delays and cancellations that plagued the summer season, it’s likely that many travelers spent more time in airports than they wanted. Call me crazy, but I actually enjoy a little extra downtime every once in a while – even if it means getting stuck in an airport for a few extra hours. After all, when else am I going to find time to do nothing other than read a book?

I realize that I'm probably in the minority with this admission, leaving me wondering where the extra time at the airport leaves those who aren’t as easily enthralled by a good read. Luckily, more and more airports are upping their standards to provide some much needed reprieve from delays.

If you've ever done the Eurail trip through Europe, you know that train travel can be an adventure in and of itself. Now Europe has a new option. The high-speed Eurostar train that used to whisk you along from London to Paris in a sluggish three hours has now outdone itself. Today, a Eurostar train traveled between Paris and London in just two hours, three minutes, and 39 seconds, at one point reaching speeds of 186 miles per hour, according to ABC News.

For the record attempt today, the train had the track all to itself, and had stripped off unnecessary weight to achieve even more speed. Passengers will be able to have croissants and coffee in Paris and be in London for an early fish and chips lunch starting in mid-November, and should expect the journey to take a nice two hours and 15 minutes.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member monbryn.