I don’t know about you, but in the day of the digital camera, I’m a prolific and perfectly undisciplined photographer on my vacations, snapping random pictures of every flower, tree, rock, and seascape that catches my eye. Funny-looking bird? I take a picture. Pink sunset clouds? Shutter-click. Friends laughing at some inane joke we’ll never remember later while posing in front of a very serious statue? Smile for the camera.

When I return from my trips, I always look forward to downloading my camera’s memory card and seeing the pictures in their full pixellated glory. At most, I might then download these photos from my computer onto a public gallery site, to share with my friends and family, but I admit that beyond that, I haven’t made an actual physical photo album in years.

But, there are a few ways to parlay pictures into practical day-to-day items. Here are a few crafty, non-album ways to put your favorite vacation photos to use:

I have a bum knee and haven’t gone skiing in years, so my Canadian friends offered a solution that’s equally as exhilarating: tubing. The best part is that it requires very little physical exertion. Now, that’s my kind of sport! Tubing is the next big thing, and it only requires snow and gravity. If you're a beginner like me, you should just keep a few things in mind:

Tip #1: Keep your bum up!
The snow may be soft when you touch it, but not when you’re going fast. To avoid a sore bum, rest your legs over the front of the tube, hold onto the loops and keep your bum up.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member AussieBrad.

Last time I visited home, I had been away too long and missed my mother’s cooking. So she insisted on packing my bags full of home-made pork buns, sweet bread, chocolate chip cookies, and chicken noodle soup so I could bring them back east (I didn‘t have the heart to tell her that I now get my cookie fixes from Rocco’s).

Many people heading back after the holidays have to figure out how to schlep their home-made goodies and gifts all the way back while trying to deal with the complex security restrictions on food. For this reason, it’s no surprise that according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the number one question travelers have for the TSA Contact center is, “Can I take my pie with me on the plane?”

It is the season of wish-list making and gift giving, so here’s my humble request of the universe. This year what I most want is the invention of sleeper planes.

On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I was upgraded to Cathay Pacific’s new international Business Class, due to a goof with my ticket. Cathay has a long history of excellent customer service so I wasn’t shocked--but I was shocked at how wonderful the experience was. Business Class has come a long way, baby.

About five years ago I was bumped to First Class on an Air France flight. This meant I had a bigger seat, a personal entertainment player with free movies (mind blowing at the time), and hot meals. It was nice but honestly it was nothing I would have paid extra for. It just wasn’t that different from a Coach seat.

Fez isn’t the first city people think of when they think of Morocco. I know this because before my recent visit to the country, the first question of everyone who heard about my trip was how long I’d spend in Marrakesh.

I wasn’t headed for Marrakesh at all, but for northern Morocco and Fez, the country’s spiritual heart. Besides being one of the holiest cities in the Arab world, Fez is an intellectual nerve center whose most noted university has been educating people for well over 1,000 years, and, within its medina’s ancient walls, the world’s largest car-free zone. But most of its allure, for me, had not much to do with worship, education, or transportation; it was more corporeal. It was the textures, sounds, smells, and tastes of the medina’s web, a sensory overload I’ve never experienced before. It was in this time-warped cacophony that I found the joys of Morocco.

Last week brought snow and with it, travel headaches, to much of the Midwest and Northeast. According to USA Today, the Midwest will likely face another round of ice and rain Tuesday and Wednesday -- two of the busiest travel days of the year.

What can you do to make sure you get home for Christmas? There are no guarantees, but following are a a few easy steps increase your chances. Or, click here to watch me talk about these tips on WPIX TV in New York City.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo.com member Raymond Longaray

Beating Santa to the punch, Mother Nature is ensuring a white Christmas across much of the Northeast and Midwest today, making travel a bit dicey just in time for the big holiday weekend. According to CNN, Milwaukee’s airport is shut down and ice is causing delays at O’Hare and at New York-area airports. This is causing a ripple effect across the country, with flights from non-snowy areas--particularly those traveling to impacted areas--being delayed due to the storms.

To learn about particular airline and hotel policies, please visit Travelocity’s Customer Care page.

Are you in or traveling to an area impacted by the storm? If so, let us know about your experience in the comments section.

Just in time for this holiday travel season, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has expanded their new security program, the Black Diamond Self-Select Lanes, which are expected to keep long lines moving at security checkpoints in 50 airports across the nation.

The Black Diamond Self-Select Lanes were introduced back in February, 2008 as a way to reduce the security wait times. These lanes accommodate different types of travelers at the security checkpoints and the TSA says that the lanes have helped calm the checkpoint environment for both passengers and security officers.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am about to change your life. Actually, that might not be true since I appear to be the last person in the world to find out about this, but here's the thing: I think we can all agree that trying to sleep on a plane sucks. In the past, I've just taken a deep breath, buried my head in my pillow, and willed myself to block out the secondhand iPod beat from the seat next to me and the screaming toddler in 11C. Now, however, I have discovered a travel secret that I'm fairly sure is going to change the way I fly from now on and the secret is this: white noise.

Unbeknownst to me before now, there are hundreds of places on the web were you can download free MP3s of white noise, load them on to your iPod or MP3 player, and tune into them on the plane when you want to block the world out. I've found this one fairly successful and I like the pink noise (pink noise, who knew!) at SimplyNoise.com too.

And if you're lucky enough to have an iPhone, consider this: a friend told me recently about an iPhone app that you can pay 99 cents to download, giving you the sound of crashing waves and rainforests---as well as good old traditional white noise---whenever you need it. I don't know about you, but I could always do with shutting up the people around me when I'm flying. I can't believe I didn't find out about this sooner.

In what may be the least surprising news story of all time, TIME magazine just announced Barack Obama as its highly anticipated Person of the Year for 2008. While the decision was predictable, I still find it as exciting as any past Person of the Year selection, and it got me thinking about who would win a Travel Person of the Year contest.

If it were run like TIME’s nearly century-old tradition, it might not even necessarily be a person; concepts count, too. (Remember “You” in 2006?) For reference, and to help with your decision, TIME has a very cool interactive gallery of all past covers.

The wine region is so close to San Francisco, yet far enough away that you truly feel as if you’ve escaped to another place, and left the city behind. First those rolling hills come into view, then I’ll spot my first cow or sheep, and I know the grape vines won’t be far behind, different in every season.

A lot of San Francisco visitors to Napa come up for the day trip, driving from winery to winery, tasting wines, getting a little tipsy, and then driving back exhausted at the end of a long day through city traffic. This past weekend a friend and I did something different. We went up to Napa and stayed overnight at the brand-new Westin Verasa Napa, which sits right on the river in walking distance of plenty of shops and restaurants. That way, we figured, we could do all the tasting we liked and not have to worry about driving home at the end of the day.

This week, Genevieve and I will be conducting interviews with radio stations across the country to let travelers know what to expect and how to prepare for the season ahead. One inquisitive host asked if I could give advice on how he could “work the system” during his upcoming Christmas trip.

Doing what I do, I’ve had enough travel experience to tuck away some creative tips of my own, but I’m hesitant to call it working the system. This phrase implies a degree of sneakiness that I for one am not capable of (or perhaps I just bow to the word “no” too easily), but I do often implement a series of maneuvers to make my travels easier.

Need More Room?
As part of my personal travel defense strategy, I always ask for the bulkhead or exit row for a little extra legroom. I learned several years ago when I had knee surgery that these seats are usually the last ones assigned. Sure, it helps to have a massive brace, a set of crutches and a look of desperation on your face when requesting these seats, but it never hurts to ask.

Maybe it’s because I’m a travel writer, but some of my favorite movies are ones that transport me elsewhere. Whether it’s seeing John Goodman emerge from the underbelly of the desert southwest in Raising Arizona, or watching Dustin Hoffman drive the wrong way across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in The Graduate, movies are certainly cheaper than a plane ticket if you want to escape to another time and place.

That’s why I love this list of airport and airplane-centric movies compiled by David Armstrong over at Aviation.com. Here are his top 10:

Photo: Me and my good pal Ricky Bobby, of Talladega Nights.

I have a confession: I love traveling with my laptop. My fellow Window Seat writers prefer to unplug when they’re exploring the world, so I’ve often pretended I only bring my gadgets (laptop, iPhone, etc.) to work on the plane. But that’s not really true.

The truth is, while I'm glad others relish being lost to time, I take no pleasure from unplugging. Relaxing for me is waking up to a good cup of coffee, posting a few new pictures to my blog, reading the New York Times online, and then researching a local restaurant for dinner. And until this last trip, I think I was even a little embarrassed about this.

Recently, I went on another outing with City Running Tours, this time in Chicago. After the great run I had in New York, I was looking forward to seeing another city on foot with the guided expertise of CRT. This time things were a bit different, to be sure. We started the run at Millennium Park, running past Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, Gehry’s Pritzker Pavilion, and on towards Grant Park. As we ran with our guide, Marlin Keesler, he asked about my then-recent marathon, and how many I’d done. “Three,” I replied, trying not to sound too proud. Likewise, I asked him if he was a marathoner and how many he’d run. He sort of grinned. “Sixty,” he said. I damn near fell off BP Bridge. Here was a stocky guy who claimed to be out of shape and to hate running—a mantra I adopt, particularly when running in the morning—yet made marathoning a habit. As I would find out, it was far more than that.

I’m beginning to have a contentious relationship with Machu Picchu, and I’ve never even seen it. But at least I’m not the only one.

For the last few months, I’ve been trying to decide on the location of my next trekking trip, and because some friends and I ended up with flight vouchers to South America (long story), the Inca Trail was at the top of my list. Then I met some people who had opted for the “other Machu Picchu,” Choquequirao, and my eyes wandered. It seemed like maybe I could get the thrill of hiking to a legendary lost city with less crowds. And so it’s gone, back and forth, with a few other possibilities (Llamas! Jungles! Volcanoes!) thrown in for good measure.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member pietropecco

So you can’t carry on your suitcase, but can you carry a tune?

In a 2007 blog post that turns out to be prescient, Rachel mused that karaoke is so popular, we might soon be singing as we take to the skies. Well, here we go.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member hottice2nicky

Even if you’ve never been to Venice, Italy before, most people know that it’s a city defined by water--its vaporettos, gondolas, and arched bridges are essential to the city’s romantic, Renaissance charm. But much like New Orleans, Venice’s seaside perch has always been precarious, and yesterday’s flood comes as no surprise to residents whose feet in December are intimately familiar with rain galoshes.

According to the BBC, the city sees some level of flooding 200 days out of every year (locals refer to the floods as “acqua alta”), but this flood is the largest Venice has seen in over 20 years. The mayor of the city warned both residents and tourists alike to remain indoors unless absolutely necessary, meaning many tourists had an excuse to snuggle up at their hotels and just watch the waters rise. The flood waters did recede a bit Monday afternoon, but are expected to rise again with the tide in today’s early hours.

Photo: St. Mark's Square during a December 2006 flood.

According to shopping accounts in from Black Friday and the holiday weekend, shoppers are still spending but they are purchasing carefully and they want deals. When it comes to travel, would-be buyers are no different. I'm happy to report that I finally have some really good news in the department! We can actually start talking about deals again.

From a data report issued today, we found that if you priced out a December trip earlier this year and found travel was out of your reach this holiday season, it’s time for another look. Travelocity’s most recent data shows a steady decline in airfare over the last five weeks with an average price drop of $53. Softening travel demand is translating into lower prices for travelers. And, now, less than one month until Christmas, prudent travelers hoping to get away can snag falling airfares and stellar hotel deals. The catch is they're all based on availability and may not last much longer.