Frequent fliers on both Delta and Northwest Airlines can now transfer miles between their accounts, allowing travelers to combine miles in order to redeem flights. If you have accounts with the airlines, link before March 15 and get 500 bonus miles in your Delta SkyMiles accounts.

For the full story, visit the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

It has been over two weeks since New York City took a front-row seat to the emergency splash landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the murky Hudson River.  Several days ago, the last part of the left engine was recovered for further investigation into the accident.  Meanwhile, veteran pilot, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger received a hero's homecoming in Danville, California.

Passenger Josh Peltz of Charlotte, N.C., sat in the exit row on the flight and remained calm as he tugged and twisted open the exit door. Were his swift actions critical in helping to save 150 passengers and the five flight crew from the plane that was slowly sinking into the icy river?  Would you have done if you were one of the passengers on US Airways Flight 1549? Would you know the right thing to do?

Please join us in welcoming renowned travel author Rolf Potts to The Window Seat. He is the author of several travel memoirs, including his latest Marco Polo Didn't Go There. His guest blog reveals his top five travel experiences in his home state of Kansas.

Sensational skier? Black-diamond bragger? Or are you someone who’s always wanted to take to the slopes but just never tried before? Right now, the mountains are calling you. Usually at this time of year, the peaks are packed with gleeful people crossing elevations like streets, schussing down and riding up the slopes and reeling at the grandeur of it all. But if Squaw Valley, on the north side of Lake Tahoe, is anything to judge by, the slopes and lifts and cable cars have a wonderful amount of elbow room, allowing experts extra room to practice their tricks, and beginners plenty of space to make their mistakes.

I kind of have a thing for tourism slogans. I just love a clever, inspiring line that captures the feel of a place, and if it’s shouted by a celebrity at the end of a highly stylized commercial, all the better! Is there anyone who didn’t consider casting a line for work out west after California’s “find yourself here” commercial? Come on: Rob Lowe! Mickey Mouse! The Pacific Ocean!

This is the updated version of my last cruise post, 50 Cruises Under $56 per Night.

Ahoy Matey! Yesterday's Los Angeles Times article on cruising featured several quotes from yours truly. In case you missed it, here's a link.

But more importantly, I asked our awesome cruise team to rerun the cruise list for me to figure out how prices look just a few short weeks after my first post on this topic. Good news! We now have 50 cruises under $50 per person, per night to share with you! See our list below, arranged by departure date.

All prices are accurate as of publication date. Any fluctuation in pricing is likely due to a stateroom category being sold out.

FEBRUARY 2009

I love the experience of trying new things. That is the simple reason behind why I’m a traveler. So, this year I’ve made a resolution that I know I can keep: I’m going to experience something new every month and report it back to you.

Like many of you, I’m feeling the crunch of the bad economy, but this isn’t going to stop me from experiencing the world. For the time being, my world has just gotten a little smaller. Since I live in San Francisco, I’m taking this as an opportunity to experience the western corners of North America.

My plan is simple. I forfeited my trip to Spain and have cut down on unnecessary items, such as shoes and jewelry and food, in order for this all to fit within my yearly travel budget. I plan to take advantage of last second deals where I can and will sprinkle in day trips down the coast to give me a bit of financial reprieve.  

Make this your year to green your travel. It’s easy, I promise. Travelocity launched The Green Directory to help you select green options for your next vacation. Because these days, there is so much green talk, and as we all find out sooner or later, talk is cheap. It’s actions that really matter. Especially where there is a high potential for green-washing.

As the travel industry strives to green itself, there is a lot to do and even more to learn. But if you care about preserving the places you visit the good news is that a whole lot is happening to make tourism more sustainable these days. Travel providers have a key seat at the global green table and how the travel industry responds to climate change, preservation, and conservation are critical to the future of places we love.

Think there’s no bright side to the U.S. economy being in the toilet? Flush those silly notions! In addition to the insane travel deals we’re seeing right now, exchange rates are better than they’ve been in a long time. In fact, as I write this, every 1 U.S. dollar is worth .77 euros. Fair citizens of America! We are almost back to a one-to-one ratio with Europe!

The Window Seat recently had the chance to chat with Melanie Asher, owner and distributor of the Peruvian brandy, Machu Pisco. As the drink gets more and more popular here in the U.S., I asked Melanie all about the pisco sour and the Peruvian heritage that stands behind it.

The Window Seat: First of all, what is a pisco sour?
Melanie Asher: The pisco sour is a quintessential Peruvian cocktail, made with pisco, a Peruvian brandy and sour mix. Oddly enough it was invented by an American in the 1920s who travelled to Peru and liked his piscos so much that he decided to stay and open the Morris Bar where the pisco sour was born.

TWS: Why is a pisco sour better than a margarita?

Much has already been said, recommended, and warned of with regard to the 2009 Inauguration of the President of the United States already -- some of it is essential and not necessarily obvious to someone who doesn’t live in DC, but other advice I’ve read has been so basic that if you didn’t already plan for it, I am curious about how you’ve made it this far without falling into a well-marked hole somewhere. For instance, I trust The Window Seat readers who plan to attend are smart enough to know to wear comfortable walking shoes and expect to get a lot of use out of them over the next couple of days. And if you didn’t already plan to bring a warm jacket and dress in layers with a granola bar or two tucked in the pockets (Secret Service says no backpacks or bags allowed), you should probably just plan stay home and watch it on TV at this point.

When Barack Obama won the election in November, eager travelers from coast to coast attempted to book trips to the inaugural events, but online searches were unfruitful. A little known fact is that “hotels withdrew their rooms from online travel services in order to exert tighter control over their bookings,” reported The Washington Post.

Now, only days before the inauguration, the story has changed. The Washington Post reported that 15,000 hotel rooms are available in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and the District. A search on Travelocity confirms availability, yielding hundreds of options for travelers who still want to get in on the inauguration action.

Here are a few inauguration hotel deals for travel Jan. 18-21:

I'm finally flying Virgin America this weekend, something I've wanted to do since the airline began service in August 2007 (what can I say, it takes me a little while to get to everything on my to-do list!)

I'm excited for a couple of reasons: the surprisingly low price I paid for a flight from San Francisco to San Diego, the promise of a decent in-flight entertainment system, and the lure of checking in at the gleaming International terminal at SFO (complete with a Sephora for last-minute beauty purchases!) But there's one thing I'm most excited about: a rumor I've heard about flying with Virgin America. I can't wait to find out if it's true.

A friend and I were talking recently about how—in a world overflowing with images and guidebooks—sometimes you can come upon a place when traveling and feel you’ve seen it all before. Sadly, this happened to me in the Louvre in Paris, when I struggled my way in to see the Mona Lisa and found myself in a camera-flashing, elbow-bumping mob of Mona- manic tourists who almost entirely blocked the view of the poor little Lisa who smiled enigmatically nonetheless beneath several inches of plate glass.

Those cities that fall in the overrated category are now the subject of an essay by British stockbroker-turned-traveler Leon Logothetis, who has filmed a TV series called “Amazing Adventures of a Nobody,” which will air later this month on Fox Reality Channel. An article on the San Francisco Chronicle's website talks about how Logothetis’s criteria for what makes a city overrated really boils down to the people themselves and the varying degrees to which they are “unfriendly and mean.”

I don’t know about you, but I morph into the procrastinator of the century when it comes to home improvements. I’ve gone down in too many battles with curtain rods, caked too much Spackle to my head, and turned too many light fixtures into glass-shard showers to take any pleasure in repairing anything. I’ll stick to fixing up trips, thank you.

So I need to profess some deep admiration for Australia-based journalist Suzanna Clarke after reading A House in Fez, her rip-roaring but thoughtful account of purchasing and restoring a centuries-old riad in the Fez medina. She and her husband, Sandy McCutcheon, persevere through layers and layers of red tape, language barriers, plumbing disasters, deceptive contractors, structural scares, 26-hour flights, and a donkey-napping to lovingly rebuild their new home in methods true to Fassi architectural heritage.

Photo courtesy of Suzanna Clarke

You know that saying "do as I say, not as I do?" This is one of those times. I am about to tell you not to do something I have done on nearly every trip I have ever taken: obsess over the cost of the flight.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member Judibo

In planning our big trip to Thailand, one of the top adventures on our list was having bespoke suits made for my husband. He really needs a new suit, but we live in California, the land of every day Casual Friday so we can never bring ourselves to fork over the princely sum. Having suits made in Thailand seemed like the perfect solution. I studied Holly’s post and read about it in my Lonely Planet guidebook, and the one thing I concluded was: it’s easy to get scammed by disreputable tailors.

Savvy traveler that I am, I swore this wasn’t going to happen to me. Oh no! Not clever, insider me! I decided the best way to avoid this was to secure a recommendation from the concierge at our resort. Granted, I knew concierges can be paid off, but we were staying at a high-end, American-owned hotel chain that is known for its customer service and integrity.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS LIST 50 CRUISES UNDER $5O PER NIGHT

Many, if not most, industries have been impacted by the economy, and the travel industry is no exception. But what’s bad for the industry is good for the consumer, because as I predicted in the Associated Press, 2009 will be the year of the travel deal. From discounted room rates at hotels to softening airfare, it’s a buyer’s market out there – so take advantage of the silver lining in this economic mess if you’re planning a getaway.

At the beginning of every year, like many travelers out there, I make planning my vacation days a priority. So, for the most part, I already know where I’m going in 2009, who’s going with me, and how much money I need to save to get there.

But I’m feeling a little awkward about those plans this year. In light of the recession, many a naycationer has given me a funny look when I’ve said I’m not planning to cut travel in 2009. I could tell them it’s because there are great deals everywhere, because Europe is cheaper than it’s been in a long time, because I have ready-to-expire caches of frequent-flier miles and flight vouchers; mostly, I just gloss over details and change the subject. In fact, sometimes when people assume a trip I’m taking is for work, I sort of let them believe that. My travel guilt hit a new high the other day when someone I hadn’t seen in a few years told me he’d heard I’d joined the Peace Corps. No, I had to tell him, just been traveling...a lot.

I’m all for a good pun—especially in a bad economy, they come cheap. That’s why “staycation” works for me as a vacation term for last year. But I refuse to accept the “naycation,” which I’ve started seeing in the press as a word to characterize travel in 2009. First, I don’t believe it. Yes, the economy is down, but the bargains are better than ever.

I grew up with a dad who scheduled his work life around the fishing seasons, and so this winter, with the rainbow trout still biting along the Sacramento River, I wanted to tag along with my dad to squeeze in some quality father-daughter time and possibly learn how to bait fish.