Given Joe Biden's comments this morning which fueled the media fire over the H1N1 flu virus, I thought it quite brilliant that Jiffy Lube would go out with their poll on how American's would travel this summer.  Of course it promotes road trips!

As the media covers the spread of swine flu and the story of the low-flying plane that flew past the office yesterday, today’s news stories aren’t exactly travel-inspiring. So I went hunting for happy headlines until I found some reasons why it’s a great week to be a traveler. Here are my favorites; please add yours!

11 Historic Places in the U.S. Get Some Help
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has revealed its 2009 list of endangered historic places. While that’s gloomy on the surface, it means these places have a chance of getting the attention they need to survive.

Every time I whipped out my iPhone in Thailand the locals said the same exact thing: Want to sell? I quickly realized my precious gadget was an easy target for pickpocketing and I needed to make sure I knew where it was at all times. Look, I loved Thailand, but scams and theft are a reality there.

The kicker was, I hadn’t brought my iPhone to Thailand so I could use it as an emergency phone. If that had been the case, I could have left it locked up in the safe in my hotel room and never worried about it again. No, I brought it with me because it’s my music player. And I think you’ll agree with me that I’d rather tour the world with Rachel Ray and listen to her say, “Yummo!” on repeat than travel without music.

Problem: I need a cheaper, lighter music player for my rugged adventures.
Solution: slotRadio

In celebration of Earth Day, we're challening all travelers to Make Good with the Earth by contributing to the Conservation Fund’s Go Zero program, offsetting your travels for the year. When you make a donation, the Conservation Fund plants native trees on protected lands to aid in the fight against climate change, promote the restoration of wildlife habitats, improve water and air quality and enhance outdoor recreation areas.

Through the challenge, we're encouraging travelers to address the carbon impact of both their past and future trips. All you need to do is follow the guidelines below to measure your carbon footprint, and make a donation to the Conservation Fund to negate the carbon emissions created by your trip.

Duration: 1 day
Offset: 0.4280 short tons of CO2
Cost: $3.42 per person

Whee…it’s Earth Day, a Hallmark holiday for green living.  Just like Valentines Day is the one day a year we’re all expected to be lovey-dovey and buy heart shaped chocolates and flowers for our sweethearts, Earth Day is the day we clean up our local parks, turn off lights, forego the hairdryer and the car in lieu of air drying and walking…all of which is just great, but we only have to do it today, right?!

Deal Alert: Save up to 50 percent off green hotels and get free carbon offsets when you book an eco-friendly hotel before April 30.

I've always been a mindful traveler. I grew up with nature all around me; it's those surroundings that fostered a love and respect for the Earth and its natural (and limited) resources. Since I've been involved in our Travel for Good program, I have developed an even deeper appreciation for our environment and have truly learned to tip-toe across the planet as I explore it.

I recently came across the term “dark tourism,” for the first time and was more than a bit surprised. According to the Dark Tourism Forum, it is “the act of travel and visitation to sites, attractions and exhibitions which has real or recreated death, suffering or the seemingly macabre as a main theme.” To me, when I thought of this, Severus Snape, the dark wizard from Harry Potter immediately sprang to mind as the poster child of “dark tourism.” I could just picture him digging around graveyards, poking around medical-specimen museums, glorying in haunted houses, touring former prisons, and thrilling to sites of mass horror, like the spot of the former World Trade Center or the bloody battle fields of the Civil War.

Quick, think about the scariest thing that could happen to you on a plane. Terrifying turbulence? Sudden loss of cabin pressure? Being forced to eat every last scrap of the inflight meal?

Think again, my friends. What if four baby pythons got loose mid-flight?

No, I'm not talking about Snakes on a Plane, that cult movie with Samuel L. Jackson that for a few weeks in summer 2006 had everyone screaming "Snakes on a plane!" whenever you told them you were about to board a flight. I'm talking about actual snakes on an actual plane in an actual real-life situation.

Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Dallas, I saw a news report that Lake Tahoe got a bunch of snow dumped on its peaks just in time for closing weekend at many of the resorts. It made me wish I was headed there for some last-chance snowboarding instead. Earlier in the season, I took a road trip to Northstar-at-Tahoe to learn how to snowboard at Burton Academy, a non-traditional school that manager Chris Hargrave says allows pros to “share the sport with the world in a way that is fear free and pain free.”

All I want to know is when do I get to go to Cuba?  Three cheers for the Obama administration for setting the stage for possible civilian travel to Cuba in the coming years.  We're not there yet, well not unless you're a descendant with relatives in Cuba but hopefully the announcement this week on easing restrictions to Cuba will put American travelers on the path to visiting the historic country.

I've been slacking a bit on posting deals, I know, but this one is so good I had to share. Also, it has a short shelf life so time is of the essence.

Bermuda's Fairmont Southhampton 99 Hour Sale

Rooms at the five-star Fairmont Southampton from under $99 per night. Travel now through 2010. Book on Travelocity.com/bermuda

Editor's note: I just booked this as a surprise for my parents' upcoming 40th wedding anniversary over July 4th weekend, so it seems there are few or no blackout dates. Hurry and book your trip now!

So Uncle Sam gifted you a huge refund and you spent it on a ticket to Coachella? NICE. After six straight months of grim economic news you’ve more than earned a chance to blow off a little steam. But don’t space out yet. There will be plenty of time for that once My Bloody Valentine starts their set.

Here are some tips to make your Coachella experience rock.

Glowing is for Glowsticks:

When I travel, I can count on having as many guidebooks as fellow travelers. That’s because I travel with the friend who loves the photo- and map-heavy guide; the one who relishes reading about our destination’s history and cultural climate; the traditionalist; and the trend-spotter. Then there’s me, a wild card who hasn’t committed to a particular publisher’s philosophy and shows up with a different book every time.

File under More Good News in Travel: Travelocity reports steep declines in Memorial Day airfares. The data show a dramatic drop in international fares for the holiday. A recent USA Today story by Marilyn Adams outlines the bargains that can be had for domestic fares.

Two key points:

 - At $295, average domestic airfare is under $300 round trip

 - At $610, international airfare is lower than 2005

If there's one thing I've learned in this life, it's that sometimes holding it isn't an option. This week, a man flying from Honduras to Atlanta wound up in jail after using the bathroom in business class.

According to his side of the story, he had food poisoning and couldn't wait any longer. A drink cart was blocking his way to the economy-class bathroom, and though he'd already been told he wasn't allowed to use the business-class bathroom, he went for it. A flight attendant blocked his way and he touched her arm to steady himself. She claims he manhandled her.

If he did hurt her, that's wrong and obviously I would take her side on the issue. I wasn't there so I can't say. BUT I do feel a lot of pity for the poor guy. What is he supposed to do in this situation?

I took a trip to Berlin last year and fell in love. No, not with a strapping young German hunk (although trust me, ladies, there are quite a few of them around). I fell in love with the city itself.

Airfare to Europe is down significantly right now---non-stop flights this spring are 20% to 50% cheaper than they were this time last year---which means that if you've been contemplating a trip to Berlin, there's really no better time to go. In fact, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which came down on November 9, 1989, reuniting East and West Germany. While the city is now undeniably reunified, there are definitely still certain parts of it that still feel fairly fractured.

I approached the podium cautiously. I knew my chances weren’t good. But I had to try.

It was nearing midnight in the Las Vegas airport and I was waiting with the huddled masses to board a red-eye flight to Washington, D.C. The flight was overcrowded, and I’d been stuck with—you guessed it—a middle seat. Normally, I just grin and bear it in these situations but not tonight. No. Tonight I really, really didn’t want a middle seat. And I was going to do something about it.

So I approached the podium. The gate agent looked up at me. “Can I help you,” she asked.

I took a deep breath. Took my ticket and put it on the counter in front of her. Putting on my most pathetic expression, I asked simply, “is there any hope”?

“You’ve got a middle seat, right,” she asked me. I nodded.

“You know this flight is completely booked,” she said sternly. I nodded again. “Okay,” she said. “Let me see what I can do.”

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how baggage fees are actually giving passengers something to smile about: less lost luggage. Today private researchers released an annual study on airline quality, which revealed the best performance ratings in four years for 2008. In terms of customer satisfaction, things are looking up for the airline industry.

The three top rated airlines based on Department of Transportation statistics are: Hawaiian Airlines, AirTran Airways and JetBlue. The legacy airlines (American, Continental, Delta and United) each improved their overall ratings as well.

This morning I came across a post in The Wall Street Journal blog about airline customer service utilizing Twitter to address customer complaints, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to let our readers know that Travelocity is on Twitter, too, along with the Roaming Gnome and a few writers from The Window Seat. So, please, find us!

Much like the airlines mentioned in this article, we have found that Twitter (along with Facebook and MySpace) is a fantastic way to engage with other travelers. From the bottom of our hearts, we want you to have the best experience possible, so please follow us and contact us at anytime.

Here are a few places to find us:

@travelocity

Baseball fever is in the air and in just a few days Major League Baseball will be kicking off opening day in the City of Brotherly Love, where the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies will play against the Atlanta Braves.

And if there's one thing is for sure, die-hard baseball fans will be traveling miles away, braving the rainstorms, humidity, cold, or the extra long ball games (you know, the ones that goes into extra innings and neither team scores a run until the 12th inning) to cheer on their teams.

Last season, as a compromise with my significant other over baseball and shoe shopping, I accompanied him to three baseball games across the East Coast from Boston to Philadelphia to follow his New York Mets team and suprisingly, I had a wonderful time!

Does the phrase “home-exchange vacation” pique your interest or make you shudder? (Or maybe it depends on which end of the bargain you’re thinking about.) If you could acquire a house (if only temporarily) anywhere in the world, where would you go?

IgoUgo has posted a quick snap poll to collect travelers’ opinions about home exchanges and would love to include your votes. So if you’ve got 30 seconds, give it a look! The worst that can happen is you spend the rest of the day browsing swap sites while wondering if your apartment building’s super would notice...not that I'm speaking from personal experience.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member NiceGinna

I've been talking about getting your passport for a few years now, but this time I really mean it.  The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative has had a rolling ID ramp-up requiring passports for people who are entering the United States from Mexico, the Caribbean, or Canada.  Up until now it only mattered for people who were traveling by air.  But as of June 1st passports, NOT JUST A DRIVERS LICENCSE, will be required for entry back into the US.