The travel industry, particularly hotels, are hoping to get in on the Cyber Monday action by offering great deals. The travel media has done a great job of picking up on this trend, so here's a sample of what's being covered and a quick snap shot of each.

Barbara De Lollis writes on the USA Today Hotel Check-In blog about Starwood and Affinia. Starwood offers up to 45 percent off rates during a three-day sale; Affinia offers 15 percent off today only. Travel into 2010.

Ben Mutzabaugh writes on the Today in the Sky blog (also USA Today) about airlines getting on on the action. United, JetBlue and Virgin America all have sales today. The United and JetBlue tickets must be purchased today.

It's not even Thanksgiving, and many cities already look like Christmas. Department store windows are festooned in silver snowflakes and star-shaped lights, and some have even sprung up genuine evergreens.

But in some places, the holidays aren't just a winter affectation. Check out these pit stops and roadside attractions that do "seasonal" in a big, weird way:

Gozzi's Turkey Farm (Guilford, CT)

(Source)

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. - Benjamin Franklin

Whether you're crashing on Aunt Edna's floral couch or hosting your in-laws for a week, the holidays are about bonding with loved ones in cramped quarters. We asked our readers to send us their most hair-raising tales of guests gone bad. Here are your houseguest horror stories!

Whether you miss your holiday flight due to a blizzard or due to your own immersion in Google’s free WiFi, getting stuck won’t suck if you’re at one of the airports gifting travelers with holiday happiness. From present-wrapping to performances to karaoke, here are seven U.S. airports with particularly festive holiday plans for 2009.

It wouldn’t be the season without a place to strap on skates and glide in a spectacular setting, and with Thanksgiving just around the bend, ice-skating rinks are opening up across the nation. From the bare-leaf trees of New England to the palm trees of Southern California, here are seven ultimate U.S. spots to practice your figure eights and triple lutz jumps.

At least, that's what many of us would like to do. Travelocity's most recent poll on 'oblications' (obligation vacations) revealed that while 93 percent of us use at least some of our hard-earned vacation time traveling for out-of-town obligations, more than half (58 percent) would rather spend that time taking a real vacation.

Think you do a lot of business traveling? Try being President.

Since being sworn into office, President Barack Obama has visited 16 unique nations--a number that will jump to 20 with this week's trip to Asia. And that doesn't even include his upcoming trip to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Runner-up in the foreign travel category, George H.W. Bush, visited 14 countries during his first year in office.

This attention to foreign travel is relatively new for sitting U.S. presidents. Prior to Theodore Roosevelt--who made a three-day trip to Panama in 1906--all presidential travel was domestic. But while Obama's jet setting marks a trend in increased executive-office travel, what about those of us without president-sized budgets?

Earlier this week, I appeared on San Francisco's View from the Bay (video below) to talk about Travelocity's Travel Rudeness Poll and how to avoid being an annoying traveler this holiday season. At the beginning of the segment, the host of the show made an accurate observation: he said that there's nothing like traveling during the holidays to bring out the worst in people! My response: 'Tis the season to be grumpy!

Having grown up in Georgia, I was bummed yesterday when I read that Southern states bring up the rear on the list of the happiest places in the U.S. There’s no question in my mind that the South, and particularly my hometown of Atlanta, often get a bum rap when it comes to tourism--and now they’re downers, too?!

Via LiveScience.com: Need a pick-me-up? Travel where it’s happy. According to an article by Jeanna Bryner of LiveScience.com, researchers have determined that well-being is at its highest in states that lie in the U.S. mountains and in the far West. The Mid-Atlantic, New England, and the Midwest came next. Southern states were deemed the least happy.

Please join us in welcoming Kristin Luna to The Window Seat. She lives in San Francisco and is the writer of the Bloggie-award-winning travel blog Camels and Chocolate.

In Berlin, nothing is forgiven or forgotten. So says the inscription beside Weisse Kreuze, a memorial of seven white crosses to those who tried to escape the GDR for West Berlin after the border was sealed off, silently reminding its residents of a turbulent era that could all too easily repeat itself. Twenty years ago today, the Wall—Berliner Mauer—came tumbling to the ground (metaphorically, of course), and while the city has been whitewashed and many remnants from the Cold War swept under the rug, all other activity in Berlin has come to a halt to commemorate this crucial anniversary of Germany's reunification.

Ahh, holiday travel. Long lines. Packed planes. Short fuses. Is it any wonder many of us dread air travel over the holidays? Travelocity’s recent ‘Rudeness Poll’ identified travelers’ biggest pet peeves and what’s considered the worst behavior on the part of other travelers. Did you ever stop to consider, though, that maybe you’re the rude traveler? In other words, it’s not them, it’s you. If you identify with any of the personalities below, remember a little courtesy goes a long way to making everyone’s journey more enjoyable. Happy Holidays!

I never put "airport lines" on my Christmas list, and yet there they are every year, looming like an inexorable holiday fruitcake.

Well, this year--no more! I'm taking it upon myself to educate you in the ways of the speedy security line, and with the busiest travel time of the year looming large, I hope you'll take it upon yourself to learn. It beats dashing to your gate with your sneakers half-laced--speaking of which:

SHOES: If it ties, laces, buckles, or wraps, forget it. There may be a runway, but the airport's no catwalk--and the easier it is to take your shoes on and off, the better. This goes equally for riveted work boots and red Nancy Drew pumps.

LAPTOPS: Leave them at home, or opt for an X-ray-friendly laptop bag. They're inexpensive, good-looking, and you won't hold up the line while you fumble with your hardware.

Recently I discovered How I Met Your Mother, which means I was the second-to-last person on Earth to get obsessed with it. This show nails what it's like to be a young adult in the city. And so far my favorite episode has been "Murtaugh." In it, Ted says he has a list of things he is now too old to do, like pull an all-nighter or drink from a beer bong. The list is named after the main character in Lethal Weapon, Roger Murtaugh, who famously says, "I'm gettin' too old for this sh*t." But the item on Ted's Murtaugh List that resonated the most with me was: Crash on a friend's futon for the night instead of getting a hotel room.

My sister recently declined to come and visit me in San Francisco over New Year's despite the fact that I'd found her a round-trip fare from San Diego for the very attractive price of $109.  Did she have plans? Was it not in the budget? Are my parties so lame that no-one wants to come to them anymore?

Nope, none of those reasons. Instead it's this: she's scared of flying.

I'm sure we all know someone who's a nervous flier, so I'm here to pass along the good news: Virgin Atlantic has teamed up with Apple to offer its highly popular Flying Without Fear course---which has a 98% success rate---as an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Ever wonder where that lost luggage of yours ended up? If you flew through PHX, it may be at this creepy couple's house. They were arrested this week for stealing more than 1,000 bags from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. I got a call from channel 12 News in Phoenix to talk about how travelers can prevent this from happening to them. Even though it's tough to protect a bag that isn't in your possession, there are a few things you can do to make sure someone else doesn't claim your luggage.

When it comes to bad airplane seatmates, I thought I’d sat next to them all—drunkards, space invaders, restless leg-jigglers, shrieking babies, tantruming executives, loudmouths, and the dreaded unbathed. But in all my time on airplanes, I’ve never had to endure the gross-out horror of sitting next to someone dipping tobacco until this past Friday when I flew from Dallas to San Francisco.

It started right at boarding time. I’d already taken my window seat, and there he was getting on the plane, baseball cap on, looking to all the world like a nice-enough, normal-enough guy. He sat down next to me and immediately flagged the flight attendant, with an unusual request. He wanted a cup. Empty. She gave him a look, but then went and got him the cup, no questions asked.

Many a traveler has planned a trip simply to sample local tipples; the popularity of the Napa Valley wine trail is a testament to that. So how about blazing a brewery trail in one of the urban hubs leading the pack in American beer making?

These eight cities, known for their high concentrations of high-quality breweries, are perfect destinations for tasting beer, Napa-style. Channel your inner barfly and get ready for hops from brewery to brewery.