Greetings from Canada! 
😞 Slow news day yesterday, eh?
Crazy times and as former President Obama said on Threads, "There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy." My heart also goes out to Shannen Doherty's, Dr. Ruth Westheimer's and Richard Simmons' families. I once flew LAX to Toronto with Richard Simmons and he was one of the nicest celebrities I've ever met. Here's my story about that experience.
✈️ Disturbing travel stories
If you read the travel news and watch the travel videos below, you will see there are some disturbing travel stories from the past week. However, this stat in The Atlantic should make you feel better about your next flight: "More than 100,000 flights take off every day without issue, which means that incidents are treated as newsworthy anomalies."
🏞️ Lake House on Canandaigua
This week, my family and I went on a road trip to upstate New York to the beautiful Finger Lakes. We spent three glorious nights at the Lake House on Canandaigua (review coming soon). Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of the lake or this wonderful hotel before. But I'm glad we found the time to drive down (it's just a 3.5 hour drive from Toronto). It's a very special place and my wife and kids want to make this an annual tradition.
🌪️ We sheltered in place
We spent an extra day there after I saw that the remnants of Hurricane Beryl was in our path. We made the right choice to avoid flash flooding and tornado warnings. Our phones lit up at the hotel and many of the guests (including us) sheltered in place in the lobby, which was a wild experience.
🛒 Trader Joe's near Niagara Falls
On the way back to Toronto, we split the drive in half (roughly two hours each leg) by stopping at the Trader Joe's near Niagara Falls to stretch our legs, use the loo and more importantly, stock up on our favorite goodies for Natalie's family since there's no TJ's north of the border.
🍑 Wegmans Canandaigua
Before the drive, we also stopped at Wegmans (pictured above), which was a mile from our hotel and one of my favorite grocery stores of all time.
💰 Discover the best travel deals: Early bird specials for Amazon Prime Day 2024 are here
Amazon Prime Day 2024 is set for this Tuesday and Wednesday (July 16-17) and as usual, shoppers can expect to find significant discounts across various categories, from beauty and sports to home, tech and travel. While this year’s Prime Day is still a couple of days away, Amazon has dropped some early bird deals so if you want to beat the rush and score some deals before items sell out, now’s your chance. You can check out all the Early Bird Amazon Prime Day deals here, along with some of our top picks for travelers.
🌎 Travel Trivia Question of the Week
Here's our Travel Trivia Tuesday question, which stemmed from a conversation with my son on our road trip this week: What's the largest lake in the world? Scroll down to the bottom to find the answer.
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✈️ Today's Travel Outlook 
We're getting ready to head home to California this week, after being away for a month. I'm glad we're not flying today because there are already over 234 canceled flights and a few thousand delayed. It looks like United and American are leading the way with the most canceled flights and Chicago (ORD), Houston (IAH), Philadelphia (PHL) and Denver (DEN) for U.S. airports.
As of 2:25pm ET, there have been 232 canceled flights to, from or within the United States and 3,464 delayed. Here's a link to the up-to-date stats and a live look at the FAA's National Airspace System Status. Here's what to do during weather delays and flight cancellations.
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🧭 Travel Product of the Week 
The ultimate sleep mask: Why I’ll never go back to my old one
I recently wrote a post about the best sleep mask ever and included the Total Sleep Mask System by Dandelion Dreams. Last year, I wrote a similar post about the sleep mask that has, for years, been my go-to: The Lewis N. Clark sleep mask. Well, after I tried the one my mother-in-law just gave me, I felt terrible for writing the last two posts because this one is so amazing, there’s really no comparison. Here's what makes it so good.
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🔫 Monday 
Tourists squirted with squirt guns by anti-tourist protesters in Barcelona: Should you change your travel plans?
A few weeks ago, Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, announced that the popular tourist city will ban apartment rentals to tourists by November 2028. That’s over 10,000 apartments that currently have a permit for short-term rentals. The reason why? To lower soaring housing costs and make Barcelona a liveable city again for residents. Yesterday, locals tried to speed up the process of getting rid of tourists by holding up signs that read “tourists go home” and worse, drenching diners along main boulevards like Las Rambles with squirt guns. Here's what you need to know.
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🍔 Tuesday 
The best ways to find authentic and inexpensive food when eating abroad
Like most travelers, when I'm abroad, I want to find delicious, authentic local food and I don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. Here are my tips for doing just that.
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💰 Wednesday 
Don't fall for it: The restaurant tipping scam that makes you tip extra without knowing
When tipping at a restaurant, diners are often offered already-calculated tip options. That makes things so much easier, right? Or does it? In today's tip, you'll see why you need to pay attention when tipping on these machines. Read the story here.
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💸 Thursday 
Protect your valuables: Why a money belt is essential for travelers
Getting pickpocketed while you’re traveling is one sure way to ruin your trip. Even experienced travelers like Rick Steves have been pickpocketed in Europe (read about that here) and a takeaway that anyone who’s experienced this will share is to always use a money belt to conceal your valuables. Here's what we recommend.
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🛂 Friday 
Travel warning: The costly mistakes that left a yoga teacher stranded in Asia
There’s an unfortunate story making waves right now about a yoga teacher in Thailand trying to make her way home but was denied boarding because she has a small tear in her passport. There are several lessons to be learned, which I outline here in the hopes that this doesn't happen to you or any of your loved ones.
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🔥 Saturday 
American Airlines plane evacuated after smoke fills the cabin in intense incident
American Airlines (AA) flight 2405 from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Miami International Airport (MIA) had to be evacuated while parked at the gate. Here's the story and some lessons to be learned.
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📺 Travel Videos of the Week 
LAX passenger runs onto tarmac shirtless and shoeless after missing flight, leading to police pursuit on foot
By now, I suppose we should all be accustomed to seeing bizarre behavior at airports and on airplanes. It’s been happening for a while now. The latest I’ve read about happened at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and at the terminal I frequent most often, American Airlines’ Terminal 4. Here's the video.
Unbelievable: Oversized boat gets stuck in Sepulveda Tunnel under LAX runway, blocking traffic
Fortunately, I was out of town on July 5, because this incident took place on a road I’ve taken hundreds, if not thousands, of times: the Sepulveda Tunnel, heading northbound towards LAX. It’s right under a runway and almost always has traffic. This incident no doubt made life miserable for some travelers running late to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Here's the story and video.
Rude: Couple books window and aisle seats, refuse to sit together, then chat and pass drinks over middle seat passenger
A TikToker says that a couple booked an aisle and window seat, refused to sit together, then proceeded to chat and pass drinks over her in the middle seat. Here's the story and video.
‘Aggressive and disruptive’ United Airlines passenger zip-tied after biting off piece of flight attendant’s uniform
There’s a video circulating on social media in which you can clearly see a female passenger take a huge chunk out of a male flight attendant’s uniform. It happened on United Flight 762 from Miami to Newark and shows an upset passenger screaming at other passengers while the flight crew tries to restrain her. Here's the story and video.
Delta Air Lines pilot flies his toddler for the first time and the Internet can’t get enough
This 7-second video of a pilot's toddler waddling down the airplane aisle once the flight has landed is so cute -- it's not surprising it's going viral. Here's the story and video.
Plain White T's singer surprises cancer patient in emotional video
Iknow this isn’t a travel video and it’s a year old but I just came across it for the first time on social media and it’s too good not to share. Warning: It will bring both a smile and tears to your face. Watch the video here. |
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💬 TRAVEL QUOTE OF THE DAY “A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” ~ Moslih Eddin Saadi |
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🌎 12 Things to Know in Travel Today 1 Two RyanAir pilots killed in car crash on way to airport
2 Hurricane Beryl spawned most US tornadoes of any Tropical system in 19 years
3 Six arrested after 'stag party fight' broke out on Ryanair plane at Tenerife airport
4 Boeing begins 777-9 certification flight trials with US FAA
5 Fresh warning to tourists as extreme heat wave in Greece expected
6 Tourist dies during excursion on Italy’s Mount Etna
7 How Airbnb fails to protect guests from hidden cameras
8 As alpine glaciers melt, the corpses of long-lost climbers keep popping out of the ice
9 Beryl a sign the world is in hot water, and more bad storms ahead
10 Maui sees significant decrease in tourists a year after devastating wildfires
11 Burns from scorching-hot sidewalks and roads are rising, and can be fatal
12 Extreme heat is changing where and when we vacation
Read it all here as well as the 84 other top travel news stories from this past week! |
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🧵 TRAVEL THREAD OF THE DAY @eatitkatie: One time I was boarding a Southwest flight and I was position B1. I asked a woman in line what number she was and she said, “B3” so I stepped in front of her. She was like, “That’s not how this works.” I was like, “That’s actually exactly how this works.” You all know this is how Southwest boarding works, right? |
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✅ Currency Exchange 🇪🇺 €1 Euro = $1.08 USD
🇬🇧 £1 GBP = $1.29 USD
🇨🇦 $1 CAD = $0.73 USD
🇦🇺 $1 AUD = $0.67 USD
🇲🇽 $1 MXN = $.056 USD
✅ Calendar Countdown 🛠 50 days until Labor Day
🎃 109 days until Halloween
🦃 137 days until Thanksgiving
🎅 164 day until Christmas
🎊 170 day until New Year's Eve |
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💳 Our favorite credit card rewards to earn in 2024
💳 5 reasons why the Bilt Card is worth it
The Bilt World Elite Mastercard continues to be the best way to pay rent with a card as you can earn 1 point per dollar in rent payments without fees. However, if you have a high monthly payment, you can reach the previous $50,000 annual earning cap before year-end. Thankfully, the annual Bilt points cap is being lifted so you can earn more points on rent. Here are 5 of the best reasons the Bilt Card is worth it.
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✈️ Travel Trivia Tuesday Answer |
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What's the largest lake in the world?
Answer: According to Britannica, "Eurasia hosts the world’s largest inland body of water, the Caspian Sea (whose surface area sprawls some 386,000 square km [roughly 150,000 square miles]). North America contains five of the top 10 largest lakes, three of which are part of the Great Lakes."
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