After all that planning and waiting, you’re finally on that trip of your dreams, far away from your home country. You keep your passport handy during your travels because you’ll need it for Customs and other travel-related things. But now you’re getting ready to go out and about as a tourist, and you pause for a second…should you bring your passport with you?

When I wrote about the two conflicting words that lead to poor customer service, I had no idea it would touch such a nerve. The comment I received the most from people who work in customer service can be paraphrased in this simple statement: "Well, maybe you're right but the customers suck!!" I thought about this for a while. As customers, do we get the customer service we deserve?

After a record-breaking 43 days, the government shutdown finally ended. But while it was still going on, passengers continually asked TSA workers, both online and in person, what they could do to make TSA officers' burden a little lighter. Of course, TSAOs aren't allowed to accept any sort of gifts - even the smallest thing - from a passenger. So many of them asked that when the shutdown was finished, passengers continue to act as kindly as they were now.

Airlines have figured out how to charge us for just about everything, including where we sit – but one “premium” spot I still don’t understand is the beloved bulkhead seat. Airlines know which seats people like best and therefore will charge the most for them. As a result, they separate the cabin into categories and charge fees based on demand for each seat type.

Established in Texas in 1982, Buc-ee's has simply exploded over the years. Part gas station, part country store, part electric vehicle charger and, at some locations, part car wash, what began as a small chain exclusive to Texas has exploded into 54 mega travel centers spread across 11 states (Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia), with future locations announced every few months (future locations have recently been reported for Arizona, Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin).

Orlando’s main airport just scored a pair of new ultra-low-cost routes, giving budget-conscious travelers even more ways to get in and out of Central Florida. As demand for leisure trips keeps climbing, another discount carrier is quietly adding seats — and eye-catching sale fares — ahead of the spring travel season. Instead of chasing business flyers with daily schedules, these flights are clearly aimed at vacationers.

Airlines are in the business of getting as many passengers as possible. To help them reach their goals of filling their planes, they advertise seemingly everywhere. You'll see their ads on television. On social media. If you still listen to terrestrial radio or have a magazine subscription, you might even encounter ads for airlines there, too. Since airlines require you to have an email address to make a reservation, be a member of their frequent flyer program, etc., it's only natural that you'll receive advertising from them in your inbox, as well.

When you go to an airport, you know that chances are your options for food are usually going to be pretty limited. Sure, there might be a diamond in the rough, like Cask & Larder at MCO or One Flew South at ATL (full disclosure: my husband and I gave up a chance to eat "Linner" (lunch/dinner) at One Flew South this past weekend by filling up with a late breakfast at Waffle House.

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you already know we’re unapologetically pro-Starbucks when we travel. It’s predictable coffee in unfamiliar places, mobile ordering in chaotic airports, and an easy “default” breakfast when we’re jet-lagged and don’t feel like exploring. We even explained why Starbucks is often our go-to on the road in this post about how we get coffee when we travel…

Not long ago there were reports that since 2024, there has been an influx of travelers who had had their Global Entry revoked. From visaverge.com: According to internal tallies shared with industry observers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revoked 17,281 Global Entry memberships in 2024, a 47% increase from the previous year. The trend has carried into 2025…

Right now, international travel from the United States is as popular as ever. Flights across the Atlantic and Pacific are packed, and prices often still feel higher than they did before the pandemic. Between bucket-list trips, long-delayed vacations and people finally getting comfortable traveling far from home again, more Americans are heading overseas than we’ve seen in years. That’s great news if you love to travel, but it also means brushing up on some basics that are easy to forget if you’ve mostly stayed within the U.S.

Once upon a time, the Chase Sapphire Preferred was the darling of the miles and points universe. It earned valuable Ultimate Rewards points with bonus points for spending on travel and dining, and for a while, it was the default starter card. Then the Sapphire Reserve showed up and stole the spotlight with richer perks and a bigger bonus in the same core categories.

There can't be a whole lot of people who dislike Dolly Parton. Even if you're not a fan of her music, there's also all the good that she's done. She's donated money toward education, medicine, social causes and to those affected by natural disasters. She started a foundation that has donated even more money to those in need. She's given so much that she received the Carnegie Medal of…

Sometimes an AMEX Offer comes back that’s not flashy but still worth adding right away. My wife Sharon just received one of those on several of her cards, and it happens to be one of my favorite recurring Amex offers: 10% back on insurance payments, up to $20. Even better, it’s valid through December 31, 2025. Easy money if you have an insurance bill that you can pay with an American Express card.

Some of the airports in Florida are BUSY. In fact, 2 of Florida's airports - Orlando International Airport and Miami International Airport, are among the top ten busiest airports in the country (#9 and #10, respectively). They're busy enough that passengers are generally told to arrive at the airport 3 hours before their flight and be at the TSA security kiosk 2 hours before their flight, instead of just arriving at the airport 2 hours before their flight.

As I mentioned in another post, I like to think of myself as something of a "model passenger." I'm not saying that as a way to show off. It's just that I've traveled a lot, so with that experience, I know what to expect and when to expect it. I also follow the rules, do what the TSA, gate agent and flight attendants tell me to do, don't try to manipulate situations and generally do what I can to not be a PITA.

Airport lounges have gotten busy over the past few years, and the American Express Centurion Lounges are some of the worst offenders. At peak times, it’s not unusual to see a crowd outside the entrance and a waitlist that can stretch close to an hour. To make things a little smoother, Amex has been rolling out a digital waitlist and…

Sometimes you can do the right thing, and still come out losing because of an airline's "rules." And sometimes another airline will step in and make it all right after all. In early November, 61-year-old Stephen Crean was hailed as a hero when he confronted a dangerous attacker on a train in Cambridgeshire. At the time, Crean was heading home to London on November 1st when it turned out there was a knife-wielding attacker on his train.

I’ve said for years that you should always register at least one credit card with a dining rewards program. You never know when it might pay off. And recently, that advice proved itself in a place I would’ve never expected — a small, Bavarian-style mountain town in North Georgia. Why My Card Was Even Linked To Bilt I didn’t originally link my World of Hyatt Visa to Bilt for dining at all.

Hyatt is currently running a sale that, on the surface, appears to be fantastic. Discounted rates, a long travel window, and “Members Save More” banners all over the place. However, when I compared the promo prices to a stay we had already booked, I realized the real story isn’t the discount. The real story is in the fine print. Our Example: A One-Night Hyatt Regency Stay…

If you’re old enough to remember airports before 9/11, you’ll recall that TSA checkpoints weren’t always part of the experience. You’d check in, walk through a simple metal detector (shoes on, imagine that), and head straight to your gate. Friends and family could walk right up to the jet bridge to see you off or greet you when you landed. Today, U.S. airports still allow people without boarding passes to reach the gate only if they’re accompanying an unaccompanied minor or a traveler with a disability who needs extra assistance. It’s meant to ensure kids and passengers with mobility or medical issues make it safely to their departure gate.

If there’s one thing that travel does, it gives you the perspective that all of us on this earth, regardless of where we’re from, are more similar than different. Each country has its own way of doing things. The people may be similar, but their customs might be completely different from ours. For example, I don’t know why they eat salad for breakfast in Japan, but there you go.

When Southwest announced it was rolling out a new Basic fare to replace Wanna Get Away, my first thought was, “Well, there goes the last ‘simple’ airline.” On paper, Basic looks pretty rough: no early seat selection, last to board, bag fees for most people, and limited flexibility. But we finally booked a Basic fare to see what it was like in the real world.

If you're traveling by plane in the United States, you know that sometimes you'll get pulled aside for a "swab test." It happened to me on our way home from New Orleans a while back. I had nothing to hide, and we were way early for our flight at MSY, so I stayed good-natured and joked with the TSA officer that if he opened my bag, he was going to have to close it too because it was stuffed and had taken me 10 minutes to get the zippers to close ;-).

Several credit cards offer bonuses on gas purchases. It's a smart business choice because using a card for gas means that the card will always be in your wallet, and you're more likely to use that card for other purchases besides when you go to fill up the tank. Which card is the BEST? It depends on the type of reward you want to earn (cash or points), whether you want to pay an annual fee, and whether you prefer an all-around card or one that's specifically for gas purchases.