A scary way to travel this season

I'm traveling to Carowinds' adapted Halloween version of its park called "SCarowinds" tonight. I've never been to a "scare park," but it got me thinking: how many other amusement parks turn into fright fests by night?

Scare parks are generally only open in October in commemoration of Halloween. What a perfect time of year to visit. We can forget about all that comes with the general mid-summer theme park visit: no long lines while dying in the heat, gulping down $5 bottles of water to stay hydrated...and did I mention the horrible farmer's tan lines?

Yes, fall is perhaps the ideal time of year to visit a scary amusement park and take the risk of wetting your pants. (You think I'm kidding, but sources have told me there is a high likelihood of this at SCarowinds.)

If you're looking for a fun way to spend the Halloween season this year, check out this CNN article for a list of theme parks celebrating All Hallows Eve in frightening style this year.

But don't just beware of the creepy goblins stalking you; be prepared to shell up to $70 for a general admission pass.

Halloween theme parks are a great way to go beyond the stereotypical reaches of travel. So put aside your museum passes and passports, and be prepared for more...frightening...travel memories:

Vacation rentals: are they safe?

I have never really thought of vacation rentals as a popular form of lodging while traveling. I don't know, something about it seems a bit "sketchy" or even risky.

As of recent, word from lawmakers and housing officials appear to agree with this. They've been hinting that vacation rentals may violate local ordinances about locals renting out their properties--leaving foreign renters "guilty by association."

Nonetheless, others are saying that vacation rentals are perfectly safe and legal. Restrictions are typically very vague and have little to no consequences for the actual renter.

I am still a bit unsure how I feel about renting abroad; it seems more fun to stay at a cool hotel and not have to worry about the daily duties of cleaning up and cooking that we usually try to avoid while traveling in the first place.

If you are interested in learning how to make vacation rentals work for you, check out these six tips from Budget Travel Magazine. The article reminds travelers to rent with somebody you trust, always pay with a credit card, get everything in writing and ask specifically about the owner's right to rent (among others).

Travel in the 21st century

In light of my recent post about medial tourism, I thought I'd share another growing form of travel.

Volunteer vacationing. Have you heard of it? It's basically exactly what it sounds like: combining volunteerism with travel abroad.

After international catastrophes like the earthquake in Haiti, many are gaining interest in this new form of travel. But you don't need to travel to a disaster-ridden country in order to volunteer. People in cities, town and tiny villages just about everywhere need help, from helping build a hospital in a remote community to helping a local farm with its daily chores.

Last summer, I traveled to Ghana with Appalachian through a service-learning program. Service-learning, in my opinion, is essentially the university version of volunteer vacationing. My group and I spent three weeks helping to build a school in a remote village and taught AIDS education. So not only did we get to experiencing the culture and see the sights:

West Africa's highest waterfall

...But we also got to help out an impoverished school in a great community:

Mixing cement for cement block molds for school library construction

My volunteer travel in Ghana was the perfect marriage of helping others while getting to take time away in a new place with a very different way of life.

I would encourage travelers to look into volunteer vacationing not because of what it can do for you, but for what you can do for someone else--for a child, a family or a community.

Volunteer vacationing exemplifies what traveling in the 21st century means. It encourages enthusiasts to truly step outside of their comfort zone and bring more to the travel experience than all-you-can-eat buffets and over-priced tourist traps.

Blind bidding

Last month, I traveled to Atlanta for a concert and friend's birthday celebration. We stayed at a five-star Marriot hotel in the heart of downtown for...drum roll...$70 a night. Yes, it was amazing. How did we swing a $300+/night hotel for 70 bucks?

My friend is a Priceline-guru and did her research on hotel bargaining websites to find the best time to place a bid on Priceline. I've never really been familiar with this process--I usually do a general Expedia search for a hotel and that's about it.

A New York Times article published about a week ago explains this hotel bargaining web process and compares different sites such as Priceline, Hotwire, Skyauction (had never heard of it) and LuxuryLink. 

Basically, these sites allow travelers to "blindly" bid on hotels with information about their pricepoint, preferred star-rating and arrival/departure dates. After checking with websites like BetterBidding.com, users are offered multiple hotel options, however the name and amenity details of the hotels are not shown until after travelers commit and pay. 

This can be nerve-racking for many travelers, myself included. There's something about knowing the hotel I'm about to shell out cash for, even if it is at a discounted rate. On the other hand, perhaps it is worth to risk to save hundreds of dollars on luxurious hotel deals. 

Would you take the risk for a deal?

"What? $8 for a pillow and blanket?"

I know I've been writing quite a few posts related to airlines and flying recently. It's a tough subject to avoid while perusing timely travel news since flying is such an important (and often controversial price-wise) element of travel.

Recently, I've shared news about Wi-Fi on a flight, tracking a plane from the ground, and now the fundamental topic of flying: prices.

According to this USA TODAY article, flight fees are up 50% compared to last year. The story, based off an USA TODAY analysis, compares 13 major airlines. The analysis looked at price changes for many items such as checked bags, preferred seating, in-flight snacks and Wi-Fi use. (See JetBlue Wi-Fi article below. Major kudos to them for free Wi-Fi.)

What does this mean to the regular air traveler? We could see a decrease in flight sales in the future. Still, airlines are still raking in the cash--U.S. Airlines brought in $2.1 billion in revenue in this year's second quarter, according to the story. (You can check out the full analysis comparison here.)

I don't think we'll see a major decrease in flying anywhere in the near future. In my opinion, it's too convenient--and even with new fees popping up, air travelers just aren't willing to give it up.

Look, a plane!

So this isn't exactly travel news, but might be the coolest thing I've heard in a while. Besides, it has to do with airplines--and that's travel-related, right?

The big question: have you ever looked up at an airplane in the sky and wondered where it was going?

Well, wonder no more, thanks to a recent smart phone app called Plane Finder AR featured in a recent CNN.com article.

The app can tell you where the plane started, where it's headed, how fast it's going and other aircraft technicalities like the flight number.

This is one of those things I've been waiting around
forever for someone to invent. It seems a little Jetsons-esque to just hold your smart phone up to the sky and have the details of a flight above presented to you on your phone. What a cool world we live in.

Some users have not found much success with the app since it doesn't work as well in the U.S. yet. More sensors must be installed in the U.S. in order to expand the app's success across the country.

So travel lovers, now when we look up at a plane, we don't just have to guess about the cool place it is headed to. Instead, we can be just plain jealous as we watch the Hawaii-bound plane pass right over us.

Photo above courtesy of CNN.

Gives me a sinking feeling

Any cruisers out there? If so, this post might just be for you...although it's a little eerie.

In memory of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the infamous Titanic, two cruise lines are shipping off to commemorate the occasion, including excursions to the sinking site, memorials and diving expeditions. (Kind of creepy?)

A CNN article (check it out here) shares how the Titanic Memorial Cruise and Voyages! Titanic 2012 cruises will be sailing in memory of the Titanic, which sunk on April 15, 2012.

The Titanic Memorial Cruise will hold a memorial service at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, according to the article, to mark the exact time the Titanic sunk. It will also include the exact same number of passengers as the Titanic--1,309 to be precise. Check out the Titanic Memorial Cruise itinerary:

Is anyone a bit taken aback by this? Pardon my insensitivity, but we don't have camp to remember the Holocaust, so why is it acceptable to have cruise excursions to remember the Titanic? There are better ways we can remember this tragic event than to replicate it.