You want to take a vacation and you’re looking for inspiration. Or maybe you know generally where you want to go, but you need guidance on the best things to see and do when you get there.

The newest travel site in town, Ruba.com, is a visual guide and tour review site that helps travelers discover their next perfect trip. Need to know the most spectacular ruins in Rome? The best beaches in Thailand? Looking for a boutique hotel in Egypt? Or the best way travel to Dublin with kids? You can find it all at Ruba. Unlike many other travel sites where you consume reviews of individual hotels, restaurants, and sights, and THEN have to put it all together into a travel itinerary, on Ruba you can explore comprehensive photo-filled guides written by Ruba experts, fellow travelers, and tour companies anxious to share their experience and knowledge about specific destinations across the globe.

On the other hand, if you’re an expert on a particular city, country, or activity, you may want to create a an expert guide to share with others. Ruba makes that process a breeze, right down to providing pictures (of course, you can use your own photos, if you prefer). To see how simple it is, watch the brief video below, then cruise over to Ruba and start planning your next vacation.

American Airlines has just announced a sale on beaches! Purchase tickets by June 16, 2009 for outbound travel through October 29, 2009. Travel must be complete by October 31, 2009. The following are just a small example of the sale prices:

• Miami to/from Nassau, Bahamas Starting at $49*
• Miami to/from Freeport, Bahamas Starting at $59*
• Dallas/Ft. Worth to/from Cancun, Mexico Starting at $67*
• Boston to/from Cozumel, Mexico Starting at $74*
• Miami to/from Oranjestad, Aruba Starting at $129*
• Boston to/from Los Cabos, Mexico Starting at $150*
• Miami to/from Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Starting at $157*
• Miami to/from St. Maarten Starting at $179*
• New York to/from St. Kitts Starting at $192*

This is a limited time offer, and the low prices quoted above will likely rise or disappear as available seats are snapped up, so if you’re up for an exotic beach vacation, take advantage of this American Airlines special offer as soon as possible.

* Fares are each way, based on round-trip Economy class purchase. Reservations are required. Tickets must be purchased on AA.com within 1 day of making reservations or by 11:59 p.m. Central Time on June 16, 2009, whichever comes first. Sale fares are valid Monday through Thursday; other days are subject to higher fares. A 2-night minimum stay is required, and a 30-day maximum stay is allowed.

At a time when fewer people are flying and airlines are struggling, Southwest recently announced they will begin service to two new destinations. Flights to New York’s LaGuardia will begin on June 28th and Boston’s Logan International’s service will start on August 16th.

To promote the new routes, Southwest is offering excellent fares. I checked on Tampa Bay to LaGuardia (my preferred airport when flying into NYC) for the dates of August 18-25 and came up with a round-trip “Wanna Get Away” fare of $257.40, inclusive of all airport fees and taxes. Not bad, considering summer is high season for NY. From Chicago to LaGuardia for the same dates the fare is $239.20. Both examples were for early morning schedules rather than some middle-of-the-night red eye flight, and while the Tampa to LaGuardia example required a change in Baltimore, the Chicago flight was non-stop.

Flights to Boston Logan were equally affordable. From Tampa the fare for a round-trip afternoon flight was $200.40 with a stop in Baltimore, and $249.80 from Chicago.

Southwest’s expansion into these two markets is intriguing. Their successful business model has historically focused on serving alternative airports rather than the major metropolitan airports. For example, prior to this recent Read the rest of this entry »

The more I travel, the more I want to travel – it’s an addiction of sorts, but a good one, I think. Over the past few years I’ve been able to “check off” a whole bunch of destinations that I was determined to see before I died, but there are still so many places I want to go. I decided that I needed to make a list of the places I’d been and the places I still want to visit:

WHERE I’VE BEEN:

• All around the U.S., with the exception of Alaska, Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Alabama, Mississippi, and Rhode Island
• Canada (British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan)
• Mexico (Puerto Vallarta, Acupulco, Tijuana, Rosarita Beach, and Puerto Penasco)
• Caribbean (U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Curacao)
• Honduras
• Spain
• Gibraltar
• Italy and The Vatican
• Switzerland
• Portugal
• Morocco
• Tanzania
• Zanzibar
• South Africa
• Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls)
• Botswana (Chobe Game Park)
• Zambia (on the Zambezi River)
• Thailand
• Singapore
• Cambodia (Angkor Wat)
• Vietnam
• Bali
• Australia
• New Zealand
• India (Mumbai, Ajanta, Goa, Madhya Pradesh)

Read the rest of this entry »