Travel News

AP - A trek uphill from Jordan's scorching Dead Sea shore through the towering sandstone walls of the Mujib gorge leaves you with a pulse-racing way to get back down — strap into a harness and rappel down a waterfall into a sparkling river.

AP - It happened to Plains, when Jimmy Carter became president and a tiny hamlet in western Georgia became famous as the hometown of a certain peanut farmer.

AP - In Phoenix, there's nothing a trip to the golf course can't fix. It's a warm winter escape for those who can afford a second home, and it basks in the spa-facial glow of being a place where people will pay a lot for five-star fun.

AP - For more than 20 years, Fred Simeone kept his priceless collection of vintage racing cars in a nondescript garage downtown. He'd give private tours to other car collectors and enthusiasts, but the automotive gems remained largely hidden from public view.

AP - Elegant resorts long for glowing accounts of their sumptuous meals, breathtaking views and meticulous service — but how about a shady employee, a missing guest, a murder?

AP - Bette Davis was married at the Mission Inn, as was Richard Nixon. Ronald and Nancy Reagan spent their wedding night here, and the list of famous people who've stayed here over the years includes Humphrey Bogart and Harry Houdini.

AP - This Christmas, make an early New Year's resolution: I will not bring home T-shirts made in China as souvenir gifts from my travels.

AP - With the U.S. dollar surging against Canadian currency, a vacation north of the border is suddenly affordable again. The U.S. dollar was worth $1.23 Canadian in late November, a comeback from a one-to-one exchange rate last year.

AP - Douglas Taylor became postmaster of Noel, Mo., the week before Thanksgiving last year. "I came from California," he said. "And I had no idea."

AP - Some 11 million people visited New York City last year between October and December, according to NYC & Company, the city's marketing and tourism organization. Even if that number drops this year due to the economy, you're likely to find Manhattan plenty crowded over the holidays.

AP - Deep powder is standard issue at Mount Bachelor, a West coast favorite that averages 400 inches of snow per season, just 20 miles from the outdoors haven of Bend, Oregon.

AP - The film camera sweeps across the landscape, taking in flat plains, gushing waterfalls and a dusty country town. The color is brilliant, the emptiness palpable, and the soundtrack soars dramatically as warplanes bomb a city.

AP - When the economy was booming, many hotel companies began building new properties. Some of those are opening now, resulting in a 2.5 percent increase in hotel room supply this year, just as demand is dropping by around 1 percent or more, according to Jan Freitag of Smith Travel Research.

AP - It takes a lot to impress here, a place where magazine models shop and $100,000 cars creep by without a batted eye.

AP - There are two big destination ski resorts in Montana. Big Sky, near Bozeman, is expensive and polished. Big Mountain, near Whitefish, is not.

AP - On a recent morning, Jeffrey Scott stood before Marie Laveau's tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, shaking a cigarette out of a pack to leave as an offering for the famous voodoo queen.

AP - Places that presidents call home often become major tourist attractions, from estates at Mount Vernon and Monticello, to Hodgenville, Ky., where Abe Lincoln's log cabin once stood, to Bill Clinton's boyhood home in Hope, Ark.

AP - A world financial center packed with investment bankers sounds like a tough place to do on a budget, but even the Manhattan of continental Europe has secrets aplenty for the thrifty.

AP - If you show up in Berlin strapped for cash, you're in good company. The German capital's sizable student population, high unemployment rate and swelling starving artist contingent makes penny-pinching a citywide obsession.

AP - Feeling bad that you can't afford a vacation? Travel books with titles like "Don't Go There!" and "I Should Have Stayed Home" may make you feel better. For $15 or so, you'll get a laugh out of vacation horrors that you'll be happy to miss.