Travel News

NEW YORK - The average cost to fly one mile in the U.S. on a commercial airliner rose 7.5 percent in July compared to the same month last year.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Tropical Storm Fay will likely not become a hurricane, forecasters said Wednesday, relieving fears the zig-zagging storm would return from the Atlantic with punishing force later this week.

NEW YORK - American Airlines expanded the availability of in-flight Internet access Wednesday, launching airborne e-mail, Web and other online services on some of its longer, nonstop flights.

NEW ORLEANS - Carnival Cruise Lines will move the Carnival Triumph to New Orleans when the smaller Carnival Fantasy moves to Mobile, Ala., in 2009, officials announced Tuesday.

PHILADELPHIA - US Airways wants to offer year-round service between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv, Israel.

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. - With a few strokes of a kayak paddle, Rhode Island's developing Blue Trail offers a new perspective on Narragansett Bay, the watery heart of the Ocean State.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The weak dollar and a steadily strengthening Brazilian real have seen Rio climb from the 135th most expensive city in the world just a few years ago, to the 31st most expensive today — tied with Barcelona and Stockholm, according to the latest cost of living survey by the Mercer consulting firm.

DENVER - Some city parks have gazebos, lakes, fountains and jogging trails. Denver's parks have those, plus: a 1,000-year-old fen, two bison herds, a ski resort, a lake at 13,000 feet in altitude and an amphitheater framed by 300-million-old sandstone monoliths.

PHILADELPHIA - This city best known to tourists for its historical sites and museums has a surprise new high-tech hit that is developing into a must-see attraction: a huge atrium wall in Philadelphia's newest and tallest skyscraper where a cast of dancers and acrobats seem to come to life.

CUTLER, Maine - Hikers who perch atop a nearly 100-foot rock cliff that plunges to the crashing surf below are greeted by a spectacular vista with no signs of civilization, perhaps the same scene that caught the eyes of European explorers who passed by these shores 400 years ago.

You might have a problem visiting the Finger Lakes region of New York state. Are you going to focus on recreation on and around the scenic lakes of this glacier-carved area, or will you spend your time studying the specialties of the many wineries that blanket the hillsides and sampling the area's restaurants?

NEW YORK - Is a family trip to a science center worthwhile with prekindergarteners? Yes, according to Parents magazine, which conducted a survey of the more than 150 science centers in the U.S. and discovered that about a third of them have galleries designed for kids 6 and under.

PARIS - My electric bike is no batmobile, but it makes me feel like a superhero.

When family rights advocate John De Graff started doing some historical research, he came across a shocking discovery — that medieval European peasants had more vacation time than modern American office workers.

A little poking around on Web sites like the National Park Service can turn up all sorts of new ideas for your next vacation destination, places that otherwise might completely escape your notice.