Archive: Scott Vogel
The Monday Rave: In Praise of Slow Travel
Does anyone still remember the 1969 comedy "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium"? It's a mildly entertaining film whose best joke is its title and whose protagonists are cartoonish tourists who try to visit nine European countries in 18 days. This was not an unexpected plotline, especially when you...
By Scott Vogel | May 12, 2008; 06:37 AM ET | Comments (2)
When in Venice: Feed the Birds, Tuppence (and 1,000 Bucks) a Bag
In pigeon advocacy circles, these are perilous times indeed. For one thing, the birds have been targeted by local governments around the world, many of them tourist hot spots like New York, London, Los Angeles and now ... Venice. Buying a bag of bread crumbs and feeding the winged residents...
By Scott Vogel | May 7, 2008; 09:28 AM ET | Comments (5)
AAA's Sobering Analysis: The Safety Dance
If you haven't the time to read the new, much talked-about study on traffic safety, I have two words for you: cognitive dissonance. The report, the "2008 Traffic Safety Culture Index," [PDF] which was released today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, has been nicknamed "Do as I say,...
By Scott Vogel | April 29, 2008; 11:57 AM ET | Comments (7)
Insta-Q&A: Compromise Campgrounds
As the belt-tightening continues and Americans begin planning summer vacations closer to home, we're keeping it local with Today's Insta-Q&A question. It comes from a reader who's looking for a tent campground somewhere between Boston and Washington, and seems like the ideal query to throw out to our knowledgeable and...
By Scott Vogel | April 23, 2008; 01:55 PM ET | Comments (1)
Orlando: Will the Smoke Ever Clear?
By law, 80 percent of all hotel rooms in cities like Atlanta, Honolulu and Cleveland must be nonsmoking. In Philadelphia and Chicago, it's 75 percent, and in Detroit it's 70 percent. So what percentage of rooms in Orlando -- one of the world's most popular destinations for children -- are...
By Scott Vogel | April 22, 2008; 06:39 AM ET | Comments (15)
Tijuana Tragedy: Is It News to You?
In case you haven't heard, a new travel alert -- or, to be precise, an updated travel alert -- was issued yesterday for Americans traveling to Mexico. The bulletin, which you can read in full here, is primarily concerned with criminal activity in the border towns, and warns of an...
By Scott Vogel | April 16, 2008; 06:15 AM ET | Comments (5)
The Monday Rant: Air Wars, Part II
Let me see if I've got this straight. Airport security lines are longer than ever, flights are more expensive than ever, planes are more crowded than ever and more often delayed than ever. Meanwhile, a second checked bag costs more, food costs more, legroom costs more. And best of all,...
By Scott Vogel | April 14, 2008; 06:45 AM ET | Comments (15)
Checking In: How to Get a Better Room
Imagine yourself in the following situation. Your flight's just been canceled and you've been given a voucher entitling you to a free night's stay at the Red Roof Inn near LAX airport. (I know, pinch yourself!) Just before you enter the property, you notice that one side of the hotel...
By Scott Vogel | April 10, 2008; 09:25 AM ET | Comments (11)
Insta-Q&A: Planes, Trains and Great Danes
Today's Insta-Q&A question comes from a reader who's in the process of planning a cross-country driving trip. In fact, whether or not this Maryland family travels to the Badlands and Wyoming and Colorado and Missouri this summer . . . may well depend on you. You see, they're interested in...
By Scott Vogel | April 9, 2008; 12:06 PM ET | Comments (13)
Insta-Q&A: Jellyfish Lake, the Movie
Apropos of our March 30th Q&A item on Palau's Jellyfish Lake, Annandale veterinarian Steve Cohen sent us a terrific video of his 2006 trip to the place. (Video has sound.) As you'll see, a picture really is worth a thousand words, or in this case hundreds of thousands of jellyfish....
By Scott Vogel | April 2, 2008; 06:57 AM ET | Comments (4)
Cherry Blossom Confidential: What You Need to Know
What's a team of inveterate Travel types to do when the best option in town is a staycation? That's the dilemma we're facing this weekend, now that Washington's Japanese cherry trees have reached their peak blooming phase and suddenly there's no place we'd rather be than the Tidal Basin. Besides,...
By Scott Vogel | March 28, 2008; 12:47 PM ET | Comments (10)
It Came From the Chat: You Are Now Free to Mortify the Cabin
So I was rereading Monday's Travel chat, right? As you'll see if you click on this link, we promised to give a prize to the chatter who revealed his or her most embarrassing travel experience (that was printable, natch). With the caveat that ours was far from a statistically valid...
By Scott Vogel | March 27, 2008; 07:45 AM ET | Comments (4)
Insta-Q&A: Rooms in Paris for La Famille
Today's Insta-Q&A question comes from a reader who's trying to find a reasonably priced hotel in Paris that can comfortably house a family. If you have some advice for Allison from Millersville, by all means post a comment. And if you have a question yourself, e-mail us at travelqa@washpost.com. She...
By Scott Vogel | March 19, 2008; 07:16 AM ET | Comments (6)
Insta-Q&A: Taking Credit for Italy
It's Insta-Q&A time again, where you can pose questions to the Travel section and also help out fellow travelers with your own answers to their queries. Today's question comes from a reader who's wondering about credit card use during an upcoming Italian vacation.If you have some advice for Tom from...
By Scott Vogel | March 12, 2008; 07:10 AM ET | Comments (9)
The Grunge Report: One Dirty Hotel in Lancaster, Pa.
Once upon a time, amid the bucolic splendor of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, there was an awful little hotel called the Days Inn Lancaster. Actually, "awful" is too weak a word. Godawful is more like it. The Days Inn, unlike most others in the hotel chain's stable of properties, was the...
By Scott Vogel | March 5, 2008; 07:14 AM ET | Comments (10)
The Monday Rant: It's About Time for ... More Time Off
Memo to all presidential candidates championing health care reform: What's something that improves health, strengthens family ties, increases worker productivity and, despite all these wonderful outcomes, is conspicuously missing from your platforms? Mandating more vacation time for Americans. Now, when you read that, I'll bet a lot of you rolled...
By Scott Vogel | March 3, 2008; 07:23 AM ET | Comments (13)
Insta-Q&A: Girls-only Getaways in Virginia
Welcome once again to Insta-Q&A, where you can both pose questions to the Travel section and also help out fellow travelers with your own answers to their queries. Today's question comes from a reader who's planning a weekend for her and some girlfriends. If you have some advice for Jo...
By Scott Vogel | February 28, 2008; 07:25 AM ET | Comments (4)
Travel Trends: The Late, Great Outdoors
For kids, it was a playground opportunity akin to the planets aligning. First of all, it was a Saturday. Second, the sun shone brightly on an unseasonably warm February day. Third, there was this really cool new play structure -- the kind with lots of ingenious moving parts -- that...
By Scott Vogel | February 26, 2008; 10:04 AM ET | Comments (5)
Insta-Q&A: Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel
It's time once again for Insta-Q&A, where you can both pose questions to the Travel section, and also help out fellow travelers with your own answers to their queries. Today's question comes from a reader whose wife is soon to celebrate her 50th birthday. If you have some advice for...
By Scott Vogel | February 20, 2008; 07:07 AM ET | Comments (7)
It Came From the Chat: Are Searches and Seizures Unreasonable?
It's a question that's been raised by business travelers all over the country. A version of it surfaced in our chat on Feb. 11: Arlington, VA - Searching my BlackBerry?: Why in the world should Customs have the right to search my BlackBerry and laptop files just because I am...
By Scott Vogel | February 19, 2008; 07:23 AM ET | Comments (6)
Insta-Q&A: Finding Someone to Travel With
If it's Wednesday, that must mean it's time for another edition of Insta-Q&A, in which you can both pose questions to the Travel section and help out fellow travelers with your own answers to their queries. If you have some advice for today's questioner, by all means post a comment...
By Scott Vogel | February 13, 2008; 07:48 AM ET | Comments (5)
Insta-Q&A: A Nip, a Tuck and a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Insta-Q&A, where you can both pose questions to the Travel section, and also help out fellow travelers with your own answers to their queries. Our first question is one we didn't get a chance to answer during this week's chat (it's every Monday at...
By Scott Vogel | January 30, 2008; 07:57 AM ET | Comments (4)
Happy Talk: Americans vs. the World
The problem with traveling, someone once said, is that you take yourself with you wherever you go. We all dream of escaping, but accomplishing escape is far more difficult than advertised. Which brings me to the following public service message: Are you planning to travel to a foreign land in...
By Scott Vogel | January 29, 2008; 11:55 AM ET | Comments (8)
Sailing Into Controversy
Let's see. What are the three topics you're never supposed to bring up in casual conversation? Politics, religion and ... uh... I know, cruising! Yeah, those first two can ignite the occasional minor squabble, but if it's World War III you're in the mood for at the next cocktail party,...
By Scott Vogel | January 18, 2008; 08:04 AM ET | Comments (25)
Island Report: The Incident Fiji Wants to Forget
"Fiji Me." That's the slogan they're using on the official Fiji Islands Web site these days. It appears to mean something along the lines of, "Put some Fiji all over me." Anyway, the South Pacific nation is extending an invitation to tourists everywhere, asking them to immerse themselves in the...
By Scott Vogel | January 10, 2008; 11:41 AM ET | Comments (5)
Iowa After the Caucuses: What's in It for You?
Soon today's "historic" Iowa caucuses will be over -- interpret that however you like -- and the state will abruptly recede back into its customary position in the Midwest as Iowa's outsized reputation is not something that typically lingers. And you can't really blame the Department of Tourism for that;...
By Scott Vogel | January 3, 2008; 12:16 PM ET | Comments (7)
Bus Travel: A Thing of the Past ... and Future?
The strangers you meet on planes, trains and cruise ships can all be interesting, but for sheer oddball entertainment value you can't beat the folks who take the bus. Conspiracy theorists, get rich quick schemers, people who swear by the Zodiac -- there's really no limit to the wackiness you...
By Scott Vogel | December 28, 2007; 07:23 AM ET | Comments (8)
Kids and Travel: A Guilty Plea
I haven't been a member of the Post Travel section a terribly long time, and thus haven't gone on many trips yet, but recently I was lucky enough to spend a week at a far away destination that I'll be writing about soon. There, I became acquainted with a new...
By Scott Vogel | December 21, 2007; 07:39 AM ET | Comments (11)
(Ditching) Home for the Holidays
What can we learn about our culture from the Christmas cards we receive? (Besides the fact that Santa has a strange propensity for Coke in vintage bottles, I mean.) For one thing, Christmas and precipitation are inextricably bound. Think of it: In the case of every other holiday, no one...
By Scott Vogel | December 6, 2007; 07:28 AM ET | Comments (9)
A Blog for Plog
I recently spent a very illuminating half-hour on the phone with Stanley Plog, a man whose name ought to be better known to travelers. It's Plog, after all, who for decades has conducted market research for some of the biggest names in the travel industry. It all started in 1967,...
By Scott Vogel | November 29, 2007; 10:55 AM ET | Comments (1)
Hedonism: It's Not Just a Resort Anymore
If you're like me, there's no vacation that can't be made better by a good stripper pole, which is why I was pleased to discover that the perennial bachelor party staple is more traveler-friendly than ever. In fact, stripper pole technology has advanced so far, it seems, that enthusiasts can...
By Scott Vogel | November 15, 2007; 07:04 AM ET | Comments (6)
The Tourism Industry: Betting the House?
If one more person informs me that the present crisis in residential mortgages stems from people using their homes as ATMs, I'm going to go postal. (For a group that supposedly got duped on a mass scale, they certainly did some fancy wheeling and dealing.) Anyway, it's been reported ad...
By Scott Vogel | November 12, 2007; 12:45 PM ET | Comments (14)
The French Rail Strike: What You Need to Know
By the time you read this, a general rail strike will have begun in France, a massive shutdown that's certain to wreak havoc on travelers who are already in -- or about to travel to -- the country. Here's the latest strike information: A domestic rail strike -- called by...
By Scott Vogel | October 17, 2007; 04:26 PM ET | Comments (9)
The Lights Are On, Nobody's Home
What's your reaction when a new hotel provokes reactions like this on TripAdvisor?: "The valets were terrible, but also 99% ... of the other hotel employees we spoke with reacted as though every question or request was a huge inconvenience for them." "We found trash on the closet floor, soap...
By Scott Vogel | October 8, 2007; 10:53 AM ET | Comments (9)
Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back In the Water
For all those parents who made me stand idly by the pool for hours this past summer, staring longingly into placid yet befouled waters, I have four words for you: Swim diapers aren't enough. My 7-year-old and I hit them all this past summer, from the coolest waterparks to the...
By Scott Vogel | September 26, 2007; 09:28 AM ET | Comments (4)
Hurricane Katrina: This Bus for You?
The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina has come and gone, and with it an avalanche of press coverage emphasizing how far New Orleans has come and -- more often -- how far it's got to go. (Okay, Anderson, we get it: you're keeping them honest.) For a time, the media...
By Scott Vogel | September 19, 2007; 07:02 AM ET | Comments (19)
