Having a tough time keeping up with all the great travel news and information here on PeterGreenberg.com?

Well don’t worry, we’ve got all of the week’s stories in one easy post just for you.

So check out what’s been happening in the world of travel …

If you’ve ever thought about taking a cruise, now is the time to book. We’re nearing the end of “wave season,” where travel deals abound between January and March.

On many lines, official wave season deals will end tomorrow, but with our economy in the dumper, deals are extending well into spring.

“Wave season officially ends in March, but we anticipate the influx of bargains to continue. We are seeing a lot of good deals on sailings into the second quarter,” says Melissa Baldwin Paloti, managing editor of CruiseCritic.com.

These days it’s not really easy to navigate the complicated web of frequent flier redemption and the rules. But there are some online tools to help make things just a little easier.

In an interview with the BBC this morning, Michael O’Leary, the CEO of low-budget carrier Ryanair, floated the idea of making passengers pay to use toilets on planes.

“One thing we’ve looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door,” O’Leary said during a conversation about how the company is trying to lower the cost of airfare by finding new sources of discretionary revenue.

O’Leary’s comments immediately provoked a strong reaction from consumer groups, pilots, the media, and even Ryanair itself.

For the next week I’ll be on a trip of a lifetime. And one most civilians never get a chance to take.

I am traveling to Seattle—a city I know and love but haven’t seen for many years—and Doha, a city that is entirely new to me and one I look forward to exploring.

The first part of the trip is Seattle. Let’s just call it the appetizer.

What does Seattle have to do with Doha? More on that later.


While the winter weather was cold beyond compare, Leslie Garrett, The Virtuous Traveler, learned that climate change is warming up Yellowstone National Park in dramatic and devastating ways.

I’m wearing enough woolly, wicking and water-repellent gear to outfit a polar expedition.

What’s more, I’m Canadian—I’m supposed to be built for this kind of weather.

And yet, I can barely feel my toes and I’m afraid my face has frozen into a grimace.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to change to a different flight on the same day, you would just go standby. But now, a number of airlines are charging something called “same-day change fees.”

In today’s tough economic times, airlines, cruise lines and tour operators are laying out promotions for the recently laid-off.

Intrepid Travel, an Australian-based tour operator, is offering its tours at a 15 percent discount to the recently laid off through its “Laid Off Takeoff” promotion.

Though it may seem counterintuitive to try to sell tours to those who recently lost their primary source of income, Patrick Lavin of Intrepid said that approximately 60 people have taken advantage of the offer since it was launched.