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This is part three of a four-part series by Karen Elowitt, who recently took a cruise on the Danube River, sailing between Budapest, Hungary, and Passau, Germany with Uniworld Cruises.  

While battling the frigid temperatures of Eastern Europe in winter, she realized that small touches can make a big difference in the cruising experience, and narrowly avoided tourist burnout by discovering some unexpected surprises.

Over breakfast in the ship’s restaurant on Saturday, our tour director sheepishly informed us that it would in fact be the coldest day of the year so far in Austria.

In part one of Cruising the Danube River, Karen Elowitt reflected on the festive Christmas markets and historic sights of Budapest and Bratislava as she sailed along the Danube River on a Uniworld cruise.

In part two, she shares her impressions of Vienna and Krems, both from the vantage point of a ship and on land, and notes some pros and cons of traveling by river. 

If viewed from the river, Vienna doesn’t make much of an impression. Aside from one dramatic 19th-century church and glimpses of a few skyscrapers, it looks like a large, unremarkable European city.

Sure, you can expect to see historic buildings in Europe. But why not get the most out of your visit by staying in a converted hotel with a historic past?

This is part one of a four-part series by Karen Elowitt, who recently took a cruise on the Danube River. She spent eight days traveling between Budapest, Hungary, and Passau, Germany with Uniworld Cruises.  

In her dispatches she chronicles the cities she stopped in, the festive Christmas markets, and the pros and cons of river cruising.

River cruisers are the only visitors to Budapest who can truly say they stayed neither in Buda nor in Pest, the two parts of the city located on opposite sides of the river Danube.

Hundreds of thousands of travelers narrowly dodged a bullet this week when the High Court legally banned the British Airways’ cabin crew strike, but the same cannot be said for the 10,000 people who booked their holiday flights with Flyglobespan.

The Scottish airline collapsed this week, grounding all Christmas flights and stranding thousands.

Keep reading to find out what led to parent company The Globespan Group’s downfall and what it could mean for other companies and travelers.

Yes, British Airways passengers, there will be holiday travel. The airline has won its court injunction, thereby legally banning the cabin crew union’s planned 12-day Christmas strike.

The nearly one million passengers whose holiday travel plans were in jeopardy can now breathe a sigh of relief. But is another strike on the horizon in 2010?

Keep reading to find out more about the ruling and the next step for British Airways and the cabin crew union.

On Monday, the British Airways’ cabin crew threatened a walkout over the Christmas holiday, one of the busiest travel seasons of the year.

Since then, the higher-ups at BA have been pulling a few tricks in an attempt to avoid a work stoppage, while passengers have been struggling to rework their holiday plans at the last minute.

With the frenzy of desperate travelers trying to find flights, BA’s competitors have been laughing all the way to the bank. Keep reading to get the latest British Airways strike update.