“Lost Girl” Amanda Pressner recently took a 26-hour marathon flight from New York to Sydney, Australia, to be one of the first to experience Vivid Sydney—a three-week music and light festival that will transform the city’s harbor into a living art canvas. But first, it all started with finding the right flight …

If you took an informal poll of the destinations most people want to visit in their lifetime, chances are, Australia would appear at the top of many travelers’ wish lists.

Unfortunately, the Land of Oz has long seemed out of reach for most Americans, not just because it’s tough to secure two consecutive weeks of vacation time, but because you practically had to take out a small loan to afford the trans-Pacific ticket.

This weekend, Peter broadcasts his radio show from El Dorado Royale by Karisma in the Riviera Maya, Cancun, Mexico.

Read on for more information on some of the hot travel topics he discussed, and visit our radio page to listen to whole show!

With Mexico still reeling from the after-effects of the perceived swine-flu crisis, it’s a contrarian traveler’s dream destination.

Beautiful weather, empty beaches and restaurants, and deals that can’t be beat.

There has been even more fallout from the so-called H1N1 flu, or the “infodemic,” as I like to call it.

What’s so crazy about that is that it’s no longer front page news.

Gee, duh. I was saying that two weeks ago.

Most importantly, it’s become a great time to go to Mexico.

Statistics released by the Commerce Department yesterday officially confirm what the travel industry has known for months now—people just aren’t spending as much on travel as they did a few years ago.

Between October and December of 2008, business and leisure travelers spent 22 percent less than they did during the last quarter of 2007. This drop is even larger than the 19 percent decline that happened immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Did Peter’s “First Ladies” special featuring the wife of the Prime Minster of Jamaica inspire you to travel there?

In the one-hour program that aired on WE tv Tuesday night, Jamaican First Lady Lorna Golding took us to her childhood home in St. Ann parish, showed off some of the island’s glamorous homes and resorts, and gave us a front seat at Caribbean Fashion Week.

It’s a great time to go since Jamaica, along with the rest of the Caribbean, has suffered a decline in bookings due to the recession, resorts are brimming with deals aimed at convincing visitors that Jamaica is the place to spend their increasingly scare dollars.

When times get tough, the tough go … cruising?

Well, that’s the consensus of the top executives at Carnival Cruises, who reported today that the company recently had its best week ever.

For the period starting February 23 and ending March 1, Carnival recorded more net bookings than at any time in its 37-year history.