Travel News

1) RAILEUROPE (formerly Europass) offers travel to single or multiple countries. raileurope.com

2) RAILTEAM offers corporate rates to Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria via high speed network. railteam.eu/en

3) JAPAN RAILWAYS GROUP runs Japan's Shinkansen or "bullet train" at least six times per hour between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka stations. japanrail.com

1. Act fast. Many airlines are reducing their fleets or changes their policies. If you see a good price, it's where you want to go, a price you can afford, then don't wait around.

2. Rethink your destination. If you've got to get away but prices are hindering you, think about changing your destination. Airfares to New York are up about 23% this summer from last summer, versus a 7% rise on airfares to Seattle, according to Travelocity, based on booking data. Airfares to Rome are up 19%, while airfares to Cancun are up 2%. Airfares to the Bahamas are up 14% while those to the U.S. Virgin Islands are down almost 3%, according to Travelocity.

3. Plan ahead. Some industry watchers see prices rising higher, others aren't so sure. Still, planning ahead is often a better strategy than waiting. "Half of us know where we want to be for Thanksgiving...yet most of us wait. If you know right now, book now," said Rudy Maxa, host of the travel show "Rudy Maxa's World" on PBS.

Following the lead of United, Northwest, Delta and US Airways, Continental Airlines began a policy requiring passengers to pay a $25 fee to check a second bag. Any moment now, we'll have to declare this to be the industry-wide standard. Some folks will grumble while they pay that extra fee, but most of us will just end up carrying more stuff onto the plane.

That means, of course, overhead bin space will become even more crammed. Inevitably, weary travelers leave more stuff behind at airports. “We get more than 200 items a day turned in here — everything from cell phones, laptops, and prescription glasses to wallets full of cash and oxygen tanks,” said the man at the Phoenix airport. Some of the stuff folks leave behind is replaceable.

Stories like that are familiar to Priscilla Andrews, who heads up the lost-and-found department at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Her team once enlisted the help of a funeral home to track down the owner of a container of ashes left on the counter at a rental car agency.

The Lost-and-Found Departments of America’s major airports do their best to reunite you with your valuables.

Do you think that only movie stars and basketball heroes have personal assistants to make their travel life easy? Not necessarily. A growing number of websites can make travel just as easy for you. You know, those last-minute details requiring decisions when you have no time left to ponder. Outsourcing these "virtual errands" to a personal assistant makes it easy to indulge in the luxuries of carefree travel. And it's surprisingly affordable to deligate these duties.

There are many sites, but we like this one: www.AskSunday.com, Give it a try and enjoy!