Free Republic

If you're in New York City with only $10 in your pocket, Julio Ortiz-Teissonniere has you covered. Get an unlimited day pass MetroCard, he says. "It'll take you from the Bronx Zoo down to Coney Island and everywhere else in between for just $8.25. Just make sure you're done by 3 a.m. of the day after you bought it -- otherwise you'll spend a lot more than $10 on a yellow cab." If you're in Italy, Diana Corridori could show you where to get a fantastic breakfast of cappuccinos, chocolate croissants and cookies for a ten-spot. And Jon Regas of...

Last month, I posted some questions about what to do in L.A. Well, I am finally arriving in L.A. on Tuesday, and looking forward to it. Mind you, the recent earthquake in southern Cali did send a couple of shivers down my spine, but that's regular life for Californians I guess! Hoping to catch plenty of nature and experience the real California, and not the Hollywood-filtered kind.

Swedish parliament rules providing for expenses paid educational trips up to a value of 50,000 kronor ($7,000) per annum have prompted three Social Democrat MPs to use the system to 'study tourism' at California's Disneyland. In general, regulations for how MPs can dispose of their allotted funds have been interpreted generously, a review by the Expressen tabloid has shown. Other approved excursions have included a trip to the Faroe islands to experience "how it is to live on an island in the middle of the Atlantic", ten days in Canada to "study the situation of youth in a broader perspective",...

Belgrade, city of very tumultuous history, one of the oldest in Europe. Its history has lasted for 7000 years. The area around the large rivers was inhabited in the Paleolithic period. From the older stone age, came the remains of human bones and skulls of Neanderthals, found in a quarry near Leštane, in a cave in the vicinity of the Cukarica Bajloni market. Remains of late Stone Age culture were found in Vinca, Zarkovo and Upper Town, above the confluence of the Sava and Danube. This indicates that the area of Belgrade has been continually inhabited and that the intensity...

There's no worse crime in journalism these days than simply deciding something's a story because Drudge links to it. - NBC's Chuck Todd, March 6, 2010. Oh, really? Well, how about partnering with a Stalinist regime's military robber-barons to boost their currency booty and hide their tortures, mass-murders, and mass-jailings? To wit: In June 2007, Castro's Stalinist regime held a "tourism fair" in Havana to kick off an ambitious plan to boost the Cuban military's tourist booty. By some peculiar coincidence, NBC's "Today Show" decided to broadcast from Havana that very week. Amidst smiling, clapping, dancing tourists, Matt Lauer and...

The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing some of the nation's oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

WASHINGTON – TV viewers abroad may soon find themselves watching commercials urging them to visit America. In the Oval Office this morning, President Obama signed legislation to launch a campaign to promote foreign travel to the U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a leading proponent of the measure. His home state of Nevada, led by Las Vegas, depends heavily on tourism. "We're the only country in the world, major country in the world, that doesn't promote itself," Reid said last month at a Town Hall Meeting with Mr. Obama in Henderson, NV. Reid pointed to commercials on American television...

International travel to the United States took a significant hit after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, research shows. Efforts to reverse this trend culminated in Senate approval last week of the Travel Promotion Act, which President Obama is expected to sign today. The measure provides close to $200 million annually to create a national agency - the Corporation for Travel Promotion - modeled after successful tourism-advancement organizations in this country and in other developed nations.

Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas Is Closing, But There’s Still Reason To Head Out To The Lake This month there were reports that Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nev., would be closing its doors permanently May 2. For many Vegasofiles this comes as no surprise. The Ritz — along with other hotels such as Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort and MonteLago Village Resort, not to mention the shops at MonteLago Village —requires a concerted effort to get to when visiting Las Vegas. Lake Las Vegas is nearly a half-hour’s drive from the Strip. Still, it seems odd that a Ritz-Carlton...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas Steve Wynn, had his company's fourth quarter financial result conference call yesterday with reporters. And during the Q&A a female reporter said to Steve Wynn, "Is it too early to say that maybe 2011 would be better, in other words, how do your 2011 bookings versus 2010, or just any comments on the volume of bookings or rate of bookings for 2010 or '11 just to get a sense of whether you see any change at all?" WYNN: There are more questions afoot in this market in America that will impact '11...

<p>LAS VEGAS (AP) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hopes to pass a bill by next week to create a federal agency to promote tourism to the United States.</p> <p>Reid says Republican Sens. John Ensign of Nevada, Johnny Isakson of Georgia and George LeMieux of Florida have agreed to support the bill, but he acknowledged he needs more GOP support for the Travel Promotion Act.</p>

The Shenandoah National Park displaced some 450 families from the northern reach of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The Park meant the end of a generations-old way of life for the mountain folk, many of whom didn't want to leave. [numerous vintage photographs]

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has a very busy schedule. After all, the city has a budget deficit, and even after that, Goodman has to bolster tourism to keep the local economy running, and Vegas has had some setbacks on that front. Goodman doesn’t have time for frivolities … like accepting a meeting with the President of the United States on his next visit: Mayor Oscar Goodman has refused an invitation to meet with President Obama when he arrives in town on Thursday. Mayor Goodman called President Obama a slow learner after he told Americans not to blow money on...

The establishment of the Shenandoah National Park displaced the traditional communities of Backcountry folk who had lived for generations in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Front Royal and Rockfish Gap. By and large, the houses, barns, and stores which were within the Park boundaries were not spared -- they were razed. [Vintage photographs]

Luxury hotel bookings have declined across the United States following the so-called "AIG effect". The term refers to the bad publicity surrounding insurance giant AIG's decision to fly executives to another resort in California after being offered bail-out money by the US government. A Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman, Vivian Deuschl, said: "The whole demonisation of luxury meetings and companies pulling back on having their high-end meetings in luxury hotels – this has had a tremendous impact on Las Vegas. "I can't think of another destination that has had to defend itself more against comments from politicians."

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co will close its property in Las Vegas. Village Hospitality LLC, an arm of Deutsche Bank, will stop funding the Ritz-Carlton May 2. Corporate business and associations have cut back on travel spending in the past year. "The unprecedented economic downturn has had a significant impact on operations," said a spokesman. Ritz-Carlton opened seven years ago, is a division of Marriott International, located 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. Luxury hotels have suffered from the so-called "AIG effect," the uproar caused by AIG's flying executives to a resort shortly after receiving a US govt bailout. "The...

Jim Tisch, the leader of Loews Corp., said the U.S. did a “good job of killing” the hotel business by lambasting corporate travel and hurt American International Group Inc.’s ability to return bailout funds by curbing pay. “The criticism that took place of group travel was really a death knell for the industry,” Tisch said yesterday in an interview at an office of the New York-based holding company, which owns hotels. “It’s easy for the politician to get the sound bite. What they are doing with those sound bites is putting maids and bellmen out of work.” Loews’s hotel unit...

President Obama made a couple of stupid little jokes about Vegas. He uses our Las Vegas as a symbol. Everyone knows what Vegas means. Doc Pomus wrote "Viva Las Vegas" for Elvis years before Doc ever visited Sin City and got everything right. Vegas means ... wild, irresponsible, what-happens-here-stays-here. Smoke cigars, have sex with strangers, get wasted and see stupid shows with stupid Elvis impersonators doing stupid impressions of that stupid hillbilly. That's an image we know and love in Vegas. It's the image we spend our stupidly low tax money to promote. "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas"...

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - Once again President Obama has singled out Las Vegas, this time reminding Americans to avoid places like Vegas when they want to save money. He made the comments during a speech in New Hampshire Tuesday. "This isn't how responsible families do their budgets," he said. "When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you're trying to save for college." The comments are similar to remarks he made last year when he said...

Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman lambasted Barack Obama yesterday after Obama made a reference to his city in a speech demanding better fiscal discipline earlier in the day. A year ago, Obama raised Goodman’s ire by demanding an end to expensive corporate meetings in Las Vegas, but smoothed things over with an apology and a clarification. This time, Goodman says an apology won’t cut it and that Obama has proven himself to be “a real slow learner” (via Gateway Pundit):