AAA: A Girl's Best Friend

The American Automobile Association has gotten me out of more jams than I can count, from flat tires to dead batteries. But they're also a great resource for travel.

With membership comes the opportunity for free travel books, chockful of information on hotels, dining, sightseeing and more. In the midst of planning a roadtrip, I swung by my local office and picked up a huge stack of free tour books for every state I might go through and a free regional roadmap to boot. AAA's travel agents can help you with trip planning and ticket reservations, too.

The annual membership fee can vary, depending on where you live. And though I hate paying annual fees, as a traveler and a driver, I find this one is well worth it.

Around the World in Way Less Than 80 Days

Why go round the world? Because you can. Well, at least that's the first thought that comes to mind. Obviously, there are a whole lot of other great reasons to traverse the globe in one fell swoop.

If you're thinking of making such a trip, a good place to start your planning is this recent New York Times article offering advice on buying round-the-world airline tickets. Ideally, one would have several months or a year to make such a journey, which would allow for travel by land and sea. But with only a couple of weeks to spare, flying is the way to go.

Flying the Miserly Skies

Taking a trip by plane? Be sure you've got your wallet, and not much else. United Airlines announced today that, with very few exceptions, they will be slapping a $25 fee on a second piece of checked luggage for travelers with nonrefundable domestic economy tickets. Note that it's a one-way fee. If you're checking a second piece of luggage for a round trip, you'll actually have to pay $50.

If customers don't show much resistance, expect to see these fees popping up at other carriers. NBC Nightly News reported tonight that US Airways is taking a look at such a fee, and surely others will follow.

I understand that airlines are suffering from high fuel and labor costs, but is nickel and diming passengers the way to go? My advice: Consider another mode of transportation, fly a carrier that doesn't charge such fees, or invest your $25 to $50 in the largest suitcase and carry-on you can get away with under the new rules.

Destination: Oak Park

It may seem like an incongruous statement, but one of the most fascinating places I've visited in recent years is Oak Park, Illinois. A quiet, quaint suburb of Chicago, the village of Oak Park is a wealth of cultural sights to see at almost every turn.

Not only is Oak Park home to one of America's greatest architects (see my short ode to Frank Lloyd Wright on LookGirl gets cultured), but Oak Park is also the birthplace and boyhood home of one of America's literary masters, Ernest Hemingway. A cultural twofer, if you will.

Thanks to the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, Hemingway fans can take a guided tour of his birthplace home and visit a museum covering his life. Wright devotees can tour Wright's home and studio, and take in multiple examples of his work throughout Oak Park. Wright fans, note: In mid May, the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust is holding its 34th annual Wright Plus housewalk, which includes rare interior tours of eight private homes.

Oak Park Tourist is a good Web resource to begin planning your trip. If you want to see the sights relating to both of these cultural icons, set aside at least two to three days to get to them all. Though there's much to do and see in metro Chicago, a few days in Oak Park is time well spent.

Take Flight at a Good Price

Buying a plane ticket can be a frustrating experience. Do you get the cheapest price by buying early? Sometimes. Do you get the best price by waiting 'til the last two weeks, or even to the last minute? Sure, sometimes. Enter one of my favorite travel sites: Farecast.com. Like other travel sites, it searches multiple places to find the best fares. But the part I like is that the site will offer you a prediction of whether the price will go up or down, and whether now is the time to snag the ticket. The site only offers predictions on certain cities, mostly bigger ones. But if you want help securing a good deal, it's a good site to try.