It must be the budding trees or flowering bulbs that make people giddy, but springtime is the time for strange celebrations and goofy festivals.

Communities get weird as early as February, trying to throw off winter's shackles by looking for groundhog Punxsutawny Phil in Pennsylvania, running around flipping pancakes in Liberal, Kansas and of course tossing plastic beads and whooping it up for Mardi Gras (and not just in New Orleans -- the first known… Read More

Kinda blew that one, didn't I? Spring break has (mostly) come and gone, and although I had the best intentions about writing a post or two with recommendations, I just didn't quite get to it.

That might be because I was busy helping launch the Perceptive Travel blog, where I'm one of three writers talking about all sorts of cultural aspects of travel and getting to know the world around us. You might enjoy my thoughts on the secret… Read More

If you're looking for a fun Southern city with plenty of music, history and good food, take a trip to Memphis, Tennessee.

We love music in my family, and Memphis is packed with interesting places to learn about all sorts of American music. Soul, blues, rockabilly; you name it and it's here. Getting around to see everything isn't too hard, either. From downtown (the best place to stay) there is a city trolley system plus a free Sun Studio shuttle… Read More

I'm pretty manic about tunes in my car. No, I don't have a giant thumping bass in the trunk, but I simply must have music when I'm driving -- all kinds of music, from all over the world, especially on a road trip. Fair warning here: I can't stand talk radio. If you love it, please don't be offended, but my favorite thing to yell at my radio is, "Shut up and play music!" :)

In our Dodge Grand Caravan, for example,… Read More

Since I just wrote about transportation options in Europe (including the both budget airlines and the Eurail Pass) you should know about this....

James Martin at About.com's Europe for Visitors has a post up about a Eurail Early Bird Promotion that ends March 31 2007.

If you're planning to buy a pass, check it out.

Technorati Tags: family travel, travel

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Just a quick note for anyone who is more organized than I am, and can actually focus on summer travel plans.

If you use frequent-flier miles to buy airline tickets, take a look at this post over at one of my favorite blogs, the Perrin Post. It's written by the distinguished travel editor Wendy Perrin, who has been with Conde Nast Traveler magazine for about seventeen years.

Wendy finds that space is getting very tight already for summer… Read More