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Maybe it's because it's Monday, but I'm compelled to let you know about some of the more pessimistic travel news around the Web, just so you can get into the summer travel season with all of your ducks in a row.

First, in case you've missed it, the enormous backlog of passport applications at the State Department has caused them to call off the dogs; the new rule requiring passports to return from Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean is suspended until September 30, 2007.  You will need to bring a driver's license and proof of your application for a passport to get back across the U.S. border.  I'm not surprised that things ended up this way.   People get busy and tend to procrastinate, and especially if they've never had a passport and don't travel internationally, they just didn't focus on getting that paperwork done way back when everyone was hollering that the new rule was coming. 

My family and I need to renew our passports, but I've been putting it off because of the expense involved with 4 renewals and the fact that we (unfortunately) have no plans to leave the U.S. any time soon.  I'm relieved that our renewal paperwork is not tied up in the maelstrom at the State Dept. this summer, but I promise to get it done this fall. It will be interesting to see if the same procrastination and passport problems start coming up in the European Union, now that so much of the Continent is borderless with regard to passport checks when travelers move from one country to another.

In case it's any comfort, travelers from other countries are avoiding trips to the U.S. these days because our visa requirements, etc. have become such a hassle to negotiate.  We can't get in and neither can they. 

Secondly, many travelers may have noticed that the airlines are getting pickier and pickier about luggage -- how many pieces you can bring on the plane, how much it can weigh (hello, overweight luggage fines!) and more severe restrictions on carry-on luggage in terms of size, amount and those limits on liquids and gels.  Now that we're being forced to check luggage more often, here comes the good news that the airlines are losing our luggage at higher rates, or at a minimum it is delayed and we don't see it at our destination because tight connections between planes don't give the airlines enough time to get your stuff to connecting flights.  The moral of all of this is to never take items on travel that are priceless/irreplaceable to you, travel light with what you do take, and try to avoid connection times of less than an hour so that you and your suitcase aren't sprinting across busy airports.

Experienced business travel gurus like Portfolio magazine's Joe Brancatelli have seen it all; he says this is shaping up to be the worst-ever summer to travel by air.  Gee, that's nice to know if you're going to Europe and already dealing with the sinking dollar.  It's not as though you can choose to drive across the Atlantic, even if we're willing to overlook the price of gas.

As crazy as things are in the world today, just make sure that you know how to let people you're safe and well through the Red Cross, in case you run into worse problems than passports or lost luggage.

Harrumph, I'm just gonna go plunk down at the beach....here are the latest "best U.S. beaches" recommendations from Florida's Dr. Beach.  Surf's up as long as I can drive there!

Technorati tags: family travel, travel