th4 Want a chance at a $100 Amazon card? Join this Tweetchat tomorrow.You may learn something, too, at the “Smart planning for summer travel” Tweetchat on Tuesday, May 21.

From 2 to 3 p.m. EDT, representatives from Ally Bank will offer money-saving info and solicit travel tips from savvy consumers like, well, you.


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What whale tastes like.

th8 What whale tastes like. Just spent a couple of days in Fairbanks with my friend Linda B. Today I came home to freshly waxed floors, freshly baked bread and freshly boiled whale. I am not making that up. Yes, DF really did wax the floors.

And yes, he really did boil a piece of Balaena mysticetus.


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th 150x150 Another TSA friendly toiletries bag up for grabs.Had enough of winter? Maybe it’s time to go somewhere — and this week’s giveaway is a great travel companion.

The prize is another bag of travel-sized toiletries because (a) spring break is almost here and (b) it’s always a popular giveaway. Maybe that’s because you, like me, resent the hell out of paying $1.44 an ounce for toothpaste.

“Sized right for flight,” my left hind foot: It’s another way to gouge the consumer because manufacturers know how many of us want to go carry-on only.

What’s in the bag? So glad you asked.


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th3 Busting cheap airfare myths.Planning to hit the beaches on spring break or take your kids to a theme park during school vacation? Better buy those tickets soon. A new study from CheapAir.com indicates that the lowest prices can be found about seven weeks out.

The study also addresses questions like “When’s the best time to buy a ticket for Thanksgiving?” and “Is Tuesday night really the best time of the week to buy a ticket?”

The answer to the second question, by the way, is “no.”


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th Some things are worth the cost.Apparently I was out of my mind when I booked my recent trip to the East Coast. My return schedule last Friday was Philly-Chicago and then Chicago-Anchorage. The option of flying directly to Anchorage vs. a stopover in Seattle or Salt Lake City felt like a grand piece of luck.

And it would have been, if the flight had left on the same day. However, it left at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.

I wanted to do a series of forehead-plants into the drywall. Instead I sighed, shrugged and started looking for a semi-affordable hotel near O’Hare.

The old me would have done those forehead-plants.


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