| Five festive ideas for July 4 and Best of the West: 10 top monuments |
|
|
|
|
Editor's note: Eileen Ogintz is a nationally syndicated family travel columnist. She is the author of Taking the Kids family travel guides, now available as e-books.We're talking about the nation's birthday parties, of course, across the country on July 4th weekend where everyone will be slurping ice cream cones, waving flags and having a good time -- hopefully. If you want to do more than attend -- or host -- a backyard BBQ, you certainly have your pick.Np worries either if you haven't booked ahead. This seems to be the season of last-minute getaways, no matter where you want to go or what you want to do. You are likely to get a good deal too. And if you aren't happy with the rate, don't be shy about asking for a better one. [Read the full article] (CNN) -- The W Austin hotel is closing indefinitely after glass fell from the balcony panels of the Austin, Texas, building for a second day in a row and the third time in recent weeks, the hotel's parent company announced Tuesday.The hotel will be closed "until further notice" as the glass panels are replaced, the hotel's parent company said in a statement Tuesday. Guests of the hotel are being relocated to other hotels."We are replacing every piece of balcony glass on the building," Stratus Properties CEO Beau Armstrong said in the statement.The incident occurred the same day a lawsuit was filed against the hotel on behalf of two people who were injured June 10 when glass from a broken panel rained down on them in the hotel pool, CNN affiliate KXAN-TV reported.According to the lawsuit, the hotel had been warned of the problem before the incident but failed to respond, KXAN reported.Just after 5 p.m. [Read the full article] New York (CNN) -- Larisa Antypa was ready for her cruise in the Caribbean when news of the economic crisis in Greece, her home country, began to worsen.Antypa, a program coordinator for the Greek Cultural Center in Astoria, Queens, canceled her trip and decided that she would instead spend her vacation money in Greece.Like a growing number of her fellow expatriates, Antypa hopes to bolster the teetering Greek economy -- roiled again on Tuesday by a wave of violent protests and a countrywide strike against proposed austerity measures -- through tourism. It accounts for 15% of the country's jobs and 18% of its GDP, according to the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism."I want to support Greece by spending my money there; it's very important when your country's in trouble to do whatever you can," Antypa said. [Read the full article] 
|