| St. Louis trip is a hit with older kids and The skinny on peer-to-peer car rentals |
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St. Louis (CNN) -- I got some raised eyebrows when I told my teenage boy and preteen girl they were headed to St. Louis with my wife and me for a six-day summer vacation.But all of our fears of mutually assured boredom were erased by a series of St. Louis landmarks that helped push the kids' electronic devices out of sight.St. Louis is family-friendly and surprisingly young and vibrant. Here's a brief overview of what I called our "developing minds tour."We made three fun stops in Forest Park, an urban oasis spread out over almost 1,300 acres. It's one of the biggest urban parks in the nation and about 500 acres larger than Central Park in New York.Yes, I said it, art museum. Come on down, because the price is right. Admission is free to this architectural wonder, a Cass Gilbert structure built for the 1904 World's Fair in sprawling Forest Park.Children love the permanent Arms and Armor exhibit. [Read the full article] (CNN) -- A United Airlines flight was diverted to Cuba on Sunday after its crew reported a strong odor in the plane, U.S. aviation and airline spokesmen said.Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Les Dorr said United Flight 831, an Airbus A320, landed safely at Jose Marti Airport in Havana at 12:07 p.m. local time.The flight had left Washington Dulles airport, located in northern Virginia, just before 9 a.m., according to United's website. It was supposed to land at 11:27 a.m. in Cancun, Mexico.But crew members "noticed an unfamiliar smell in the cabin," said United Airlines spokesman Charlie Hobart. Dorr noted that the crew detected a burning smell, saying it was in the cockpit."In an abundance of caution, the pilots decided to land the aircraft in the nearest available airport," Hobart said, explaining how the plane ended up in Cuba. [Read the full article] Editor's note: Brett Snyder writes a weekly CNN.com travel column. Snyder is the founder of air travel assistance site Cranky Concierge, and he writes the consumer air travel blog The Cranky Flier. Do you have LAX tips? Share them below.Los Angeles (CNN) -- For many travelers, just hearing three simple letters together can cause fits of anger and anxiety. Those letters? LAX. Los Angeles International Airport is a mess of bad traffic, decaying terminals and an inconvenient gate layout. But for me, LAX is home. It definitely helps to know your way around, so I'm sharing my tips with you.I was born in Southern California and live here now, so LAX has been my home airport for decades. (Now I choose Long Beach when I can, but LAX is still the place to go for world travel.) I spent my childhood running from terminal to terminal, collecting timetables, and I even did a stint as a Travelers Aid volunteer at the airport in high school. [Read the full article] 
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