side·track (sīd´trăk): n. 1. A diversion from the main course.  2. A detour taken with children that you would never, ever take without them.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Who: Travel Savvy Mom founder Jamie Pearson, her husband, and their children (then 1 and 3, so set your time machines to way back).  This was our first ever sidetrack.

What and Where: Le Reptilarium Mont St Michel (since renamed Alligator Bay).  Normandy, France.  A reptile zoo with tortoises, snakes, and (according to their breathless brochure copy) the biggest group of alligators in Europe. At

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We promised wed make the New Year exciting for you. And here we are delivering on the promise we made! After creating quite a buzz with our revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative that saw almost 3000 votes pour in over just a week, were back with something even more exciting. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show that were bringing you today (and every fortnight hereon)!

Today, were launching SimpliFlying Podcasts a brand new product that should excite our readers, most of whom are travel marketers. Starting this Wednesday, SimpliFlying will be releasing Marketing Strategy podcasts for airline and airport marketers on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month.

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Why do tourists go to Las Vegas?

Top answer, to borrow a phrase, would surely be gambling…and gambling-related activities (these include drinking, clubbing, watching big arena shows and other less salubrious pleasures too unpleasant to mention on a family website).

My guess is that fairly low down on visitors’ lists of priorities is the chance to sample good old British shepherd’s pie (offer Americans shepherd’s pie and they would almost certainly assume it was made out of shepherds: Oh my God, I’m grossing out here…!).

But yes one man is going to Las Vegas with the aim of offering shepherd’s pie and that man is Gordon Ramsay who is opening a new restaurant called Gordon Ramsay Steak in the Paris Las Vegas resort this Spring.

According to Gordon: Vegas has become a foodie haunt. With lovers o

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According to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, 61 percent of respondents say they plan to spend more on travel and vacations this year than in 2011.

The online survey was conducted by Echo Research from Dec. 27 to 30, 2011, with results culled from a random sample of 2,000 U.S. adults. In addition to overall results, responses were divided into two sub-groups: Affluent—defined as having a minimum annual household income of $100,000 , and Young Professionals—defined as being younger than 30 year of age, with a college degree and a minimum household income of $50,000 .

Overall respondents deemed travel and vacations their No. 2 c

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Throughout the UK, one of the world’s most developed and most literate countries, local branch libraries are being threatened with closures. Readers and writers, parents and children, librarians and trade unionists are up in arms.

Yet, unfortunately, the harsh truth is that here library visits are down, and fewer books are being borrowed. M

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