http://www.post-gazette.com/ Travel news and features en-us Copyright 2012, post-gazette.com. Wed, 1 Feb 2012 23:39:27 -0500 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206442-37.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Even when buying airline tickets, timing is everything. Passengers can get the lowest airfares if they buy six weeks before their flight, according to a study by Airlines Reporting Corp., an Arlington, Va., company that handles ticketing transactions between the nation's airlines and travel agents. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:01:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206588-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has added another notch to its belt. The recent acquisition of more than 1,600 acres on Evitts Mountain in Bedford County will permanently conserve a major expanse of mountainside forest over a key tributary to the Potomac River. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:01:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206439-51.stm?cmpid=travel.xml When you think of Groundhog Day, you think of the 126th celebration coming up Thursday in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County. But actually, there's another celebration being held that day in the Groundhog Capital of the World -- the 64th annual celebration in Sun Prairie, Wis. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206440-51-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml They're the people standing at the airport counter, frantically pulling things out of their overweight suitcases. They're the ones with the porters. The super-sized carry-ons. Six suitcases for a five-day getaway. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206441-51.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Here are three luggage scales to help heavy packers stay under the 50-pound weight limit. All hook to the handle of your suitcase; when you lift, it gives you the weight. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206443-51.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Q: I totally understand that people occasionally have to make or answer a phone call while they're waiting near an airport gate. But don't you think it's kind of inconsiderate to sit there talking on your cell phone for 30 minutes or more? Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206513-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Over time, many hunters develop an expertise about certain species. For some it's waterfowl; for others turkeys are the obsession. But for many, if not most, it's the white-tail deer. Such expertise comes from years of field experience. It's much more than getting into the woods a few weeks each December. It comes from becoming a student of the animal. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206589-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml The Streets, which officially opened Jan. 19, is one of six nationally recognized terrain parks at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, near Champion. Joel Rerko, the resort's director of action sports, said the parks are designed to enable snowboarders and freestyle skiers to progress at a comfortable pace as their skills improve. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206590-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Located on about 250 acres of 3,075-acre North Park near Wexford, the nature center was built in 1969 recreating the setting of a 1914 dairy barn. Latodami includes woodlands, fields, a pond, streams, wetlands and other habitats, a log story pole and observation decks, all linked by accessible trails. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206591-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Saturdays: Family Nature Hour. Powdermill Nature Reserve, Rector. Nature stories, outdoor exploration of trails. Free, 1 p.m. ... Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206592-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Miles of shoreline in Pennsylvania Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206593-140.stm?cmpid=travel.xml The Florida Everglades teems with wildlife. Until relatively recently, alligators were king. They eat just about everything. Today, however, even gators succumb to huge exotic snakes. Freed by irresponsible collectors and pet owners, giant constrictors have climbed atop the Everglade's food chain. These snakes can weigh more than 100 pounds grow to almost 20 feet in length. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206594-140-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Snowboarder Mike Abriola was sitting at a simulated, open-sided bus shelter in Seven Springs newest terrain park when a skier hopped up on the bench on the other side, slid across it and scooted away. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206842-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml Correction Appended Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206843-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml SUDDENLY it's the end of January and you realize the children will be off for Presidents' Day next month -- an ideal opportunity to squeeze in a short family vacation. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206844-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml ROSS HALFIN has traveled the world photographing rock stars like Jimmy Page and Mötley Crüe against backdrops as varied as Perth, Australia, and the South Dakota Badlands. Along the way he learned a few things about the best lens to travel with and where to find a stunning landscape. For a striking sunset, he said the window of an airplane as it takes off from the Los Angeles International Airport is the place to be. "You see the coast of California all in shadow and this amazing golden light. Tha Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206845-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml BAD reputations outlive the circumstances that gave rise to them. My recent meals in Berlin were a reminder of that. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12029/1206846-37-0.stm?cmpid=travel.xml WHEN seen on arrival by air, Mafia Island doesn't appear to be much more than a crescent-shaped splash of green off the eastern coast of Africa. Slightly smaller than New York City, the verdant island, 20 miles from mainland Tanzania, is densely covered in coconut trees, with nothing but green flora visible in the interior and just a few intermittent stretches of white sand breaking up the coast. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500