Travel

Need a getaway? Never mind the packaged 10-day Caribbean cruise or the condo in Maui. Misty Ewing, right, of travel network Virtuoso says affluent vacationers today are all about doing something different. (Think dinner on the Great Wall of China or after-hours tours of the Louvre.) Virtuoso's travel agents plan trips for Fortune 500 CEOs and owners of professional sports franchises. Here are Ewing's suggestions for adventurers willing to flash the cash: $55,950 I'm leavin' on a jet plane.

I was only trying to do what millions of Angelenos do every day: commute home from work. But even when things are good here, they can quickly turn bad. First, I made the mistake of talking on my cellphone as my bus passed through an Iraqi army checkpoint. A soldier stopped the bus and ordered me to get off. He threatened to detain me. I smiled and apologized, pleading forgiveness and explaining that I had received an urgent call. He let me get back on the bus, and my journey continued.

The allure of March Madness guarantees the NCAA will receive at least $3.8 billion from its CBS deal over the next five years. But the organization isn't about to leave any spare change on the men's basketball tournament court. While maintaining a firm stance against unregulated scalping, the NCAA has struck deals with online ticket resellers in a bid to share in the wealth being created as Final Four tickets change hands in the secondary market.

For spring break this year, Paris and Madrid seemed too tame, so high school sophomore George Tew chose to visit Costa Rica, where he and 17 classmates studied the ecosystem and worked on conservation projects. "When Costa Rica came up this year, it stood out from the rest because it's small and not in Europe," he said a few days before departing on the weeklong journey. "Just a chance to go to the rain forest and a volcano I thought would be so cool."

Domestic travel might be in a slump, but overseas flights are surging at Los Angeles International Airport. Foreign airlines are turning to LAX again despite crowded, aging terminals -- frequent-flier surveys often rank it among the nation's worst -- that have made it the bane of airlines and passengers. While U.S. carriers are cutting back amid a slowing economy and high fuel costs, international airlines are flocking to LAX as more overseas travelers look to take advantage of the weak dollar.

All through the months that the cold and wind and wet left this southeast suburb of Cincinnati shivering, Megan and Keith Licursi eagerly looked forward to their annual spring vacation: a road trip to see family and bask in the sunshine of Orlando, Fla. But with gas prices forecast to climb as high as $4 a gallon and recessionary fears fueling consumer uncertainty, the couple decided to scrap their travel plans and stay home. So have some of their neighbors.

U.S. State Department officials have issued a travel alert prompted by drug violence in the north of Mexico, warning that victims have included foreign visitors and residents. American visitors are advised to be especially alert about their safety in the border region, and to avoid areas where there are high levels of drug dealing and prostitution.

As more than 70 lawyers, paralegals, courtroom personnel and journalists waited to take off from Baltimore-Washington International Airport on a flight here this month, two crucial figures in the Office of Military Commissions crawled through rush-hour traffic looking for a U-Haul rental drop-off. Army Sgt.

Santa Monica officials on Thursday suspended a ban on high-speed jets at the city's airport until a federal court decides whether the controversial restrictions are legal. The city had planned to begin enforcing the ban Thursday morning for jets that have approach speeds of between 139 and 191 mph. They include aircraft popular with executives, such as the Gulfstream IV, Bombardier Challenger 604 and Cessna Citation X.

The checks are in the mail -- and in some bank accounts. The Department of the Treasury has signed those little slips of paper designed to give many of us a piece of the $168-billion stimulus package that is supposed to kick-start our flagging economy. Which is good news for any traveler eager to help the patriotic cause and have some fun too. In polls and surveys, at least 1 in 5 Americans say they are likely to spend some or part of their rebate for vacations or travel.