Vacation

Whether by necessity or choice, a quarter of Americans take at least one vacation by themselves each year. Some solo travelers are single. Some have partners who dislike travel or have different interests or can't get away. Some just crave freedom. But all face the same question: What's the best trip for the person traveling alone? "The key is to know yourself," said Beth Whitman, author of a guide for women traveling alone and founder of Wanderlustandlipstick.com , a website devoted to advice and tours for women on the go. "There are times when you just need to get away, to recuperate.

With this app, collect and organize vacation ideas before your trip, as well as digital memorabilia afterward. Name: Springpad Available for: iOS, Android What it does: Saves notes, photos, videos, to-do lists, audio, books, music and more to notebooks that multiple users can share and collaborate on. Cost: Free What's hot: This is not a travel-specific app, but it works nicely as one. For my pre-departure trip...

People of the Internet, you did it: In less than 48 hours you managed to raise more than half a million dollars to send bullied bus driver Karen Klein on a vacation.  Max Sidorov, the young man who started the fundraising campaign on Wednesday morning, was hoping to raise $5,000 for Klein, but that was peanuts for you. You blew past that number in just five hours.  By the time Sidorov woke up Thursday morning the fundraising campaign...

If you're a meditator, there's an app for that, but you can take a more Zen-like approach with the new Zenergy Chime Solo Mini, from Woodstock Chimes . The Solo Mini is a single 5-inch-long silver-polished aluminum solid rod permanently nestled in a cherry-finish ash wood cradle. Lightly strike the rod with the included black wooden mallet, and you are ready to focus. Namaste. The chime costs $8.95. Info: Woodstock Chimes , (800) 950-2754. Follow us on Twitter @latimestravel and like us on Facebook

Got stress? If you answered no, hooray for you! (And, by the way, what planet are you from?) But if you answered yes (like any normal member of the human race), you're likely heartened by the arrival of vacation season. Just the ticket for a little stress-reduction. And that can have some big payoffs. It can lower your blood pressure, boost your immune system and help you live longer. It may even make you smarter. "A vacation is not a luxury," says Jens Pruessner, an associate professor in the departments of psychology, psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University in Montreal.

Taking pictures of your food and sharing them with friends is always fun, but sharing pictures of all the food you've eaten on vacation? Those are the best. During our #Weekendeats chat Monday morning on Twitter, our #Weekendeats family shared some photos from their recent vacations. Here are the highlights: Food blogger Darin Dines shared a photo from his 10-day trip to Tokyo. While at the RyuGin restaurant in Tokyo, Dines feasted on fried uni . Jo from Mylastbite.com shared some photos of her meals from her time in London.

President Obama made his first foray out of his vacation compound Friday with a trip to the legendary Bunch of Grapes bookstore in Vineyard Haven. Bystanders who had been browsing upstairs at the two-story bookstore rushed to the windows as crowds gathered on the street. Obama, in a blue polo shirt, jeans and sneakers, wandered in with his daughters. After telling some customers that Sasha was going to browse, he wandered the store with a staff member while discussing his choices with one of the employees.

Air Force One touched down at Andrews Air Force Base at 11:03 am Eastern on Tuesday, bringing the first family back to Washington after what the president called a "terrific" holiday vacation in his home state of Hawaii. As he settles back at the White House to prepare for battles ahead, here's a look at some statistics from his getaway. 12 : Number of days Obama spent in Hawaii, one more than in 2009 when the trip was consumed with responding to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S.-bound jet. 5 : Days the vacation was delayed because of the lame-duck session of Congress 2 : Number of days he extended his stay, eventually leaving Jan. 3 instead of Jan. 1. 116 : E-mails from the White House press office sent between the time of Obama's departure for Hawaii until his return.

In a sign that Americans may be learning to relax on vacation, a new survey found that about half of top business executives did not check in with their offices while on vacation, nearly double the rate compared with two years ago. The survey of 1,400 chief financial officers found that 51% said they don't call their offices while on holiday, compared with 26% in 2010, according to a report by Robert Half Management Resources, a Menlo Park, Calif.,...

NFL players with the biggest bonuses for the 1998 season: Hugh Douglas, Eagles equal to $305,882 a game Cris Carter, Vikings $211,765 a game Jake Plummer, Cardinals $188,235 a game Scott Mitchell, Lions $188,235 a game Dan Marino, Dolphins $152,941 a game Drew Bledsoe, Patriots $152,941 a game Mark Brunell, Jaguars $147,059 a game Brett Favre, Packers $147,059 a game Source: World Features Syndicate ...

If you are feeling like you are being shortchanged on your annual vacation time, in a global sense, you are. On average, Americans fall near the bottom of a ranking of workers from around the globe, based on the number of vacation days and holidays offered. Workers in the U.S. get an average of 10 days of paid vacation, plus another 10 days to celebrate national holidays, according to a survey of 30 nations by the the hotel booking website Hotels.com. ( Several studies have also shown that most Americans don't use all the vacation days they've got coming to them.)

A pair of terror movie staples - the vacation from hell and the murderous children tale - are combined to OK effect in "Come Out and Play," a remake of the 1976 film "Who Can Kill a Child?" which, like "Play," was based on Juan José Plan's novel "El Juego De Niños. " A one-man band known as Makinov - he wrote, directed, produced, shot, edited and ran sound here - has done a pretty decent job in the chills department using a simple story, small cast and largely contained location.

Is it an app or a live travel agent? Desti is from the makers of Siri, and hot from South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas. Name: Desti Available for: iPad What it does: Provides answers to questions you'd ask a travel agent, such as suggestions for kid-friendly restaurants near your hotel or girlfriend getaway ideas at five-star hotels with spas in San Francisco. Cost: Free What's hot: Desti's tips go well beyond hotels and restaurants.

Another Carnival Cruise ship, the Dream, was disabled Thursday, this time at its St. Maarten dock because of a problem with its emergency diesel generator, and the company and others took to Twitter to describe the situation. This time around the toilets are working and there is plenty of food. But passengers will have to fly, not cruise, home in what is likely to be an abbreviated vacation. The news of another stranded ship rekindled memories of the Carnival's nightmare voyage home through the Gulf of Mexico a few weeks ago on the Triumph.

SACRAMENTO - The decision to furlough state employees during the financial crises of recent years may have saved money in the short term but will leave a big bill down the road, the Legislature's budget advisors said Thursday. The state will owe $1 billion extra to many workers when they retire or quit, for vacation time that went unused while they were being forced to take unpaid days off. The furloughs were intended to save $5 billion from February 2009 to July 2013, effectively cutting workers' pay 5% to 14%. The $1 billion for unused vacation - some in excess of state accrual limits - will eat into those savings, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

A judge Monday vacated the 124-year sentence received by convicted rapist Andrew Luster in 2003 and ordered an April 4 hearing to determine a new sentence. Luster, a great-grandson of cosmetics giant Max Factor, was convicted on 86 counts of rape and drug charges after a jury viewed videotapes he made of himself engaging in sexual acts with three women rendered unconscious by GHB, a "date-rape" drug. Although Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz refused to grant Luster a new trial and expressed skepticism about most of the arguments made by Luster's attorneys in more than a week of hearings, she agreed that his unusually long sentence needed to be reconsidered.

With more Americans worried about the direction of the economy, a new survey found that 52% of employed adults planned to put in some work during their summer vacation this year. That represented an increase, compared with the 46% of employed Americans who said in a similar survey that they worked through vacation last year. The latest survey of more than 1,000 workers was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of TeamViewer - a producer of remote control and online meetings software.

President Obama and his family depart for Martha's Vineyard on Thursday - a vacation that has become a source of political contention as Republicans accuse the first family of frolicking while the rest of the country struggles through economic hard times. The Obama administration is standing its ground, with White House spokesman Jay Carney telling reporters  last week that “I don't think Americans out there would begrudge the notion that the president would spend some time with his family.” Let's hope Carney is right about that.

Dennis Rodman enjoyed his time with Kim Jong Un last month so much that he plans on joining the North Korean dictator for vacation in August. The controversial former NBA star revealed his plans in an interview with KXJB-TV in Fargo, N.D., during a promotional appearance. A spokesman for Rodman told CNN that Kim extended the offer during Rodman's visit a few weeks ago. There's plenty more to the interview, which you can watch above. We've heard a lot of Rodman's opinions already -- that Kim doesn't want war, that President Obama should simply call the North Korean leader to iron things out, that he doesn't condone what Kim does but they are friends, etc. But it's worth watching just to hear Rodman's rambling, yet entertaining, answers to rather simple questions.

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday called a special election to fill the 16th District state Senate seat vacated last month by Michael Rubio. The primary will be May 21 and, if no candidate wins a majority, a runoff would be held July 23. Nobody has announced a run for the seat, although hints of interest have come from Shafter City Councilwoman Fran Florez, the mother of former Sen. Dean Florez, and newly elected Assemblyman Rudy Salas Jr. (D-Bakersfield). On Friday, Salas wrote on Twitter: "Lots of discussion about future of #SD16 seat.