7 Things You Must Know Before Booking a Domestic Flight This Summer

We were sorry to hear that a teen visiting Yellowstone National Park was gored by a bison on Friday after posing for a photo near the animal. Her injuries were deemed serious but not life-threatening. I must admit, though, the animal encounter reminded me of the video above, shot by my wife Michele when she and our daughter Rosalie were visiting Yellowstone last summer. The gigantic bison that huffs and puffs past Michele and Rosie's rental car has become a bit of a video "star" with Budget Travel readers. The bison attack last week is also an opportunity to remind travelers, as the National Park Service does, that you should never get within 25 yards of bison or other park denizens. (The teen who was gored on Friday was reportedly standing wtihin 6 feet of the bison.) Yellowstone National Park is home to up to 5,000 bison by some estimates, and despite their massive size, they can run three times faster than you can. Stay safe.

The fatal derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia Tuesday evening raises serious concerns about the safety of U.S. train travel. As I write this, it's been determined that the train was traveling at more than 100 mph (twice its speed limit). At least seven people were killed and more than 200 injured. Compounding the seriousness of Tuesday's crash is the fact that there have been several similar disasters involving Amtrak, freight trains, and commuter rail lines in the U.S. recently: On Wednesday, a public transit bus collided with a CSX freight train in Atlanta. Earlier this month, an Amtrak train headed to New Orleans from Chicago collided with a truck that had stalled on the tracks in Amite, Louisiana, killing the driver and injuring several passengers. The commuter rail line that I ride into Manhattan, the MTA Metro North Hudson line, suffered a fatal derailment in the Bronx in 2013. The Metro North Harlem line was the scene of a fatal crash involving an SUV struck by a northbound train in Mt. Kisco, NY, this past February. Like everyone, we have questions about the safety of America's railroad infrastructure and the enforcement of best practices such as speed limits. We understand that repairing and replacing infrastructure is a massive, multi-year undertaking. We believe a review of best practices, hiring, and training at Amtrak and at commuter rail lines is likely to follow this latest crash. In the very near term, we are asking the same question raised by former U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood, who rides Amtrak's Northeast Corridor often. LaHood served from 2009 to 2013 and has asked whether seat belts on trains will help keep passengers safe in the event of a crash.  (The Associated Press has noted that a study by Britain's Rail Safety and Standards Board recommended against seat belts, having concluded that seat belts would not reduce the number of serious injuries.) Of course we love train travel and we love the options Amtrak provides U.S. travelers who want to explore their country car-free. We also applaud the growth of commuter rail, light rail, and subway and bus systems as affordable, eco-friendly, and convenient ways of navigating our urban areas. But our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the Philadelphia crash, and we look forward to seeing concrete actions taken to ensure the safety of train travel in the U.S.

I recently wrangled some of the closest people in my life for a travel adventure along Maryland's Eastern Shore. Bringing together multiple generations in today's busy world is a challenge in itself, but add in a group of tech connected, urban worker bees and it gets more complicated. The fact that we were filming the adventure for Budget Travel and the upcoming PBS TV series, Travels with Darley, meant we were bringing along a full film crew, which made for even more challenging scheduling. We pulled it off and loved our time along the Eastern Shore! Our group consisted of my two best friends Ellen Schmidt of Baby Meets City fame (and her daughters, Vivian and Millie ages 3 and 5) and Chad Davis. We all hail from the Washington, DC, and New York City areas, meaning the Eastern Shore was just a train ride and car ride away. To make matters easier, we secured a campsite by the beach for our RV in Assateague State Park, a useful jumping off point to explore nearby Ocean City, Berlin, and, of course, Assateague Island. If you've always wanted to take a road trip adventure and are wondering where to go, keep reading for ten top spots along Maryland's Eastern Shore that are accessible and fun for your family or travel group. Cow to Cone Ice Cream Farm A great family destination, Chesapeake Bay Farms (4111 Whitesburg Road, Pocomoke City) was one of our favorite stops. This pretty, diverse dairy farm produces a multitude of yummy ice cream flavors right on the farm. It takes a little less than 40 minutes to drive from Assateague Island National Seashore to the farm. If took me a bit longer, as I was driving an over 26-foot RV and on vacation... why rush! The farm's donkeys, horses, cows and adorable puppy, keep kids entertained, engaged and enjoying rural life both before and after ice cream. Best of all, the ice cream is delicious, and even better in a homemade waffle cone while rocking on a peaceful front porch. Creative flavors include espresso ice cream with chocolate covered coffee beans, fresh blueberry, strawberry shortcake, princess pink and beyond. Berlin For a small town, Berlin offers a lot to do, especially for families. After walking Main Street, our group enjoyed a lesson in glass blowing at Jeffrey Auxer Designs. Millie made three ornaments, a truly memorable vacation memento. Jeffrey himself gave us glass blowing instruction and tips. He has a lot of experience teaching kids, something you definitely want when you have a child nearing an over 1,000° F furnace! His work is beautiful, so even if you don't take a lesson in glass blowing, his shop is worth a visit. While Ellen and her girls went to the Berlin playground, we adults headed over to Burley Oak Brewery (10016 Old Ocean City Blvd.) for a special tour and tasting with owner and brewer Bryan Brushmiller. Being an entrepreneur and someone who enjoys supporting small businesses, I liked hearing Bryan's story of losing his job and following his passion from brewing in his garage to his beautiful, sustainable brewery. We taste tested the Happy Pale Ale and finished just in time to see how popular Burley Oak is with locals and travelers alike. The place was hopping on Saturday at around noon when we departed for lunch and to taste some of Berlin's sweet side. If you want to sit outside or just enjoy some local farm to table food, try lunch or dinner at Blacksmith Bar & Restaurant (blacksmithberlin.com, 104 Pitts Street). Our group sat outside in the shade enjoying rock fish tacos topped with fresh pico de gallo, homemade hummus and Caesar salad sprinkled with zesty parmesan. Another top lunch pick is Drummer Café at the historic Atlantic Hotel (2 N. Main St., Berlin). The Islander sandwich will definitely keep you full until dinner with its fresh roasted turkey. Seafood lovers may gravitate toward the grilled wild salmon BLT. A must-have dessert when visiting this cool, small town is the peach dumpling, the official dessert of Berlin. The Berlin area was once the home of major peach orchards, and the peach dumpling celebrates this sweet legacy. Stop by Baked Dessert Café (4c Bay Street) to get your fix. After you've done all of that, relax. Berlin may have a lot to do, but one of the best things to do while you're here is kick back and take in the ambience of this cool small town. (Berlin was voted Budget Travel's 2014 Coolest Small Town in America.) The OC (that's Ocean City) Being from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I have a soft spot from boardwalks and know that they can be great excursion for kids. With haunted houses, arcades, amusement park rides, candy galore, and more, what's not for a kid to love! On the Ocean City Boardwalk, stop by Dolle's Candyland (dolles.com, 500 South Atlantic Avenue), a family-owned candy shop that has been making candy for over 100 years. You have to try the saltwater taffy (chew carefully), which comes in surprising flavors including root beer, peanut butter, cinnamon, lime and molasses mint. Kids will love some of the rides along the boardwalk, including a giant Ferris wheel and the carousel at Trimper's Amusement (S. First Street and The Boardwalk), a family-owned boardwalk fixture that has been welcoming riders since 1912. While riding the carousel is mainly an activity for kids, we adults hopped on to "supervise", marveling at the craftsmanship and detail on each of this mounts on this historic merry-go-round. I rode by Millie, who chose a horse. We went around a few times before walking down to stroll along the beach, another must-do when in Ocean City. Assateague Island One of the highlights of my trip to Maryland's Eastern Shore was exploring Assateague Island. This barrier island close to Berlin and Ocean City has stunning beaches, extensive bird watching and awesome wild horse viewing. This is a place where you need to unplug, play in the waves and take a deep breath, something that can be hard to do in our modern, busy world. As Millie and Vivian screamed in delight, running back and forth in the crashing waves under blue skies and beautiful sun, it made me want to take a step back to my own childhood. I remembered how much fun I had growing up at the beach and why these types of memories are so important for all of us to cherish, even in adulthood. We had spent the morning taking a nature hike with National Park ranger Nick Clemons. There are a variety of walking and hiking trails in Assateague Island's National Park. We chose a trail through the marshland, where Nick took us to a "secret" beach and then in search of horses. Some of the better spots to find horses are near the campsites and parking lots where humans make their mark. There are graphic signs in the bathrooms on the island, showcasing the bruises and welts past visitors have garnered after getting too close to the Assateague horses. Rumored to have landed on the island after a shipwreck, these horses are pony-sized, but radiate a toughness often in found horses living on their own in sometimes harsh environments. Having spent many years riding and observing horses, part of my own passion and my job as the host of the Emmy-winning Equitrekking TV show, I would compare the Assateague horses to some of the horses I've observed on Ireland's wild West Coast in Connemara or in the mountains of Wales: hardy, independent, and beautiful. If you visit Assateague Island, consider camping out to get the full experience. You can bring a tent or park an RV at campsites in the State Park, which offers warm showers and some electric hookups, or enjoy more primitive camping on the National Park side, but book early, as these coveted spaces fill up quickly. We built a campfire beside our RV right by the beach on the State Park side, roasted s'mores and watched the sun set and the moon rise on our special family adventure. St Michaels I had heard about St Michaels famous charm long before my visit. This beautiful seaside town makes for a great romantic getaway with or without the kids. Shop for unique, nautical themed gifts for you or your pet in the heart of St Michaels before cracking crabs at The Crab Claw (thecrabclaw.com, 304 Burns Street). This restaurant offers the quintessential Maryland Blue Crab feast right by the water. You can walk right from The Crab Claw into the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (cbmm.org, 213 N Talbot St.), where dedicated master shipwrights, apprentices and volunteers are restoring wooden boats and keeping the history of the Chesapeake Bay and its watermen alive. Admission is free for children under the age of six. Adults pay $15 for a two-day pass. Kids and adults may like climbing to the top of the Hooper Straight Lighthouse for views of the museum campus and St Michaels. Tilghman Island We hadn't originally planned to visit Tilghman Island, but are so glad that we did. After a scheduling change, which frequently happens on film shoots, we drove the short twenty minutes from St Michaels, crossing the Drawbridge over Knapps Narrows that takes you away from cell phone reception and the modern world and onto Tilghman Island. I went into the Tilghman Island Country Store to use their landline to call Captain Wade Murphy Jr. (skipjack.org, 21308 Phillips Road, Tilghman), who has the Rebecca T. Ruark, a stunning skipjack that dates back to 1886 and is listed as a National Historic Landmark. A third-generation waterman, a skipjack ride with Captain Wade is worth the trip to this island. If you don't have time to take a boat ride, just talking with Captain Wade and hearing his stories is worth a trip. We also recommend taking a walk around Dogwood Harbor, where multi-generation waterman still bring in their daily catch and where Captain Wade keeps his skipjack.   Kent Island Kent Island is a place that many people pass over on their way to the Eastern Shore. Located right beside the iconic Bay Bridge, this island is worth a stop, whether you want a break from the drive at one of the island's many waterside restaurants or to take in nature. I decided to do both, riding bikes along the Cross Island Trail and eating lunch at Bridges Restaurant (bridgesrestaurant.net, 321 Wells Cove Rd, Grasonville) by the water. The Cross Island Trail is part of the American Discovery Trail, a coast to coast recreational trial that spans the District of Columbia and 15 states. Passing through marshland, forests and along the former rail bed of the Queen Anne's Railroad, this six mile trail is an interesting and easy ride. If you want to take in views of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from a beach, make sure to include the Terrapin Nature Area at the start of the Cross Island bike trial. If you're traveling to Kent Island, go fishing. I went out with Captain Andrew Aus of Maverick Chesapeake Bay Sport Fishing (fishmaverick.com, Tel. 443-988-8020) from the Queen Anne Marina. I've done a fair share of fishing around the world and this was the best, probably because I caught a really big fish. I usually think of fishing as serene, but it was truly exciting and challenging, as I tried to reel in a 40.5 inch, almost-30-lb Rockfish. A professional outfit, Captain Aus and his crew are not messing around on their fishing adventures. They know the Bay well, having grown up there fishing, and will give you the ins and outs of the Bay health, where to find the best fish and an all-around great day on the water. Distances on the Eastern Shore aren't great, but the diversity of scenery and experiences is, making it a great pick for a road trip, especially if you're bringing along the kids. About the author: Darley is the host and producer of Equitrekking, the Emmy-winning PBS TV series, and currently in production on Travels with Darley, coming to PBS and viewable online now in short form on Budget Travel and AOL . Follow her adventures on the road on Twitter @DarleyNewman and Instagram @DarleyNewman.

Hop in the passenger's seat on the ultimate road trip! We're posting real-time dispatches as Budget Travel's Photo Editor, Whitney Tressel, journeys across the country using tips from locals as her guide. Prepare for beautiful beaches and parks, amazing local cuisine, and one-of-a-kind experiences you only get when you talk to the real Americans who make this country great. Daybreak at San Diego's Sunset Cliffs Natural Park came dressed in a mellow haze of light fog—peaceful weather ideal for yoga at dawn. One young bearded man brought a bright red mat and meditated right on the rocks, a flock of gulls swirling in the background, palm trees dotting the horizon. Mindfulness aside, time waits for no woman, and Whitney was soon back on the road, on Route 5, in search of a dish true to the area. A local truck driver's recommendation? Blue Water Seafood Market & Grill, a blue-ceilinged fish shack where daylight pours in through the windows and photos of fishermen clutching prize-winning marlins cover the walls like a collage. She'd heard tell that Blue Water had the best fish tacos in the world. And the kicker is...they were. Less than five bucks bought Whitney a hearty mahi mahi taco (there are more than a dozen kinds of fish to choose from) and a fresh-outta-the-sea flavor she might spend her whole life trying to find again. Turning onto I-8, Whitney traced the Mexican border, weaving close to it, then skirting away when the highway leaned north. The diversity of the landscape was striking: Coming from the coast, the ocean vistas quickly twisted into a mountainous desert landscape, which in turn transformed into hills seemingly made of tiny pebbles. The roadside flatlined into deserts, followed by fields. When Whitney was just shy of Yuma, Arizona, the almost Moroccan-looking Algodones Dunes came into view, the sand's curves resembling perfectly whipped chocolate meringue, the peaks folding into valleys again and again. Ten miles west of Yuma, Whitney motored to Felicity, California, dubbed the Center of the World, a nearly deserted desert wonder first visible from far away—a tiny church on top of the highest sand dune. Once you're there, you can't miss the pyramid that holds the "official" center-of-the-world plaque, the sun dial featuring a bronze replica of God's arm from the Sistine Chapel, an original spiral staircase from the Eiffel Tower...or, when Whitney was there, the guy who had placed a fake skeleton in a lawn chair next to his truck, which we hope was a joke rather than an invitation. To see all four incongrous things in one strange place was disorienting. When you have a feeling like that, Whitney says, you know you're officially a road tripper. Whitney's Travel Tip: Lines for Blue Water Seafood Market & Grill can wrap around the corner. But a young San Diegan on his lunch break gave Whitney a tip only a local would know: There's a little side window at the restaurant designated for takeout. Ordering there won't get you your food any faster, but when lines are long, stop at the window first for a beer, then drink it while you wait in the queue. Next stop: The rest of the west. Previously: #BTRoadTrip: Los Angeles to San Diego Want more? Follow @BudgetTravel on Twitter and Instagram, and look for the hashtag #BTRoadTrip. It all culminates in an epic photo essay in the July/August 2015 digital issue of Budget Travel.