8 Tips For Documenting Your Travels With Vine

Long before anyone knew that the contending NFL teams in Super Bowl XLVII would be the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, this year's host city, New Orleans, was preparing for the crowds expected to pack the city next weekend. As with last year's Super Bowl, which was hosted by another mid-size city, Indianapolis, this year's promises a weekend where visitors can rub elbows with enthusiastic locals, with the party atmosphere traveling easily from the Mercedes Benz Super Dome (the site of the actual game) to the French Quarter and beyond. The location and time of year also mean that this year's Super Bowl festivities will overlap with those of Mardi Gras season, creating perhaps a "perfect storm" of hospitality and high spirits. If you're going to be in New Orleans this weekend for the game, the Mardi Gras, or just by coincidence, here are a few things you should know to guarantee that the party of the year goes your way: Have a custom-made libation. In honor of the big game, some local watering holes are rolling out original drinks. Café Adelaide (cafeadelaide.com), for instance, is serving The Raven (made with rum, ginger syrup, orange juice) and The California Gold Rush (made with organic vodka, mint, seltzer, and golden bitters). Enjoy a Mardi Gras parade. Sure, the real Fat Tuesday isn't until February 12, but in order to accommodate the plethora of krewes, parades began in mid-January and are happening now. While all the parades offer colorful floats, costumes, and interactions with the crowd, for something different, try the Krewe de Paws Canine Carnival Club parade, Saturday February 2 at 10 a.m. in nearby St. Tammany Parish. To check out other parade schedules and routes, visit nola.com/mardigras. If you get a restaurant reservation, keep it! At this point, with just a few days remaining before game day, most of New Orleans's high-end dining spots are booked. But if you do land a reservation at a sought-after restaurant such as The Grill Room at the Windsor Court Hotel (windsorcourthotel.com), be sure to show up on time. If you cancel a reservation without prior notice, the restaurant will charge a fee of $100 per guest. But remember, New Orleans restaurants are used to crowds. Low-key restaurants like the breakfast and lunch café Stanley (stanleyrestaurant.com) expect to see up to 3,000 guests per day this time of year, so the Super Bowl crowds won't necessarily cause as much of a scene as you might fear. (In fact, wait staff at Stanley have been outfitted this year with iPads so that tranmitting diners' orders to the kitchen is snappier than ever.) One caveat, though, is that some joints (both posh and pedestrian) near the Superdome may be shut down the weekend of the game. Chef John Besh, for example, is closing his La Provence restaurant through February and using it instead as a prep kitchen for game-related parties and events that are booked at his downtown restaurants. Check out public transportation. New Orleans's legendary streetcars and other means of public transportation are affordable and efficient. But be sure to check out Super Bowl- and Mardi Gras-related schedule changes and detours at the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority's website, norta.com. TALK TO US! Are you visiting New Orleans for the Super Bowl or Mardi Gras? We'd love to hear what you have planned!

Now is a great time to be in New York. The city is celebrating it's annual NYC Restaurant Week, Broadway Week, and, starting January 28th, Off-Broadway Week—and this year they're all overlapping. And don't worry, despite the names they actually last longer than just a week. Here's what you need to know to take advantage of the savings. NYC RESTAURANT WEEK: Now thru Feb. 8thWith 317 participating restaurants located all over Manhattan plus two outer-burrough spots—The Greenhouse Cafe in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and the Water's Edge Restaurant in Long Island City, Queens—it's easy to take advantage of this deal. The website lets you search for your favorite restaurants by neighborhood or type of cuisine, download menus, and makes it easy for you to book reservations online. The only catch seems to be that Saturdays are excluded from the deal, and Sundays are optional depending on the restaurant. This year's pricing for three course meals is $25 at lunch time and $38 for dinner.  BROADWAY WEEK: Now thru Feb. 7thTwo-for-one Broadway tickets are yours for the taking thanks to Broadway Week. Seats are typically located in the back and sides of the orchestra and mezzanine sections, and this year, an extra $20 per ticket lets you upgrade to a seat closer to the stage. As of this posting, deals were available for Annie, Chicago, The Heiress, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia!, Mary Poppins, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Newsies, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Once, The Other Place, The Phantom of the Opera, Picnic, Rock of Ages, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Wicked. Book online and use promo code BWAYWEEK. Use promo code BWAYUP when purchasing the $20 upgraded seats. OFF-BROADWAY WEEK: Jan. 28th thru Feb. 10thJust like Broadway Week, Off-Broadway Week gets you two-for-one tickets to some great performances. Book through the website for popular shows like Avenue Q, The Berenstain Bears in Family Matters the Musical, Blue Man Group, Channeling Kevin Spacey, The Fantastiks, Forbidden Broadway, Much Ado About Nothing, Silence! The Musical, Stomp, and The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, among others.

There are two types of vacation strategies in the winter: get as far away from the cold as possible, or embrace it. And which of these travel deals appeals to you depends on your preference. For beach weather Winter is high season in the Caribbean, but that doesn't mean there aren't deals to be had. A new promotion through the USVI tourism board gets you a $300 credit on airfare per couple when you book a six-night package to St. Croix, and that sixth night is free. There are a dozen resorts participating in the program, including The Buccaneer and The Palms at Pelican Cove. Hurry, though, you need to book by January 31 and for travel between January 27 and March 24. For an island that's a bit chillier Even though winter in England is decidedly less sunny than the Caribbean, that's no reason to stay away. And if you book an airfare and hotel package through British Airways, you'll get two hotel nights free thanks to a deal through BA and Visit Britain. The deal is valid on trips to London, Manchester, and Newcastle, England and in Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, with 13 hotels to choose from. Book now until March 31 for trips through the end of March.

How often do you read the fine print before you make travel arrangements? You might think you've seen it all, but those diminutive stipulations aren't evergreen—hotels, airlines, even tour companies are continuously updating their list of exceptions. Miss something pertinent to your trip, and you could find yourself spending far more money than you ever intended. Here's one that recently tripped up a friend of mine—a single sentence, embedded deep in a sea of small letters, that read: "hotel may not be able to accommodate more than two people in a room." For couples traveling together this poses no problem whatsoever, but as soon as you start booking vacations for three or more people it can be a challenge. It's especially confusing when you're booking into a hotel that has two double beds to a room. My friend learned this the hard way when reserving a room in a classy hotel in the Dominican Republic.  Failing to read the fine print and assuming that the photos of rooms with two beds assured enough space for her and her two traveling companions, she jumped on the great rate the site presented and booked the room. Fortunately, she was smart enough to call the hotel to confirm their reservation before she set off on her vacation (something I always recommend when you book through a third party). At that time, she learned that it would cost them the full price of the five-star hotel room if they wanted to have a third person stay with them. Yikes. Thanks to the fact that she called in advance, she was able to speak to someone at the hotel who eventually agreed to eliminate the exorbitant fee and let her friends stay in her room for the flat rate she booked through the online travel agent. Crisis averted. She got off easy, but not everyone will be quite so lucky. The lesson? Read the fine print. And always call ahead to confirm your reservation details. Have you ever been misled by the fine print when traveling? Share your story below so that others can avoid the same fate.