Affordable Europe: Save on trains from London

There's an interesting item in Travel Weekly about a woman in California who is suing NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) because she couldn't get into the premium specialty restaurants "due to upscale passengers taking all the seats." NCL markets Freestyle Dining as the ability to eat anywhere you choose, but the woman found that priority seating went to passengers who had paid higher fares. The lawyer is trying for class-action status, and the woman wants all her costs reimbursed (which seems a bit outrageous), but I think maybe there's a legitimate beef here. Cruise lines are creating a multi-class system, and that usually leads to the lower classes feeling disenfranchised.

You've got less than two weeks to pull together your Mother's Day gift. (M-day is May 11.) How about buying a gift card at BedandBreakfast.com that is redeemable for a stay at one of 4,000 B&Bs;? Even better, the site will donate 10 percent of the purchase price to American Forests' ReLeaf Fund, an organization that plants trees where they are needed most. To plan a full-fledged mother-daughter getaway, see our roundup of Real Deals.

I recently spent a week in Istanbul with three girlfriends, and we relied on two guidebooks—the Lonely Planet Istanbul Encounter and Eyewitness Travel's Top 10 Istanbul—that offered (sometimes contradictory) cultural etiquette advice. Both books stressed that physical contact between men and women should be limited and that public displays of attraction were a definite taboo. So we were surprised when we often saw Muslim girls in headscarves canoodling with their boyfriends in very public places. We were also led astray by the inadequate guidebook discussion of how Turkish men would treat us—a group of young American women traveling without male companions. No one attempted to follow us, and there was never a time I felt unsafe. But I wasn't prepared for the constant verbal harassment we received. (One of my colleagues was visiting with her boyfriend around the same time and didn't encounter the same boldness from Turkish men.) Most of the comments came from shopkeepers trying to lure us into their stores. Several men told us we were beautiful, and one told my friend he wanted to start a family with her. The comments were innocent enough, but grew frustrating as the week progressed. While the unwanted attention didn't prevent me from having a fabulous trip, it's something I think women should be prepared for when heading to Istanbul.—Liz Webber Ever been to Istanbul? Share your experiences and some tips for future visitors below.