Affordable Europe: Winter is the new summer

You probably already have a favorite travel search engine, such Kayak or Mobissimo. But a revamped and renamed website has debuted today with a clever twist on travel planning. UpTake is a new name for Kango.com, which used to merely archive travel reviews from hundreds of websites and guidebooks to help users plan trips. UpTake has now become much bolder. It scours more than 1,000 travel sites and filters millions of opinions to have edited lists of advice on what do do and where to stay in the U.S. Uptake also makes it easier for you to do "theme-based" travel searching, such as a search for "“girls-getaways” or “pet-friendly" in, say, Las Vegas. This may be a more intuitive way for some people to search for travel. The site says it has listings for 400,000 hotels and activities, culled from multiple sources. It only covers the U.S., though. [Uptake.com] Below, you'll find a two-minute video from the company explaining how to make the most of the site, such as by how to plan a trip to Monterrey, Calif. The narrator is a bit stiff.* But overall, the two-minute video is helpful, and it includes a sneak peak of what's going to be rolled out on the site within a couple of months. *the description of narrator has been modified since this item was first posted.

If you've ever stood in line at U.S. Immigration and wondered if the agents feel a bit too comfortable in their power--I know I have--then you should absolutely read this story in today's New York Times. (Actually, it's even more imperative that you read it if you don't think immigration agents are abusing their power.) To sum it up, an Italian man flew to Dulles airport outside D.C. to visit his American girlfriend. He ended up being detained in jail for 10 days for no apparent reason. (Agents claimed he asked for asylum; as the man's girlfriend says, "Who on earth would seek asylum from Italy?") Whether or not this is truly an isolated incident remains to be seen. But even if it is, the federal government must set up some kind of basic protection for travelers visiting the U.S. (because they have no rights at all). At a bare minimum, they must have the right—if refused entry—to communicate with whomever they choose (an embassy, family, the person they're visiting), and they must be given some sort of due process, including an explanation of why they're being held. What's more, U.S. immigration should have to regularly publish (daily? weekly?) a list of who's being detained and for how long.

One of the best ways to sample Italian culture without spending many euros is participating in a small town festival, such as a festa, fiera or sagra. While these are simple celebrations of an event or a saint, food is often the major focus. Starting with the first spring blossoms, regional festivals sprout up from north to south, celebrating cherries, porchetta (spit roasted pork), chianti (wine), asparagus, leeks, truffles, and chocolate, to name just a few. The delicacies are far from the "hand cramp prices" charged in the major cities, and the quality of the food is much higher. The vibe is always local, too. Neighborhood lore, language, and traditions intermingle with food and wine tasting, live entertainment, and outdoor markets. For a festa near one of your Italian Grand Tour pit stops, go online and use a search engine like Yahoo or Google to look up “festa” “sagra” and the name of the region where you will be visiting. A few of the best known summer festivals are Siena’s Palio, Alba’s Tartuffo fair, and Arezzo's Giostra. They can be overcrowded and overpriced. But they are a lot of fun. Here are some other festivals that range in subject matter: Sagra della Porchetta -- in Ariccia, in Lazio, on Sept. 3, 2008 -- porchetta (roasted pork) festival Marostica (in the Veneto) -- festival of the Cherries (during the last week in May), and Live Chess festival 2nd weekend in September every 2nd year. This is the area where Shakespeare was to have taken the idea for Romeo and Giuletta (not Verona). Palio di San Ranieri -- Pisa (Tuscany) June 17, 2008-- boat race Volterra (tuscany) -- for the last week in August the entire city becomes medieval Bravio dei Botti Montepulciano (Tuscany) -- barrel racing up the hill, medieval costume, funny, last Sunday in August Sagra del Torcetto, del Grissino, della Toma Lanzo Torinese (Piedmont) July 4 to 6 -- medieval costume, food such as Toma (a very old Piedmont stinky cheese) Festa di Santa Rosalia Palermo (Sicily) street festival July 14 for Santa Rosalia Once you're in Italy, finding a festa is easy. Just look out for the colorful posters on streets and highways, which announce the events, along with their dates (usually weekends), locations, and honored subject. In winter months, posters are less frequent seen, but feasts, fairs and festivals are still happening. Local tourist offices, often found in train stations of larger cities, provide festa information. In smaller towns, its best to look on church and city hall doors. Once you find a cool event, such as a life-size chess fair or a pistachio festival, remember not to tell your friends about it. Or else the events will become too popular! —Erica Firpo, who is blogging from Rome as part of our Affordable Europe series. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 10 ways to stretch your dollar in Europe this summer.