Are You Traveling Carbon Neutral?

In April 2010, a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine made me laugh—it showed an airplane preparing for takeoff. One of the flight attendants asked folks to please "turn off their books." Almost exactly one year later, in May 2011, e-book sales surpassed print sales at Amazon.com (on a related note, the Kindle is their best-selling item of all time). Enter April 2012 and the price of an e-book is the focus of an anti-trust lawsuit and the Pew Research Center just revealed that the percentage of people who own an e-reader nearly doubled this holiday season. Clearly, e-books are on the rise. That said, the printed word still accounts for 74 percent of the market according to the Pew Research study. if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('5376c3ad-57de-42d4-9136-61ac3355f38b'); Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info) As the Deputy Digital Editor for Budget Travel, you might think that I was an early adopter of the e-book, but that isn't true. I like everything about printed books—the way they look, the way they smell, the sound the pages make as you turn them, the fact that you don't have to power them "on" when you want to use them, "off" when you're done with them. I didn't think I needed an e-reader—until I had one. Now I can't put it down. I love the device for all of the reasons everyone else tells me they love it: you can carry hundreds of books with you! You can download books for free! You can save magazine and newspaper articles! As a frequent traveler, this is especially meaningful to me (my carry-on is so much lighter). Plus, there are all of those handy apps you can download and access on the road. That's me, but I know that there are still plenty of folks who would never dream of giving up their books in favor of an e-reader. So here is my question to you—how many of you use an e-book reader on vacation? If you use one, which one do you use? Vote in our poll or tell us below. SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: 10 Most Sacred Spots on Earth 15 International Food Etiquette Rules That Might Surprise You 30 Hotel Chains Every Traveler Should Know

It seems like everyday there is a new travel website launching—it can be overwhelming, even for us and we do this for a living! We're constantly testing the newest tools to help you sort the wheat from the chaff (refer to our list of the 10 Most Useful Travel Websites to see some of our favorites). Some sites, like TripIt help create custom itineraries. Other websites like Guestmob, Viator, and FlightFox promise ways to save money on hotels, cruise shore excursions, or airline tickets respectively. And that's not even counting apps—a quick search in The App Store revealed there are more than 240 apps in the travel category alone, not to mention another 48 available for Android devices via Google Play. Before smartphones and instant internet access, people relied on word–of–mouth recommendations, travel agents, printed guides and didn't mind getting a little lost if it meant having a great travel story to tell when they got home. It's not that these things have disappeared—most of us still ask our friends for recommendations before we travel, still own a guidebook or two, and travel agents are still in business. The difference is that now we also have currency converters, maps, online planners and translators at our fingertips. And it's easier than ever to share our can share our travel adventures on social media—or Pinterest—at any time. We even did a story about this back in December of 2010 where we sent a writer to Mumbai with nothing but a smartphone to see what kind of trip he would have by relying on technology alone. In another story from our October 2011 issue, we sent a writer to France without any maps, guidebooks, itinerary, GPS, or cell phone to see if he could get by solely on advice from the locals. As technology continues to evolve, so will we—and so will how we travel. We're just beginning to discover the ways that we can use all of the data accessible to us to make our lives easier. The question is—for the time being—do you find these new developments to be helpful or confusing? Do you think that printed guidebooks and travel agents will one day go out of business or will there always be demand for them? Sound off below!

There's a certain kind of romance in a hotel bar—probably the same kind of romance you would have found in an airport bar before air travel became the gauntlet of bad moods and awkward undressings that it generally feels like today. In their best form, hotel bars can create the illusion that all within are adventurers, nomads, and international men and women of mystery. But does it still have that same allure when you're behind the bar, mixing the drinks yourself? More and more hotels are betting on it, and introducing cocktail classes for guests as one of the latest trendy amenities. Chicago's brand-new Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel is the newest arrival to get in on the act, offering a monthly mixology series called "Crafting the Classics" in its Filini restaurant. Classes take place every second Tuesday, starting with May 8 (the classic cocktail in question: a Bee's Knees), and you don’t even have to be a guest to attend. Class size is limited, though, so reserve your spot (for either a 5:45pm or a 6:30pm session) by emailing info@filinichicago.com. Free. Hotel Sorrento in Seattle has been hosting regular small–group "drinking nights" (every second Wednesday of the month) in its Hunt Club restaurant and bar for a couple of years now. Their 1.5–hour sessions combine a history lesson and hands–on activities, and generally focus on a single spirit (in April, it's gin, and in May, it's absinthe). $50 for the lesson, drinks, and food. Philip Sharpe, head mixologist at Leicester's Hotel Maiyango, runs "cocktail schools" for two to 40 people on request, wherein attendees learn to concoct inventive seasonal drinks like Maiyango's signature Black Forest Gateau. From $40 per person. Other hotels that have given the trend a try: San Franscisco's Hotel Adagio; The Tabard Inn in Washington, D.C.; London's Dorchester; Hotel Monaco in Seattle; the Fairmont Chicago; the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans; and a slew of resorts in spa–centric Scottsdale, Ariz. And even if your hotel doesn't advertise such a thing, it never hurts to ask: There may be a slow time of day when a one–off demonstration could be arranged. Would you ever take a cocktail class at your hotel? Tell us in the comments! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 30 Hotel Chains Every Traveler Should Know Planning a Quick Getaway? Don't Make These Common Mistakes Tax Refund = Vacation! 7 Amazing Trips That You Can Afford Right Now

Since the end of 2009, there's been no working hotel inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the Big Island. That's about to change. The Volcano House Hotel has bragging rights in terms of history as well as location. The hotel is situated on the edge of the immense, ash-spewing KÄ«lauea caldera, an active volcano inside the national park. While the physical structure on the site has changed since a lodge first opened here in the 1840s, guests of some form of a hotel on the spot have included presidents (FDR) and iconic cultural figures (Mark Twain). The latter, visiting in 1866, did what he's best known for, offering a humorous and memorable quote, saying, "The surprise of finding a good hotel in such an outlandish spot startled me considerably more than the volcano did." As of New Year's Day 2010, the Volcano House has been closed, however. The national parks service shut the hotel down not because of any concerns about the precarious setting, but because the property operator's contract ended and Parks wanted to make renovations. Since then, some $4 million in upgrades and improvements have been made. Just recently, a new operator for the property has been named: The park and the Hawaii Volcanoes Lodge Company have officially agreed to a 15-year concession contract, in which the company will run overnight accommodations, food and beverage, retail, and related services. The company is related to Ortega National Parks, LLC, which operates concessions in parks such as Muir Woods, Carlsbad Caverns, and Death Valley. Per the contract, the new operator is responsible for additional renovations that'll cost between $2.5 million and $3.5 million. That work is (cross your fingers) expected to be completed by the end of the year, when Volcano House Hotel will once again be open for business, and guests can once again get bragging rights that they stayed overnight on the edge of an active volcano. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Confessions of a National Parks Ranger Road Trip: The Big Island of Hawaii Dream Trip: Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii