#TBT: Have You Seen This Hilarious Airline Safety Video Featuring Richard Simmons?

Many travelers prize an authentic, locally sourced souvenir. if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('1521e6e3-3e7f-47a7-8af3-e72c43a26923');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)I define "souvenir" as something you buy during a trip as a memento. It doesn't have to be sold at a tourist gift shop. Is it important to you that your souvenir be made locally? If so, why? Is it because you want to support local businesses? Or to accurately capture what the local vibe is like? Souvenirs have become political in our nation's capital—surprise, surprise. Congressmen have pressured the National Museum of American History to stock only "made in the U.S.A." products. Soon, the shelves of one of the museum's gift shops will only sell American goods, reports the Washington Post. But there's a wider relevance here to the question of where souvenirs come from. If you're traveling a great distance on your precious vacation time—here or abroad—would you want to buy a memento that is different from what you can get at your hometown shopping mall? If you're visiting Moscow, would you want Matryoshkas made locally—and not in China? When vacationing in Venice, would you want glassware made at the local factories of Murano, instead of in China? Ditto for rug shopping in Istanbul. Shopping local is a way to help the businesses that give a place the qualities worth visiting. Please speak up in the comments. Do you look for authentic, locally sourced goods when shopping on a vacation? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Supermarket Souvenirs: Five globe-trotting shoppers share their unusual goodies from around the world. 20 Museum Gifts from Around the World A slide show How to Haggle Like an Expert Bizarre Traveler Behavior What's the Deal With Duty-free?

Some rental cars are safer than others. USA Today crunched the numbers on new makes and models rented by the eight largest U.S. chains. The paper relied on ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. One out of four cars have "poor" ratings in a few types of accidents: side, rear, and rollover. USA Today found six 2011 vehicles and one 2010 vehicle with "poor" side-impact crash ratings: the Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, the Volkswagen New Beetle, the two-door Jeep Wrangler, GMC Canyon, the Chevrolet Colorado with a crew cab, and the 2010 Chrysler PT Cruiser. Three 2010 vehicles — the Chrysler PT Cruiser, the Infiniti M35 and the Hummer H3 — are rated "poor" in rear-crash ratings. The safest small, economy-class 2011 cars are the four-door Honda Civic, the Mitsubishi Lancer, and the Subaru Impreza. More details at USA Today. How about with you? Have you ever considered safety when picking a rental car? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Hot deal! Arizona car rentals for $5 a day from Hertz Rental cars: AutoSlash may find cheaper rates than you Hipmunk: Finding "ecstasy" in affordable lodging

Last fall, Budget Travel's Valerie Rains praised an airline-ticket search site called Hipmunk. It's like Kayak, only it presents streamlined fare results with a wink. This meta search engine sorts tickets by something called an Agony Index. It ranks flights by a mix of price, duration, and number of layovers. For instance, redeye flights score poorly. Having innovated with fare search, the site has since debuted a tool to find a perfect room: hipmunk.com/hotels. It has three key perks: • All the major hotel chains are included in search results. But the site also covers rentals in people's homes and in bed-and-breakfasts via Airbnb. (That's a site we've blogged about before.) • Hotels are color-coded by their rates. See which neighborhoods have the best deals. • The site plots the location of the accommodations on a Google map. But there's a twist: It has a "heat map" for cool restaurants and hangouts. Lots of green dots mean there are lots of fun things to do nearby. • Sort properties by "ecstasy," a mix of rate, amenities, and Yelp rating. Booking is handled by Orbitz or AirBnB MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Which hotel toiletry products do you snag for the road? (14 comments) London hotels: Want that towel? You have to pay $2.40 (14 comments) A bon voyage for less? (20 comments)

It may be the most controversial article Budget Travel has published: Confessions of… a Flight Attendant. This article's most provocative point was about tipping. Our anonymous confessor wrote: Tipping is not encouraged by the airlines, but greatly appreciated by the staff. The key is insisting that we take the money; we're not allowed to accept it on the first attempt. I make doubly sure to attend to the needs of anyone who has tipped me, sometimes throwing in a free round—and the drinks are always strong. The article received many passionate responses. One was from Jennifer S. Callewaert, a flight attendant for more than two decades: I have never and will never accept a tip from a passenger no matter how much he "insists". The "free round", that your flight attendant confessed to, is not hers to give.… I guess it just shows you that one person in uniform does not speak for all of us. Another reader commented: I didn't realize I had to pay or bribe a flight attendant for service. Silly me, here I thought that in-flight service was part of the fare…. Perhaps you can tell me what the correct amount is for a tip. I was reminded of this debate recently. The debate over tipping flight attendants has popped up on the Internet again. The cause this time is a comment by the popular writer Spud Hilton. He recently blogged for the San Francisco Chronicle: I've often wondered why it is we don't tip flight attendants, who, frankly, work a hell of a lot harder than most of the people I currently tip for even remotely adequate service. I take Hilton's point. I've tipped flight attendants myself. But only when they've voluntarily gone above and beyond in helping me. For example, a flight attendant once treated me to free beverages. I was in the last row of the plane, and my seat couldn't recline—for a transatlantic flight. Her gesture wasn't required, but I appreciated it. I returned it with a tip. I passed it quietly, via a handshake. The flight attendant said no, but I insisted. So exceptional circumstances may justify tipping. In general, America's tipping culture seems out of control. Things should be different. If you work hard, you ought to get a predictable financial reward. Your pay shouldn't depend on a whim or someone's mood. if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('58c77a20-7c9b-4b9f-8677-f0d6ae2f536b');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)Also: When it comes to flight attendants, "tipping" is often the wrong word. Doesn't "tipping" refer to a reward for good service, given after the fact? Yet on an airplane, you often give money in advance to ensure better service. For example, you might slip them some cash for a chance at an extra drink. In that case, the more apt word is "bribe." Whether you call it tipping or bribing, it's not a truly respectful approach. Do we really want to treat professionals—who are trained to save our lives in an emergency—as feudal serfs? On the other hand, giving cash may be the best way to boost in-flight customer service. Name a country where tipping is rare, like England. Its customer service is poor, isn't it? The U.S. has better restaurant and hotel service because its people work for tips. What do you think? Should we tip flight attendants? Sound off now! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Confessions Of... A Flight Attendant A Flight Attendant Sounds Off About "Rude" Passengers 8 Things an Airline Would Never Tell You