NYC: Free WiFi in Times Square

The fare wars are on, with plenty of airlines slashing rates for post-holiday travel. Deals include Midwest's Omaha to Ft. Lauderdale for $104 each way. Find the deals at Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheaptickets, Priceline, and other search engines. In a clever move, Omni Hotels has latched on to the fare wars by launching a Winter 72-Hour Sale. Beginning today and running through Thursday, Nov. 5, guests can book luxury accomodations at Omni Hotels for up to 40 percent off in the same destinations as the winter fare sales. Rates from $69. You can't beat that for an Omni! Eighteen hotels, mostly in the southern half of the U.S., are included in this offer. (See the complete list.) A case in point: Newly built and opened last January, The Omni Fort Worth Hotel is sculpted from native stone and rich hardwoods and wrapped in glass. It houses 1,929 pieces of artwork, all commissioned by Texas artists, and its 614 guest rooms and suites are distinguished with an authentic Texas decor. The property has sale rates from $199, roughly 40 percent off typical rates. (If you book a room here, be sure to read Budget Travel's excellent round-up, "25 Reasons We Love Fort Worth.") Travel must happen between Dec. 2, 2009 and Feb. 10, 2010, excluding New Year's Eve. For more info, please visit Omni Hotels 72-Hour Sale website.

Once upon a time, at least according to Paris legend, it was possible to dine exceedingly well for not a lot of money. Are those days over? Since I began writing this blog series a year ago, I've become obsessed with finding "affordable" restaurants to share with BT readers. I've asked everyone from famous food critics to my local hairdresser, and the answer is always the same: "What do you mean by affordable?" In a town where fine dining can cost hundreds of euros, many people agree that €35 is fair for a three-course menu—assuming that the meal is good. There are plenty of restaurants (let's say about forty) that are putting out special and memorable food for that price. €35, however, is too steep for many people, especially those who are financing the fun with their declining-value dollars. As I wrote back in June, the weakened buying power of the U.S. dollar is presenting a serious challenge for budget-minded travelers. The €35 tab, which thankfully includes tax and tip, is now $51 for Americans. That's not something that most people can do every night. In my food-obsessed opinion, every traveler should experience at least one special meal during their time in Paris. For that splurge, the Internet is full of good restaurant recommendations. Check out this selection of Top 10 Paris Food Blogs, as well as my new favorite, Paris Kitchen. For all of the other meals, however, there's not a lot in the way of current and useful information. That's where Budget Travel is going to step in and help. In the coming weeks, we'll be adding a heap of affordable restaurant reviews to our site. In additional to my own suggestions, we'd love to investigate and publish your best ideas for affordable dining. And by affordable, we mean eating (not drinking) for under €20. Can it be done? Tell us how in the comments.

Lots of tour packages hit our desks here at Budget Travel, but one tour operator that continues to inspire me is REI Adventures. Unfamiliar with them? They're the offshoot tour operator of the giant REI retail stores, specializing in travel gear. REI Adventures offers active, interesting tours all over the world, but they have particularly neat itineraries if you're looking to rediscover the U.S. They just launched new trips for 2010, and I'm already drooling over one. The four-day Superstition Mountains Backpacking itinerary includes 21 miles of hiking through Central Arizona's 160,000-acre Superstition Mountain range. The mountains were formed by volcano activity some 305 million years ago and reach up to 3,000 feet. Along the way, hikers will wind through thick canyon walls, some with native artwork, and spy huge columns of rock like Weaver's Needle. There's a lot of gold-rush-era lore that surrounds the Superstitions—the Lost Dutchman's Mine is a favorite. The story goes that Jacob Waltz (actually a German), a prospecting miner in the late 1800s, was said to have found the richest gold mine in the world. He took its secret location to his grave, thus igniting a huge treasure hunt after his death. No one's ever found the mine, but hey, who knows? The Superstition Mountain Museum, though not on the REI Adventures itinerary, is still worth a stop if you're interested in the history behind the mysterious mountains (it's about 30 minutes from Tempe, the meet-up location for this trip). Dates for the backpacking trip are January through March, and the price is $575 per person for members of REI and $615 for non-members. We recommended getting a membership to REI—it's only $20 for a lifetime, and it'll save you a ton of money, even if you take just one trip. Other exciting entries on REI Adventures' 2010 calendar include kayaking on South Carolina's Edisto River and cycling in the Loire Valley. EARLIER New urban adventures from Intrepid Travel Hiking tips from adventure star Andrew Skurka

Gennaro Cesare grew up in a seedy part of Naples and spent years in and out of prison on drug-related charges. But for the past six months, the 36-year-old father of two has been wearing a different uniform—a neon yellow vest—as a participant in Escodentro. It's an experiment to rehabilitate petty criminals by employing them as guides stationed around Naples. (The €500 monthly salaries are funded by the region of Campania and the European Union.) Tourists wandering near Porta Capuana, an ancient city gate, have turned to Gennaro for directions and recommendations—he's even accompanied people to nearby Pizzeria Trianon, his favorite. One time there was a car accident in via Comunale, and, Salvatore, 47, called the police. Another time Salvatore intervened when someone's phone was being stolen. "If we see something abnormal, we say something to the police," he told me. "We use our street smarts." It's a controversial but seemingly win-win idea: ex-cons use their knowledge of Naples's underworld to keep people safe, while getting a salary, a sense of pride in their city, and a reason to collaborate with a former nemesis, the police At first the police put up a resistance, admitted Alessandro Maria Vecchione, head of an education agency that oversees Escodentro. But he told me there was an 80 percent decrease in crime between early June and mid-September—and that the remaining crimes tend to happen at night, when the guides are off duty. Tourists have written in thank-you letters and locals have circulated petitions to increase the guides' numbers and hours. "It's as if someone gave a societal identity to these people," said Vecchione. "They know that this is a second chance." The question now is whether these ex-cons will get a third chance. The pilot program ends today, and it's up to regional and state officials to decide whether to restart it. Social worker Riccio Gennaro, 45, himself a former prisoner, helps out the participants and said it would be a cruel hoax if the program wasn't extended. "Many of these guys are from the neighborhood, so people know them and are glad that they've got jobs," he told me. "Those who made mistakes have paid for them; Naples has to change, and we'll be the ones to change it."