Pain at the gas pump

We New Yorkers are a lucky bunch—instead of one major airport to muck up our travel plans, we've got three. But since I live closest to Newark Liberty Airport—Continental's New York area hub—I often fly the friendly skies aboard one of its blue and white jets. Besides, Continental remains one of the few airlines offering free food, and really, who doesn't like free food? Well, me, as it turns out. On a recent Continental flight from Denver, I was served a soggy cheeseburger with questionable nutritional content. I was hungry so I ate it, but given the option I gladly would've paid for something else. That's why I'm so jazzed about Delta's recent announcement: Starting in November, Delta's food for purchase program will feature chef Todd English's signature creations on flights in the lower 48 states of approximately four hours or more. (That's all nonstop flights between New York's JFK and Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.) Expect tasty meals like the California salad with organic lettuce, grape tomatoes, dried apricots, candied pecans, and goat cheese—plus sandwiches like the chicken Caprese with grilled chicken, mozzarella, tomatoes, and pesto on herbed focaccia bread. All menu items will be priced from $2 to $10, and Delta plans to expand the program to shorter flights by spring 2008. JFK, here I come. MORE BY DAVID LAHUTA The other side of Cyprus.

Travel is one of those things that you'd get really good at if you did them all the time. Unfortunately, few people get to do it all the time—including the staff of Budget Travel. So we're pooling our knowledge: We ask you a question, you share your advice, and then we spotlight the most helpful tips in a future magazine issue. This week's question is:"My family has a cabin in Mt. Vernon, ME. I've been going since I was a child and always wind up doing the same things—hiking, swimming, and rafting. I'm going in November and wondering what to do that's well-suited to the cooler fall months?" —Lauren Keenan, Associate Photo Editor EARLIER: Readers answer a question about shopping and kid-friendly activities in Amsterdam.

You can already hear the carping below deck. Disney's made a propaganda video for the U.S. government? Groan. It'll be shown to foreign visitors stuck in airport customs lines? Double groan. And with a title like "Welcome: Portraits of America," it sounds as if the film is going to while away its seven-minutes showing Norman Rockwell images and playing the soundtrack that accompanies the nightly Epcot fireworks display. And yes, it's all true: Disney has donated a seven-minute video to the federal government. Customs and Border Protection officials will begin playing the film on screens in the visitor processing halls at the Houston and Washington, D.C., (Dulles) airports. If the video proves popular, it will be broadcast at about 20 other major airports. The video is an effort to boost the number of visitors, which has dropped 17 percent in the past six years. The tourism drop is all the more noteworthy because it happened while our country became a more attractive place to visit for holders of many other currencies, such as the euro, the pound, and the yen. During that time, our dollar's value has weakened roughly by half against the euro, for example, putting our country on sale. The video lasts seven minutes, but the line for fingerprinting visitors is usually longer than half-an-hour. The video shows smiling cowboys, a stern Indian, a happy barista, Vegas showgirls, Seattle's Pike's Place market, artistic dancers, farms, a tanker truck, cotton candy, basketball players, a handicapped athlete, a dogwalker, an Asian American scientist, the Grand Canyon, and the Statue of Liberty. UPDATE 11/02/07: This video has been removed from YouTube since we wrote this blog post. But you can still see the video for yourself at DiscoverAmerica.com.