Prepping for hurricane season

For years, Time Out London has been publishing Lies to tell tourists, a weekly series of "cheeky misdirections" for locals to say to visitors. The city magazine recently invited Twitter users to chime in, and the response was enormous. A sample lie: "When on the Tube, it's customary to introduce yourself to the people sitting next to and opposite you." The Economist got into the fun by inviting its readers to share their ideas, expanding the concept to destinations worldwide. More than 300 readers chimed in with their own. An editor then picked his ten favorites. These are a couple of them: davidovada: Here in Italy it's smart to order a cappuccino with your meal. It alerts the waiter that you know what you're doing and you won't get the "tourist treatment". Robert Acquet: When visiting the Bernabeu [football stadium] in Madrid, don't forget to wear the national colours: blue and burgundy vertical stripes. It's worth it to click through to the full list. Ditto, for Time Out's original one. But don't stop there. Why not get it on the fun? Share with us the worst tourist advice you can imagine. Extra points for humor. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL The disappearance of cheap red-eye flights in the US The dozen best photos shot by readers and submitted to Budget Travel in the past year The five smartest vacation photos you've never taken

It's the official start of summer, and as such it's also the unofficial start of tanning season. But with increasing research and information available about the risks of tanning, is that beach-bronzed skin worth the health threats? First off, let's go over sun basics 101. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, sunlight consists of two types of harmful rays: ultraviolet A (UVA) rays and ultraviolet B (UVB) rays. UVA rays (which can pass through window glass) penetrate deeper into the skin. UVA rays can suppress the immune system's ability to protect against skin cancer and exposure to UVA can lead to wrinkling and age spots. if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('9f2fe998-0e21-4f79-88dc-7e2cd816e19f');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)The UVB rays are the sun's burning rays (which are blocked by window glass) and are the primary cause of sunburn. The Academy has this good tip: "A good way to remember it is that UVA rays are the aging rays and UVB rays are the burning rays." And note that excessive exposure to either form of UV rays can lead to skin cancer. In other words, there is no safe way to tan (sigh). But, there are safer ways to tan. This is the American Academy of Dermatology's recommendations for how to be "sun smart:" - Generously apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 to all exposed skin. "Broad-spectrum" provides protection from both UVA and UVB rays. Reapply about every two hours, even on cloudy days, and after swimming or sweating. - Wear protective clothing, such as a long-sleeved shirt, pants, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses, where possible. (Check out Japanese clothing store Uniqlo's new line, Uniqlo UV Cut, that claims to filter out UV rays.) - Seek shade. The sun's rays are strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (That's right, time to invest in a beach umbrella. I'm on the hunt for a 1950s-style, nautical striped number…) - Use extra caution near water, snow and sand because they reflect the sun's damaging rays, which can increase your chance of sunburn. - Get your daily dose of vitamin D safely through diet and vitamin supplements. - Avoid tanning beds. Ultraviolet light can cause skin cancer and wrinkling. If you want to look tan, consider using a self-tanning product, but continue to use sunscreen with it. - Check your birthday suit on your birthday. If you notice anything changing, growing or bleeding on your skin, see a dermatologist. Skin cancer is very treatable when caught early. What about you? Are you planning on tanning despite the odds? Let us know by voting in our poll or commenting below. More from Budget Travel: 5 best new ice pops in the U.S. New budget airline Vision delivers cheap fares Great surf spots you've (probably) never heard of

Whatever happened to the cheap red-eye flight? It seem as if the discounted overnight U.S. flight is vanishing, going the way of the hotel bathtub, the airplane no-smoking sign, and the daytime soap opera. You might assume that a flight at a witching hour is cheaper than a flight during the day. Yet that's not true anymore, as airline analyst Jared Blank has pointed out in a post at Online Travel Review. As Blank notes, in the mid-'80s, Eastern Airlines ran "night coach" fares for coast-to-coast red-eyes for half the regular fare. The catch? There were layovers in the middle of the night in Chicago, Houston, or Kansas City, Mo. Today, not only is Eastern Airlines long gone, but the entire idea of a low cost middle-of-the-night plane trip has vanished. Few airlines would allow a 3:30 a.m. stopover today. They want to avoid having tired pilots make mistakes and having residents near the airports complain about noise. Sure, the airlines still run transcontinental flights that take off and land at odd hours. But these flights aren't bargains anymore. In some cases, they cost more than flights at reasonable hours. JetBlue's overnights from Seattle to NYC, for instance, depart at 10 p.m. and arrive at 5:52 a.m. (local time) yet are more expensive than daytime flights on the same route. Such pricing is typical for fares for cross-country trips from the West Coast. Perhaps American workaholics are now willing to pay top dollar for absurdly scheduled flights that airlines used to have to give away on the cheap. if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('001297bb-4787-4acd-84a2-6deeb6bc57de');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)Red-eyes exact a brutal toll with jetlag because of their short duration and the resulting time zone change. How much savings would be worth it for you to take a redeye if it were cheaper? $50? $100? $200? Vote in our poll. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Hotel bathtubs are an endangered species What's your take on Airbus' vision for the future? Open secret websites for booking hotels Should airlines allow U.S. soldiers to board planes first? Photo: Courtesy Departed Flights

Last month, in our effort to get to the bottom of the age–old dilemma—is it cheaper to fly or drive?—we shared some tips on how to price both travel methods out. Looks like online coupon site BeFrugal.com has been mulling over the same question—on June 7, they launched a Fly or Drive Calculator, which uses a series of algorithms to determine the cost of your trip on the road versus in the air. All you need to get started is your point of origin and your destination. Once you've entered those, you can skip straight to the results, or you can enter additional details about your trip for a more accurate estimate. Overall, the process is quick and, by the looks of it, thoroughly done—the calculations are based on data from a number of sources, such as AAA, and give you an approximate calculation not only your flying and driving time, but also your CO2 emissions. If your road trip spans several days, the cost of hotel stays is incorporated into the grand total (their default hotel rate is an appropriately frugal $75 per night). BeFrugal.com discloses margins of error ranging from 10 to 25 percent for the various elements of the calculation (flying time; cost of airfare; driving time; driving costs), and stands by a claim that in most cases, their data is "accurate enough to be used to decide between flying or driving." Wanting to test the site out with a real–life example, I borrowed a friend's Fourth of July plans—New York City to Boston, July 1–4—and went to work. There are four steps, and most of the required info is basic and easily accessible (what airports will you travel out of and into? How will you get to the airport? What's the make and model of your car?). I have to admit there was a step or two that had me scratching my head: when asked how many hours I would drive daily, the system wouldn't let me enter less than six. Considering that the entire NYC–Boston drive takes about four hours, give or take, I stared for a minute, brow furrowed, before reluctantly selecting six and moving on. The verdict? Driving wins big on the budget front, with a total of about $91 (against $387 to fly). On time, flying wins by a slim margin: 3 hours and 51 minutes door-to-door, including transportation to and from the airport, versus 4 hours and 17 minutes door–to–door driving time (but let's be honest—the extra 25 minutes of driving time could easily be matched at the airport with an unexpected delay on the tarmac or a long bathroom line). Flying also wins by a nose in CO2 impact (426 lbs. in emissions vs. 442 lbs. for driving). When all is said and done, I'd feel confident telling my friend to make her Boston getaway a road trip—that is, if she hadn't already opted for secret option #3: busing it. For more info on how the Fly or Drive Calculator works, visit BeFrugal.com's FAQ page. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Open secret websites for booking hotels Travelzoo now offers local vacation deals The Ultimate Guide to Travel Apps