Rising travel taxes: Survey shows they're impacting travel plans

A new Lonely Planet survey finds that Ireland's Blarney Stone is one of Europe's many "tourist traps." Three out of four people said in a survey that the 15th-century Blarney Castle with its famous rock (to be kissed for good luck) is not worth seeing. I must admit I agree about the Blarney Stone. Kinda overrated. But fortunately it's now well guarded. Back in the day, local kids were rumored to sneak in at night to piss on the stone the tourists would kiss the next day. Another attraction most of 13,000 surveyed travelers say to skip is the London Eye, a "glorified Ferris Wheel" in the heart of the British capital. But now it's your turn. What do you think are Europe's most overrated attractions? We're talking about specific experiences, not entire countries, please. Things like: Taking a gondola ride in Venice. Climbing to the top of The Eiffel Tower. Attending Oktoberfest in Munich. Let us know by posting a comment! MORE THAN BUDGET TRAVEL What's better than Stonehenge? (19 comments) Should we tip flight attendants? (60 comments) Introducing the new 'all you can drink' cruise 100+ Facebook likes

It's been a big year for the Disney Cruise Line brand. This January, the third ship in the Disney fleet, the Dream, launched her maiden voyage out of Port Canaveral, Florida. Cruisers, including our very own editor in chief Nina Willdorf, have raved about the boat's many family-friendly features, from the world's first water coaster at sea (the 765-foot-long AquaDuck) to the animated Magical Portholes found in inside staterooms. So how to top themselves in 2012? Expansion! Starting next year, in addition to sailings from Los Angeles and Port Canaveral, Disney Cruise Line will embark from three new ports: Seattle, Galveston, and New York. From its new Big Apple home, the Disney Magic will offer classic Bahamas itineraries (complete with stops at Disney's own private island, Castaway Cay). Cruisers will even receive a complimentary Park Hopper pass and free shuttle transportation between the port and the Walt Disney World resort when the boat hits Florida. In addition, Disney is adding a New England and Canada coastal route, as well as a new two-night journey out to sea—an appealing option, perhaps, for cruising commitmentphobes like me. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL The Completely Obsessive Absolutely Indispensable Guide to Disney World Royal Caribbean's Most Passionate Cruisers Ask Trip Coach: Cruising

One federal budget proposal is to end free admission to the Smithsonian museums. If this happened, museums in Washington, D.C., such as the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of Natural History, might charge $7.50 an adult. The bipartisan panel tasked by President Obama to pinpoint policies to fix our national financies would like to add fees for entry to favorite institutions. (See the full proposal. It opens as a PDF; you can download free Adobe software here). A fee of about $7.50 an adult could earn the federal government about $225 million a year, says the commission. To be clear, neither the Democratic nor the Republican party has officially endorsed adding fees to D.C.'s national museums. This idea is merely something being discussed among options. What do you think? Should Smithsonian museums charge an admission fee of about $7.50 an adult? Or should admission to the National Zoo and National Gallery remain free? if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('34f555d2-b452-4f11-81a2-28c8d18684ec');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)What do you think? Should Smithsonian museums charge an admission fee of about $7.50 an adult? 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

Houston is the costliest large airport to fly out of nationwide. Bush Intercontinental tickets cost about $85 above what they should, says a survey. Newark and Dallas are the next worst offenders when it comes to high fares. These are results from an analysis done by Nate Silver. He's the number-crunching superstar who jumped from accurately predicting baseball games to accurately predicting national elections. He now studies airfares, airline violence, and other non-travel mysteries. Here's how the study worked. Silver studied prices for domestic round-trip tickets in coach class. He made an estimate of what a "fair" ticket price should be at each airport. His formula is complicated, but it's based on a simple question: What if no single airline had a near-monopoly at any airport. For example, Delta controls about two-thirds of the traffic at Memphis's main airport. Silver says fares would be about $100 cheaper in Memphis if more airlines competed for business there. (We'll soon find out. Last month, Delta said it would soon cut one out of four of its flights departing from Memphis.) On this score, the most expensive airport in America is Fayetteville, Ark. Its coach-class round trip tickets cost $527 on average. That's $158 above the estimate of "fair" prices. The reason is simple, says Silver: There aren't enough airlines competing to serve local customers there. Here are the largest airports with bargain prices: Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Milwaukee, Wisc. Orlando, Fla. Tampa, Fla. Las Vegas, Nev. These are the five mid-sized airports with the lowest average fares: Atlantic City, N.J. Fort Myers, Fla. Myrtle Beach, S.C. Long Beach, Calif. West Palm Beach, Fla. These numbers aren't perfect, as critics Gary Leff and Seth "the Wandering Aramean" have pointed out. What's considered "fair" by one person may not by another. Yet there are clearly many airports in the country—especially ones not served by many airlines—where locals pay very high prices to fly. The key lesson: Poor Texas! It's stuck with Houston and Dallas as costly gateways. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Should we tip flight attendants? 60 comments Introducing the new 'all you can drink' cruise 100+ Facebook likes Chart: Airplane violence over time