Spill your secrets about Denver

By Budget Travel
October 3, 2012

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:

"I'll be in Denver for three days in January. Where should I go for my morning coffee? Low-key lunches? Nice dinners? Which neighborhoods should I explore? Anything else I shouldn't miss?" —Beth Collins, Associate Editor

EARLIER: Readers answer a question about which wineries to visit in the Finger Lakes, N.Y.

Plan Your Next Getaway
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Inspiration

How to buy travelers' confiscated and lost items

Transportation Security Administration officials at airport checkpoints have confiscated millions of items annually since 9/11; chain saws, fuzzy handcuffs, nunchucks, and ulus (round Eskimo chopping blades) are among the craziest. The contraband is turned over to state surplus agencies, and our recent story Leftover Loot details where you can puchase it in stores and online. Not only is more stuff being confiscated, but the amount of lost and mishandled luggage is rising. On the eve of Thanksgiving—when an estimated 27 million passengers are expected to be flying—the New York Times reported that all major airlines have had increased difficulties with baggage in 2007. ("One in every 138 checked bags was lost during the first nine months of this year, compared with one in 155 bags a year earlier.") After 90 days, an unclaimed bag's contents are put up for sale at the aptly named Unclaimed Baggage Center (UBC), a 40,000-sq.-ft. store and the biggest tourist attraction in tiny Scottsboro, Ala. The UBC has seen its own share of oddities, from a suitcase full of Egyptian artifacts dating to 1500 B.C. (sold to Christie's) to a 5.8-karat solitaire diamond ring (bought by a couple from Tennessee for $23,000). More than 7,000 items arrive daily, and spokeswoman Brenda Cantrell cautioned that the privately-owned UBC can't take requests to search for anything specific. Disgruntled callers are instead invited to make a trip to Scottsboro—as are interested shoppers. The press-savvy store's website allows you to take a tour and read about surprising finds, but not to make online purchases. According to Cantrell, the UBC has only one documented case of a retrieved lost possession: A man passing through on business picked up a gift for his wife, who had the unexpected pleasure of being reunited with lost ski boots that had her initials monogrammed inside. A photo of assorted goods for sale at the Unclaimed Baggage Center (courtesy of the UBC). RELATED: Tired of lugging your luggage? Ship it!, Pack to Avoid Checking Luggage, and Confessions of a Baggage Handler.

Dear traveler, It's not all about you

We're all going to be stressed out while traveling on the holidays. And we could all use a reminder that maybe, if we look around us, someone is having an even more difficult time--and we could help them out. One of our readers, Diane Smith, has shared this neat story: I was flying out from a Killeen, Texas, airport on a Continental bug smasher. Something was wrong with the plane that was to take us to Dallas. It was about an hour and a half late. Now Killeen is mostly a military town, home to Fort Hood. As I sat there, I started up a conversation with a young lady who was holding her six month baby. Since her husband had been shipped off to Iraq, she was going to go to Florida to see her Dad. Since we got in very late, I was lucky to get another flight to Vegas (where I live). At the time I was talking to the gate people to get on my next flight. The airline employee at the counter (with an attitude I might add) told this girl that she would miss her flight to Florida. She could wait and take a flight out in the morning. End of that conversation. The look of despair on this girls face was unbelievable. We have all been there. Alone, holding a baby, bags, bottles, diapers...and lucky her, having to wait for 12 hours at the airport! If only I had a cape, you'd have thought that Wonder Women had arrived (can we hear the tune?). I demanded of the girl at the counter, what was going on. The airline owed this girl a room and food. She argued with me until I reminded her the delay was the AIRLINES FAULT! The girl behind the counter with the "tude" finally took care of this poor girl. If I hadn't known better, she and her child would have spent a miserable night at the airport. Now, Diane did a great thing. It's important to point out that Continental's ticket rules (called the contract of carriage, and downloadable here) don't guarantee this solution. It was because Diane stepped up to the challenge--and because a Continental crew member was flexible--that this story has a happy ending. Safe travels!

Inspiration

Now you see this museum, now you don't

You know those sorta-bookish, sorta-edgy glasses Johnny Depp is always wearing? I became obsessed with them recently when I decided I needed glasses, so I did some research. It turns out that they're made by Moscot, and the company's flagship store is right here in Manhattan, on the Lower East Side. The shop has been open for more than 90 years and is something of an institution. A travel destination? Unless you share my optical obsession, probably not. I just learned, though, that the shop is turning its first floor into a temporary museum, which, to my mind, earns it instant travel-worthy status. The collection will consist of never-before-released black-and-white photographs of the Lower East Side from the 1930s to the 1970s. As any New Yorker will tell you, before the neighborhood was taken over by American Apparel, Whole Foods, and more hipsters than you can shake a leg warmer at, it was home to one of New York's most prominent immigrant communities. With such a rich, eclectic history to draw from, these photographs are bound to be interesting. The collection will only be up from November 23 to December 31—here and gone before you know it. If you visit, be sure to head upstairs to the retail shop and check out the eyeglasses. Turns out my vision is fine, after all (and I would never be able to pull these off anyway), but maybe you can come up with an excuse to buy a pair. Moscot Museum, November 23 through December 31 Grand opening: November 23 1 p.m.—7 p.m. Regular hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 1 p.m.—7 p.m. Saturdays: 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. Sundays: 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. 118 Orchard Street (at Delancey) Subway: F train to Delancey Street) MORE BY BETH COLLINS Traveling for the food. A new online tool makes trip-planning easier. Flickr can help you buy a camera.