Statue of Liberty to close for a year of renovations

To whet your appetite for earning miles (without flying!), several major airlines are offering sign-up bonuses this fall for their mileage dining programs. Your favorite restaurant might offer from 1 to 10 miles for every dollar you spend. But are those miles enough to justify the logistical hassle of signing up and dining at designated restaurants? The value of these programs depends on 1) taking advantage of some of the current sign-up bonuses; 2) having at least one participating restaurant near where you live and that you might dine at every other month; and 3) using the mile activity as a way to keep your frequent flier accounts active. One of the biggest things to change in the past year for these programs has been the development of smartphone apps. Now, instead of having to bring along a clunky, quickly outdated paper directory of participating restaurants, you can get a real-time list of what spots will earn you miles. Another change in recent years has been consolidation in the industry, with only one company Rewards Network, running all of the major programs. This change has allowed programs to become simplified and standardized. If a restaurant participates in the program for United, it probably also does for Delta, too, and you can use the same downloadable app for your smart phone to figure it out. If you have more than one dining card, you can double up on your rewards. Here's the lowdown on how these programs work: It's free to sign up for a dining card that gives airline credit every time you use it. Rewards Network, for instance, will (typically) give you three United miles for every mile you spend at a restaurant. At a value of about a penny a mile, that credit amounts to a 5 percent rebate on a family of four's typical restaurant check. Compared with some charge-cards, that's a decent mileage payoff. No wonder more than 3 million travelers are enrolled in these programs. All the dining programs work in a similar way. You sign up online for free at the sites (see the list, below), punching in your frequent flier number and registering a debit or credit card (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa.) Use the card to pay your bill (including food, beverage, tax and tip) at a participating restaurant, and then miles will be automatically credited to your frequent flier account. No need to tell the waiter. As I mentioned, sign-up bonuses can juice up your earnings. To use United as an example again because it's so large, its dining program currently offers 1,000 mile bonus for signing up and spending at least $50 at a participating restaurant by the end of the year. These are the sweetest bonuses being offered now: Alaska Airlines Bonus: Earn an additional 500 miles if you spend $25 at a participating restaurant within a month of signing up. Delta Bonus: Earn 1,000 miles if you spend $25 at a participating restaurants within a month of signing up. Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining Bonus: Spend $25 at participating restaurants within two months of signing up and you'll receive 300 points United Bonus: Earn 1,000 miles extra for signing up and spending at least $50 at a participating restaurant by the end of the year. US Airways Bonus: Earn 1,000 points if you spend $25 or more on two different occasions between now and the end of the year at participating restaurants. Another perk of dining cards: It's a no-sweat way to keep your frequent flier mileage accounts active and prevent the qualifying miles you earn by actually flying from expiring after the typical 18-month span. (Miles will usually be deleted if an account is stagnant for 18 months.) The first step in deciding if the programs are worth it to you is to see if local restaurants that you love participate. It's understandable to be suspicious that restaurants must be bad to have to throw 5 miles per dollar at you to eat at them. But because of the recession many eateries are becoming more competitive. You can always ask a waiter, of course, to see if the restaurant participates. Or you can download a free app to find participating restaurants. The largest dining club program, Rewards Network is a good example to use, as the major airlines United/Continental, American, Delta, Southwest, and US Airways all belong. Find a participating restaurant by downloading one of these free apps, Blackberry, iPhone/iPad, Android There are some annoying downsides to the programs, though: One is that you can often only earn credit once per month (or a similar limit) at any one restaurant. The other is that, if you're not careful in the e-mail preferences you fill out, you could be blitzed with messages from participating restaurants. If you block the e-mails, however, you could get only one mile per $1 spent—or worse, maybe even nothing, as my colleague Brad Tuttle reported a while ago. The things a budget-conscious traveler has to put up with these days! Have these dining cards worked for you? Share your thoughts in the comments! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Southwest Waters Down Its Rapid Rewards Program Ads on Boarding Passes: Are Airlines Sharing Your Info? How Do You Use a Cell Phone Boarding Pass at the Metal Detector?

This month, we take a look at three museums that share one thing in common—their specificity. Focusing their curatorial efforts on video games, antique race cars, and Glasgow's history of transportation, respectively, these three museums outclass more general museums through their old-school attention to detail. COMPUTER GAME MUSEUM Berlin goes geeky with this ode to the playful side of technology. If you think Pong was the first video game—and, more importantly, if you care about such things—Berlin’s newest (and nerdiest), the Computer Game Museum, is for you. Rebooted in January after a decade-long force-quit, this surprisingly informative history of the medium contains over 300 consoles and 14,000 games in its archives. All your favorites are here—Mario, Donkey Kong—as well as the real granddaddy of them all, the 1951 Nimrod. Guests can test tongue-in-cheek prototypes, such as a human-size Jumbo Joystick or PainStation, which ups the ante with a Pavlovian twist: It doles out heat, shock, or a tiny whip whenever you miss the ball. Admission $11. MUSEUM OF THE AUTOMOBILE Turin’s titans of industry get a shiny new pantheon. In Italy, Ferraris and Lamborghinis may not be as revered as Michelangelos and Botticellis, but the race is closer than you’d think. It’s no wonder Turin's Museum of the Automobile, which reopened in March after a major renovation, treats cars like works of high art. Nicknamed the Detroit of Italy, this Alpine city embraces its industrial heritage with a collection of over 200 vehicles from across the globe, including the first Fiat, built in 1899. Witty, conceptual pieces range from a forest of international street signs (Australia: koala crossing) to an installation that places some of the most notoriously speedy race cars (Fiat 500 Sporting Kit, Lancia Delta Integrale) behind bars. Admission $11. RIVERSIDE MUSEUM An architectural master drops anchor along Glasgow’s Clyde River. Every “starchitect” worth her blueprints needs a world-class museum to call her own. Zaha Hadid may have found her Bilbao-like moment with the June opening of Glasgow, Scotland’s Riverside Museum, a zigzag-roofed snake built along a previously dingy stretch of docklands. The collection of vintage trams, carriages, and steam locomotives isn’t roped off. Instead, it’s spread out in its natural habitat: re-created street scenes from different periods in Glasgow’s history, from the Edwardian 1890s through the gas-guzzling 1980s. Outside, the zinc-and-glass building looks onto the Clyde River and the Glenlee, a 19th-century sailing vessel that now serves as a maritime museum. Museum free; tall-ship admission $8. What's your favorite highly-specific museum? Let us know below! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Greece's new Acropolis Museum opens New Dali Museum opening in St. Petersburg Mexico to debut the largest underwater museum in the world

Meet the man who swears almost anyone can travel all over the world "on the other guy's dime." G. Michael Schneider has taught computer science at the university level for more than 30 years. Through the years he has also figured out ways to take more than a dozen extended vacations at no personal cost in places such as Bhutan, Mongolia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Turkey. How does Schneider do it? By arranging temporary overseas work assignments, in which the employer picks up the tab at least for housing and transportation. Schneider calls these gigs "working vacations," and often, they're more rewarding and eye-opening than a standard vacation. Schneider also says that there's often no need to have a Ph.D. or expertise in finance or engineering to arrange a great working vacation. In the Q&A; below, and in his new book On the Other Guy's Dime: A Professional's Guide to Traveling Without Paying, Schneider describes his many overseas adventures and offers plenty of advice for travelers seeking similar working vacations. Do you have some helpful hints for someone planning his or her first working vacation? Schneider: Open your mind (and your atlas) to some less well-known places where your skills will still be in demand but the competition will be far less intense. It is a mistake to apply only to popular tourist spots such as England, France, or Italy. Positions there can be hard to obtain and when an opportunity does open up you will compete for it against a large number of world-class scholars and experts. The end result is often disappointment and the assumption that a working vacation is out of your reach. My last three working vacations were to Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal, and all three experiences were immensely rewarding. Plus, the primary reason for a working vacation is to have a transformative social, cultural, and professional experience. While you would certainly have fun in London or Paris, a working vacation there will probably not change your life. Six months in the Buddhist nation of Bhutan, three months on the steppes of Mongolia, or a summer in the mountains of Nepal will open your eyes and mind to new societies, cultures and religions. What are some professions that are surprisingly in-demand overseas? Schneider: The biggest surprise is the enormous range of professions in great demand. I think it would be easier to produce a list of those not needed. Many people think you must be a computer jockey, physician, engineer, or finance expert to work overseas. That is absolutely not true. For example, in Bhutan I spent time with a professional golf course designer from Kansas designing and building their first 18-hole layout. In Mongolia I met a radio/TV broadcaster from New York helping to establish a national news network. In Kuala Lumpur I met a musician training the Malaysia Symphony Orchestra and nurturing young conductors to lead the group in the future. In Mauritius my wife was hired to write a report evaluating the current state of the country’s pre-school programs. Don't let your field of interest deter you from considering a short-term posting. If you are good at what you do, there is almost certainly an overseas institution that will need your skills and be willing to pay you to work with them. Beyond work/career issues, what are the most common difficulties inherent in going abroad for a prolonged period of time? Schneider: Without a doubt the single biggest difficulty is overcoming your fears and worries about leaving home and moving, even temporarily, to a strange new locale. I had serious and nagging doubts when I received my first offer of a short-term teaching job. I conjured up dozens of reasons why this foolish idea could never work. What about the house? The kids? My bowling team? Fortunately, my wife, who is far more adventuresome than me, had a comeback for each of these illogical fears and convinced me to give it a try. I haven't looked back since. Overcoming these doubts is the main reason why I wrote my book. I wanted to demonstrate to prospective working vacationers that with just a little it of helpful information and guidance, a short-term post is not difficult to plan and pull ff. It's something you will never regret. For you personally, what's the most annoying or frustrating part of leaving home for a while? Schneider: This may sound silly, but it is our garden! My wife loves to plant large tracts of corn, tomatoes, peppers and other succulent eatables even when she knows we might be going away. My working vacations often take place during our summer break in June, July and August. That's exactly when many of these crops are harvested. I can't begin to tell you how many times we have received email from our renters thanking us for the delicious sweet corn or snap peas they just had for dinner. When you consider that this minor irritation is the most frustrating part of leaving home, you begin to realize how easy it is to take a working vacation. In all your years of traveling abroad, what are a few of the expenses that were unexpectedly covered by your employers? Schneider: The first expense my employers have been quite willing to provide is an air ticket that included an extra stopover, either on the way there or back, even if it added a small amount to the cost. I have done this quite often since it is an excellent way to convert a free ticket from home to destination into a free "two-fer." For example, on the way to Zimbabwe we added three days in Lisbon and six days in Cape Town at no extra cost. When we traveled to Mauritius we stopped in Kenya on the way there and India on the return. On the way to Australia we spent five days lazing on the beaches of Fiji. Our trip to Mongolia included an 11-day vacation in China. All these stopovers were included in the free ticket provided to me as part of my job. Another pleasant surprise was the excellent housing provided by my hosts. In Turkey we lived in a beautiful two-story colonial home on five acres. In Nepal we lived in a four-bedroom home with four servants. In Bhutan we were provided with a lovely two-bedroom apartment with spectacular mountain views. While not all accommodations were that nice, most were quite luxurious and either fully or partially subsidized by the school as part of my teaching contract. What was your favorite working vacation, and why? Schneider: This is the most common question I get and I often give the “cop out” response that I’ve loved them all. But I’ll fill you in on the secret now. My favorite working vacation was my three-month teaching post at Royal Thimphu College in Thimphu, Bhutan. Of all my working vacations this one came closest to fulfilling every single reason why my wife and I love to live and work overseas and experience new places, new ideas, and new cultures. Bhutan is the most non-Western country we have lived in and we have been in some truly off the beaten path places including Borneo, Mongolia, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. Bhutan was closed to westerners until the mid-1970s, and today it is still a place that reveres its historical Buddhist past while trying to bring itself into the 21st century. It is a fascinating and strange mix of old and new. For example, people wearing the ancient garb of gho and kira while enjoying a latte at one of the many downtown coffee shops. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Bhutan and the many friends I made. If you'd been paying your own way, what would have been your most expensive trip overseas? Schneider: Bhutan, since the country charges tourists $250 per day to visit. As an employee I was exempt from that charge. Since I lived there for 90 days, by working rather than touring I saved at least $22,500 not even counting airfare. I want to add that while traveling "on the other guy's dime" is a wonderful side effect of a working vacation, it is certainly not the only reason to consider one. There are two other reasons of equal importance. The first is intellectual renewal. I don't care how much you love your work. When you do the same things day in, day out, year after year, a sense of repetitiveness and staleness can set in. A working vacation where you use your skills in new and different ways (not to mention wildly new and different places) can refresh your soul and bring a renewed sense of pleasure to your workplace. It is an adventure that adds excitement to what may not be a very exciting life right now. The second reason is cultural immersion. When you live in a community for a few months you have time to make friends, meet neighbors, attend social, cultural and religious events, and participate in local activities. You learn about a culture not by observing it from a distance but by becoming part of it. For many of us, that is a far more exciting way to travel than baking on a beach or visiting yet another impressionist museum. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Q&A;: Elisabeth Eaves, a writer who puts the lust in 'Wanderlust' Take My Word: Best-Selling Writers on Travel The Ultimate Guide to Free Travel

Imagine a world in which you could go through airport security without the delays of waiting for passengers to untie and retie their laces, unstrap and restrap their sandals. A world in which we could just walk straight through the body scanners with (deep breath) shoes on. Well, that world is definitely not here yet, but it might not necessarily be too far off either, according to a recent interview with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "We are moving towards an intelligence and risk-based approach to how we screen," Napolitano said during a Politico Playbook breakfast earlier this week. "I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on. One of the last things you will [see] is the reduction or limitation on liquids." Okay, so we shouldn't stop stockpiling travel sized toiletries and containers just yet. Napolitano explained that "the solution to many if not all of these inconveniences is better and better technology," adding that progress is being made on the shoe front that would ultimately make it so that passengers could keep their footwear on while passing through airport security scanners and checkpoints. If you recall, the shoe rule was created after a man tried to detonate a bomb in his shoe aboard a flight in December 2001. And since then, having to take off our shoes and put them through the x-ray machines has become yet another layer of the time-consuming process passing through airport security has become. Can anyone even remember what it was like when we didn't have to think about lace-up sneakers versus slip-ons? Or about having to walk (gasp!) barefoot through the body scanners because we decided to travel in sandals. I’ve seen people pack socks in their handbags specifically to avoid this horror. Not to mention, a time when there wasn’t a backlog of travelers first removing and then having to sit down to replace their footwear. What about you? How inconvenient or not do you feel that having to take your shoes off is? What have you done to adjust or make the experience easier? Let us know by commenting below. More from Budget Travel: New shoelaces ready for airport security Report: Allow one free checked bag, stop treating everyone like terrorists Maybe if we could get through security faster, we'd travel more