Travel News: Last-Minute 4th of July Deals, Best States for Summer Road Trips, and Another Reason to Love L.L. Bean

From the long security lines at foreign airports to the bucolic mountains of Vermont to the beaches of Florida, we guarantee you’ll have a strong reaction to this week’s quirky, sometimes irritating, sometimes soothing travel news. NEW TSA RULES WILL AFFECT CARRY-ONS Starting June 30, foreign airports will be examining your carry-ons more carefully. Why? Powder. A new TSA regulation will ask that travelers headed to the U.S. from another country remove powdered substances from their bags to be carefully checked, as agents currently do with liquids, and be prepared to either discard the powder or check their bag. The reason, of course, is the fear of improvised explosive devices, which can sometimes involve powdery substances. To avoid extra scrutiny, anyone traveling with more than 12 ounces of powder, which could include makeup, baby-related products, food, and other substances, should put the powder in a checked bag. WORLD-RECORD HUMAN SEASHELL IN FLORIDA Everybody loves a good world record, and the beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel got in on the action this past week by breaking the Guinness world record for the largest human image of a seashell. Just how large? More than 1,000 participants gathered on Fort Myers Beach on June 21, which, not coincidentally, was the first day of summer and National Seashell Day, to form what a Guinness adjudicator verified was the world’s largest-ever human seashell. SEE GRANDMA MOSES IN VERMONT The world’s largest collection of paintings by the 20th-century American folk artist Anna Mary Roberton, better known as “Grandma Moses,” is at the Bennington Museum (benningtonmuseum.org), in Bennington, VT. The artist, who started painting in her seventies, depicted colorful scenes of bustling small-town rural life in Vermont and nearby upstate New York, often from an elevated “bird’s-eye” view that plays sly games of perspective with the viewer. Gently rolling mountains can be seen in the background in many of her paintings, and visitors to the beautiful Bennington are recognize them instantly as the Green Mountains just outside of town. The museum’s newly installed Grandma Moses Gallery features a larger selection of the artist’s work than ever before, including such classic pictures as Thunderstorm, Deep Snow, and A Christmas Gift, all on loan from private collections. If you haven’t visited Bennington lately, summer 2018 might be the time.

From New York’s legendary discount-ticket window to the forests of Connecticut, to a brand-new immersive attraction arriving in Los Angeles, this week’s travel news is decidedly geared toward making your summer vacation planning easier than ever - you’re going to want to do everything on this list. NYC CULTURE VULTURES REJOICE TDF, New York City’s largest not-for-profit organization serving the performing arts, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in a big way, and NYC “culture vultures” (aka, natives and visitors who devour theater, music, and dance) have reason to rejoice.  Formerly known as the Theatre Development Fund, best known for its TKTS discount-ticket booths, most notably in Father Duffy Square in Manhattan’s Broadway theater district, TDF has helped to make the performing arts accessible to everyone, including not only the incredible discounted tickets programs (which is hands-down the best way to save money when you see a Broadway show), but also school programs, community-engagement programs, autism-friendly performances, and much more. To help celebrate the anniversary, TDF shared some fun facts, including: TDF has helped subsidize more than 1,000 plays and musicals, including 37 that went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; TDF sends 10,000 NYC high school students to the theater each year at no cost; and, our personal fave fun fact… writer/director Aaron Sorkin was once a messenger at the TKTS discount-ticket booth. WHY YOU SHOULD DISCOVER CONNECTICUT THIS SUMMER Connecticut (ctvisit.com) is promising some surprises this summer, and we’re intrigued. We already know (and love) the state’s shoreline, beautiful woods and countryside, and mid-size cities like Hartford, New Haven, and Norwalk, but this year we’re psyched to discover new lodgings such as the boutique inn GrayBarns in Norwalk, a grown-up summer camp (for real) called Club Getaway in Kent, and The Goodwin boutique hotel in Hartford with its new Spanish-style restaurant. We’re also gearing up for an array of new ziplines (including Foxwoods and Adventure Park at Storrs) and Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort’s new-and-improved mountain bike trails. And, to tell the truth, we may also just sit back and relax with a trip to one of Connecticut’s 107 state parks, hike some of the state’s 800+ miles of trails, and indulge in one (or all) of the fun food trails being offered this summer and beyond, including an oyster tour, wine trail, the inspiringly named Elm City Party Bike, and much more. A NEW IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE COMES TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD Universal Studios Hollywood just opened (literally, today) its brand-new DreamWorks Theatre featuring “Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor’s Quest,” inspired by the hit film series Kung Fu Panda, taking guests on a journey that combines storytelling with visual effects that include the first-ever integration of the Universal Creative team’s “interior projection” mapping, which creatives a 180-degree, immersive experience, plus 360-degree surround sound audio, and physical effects such as wind and rain that aim to make guests feel as if they have been literally transported into the story.

From the hottest spots in Europe to visit in 2018 to America’s biggest LGBTQ pride celebration, plus a new reason for camping enthusiasts to rejoice, this week’s roundup of travel news is one of our most culturally expansive. Where will you go next? LONELY PLANET’S BEST IN EUROPE 2018 When our colleagues at our parent company, Lonely Planet, suggest the 10 best places in Europe to visit 2018, we’re all ears. This year’s Best in Europe may be the most inspiring yet because it focuses on some major destinations that are already on avid travelers’ bucket lists (Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, for instance), but from angles you may not expect. In Italy, for instance, the place to go this year is Emilia-Romagna, a northern region that may very well be the best culinary destination on the Italian peninsula (in other words, the best culinary destination on earth). Similarly, have you been to Cantabria, Spain? Well, get packing! And while many of you have savored the canals, cycling paths, and gardens of Amsterdam, we’re guessing you may have missed Friesland, the Netherlands, a must for 2018. Explore Lonely Planet’s entire Best in Europe list at lonelyplanet.com/best-in-europe - and be sure to let us know where you decided to visit. NEW YORK CITY’S LGBTQ PRIDE EVENTS This month, New York City’s Heritage of Pride events will draw more than 2 million attendees to happenings across all five of the city’s boroughs (Manhattan Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island), making it America’s largest celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) pride, welcoming a diversity of sexual orientations, a diversity of friends, family, and allies, and in general throwing NYC’s most joyful, not to mention most peaceful, party of the year. (For a full calendar, visit nycgo.com/LGBTQ.) Traditional events will commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots, credited with sparking the modern-day gay-rights movement. The 49th NYC Pride March on Sunday June 24, whose new route proceeds through Manhattan’s West Village down to Christopher Street to pass the historic Stonewall Inn, then heads up to Fifth Avenue (this is a kind of “test run” in anticipation of 2019’s Stonewall 50th-anniversary commemorations). Each of NYC’s other boroughs are holding marches and celebrations of their own, reinforcing the cultural centrality and power of the gay pride movement to every corner of the city, a movement that was once perceived as an “outsider” enterprise at its inception in the 1960s. As Tony Kushner wrote in Angels in America, “The world only spins forward.”   A NEW APP FOR CAMPERS This summer, millions of Americans will opt for the ultimate money-saving, back-to-nature vacation lodging: camping in national parks, state parks, and other wild (and semi-wild) settings. Although most campers enjoy essential chores such as cooking outdoors, and navigating the setting up and taking down of equipment, there is one task many do not savor: actually locating a good campsite. A new app, The Dyrt, available for iOS and Android, is making that easier, with more than 70,000 images, videos, and user reviews to help U.S. travelers pinpoint the ideal place to pitch a tent.

From the top trip-inspiring trends dominating U.S. travel this summer to the ultimate budget lodging for families and pets in the Rockies, to a brand-new piece of footwear some of you may want to add to your repertoire, this week’s latest news is kicking summer 2018 into high gear. TOP TRENDS FOR SUMMER TRAVEL Our friends at Red Roof Inn (redroof.com) have crunched some data to share some surprising trends for summer 2018 travel - in some cases, these findings have us re-thinking some last-minute vacation ideas: More than 90 percent of Americans will travel by car for their summer vacation, clocking more than 500 miles round-trip. Budget Travel has celebrated the great American road trip for more than two decades, so we can’t say we’re shocked by this stat. Are you ready to hit the road?While “beach” may be the first vacation image that springs to mind when we say “summer,” data from AAA suggests that more Americans are headed to cities for vacation - can’t argue with the museums, theaters, parkland, and chic shopping they’ll find there.More than 50 percent of U.S. travelers are headed to national parks, and around 40 percent are headed to theme parks. Of course, there are plenty of cool destinations (California and Florida spring to mind), where you can easily do both.We may have to redefined the “dog days of summer.” Turns out 40 percent of U.S. travelers will bring their dogs along with them on vacation this year.Travelers prize authentic experiences and “living like a local” more than the conventional hotel or resort experience. Budget Travel’s “Locals Know Best” series can certainly help you get the most authenticity out of your trip.AMERICA’S ULTIMATE YMCA Singing and dancing to the Village People’s classic ‘70s hit is optional, but the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO, may be the ultimate YMCA in the U.S. USA Today named it the “Best Family Resort in America,” and the property borders gorgeous Rocky Mountain National Park on three sides, meaning you can bunk down in affordable style (lodge rooms from $99, two-to-three-bedroom cabins from $113), spend your days among the aspens, bighorns, and picture-perfect trails of the park and enjoy the unplugged vacation every family needs right now. VIRGIN ATLANTIC SAYS ‘SOCK IT TO ME’ Here’s one you don’t hear every day: Virgin Atlantic has partnered with Happy Socks to provide fun, specially designed socks in Virgin’s distinctive red and purple depicting images that celebrate passengers’ love of travel. For those of us in the cheap seats, the socks will be available for purchase via Virgin’s Retail Therapy onboard and online platforms, while passengers in the cushier sections will receive them as part of a complimentary amenity kit. We’d love to hear from travelers who opt to kick their summer travel into high gear wearing Virgin’s bespoke socks:)