Why Don’t Americans Take More Vacation?

A new study says the cheapest domestic airfares can be booked six weeks before a flight. The typical savings is 6 percent off the overall average ticket price during the four months prior to departure. The study is unusually authoritative. It was done by Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), a company that processes ticket transactions, including 144 million purchases of domestic flights last year alone. The study is much more statistically robust than a previous one by an economist, which suggested that eight weeks in advance was the best time to book. In a press release, a spokesperson for ARC clarified that, “We’re not advising people to purchase tickets only at this time during the cycle as there is no guarantee they will receive the lowest price of the year.” In other words, airline sale alerts from sites like AirfareWatchdog and ticket price monitors, such as Yapta, continue to be useful. For a specific route, you can also check out the predictions of whether fares may go up or down within the next week by using Bing Travel. If your dates are flexible, you may benefit from using a fare calendar, such as the one on metasearch sites Kayak and Google Flights. Is the study meaningful? Critics will point out that, if a large number of travelers find out about the six-week rule and start buying at that time, the pattern will change for everyone. The retort to this is that most people aren't reading websites like this and won't change their behavior even if they hear about the rule. Other critics will say that flight prices are too volatile to follow broad patterns. For instance, a route that's popular with last-minute business travelers may follow a different pricing pattern than the average flight. Granting all those points, sometimes it's nice to have a general rule-of-thumb for making a ticket purchase. What's your rule of thumb for finding the cheapest ticket? SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Feds to Airlines: Stop Hiding Ticket Fees and Taxes Case Study: What Happens When One Airline Dominates an Airport The Disappearance of Cheap Red-eye Flights

I've been a travel editor for almost 12 years, logging countless miles around the world, and I pride myself on my efficiency at the airport. I am a whirling dervish of organization as I breeze through security—toiletries out, shoes off, pockets metal–free, and all back together again. I smugly never check a bag. I did a weeklong trip to French wine country with just a small duffle and still had room to bring home a couple bottles (this was pre 3oz rule). In fact, the last time I checked a bag was in 2009 on my way back from the U.K. after buying too many bottles of Scotch (post 3oz rule). And then I had a kid. This Saturday we will take our first flight with our infant and I am petrified. I finally came to terms with the fact that checking a bag is unavoidable, even though I am not happy about it. It's the logistics that are now keeping me up at night, juggling him and a stroller and bags while not holding up the line at security and being "those people." I have poured over the TSA's Traveling with Children pages to make sure that I am well versed in current regulations. In a fit of hyper organization, I even considered staging a mock check–in at home. And then I realized I had gone to the dark side. What tricks do you have for getting through security with a little one? Are airlines lenient about checked bag fees when a baby is involved? Do I really need to worry about the TSA confiscating bottles of formula? Will we get dirty looks from other passengers, no matter what we do? Please save my sanity! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Flying With Kids: A Survival Guide 15 Places Your Kids Should See Before 15 5 Easy Overnight Adventures for Kids

Most Americans can find the money to go camping. The problem, though, appears to be that we can't find the time. A 2011 report from the Outdoor Foundation starts out by noting that "camping continues to shine as an American tradition." Yet the numbers seem to indicate that the tradition is fading. Later in the report, it states: Almost 40 million Americans went camping in 2010 for a total of 514.8 million outings. This is down slightly from 2009’s 44 million campers and 580.7 million outings. A decrease of 4 million people and over 65 million outings seems like more than just a slight drop. The figures represent decreases of roughly 10 percent, which is pretty darn substantial. What's more, survey data in the report indicates that campgrounds shouldn't expect much of rebound in popularity going forward: Campers are planning an average of 5.07 trips next year, down slightly compared to the 5.52 trips made during the previous year. And why are fewer Americans camping? A Los Angeles Times post focuses on answering this question. In surveys, the most frequently cited reasons why people weren't camping more were a lack of time because of work and family commitments. One might expect camping to have increased in popularity while the economy has struggled over the past few years. Few vacations are as affordable as camping, after all. Instead, what seems to have been happening is that American workers are taking fewer, shorter vacations. Given today's work environment and the precarious state of the jobs market, camping, which is best enjoyed during long and leisurely stints, apparently is no longer on the short wish list of getaways for many workers. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: 4 Things Every Camper Should Know Ask Trip Coach: National Parks Road Trip: National Parks (Minus the Crowds)

Hotel booking site Dayuse-Hotels.com is a one-trick pony, but it's an interesting trick. The year-old site allows guests to reserve rooms in boutique hotels for daytime sessions lasting about three to seven hours. Starting in February, Dayuse-Hotels will add upscale properties in New York City, its first U.S. destination, to its existing roster of properties in Paris and London, plus cities in Belgium, Luxeumbourg and Switzerland, according to a scoop by London's Daily Mail. There are a few reasons why people might want to rent a hotel room during the day for a few hours. Business meetings, maybe. Or naps. But Dayuse-Hotels isn't shy about admitting that most of its users are probably booking for a romantic tête-à-tête. The concept of love hotel in Japan and Brazil has been around for a while, and this website is simply upgrading the idea by applying it to posh hotels. The recent rough economic climate has apparently inspired many hoteliers to maximize use of rooms when they're often vacant, namely, during the day. We don't know yet which New York City hotels will be participating. But the list of hotels already available in Europe via the site could grace the pages of any classy travel magazine. Take, for instance, Hotel Athénée Paris, a luxury four-star designer hotel by Jacques Garcia. You can book one of its rooms decorated in homage to the operas La Traviata, Faust, and Don Giovanni (with bold red curtains and velvet-lined couches) for €150, or about $200, via the site. That's not cheap but it's more than a third off the rate for staying over for the night. What do you think about this news? Sound off by posting a comment. SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 5 Oddest Historical Replicas in the U.S. How the Most-Hated Airline Fee Became a Huge Success A Coffee Addict's Guide to the World