Mobissimo

Thanksgiving is next week, but you can still check out these top 10 destinations.  Read more here.

We’ve come up with a cornucopia of travel ideas on where to spend Thanksgiving. Sure, we cover the obvious — after all, no list would be complete without a nod to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade or the site of the 1620 pilgrim landing — but we also favor less traditional destinations, from lush islands and beach spots to desert landscapes and ski slopes.

Travel can be stressful.  Holidays can be stressful.  Traveling during holidays is probably the worst.  Time constraints, big crowds, end of year blues can all add up to a huge headache, here's how to combat that.

The airports are crowded, the weather is dodgy, and stress levels are high. Here's where to go and how to get there with your sanity intact.

It seems like every worthwhile destination is overcrowded and overpriced around the holidays. Can you recommend some reasonable ways to avoid overpaying?
Christmas and Hanukkah are wholesome family holidays, when most people want wholesome family destinations. So one idea is to be contrarian and go where demand is weak. Consider heading to a party town like Las Vegas or New Orleans. The Big Easy has a long tradition of offering discounted hotel rates, free concerts, and free cooking demos during the first three weeks of December; check out fqfi.org/christmas for event schedules and special hotel deals.

Italy is more than Rome, Milan, and Venice.  Some would add Florence, Naples, and Torino to a 2nd tier list, but what about the many other cities around Italy.  Here are two, Pisa and Lucca, two that might not be on your list, but two that deserve a look.  And best yet, flights are only around $500 from New York.

(Tribune Media Services) -- As everyone knows, Pisa has the famous tilted tower you can climb, but an unspoiled Renaissance wall you can bike encircles the lesser-known Lucca.

These two Tuscan towns, near Florence and each other, make for an easy day-trip from Florence. But if you have time for more than a touristy quickie, each offers great Italian city scenes -- offering visitors the chance to savor Pisa's rich architectural heritage, and bask in Lucca's genuine charm.

Weekend getaways to Toronto start from only $99 per night*.  Fine dining, world famous culture, museums, galleries, night life, theatre, and much more await you in Toronto, click here to learn more and this amazing destination.

*For more information please click here.

Many think that a trip to Europe for a snow vacation is too far, but in reality with the tourism industry hurting, you can find great deals to many destinations in Europe.  Read more here about Austria.

(Tribune Media Services) -- I've never seen such wide open slopes -- no trees, no houses, just field after field of newly fallen snow.

And I've never seen my 18-year-old daughter Mel, an avid and expert skier, as happy to ski with mom. Just goes to show what a postcard-perfect ski day -- blue skies, sunshine, spectacular mountain vistas and first tracks on a glacier -- can do!

In terms of destinations, Nepal has something for everyone.  Mountains, jungle, plains, rivers, anything you could ever want.  Always an adventure destination, now you can try parahawking.

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to share the sky with a trained bird of prey, to be a part of their world and to literally have a birds eye view? - Well now you can!

Parahawking is paragliding with trained birds of prey. It's the new "must do" activity and the ULTIMATE PARAGLIDING ADVENTURE.
Click on the links below for more details and how to book your Parahawking experience.

There are many colleges and universities around the country, many in big cities, but many also in charming, rural towns.  Either way, there is something for everyone, perhaps a visit to a college town should be on your list.

Burlington, Vermont (Travel + Leisure) -- On a recent afternoon along Church Street in Burlington, Vermont, young aspiring actors recited passages from Shakespeare's Henry V as jugglers, break-dancers, and blowers of didgeridoos displayed their skills nearby, creating a visual and aural cacophony. Just another day in a thriving college town -- this one happening to be home to the University of Vermont.

This year may be another cold ski season, and not just the snow.  It has been a tough year for the economy around the world, but recovery is on the way, will it be so for the ski industry?

The outlook for skiing in 2009/10 remains uncertain for skiers and the ski business alike. Despite last season’s excellent snow conditions, the feelgood factor has yet to transfer to the forthcoming season, and operators are bracing themselves for a tough season.

Panic over the health of the global economy gave skiers more immediate things to worry about than booking holidays to the Alps. In the peak period for booking ski holidays, from September to November, consumers held back on discretionary purchases.

Cemeteries can morbid, but also strangely beautiful.  Many have visited Pere Lachaise to see the resting place of Jim Morrison, but there are many more to visit and experience around the world.

He's chipped his way through more than a foot of snow and ice to get to Ernest Hemingway. He's walked right up to Al Capone and Karl Marx. He's dragged his mom to visit the infamous cannibal Alferd Packer and just came back from seeing Farrah Fawcett.

He is Jim Tipton, founder of Find a Grave, a free online database of burial sites for the famous and otherwise around the globe.

Yes, travel often gets hit hard during any economic downturn.  But if you want a quick, cheap trip, Mexico deals abound.  Read more here.

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — During a visit to San Diego in April, Pratik and Priti Chavda thought they'd slip over the border into Tijuana just to do a little shopping, have a quick meal and say they had made it to Mexico. But upon hearing the plan, staffers at their hotel sounded the alarm.

In light of Halloween coming up, here's a little bit about ghost hunting and where to go.

"Nighttime is good for ghost-hunting because the absence of noise, people, and other distractions of the day helps your sixth sense stay in tune with your environment. That said, any time can be good, depending on who's doing the haunting. The elderly lady who haunts my home, for example, knocks on the walls throughout the day but stays quiet at night, unless we've done something to upset her, such as running the vacuum too late. In that case, she knocks loudly and often, as if to keep us awake as payback." -- Garret Moffett, who leads Springfield Walks' ghost tours and wrote "Lincoln's Ghost: Legends & Lore"

Luxury travel has always been the holy grail.  Hotels, private jets, sumptuous dinners, it is all part of the plan.  Bespoke travel plans are now the new thing and now you can sail in the south Pacific like the pirates.

Fly from Bali to Flores island, then cruise back leisurely over 7-9 days on your private yacht via Komodo National Park, Sumbawa, Moyo, Lombok and the Gili Islands. Charter a serious diving vessel (and earn your PADI license!) that doubles as a serious dining yacht, with a well-stocked wine cellar and a talented personal chef who can prepare excellent Indonesian and western cuisine. Climb stunning volcanos, hike through emerald rice paddies, enjoy some of the world's finest snorkeling and diving amongst colorful coral and tropical fish.

No doubt low cost airlines are great, but for intra-country travel especially in Europe, trains are still the best way.  Going from city center to city center saves time and these ultra fast and luxury trains do the job.

Minutes after leaving Barcelona Sants Station at 9:30 a.m., where platforms 1 to 6 have been converted from Spanish-gauge to European-gauge, you feel your Siemens Valero E AVE S-103 train begin a smooth transit from 92 mph to 186 mph, according to the speedometer inside the carriage.
An entrance to Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia is dwarfed by the four towers of the Nativity Façade. Photos: Brunhouse

The shiny new rails of the eagerly awaited high-speed line connecting Madrid and Barcelona opened on Feb. 20, 2008.