Links Roundup: “4N in the Bahamas, Hotel + Air for less than $300″ edition

This deal’s been covered extensively on Flyer Talk and a few travel blogs, so the best deals may in fact be behind us, but you can still score a trip to the Bahamas for a very reasonable price, courtesy of a special code at Expedia Vacations.  Gary Leff does a great job of running this deal down at his View From the Wing blog:  read the full details here – 4 Nights in the Bahamas, Hotel and Air, From $0.  I tried a couple of dates, using O’Hare as my departure airport, and ended up with the trip costing $269.  Check it out.

That done, on to a few interesting articles I’ve stumbled across recently…

Eric Weiner, writing at World Hum, confronts the issue of travel snobbery in his excellent piece, Why Tourism is Not a Four-Letter Word.  Whether you’re a flashpacker or your dream vacation is a cruise to Jamaica, it’s worth a read.  This subject has been on my mind, frankly, as I compile a list of sites to visit in Rome; I’m well aware that one of the things I’m most excited about our trip to Italy is that we’ll be spending one day driving about the countryside, visiting small towns about which we know nothing.  That doesn’t mean that it’s inherently better than visiting “tourist sites,” it’s just a different type of adventure.  As nearly everyone’s fond of saying, “It’s all good.”

Further testimony that the comments after blog posts are often as good as, if not more valuable than, the post itself:  this piece at Fodor’s – Exchanging Your Money Abroad – 10 Simple Tips.  Check out the comments – they’re excellent!

Got some old guidebooks and haven’t a clue what to do with them?  Check out this post at Budget Travel:  5 things to do with your old guidebooks

Rolf Potts did a guest post at Tim Ferriss’s blog last week, and it’s a great one:  5 Travel Lessons You Use at Home. Always thought provoking,  Rolf’s advice is great for travelers and as Ferriss suggests, all of us, every day.

And now for something completely different, a video from Rick Steves on Travel Skills:  Eating with the locals…

Finally, if you haven’t seen Chris Jones‘s Esquire profile and interview with Roger Ebert, I’d urge you to take ten or fifteen minutes to read it.  In case you’re unaware, Ebert is valiantly battling cancer, and his unflappable spirit and grit are truly inspiring.  You can read it here:  Roger Ebert – The Essential Man

Have a great day – and never lose sight of how lucky you are.