By Joe Brancatelli NEED TO KNOW On-the-road intelligence to help you travel smarter: Continental Airlines has temporarily shut down its fledgling service that offers live TV service on seatback monitors. The system, the same owned by and offered on all JetBlue Airways flights , still has a few installation glitches. Air France is now using an Airbus A380 configured with 538 seats on its Paris/CDG-New York/JFK route. The flights are AF 007 (JFK-CDG)... 

(aka, Ed heads to Melbourne) The Smith Luxury Travel Blog team are feeling smug. For the first time in recorded history, Mr & Mrs Smith’s intrepid financial director, Ed Orr, has volunteered to contribute to our blog. (Perhaps he finally noticed the awards on our shelf and wanted in on the action). Ed recently paid a visit to the Smith offices in Melbourne , to fossick through Team Oz ’s ledgers, back-slap everyone involved... 

Make a promise to one another to have the best honeymoon imaginable. Start by looking over this new list of Honeymoon Travel Resolutions to put yourselves on the fast-track to honeymoon bliss as the New Year awaits. Also see: Cheap Champagne (too late to order for New Year’s, but perfect timing to stock up for Valentine’s Day!) Photo appears courtesy of Mountain Travel Sobek, a company that arranges adventure travel trips for honeymoon... 

He’s not the first celebrity honeymoon groom to make his way to Mexico’s One & Only Palmilla Resort (Eli Manning preceded him last year), but Kevin Jonas — one third of the puppyish boy band — is the latest. After a large and lavish wedding in New York , the new couple flew to Cabo San Lucas. There the oldest Jonas Brother was, presumably, relieved of the chastity vow he made with his brothers. One & Only Palmilla... 

There are lots of articles and books with guides to cheap days out in places like London that usually break the bank if you’re not used to them. Many of these lists often forget to incorporate the costs of travel , which in a city like London can be what ends up meaning you have to cut your trip short. So I’m going to be honest here, a great deal of your ten-pound limit is going to go in one press of a button at the ticket machine. An adult... 

By Joe Brancatelli AIRPORT REPORT Cincinnati, Delta’s odd hub out : When Delta Air Lines and Northwest merged, travelers looked at the combined carrier’s big hubs in Detroit and Atlanta and then glanced at the airline’s small hubs in Cincinnati and Memphis and realized that something would have to give. And despite Delta’s repeated claims that it had no plans to close any hubs, it is clear that Northwest’s old hub... 

By Joe Brancatelli GREAT DESTINATIONS More flights to Hawaii and Italy next year: Airlines often don’t like flying to Hawaii or Italy. It’s not that those two places are unpopular. Quite the contrary. They are among the favorite spots of vacationers and business travelers using free tickets earned with frequent flier miles. And that is the problem: Neither bargain-hunting holidaymakers nor free tickets actually make the airlines... 

One night of black-tie galas and champagne toasts sounds so humdrum compared to Edinburgh’s New Year celebration. The annual five-day street festival, Hogmanay, begins tonight with a torch-lit procession through the Scottish capital. Over 20 more events will follow, including tomorrow’s “Winter Light” performance by electronic avant-garde artists in St. Giles’ Cathedral, and “Dark Night,”  Read More →

Thinking about a trip to Paris in 2010, but can’t decide when you should go? Why not plan your trip around one of these top 5 events that will rock the city in 2010. 1. Les Soldes (“The Sales”) For shopaholics, Paris is a drug — and during the city’s “sales” season , a particularly dangerous one. Twice a year, all stores in Paris from Louis Vitton to Gap…  Read More →

By Kate Schwartz Move over Colorado, Summit County isn’t the only amazing spot for a ski vacation . As snow begins to blanket the west, Utah is seeing a good amount of powder and an even better base. Most runs are open at Utah ski resorts, and ski enthusiasts are coming out of the woodwork. Whether you are a local looking to make first tracks before hitting the office, or a visitor taking advantage of some of the best terrain out West, a Utah... 

Like highly trained hounds snuffling for truffles , the Smith collective is always on the hunt for new drinking dens. However, even we were surprised to hear of a new liquor-laden lair (with flair) in Leicester Square – aka the veritable armpit of London ). We’d been invited to a Christmas shindig at the London Cocktail Club (LCC), so westwards we headed, thirsting for festivities. And darn it, we deserved a drink – if battling through... 

My husband and I were staying at a fairly posh resort in Mexico, and we noticed these kids at the beach. They were obviously brother and sister, and they looked miserable as they half-heartedly made sandcastles with the bored-looking teenaged kid’s club employee. Dumping the kids in a holiday club We saw them every day, and every day my we’d turn to each other and ask “Why bring your kids?” and wonder which drunken yahoos by the pool... 

If you go nowhere else extravagant in Florence but these three sights, you can relax and enjoy the views. 1. Piazza della Signoria I can’t not mention this gorgeous meeting place. My heart really resides in this piazza. Nothing makes my heart race more than making the walk down Via dei Calzaiuoli, looking up at the end, and seeing the Palazzo Vecchio always standing tall. Every time I am absorbed in this piazza like a sponge. I always... 

Thanks to a Christmas Day terrorist incident on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, airline passengers are being subjected to tighter security. Some airlines have also restricted passengers to one carry-on bag . Everyone wants to feel secure when they board a plane. But what if you’re leaving on an extended honeymoon or a destination wedding and have items you don’t feel…  Read More →

1. ‘Paris’ is not the city’s original name. Many centuries ago when the first settlers in Paris were scrubbing their clothes on the muddy banks of the Seine, the city that would be founded on that spot was not referred to as Paris. Paris’s original name was Lutetia Parisiorum (called Lutèce in French), and the settlers there were Celts known as the “Parisii.” It is commonly believed that “Lutetia” comes from the Latin word “lutum,”...