Happy travels to readers in ’09 and beyond

Travel is probably pretty far down on your list right now, given the economic gloom and doom.

Travel suppliers are among the hardest hit. Few of us, except the very brave or the very rich, can possibly be thinking of lounging around a Caribbean resort or barging down some French canal while everything around us is falling apart.

In fact, one travel agent we know told us that at this time of the year she’s usually in the planning stages of upwards of 30 overseas trips. This year it’s a mere half a dozen.

We’re not feeling too perky ourselves, what with depleted nest eggs, the weather, and all. The idea of simply pulling up the covers and going into some kind of hyper-hibernation feels like a pretty good option.

But then we got a hold of ourselves, and decided that perhaps “alles ist noch nicht verloren” (all is not yet lost). read more...