Hawaii seems like a beautiful place to live – great coffee, awesome surf conditions, nearly perfect weather at all times. But, hundreds of miles out in the Pacific, I imagine it starts to feel a bit isolated, especially with the high cost of flights from the islands back to the mainland US. But for those Hawaiian islanders looking to get away to the rest of the US for a while, Hawaiian airlines, has a pretty great deal.

Have you been watching the Olympic countdown on Vancouver2010.com? With less than three months to go before the Winter Olympics, we’ve already seen promos for the "Today" show’s trip to Vancouver in February, but Tourism Vancouver wants to make sure that Matt, Meredith and Al aren’t the only ones in town for the games.

Air travel competition is heating up, and we’re not talking about corporate profits and losses here. As airlines reduce flights and use smaller planes, passengers sometimes are jostling for storage space for their carry-on items.

Holiday travelers particularly risk raising the ire of grizzled business fliers, who depend on strict adherence to a set of written and unwritten rules to get them on and off of planes efficiently.

Can’t make it to the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Galapagos Islands or China’s Great Wall? While these remain among the world’s most spectacular man-made and natural destinations, there are other sites luring to curious travelers. Among them: 13 added this year to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

They include the Dolomites in Italy, the ruins of Loropeni in Burkina Faso and the sacred city of Cara-Supe in Peru.