10 international cities getting trendy as 2015 destinations

Last week, American Express Travel added its list to the many that are predicting the hot spots for international travel in 2015.

Their forecast is for "trending" cities -- destinations booked with the greatest year-over-year growth, according to survey findings.

1. London

2. Santiago, Chile

3. Paris

4. Mumbai, India

5. Buenos Aires

6. Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

7. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

8. Sydney, Australia

9. New York

10. San Francisco

(That's Santiago shown in the Ellen Creager/MCT photo at the top of this post).

Based on survey findings, American Express is also seeing an increase in demand for New Zealand Vietnam, Myanmar, Croatia, Iceland and Italy.

January is the odds-on favorite month for visiting many vacation hot spots

What's the most affordable month for visiting a hot destination?

Travel booker hotwire.com recently pulled together some data on the subject. Here's when, according to their findings, are the best times to visit 15 top markets -- and the percent savings vs. peak season:

January

Las Vegas (44 percent savings vs. peak season)

London (55 percent)

Rome (99 percent)

San Francisco (88 percent)

Los Angeles (37 percent)

Chicago (67 percent)

Washington, D.C. (58 percent)

San Diego (109 percent)

February

Paris (64 percent)

New York City (77 percent)

May

Honolulu (46 percent)

August

Madrid, Spain (77 percent)

New Orleans (69 percent)

September

Miami (91 percent)

Orlando, Fla. (40 percent)

Take the percentages with a grain of salt: Savings depends on how savvy you are about where you stay and what you do.

But on the whole, the findings do point out what months great deals are more abundant.

The Associated Press photo at the top of this post, by the way, shows the hands of a player in the poker room at Caesar's Palace, in Vegas.

Survey: Fall in gas prices doesn't translate into spike in holiday travel

Gas prices have plummeted... but is savings at the pump translating into increased holiday travel?

Not that much, according to a survey by GasBuddy.com, which monitors fuel prices.

The record-low gas prices are not affecting the travel plans for 77 percent of those surveyed --  but for the 23 percent whose plans have changed, 29 percent say they will be traveling greater distances.

The impact on lower gas costs translates into spending more on holiday gifts to 35 percent of those surveyed, spending on  "other" to 17 percent, and  spending more on accommodations to 8 percent.

In different question however, those surveyed were asked how they plan to spend extra money saved with lower gas prices. The most popular options: paying off some bills (45 percent) and saving the cash (38 percent).

According to the survey, slightly more than half of respondents (52 percent) play to travel anytime between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1;  of them, 30 percent plan to go 500 miles or more, roundtrip. Of all traveling for the holidays, autos are the preferred transportation mode (90 percent).

Other interesting findings:

The most popular day for hitting the road for year-end travel: Dec. 29 (29 percent).

Least popular day: Dec. 21 (7 percent)

Christmas Day -- Dec. 25 -- was second most-popular (23 percent) followed by Christmas Eve (19 percent).

Most popular day for starting your return home: Jan. 2 (24 percent), followed by Christmas Day (21 percent).

Least popular: Jan. 1 (6 percent)

The vast majority of those traveling cite "to visit family  and/or friends" (78 percent).

2015 cruise forecast: Caribbean remains top choice by wide margin

Cruise Holidays, a cruise marketing  network, has released its 2015 forecast for cruise destinations, based on information from more than 1,300 cruise-focused travel agents across North America.

Here's their top 10 list. Can you spot the itinerary on the rise?

Caribbean (includes the Bahamas)

2015 ranking: 1

2014 ranking: 1

2013 ranking: 1

Europe ocean cruises (includes Mediterranean, Baltic, Scandinavian and Greek isles)

2015 ranking: 2

2014 ranking: 2

2013 ranking: 2

Alaska (the photo at the top of this post shows Holland America's Zaandam at Glacier Bay National Park)

2015 ranking: 3

2014 ranking: 3

2013 ranking: 3

European river cruises

2015 ranking: 4

2014 ranking: 4

2013 ranking: not available

Bermuda

2015 ranking: 5

2014 ranking: 5

2013 ranking: 4

Trans-Atlantic

2015 ranking: 6

2014 ranking: 7

2013 ranking: 6 (tie)

Panama Canal

2015 ranking: 7

2014 ranking: 6

2013 ranking: 6 (tie)

China/Japan/Southeast Asia

2015 ranking: 8

2014 ranking: 15

2013 ranking: 12

Hawaiian Islands

2015 ranking: 9

2014 ranking: 8

2013 ranking: 5

South Pacific (includes Australia and New Zealand)

2015 ranking: 10

2014 ranking: 9

2013 ranking: 8

There's no surprise that the Caribbean tops the list: According to Cruise Holidays, that destination group will capture 50.5 percent of all bookings, with European saltwater cruises a distant second, at 12 percent.

The most intriguing change is the rise in China/Japan/Southeast Asia: As a destination, according to these findings, it tops sluggish interest in the Hawaiian Islands.

Both remain small beans in the greater cruise casserole: less than 3 percent.

Survey says: CLT among America's 'hottest' airports

A press release issued in honor of Aug. 17 being "National Aviation Day"  says good-old Charlotte-Douglas International is one of the 10 hottest airports in America.

And we're not talking about  tarmac temperature.

The "Hottest Airports in America" list that has Charlotte as No. 7 was generated by Hot or Not, whose  website home page says, "Find the Hottest people near you, and let them find you too!"

Hot or Not is an android (Google Play) app about sex appeal.

"We surveyed people within a certain radius -- we can target, based on location," said a Hot or Not representative. "Someone within the airport area would probably be voting."

When you "play the game" on your phone, the profile picture of another Hot or Not players nearby pops up on your phone.

And you can vote whether you consider that person "hot" or not.

Hot or Not says it has more than 8 million users in the United State.

The data used in the airport survey, pulled in July, goes back  as far as June 17, when its most recent updated app was launched in the United States.

Here's their list of "Hottest Airports in America":

1.       Denver

2.       Fort Worth, Texas.

3.       Orlando, Fla.

4.       Newark, N.J.

5.       Los Angeles

6.       Las Vegas

7.       Charlotte

8.       Seattle

9.       San Francisco

10.   Minneapolis

If the findings are accurate, what does this say about Charlotte?

Not much, actually. That's because, as a rule of thumb, 80 percent of passengers at CLT are between flights; only 20 percent board or depart here.

If anything, it may speak to the sex appeal of our fly-through guests who are waiting for the next jet to elsewhere.

(P.S. The  CLT concourse photo shown above is by Observer photographer Todd Sumlin.) 

Boomer study: Have suitcase and will travel... to party on

As "Wayne's World" dudes Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar used to say, "Party on!"

That, however, was back in the late 1980s and early 1990s; Mike Myers (who played Wayne) is now 51;  Dana Carvey (Garth) is 59.

The photo above shows them back in those days. No telling if they have gray hair these days. Or any hair.

They may or may not be able to stay up late enough on weekends for "Saturday Night Life," but if they're typical Baby Boomers, they still have a yen to travel to party.

A study just released by AARP Travel -- the travel arm of  what was the American Association of Retired Persons (it just goes by the acronym now) -- indicates that travel is the No. 1 "aspirational activity" for America's 76 million boomers, and that they collectively spend more than $120 billion annually on leisure travel.

Among the findings of the AARP Travel survey:

78 percent of  people 45 and older say they've taken or plan to take a "celebration vacation" in the next two years.

Top reason: celebrating anniversaries (87 percent).

Coming in second: celebrating a milestone birthday (77 percent).

No. 3: retirement (69 percent).

No. 4 -- a wedding (66 percent).

Sixty-three percent of respondents took celebratory vacations in the U.S. within the past two years; here's where they say they went:

1. Las Vegas

2. Disney (unspecified whether that's to a theme park or on a cruise)

3. Los Angeles

4. Florida

5. Hawaii

6. New York City

7. New Orleans

8. Chicago

9. California

10. Alaska.

Eighteen percent of respondents say they took a tropical/beach destination; these were the most popular locations:

1. Caribbean (unspecified)

2. Hawaii

3. Puerto Rico

4. Bahamas

5. St. Martin

6. Cabo (Mexico's Baja California)

7. Cancun, Mexico

8. Maui, Hawaii

9. Negril, Jamaica