Nine nations join EU’s passport-free travel zone-German minister warns removal of border checks is happening too fast

ZITTAU, Germany - European leaders celebrated Friday as the borders of nine countries along a Cold War frontier melted away, allowing a huge expansion to the EU's passport-free travel zone.

In Zittau, on Germany's eastern fringe — where the country meets Poland and the Czech Republic — Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso raised a border gate as children set loose dozens of blue balloons covered by stars — symbolizing the EU flag.

"We are all quite happy to be able to celebrate this truly historic moment together," Merkel said as a crowd of onlookers cheered loudly.
Barroso held an old border crossing sign, calling it an archaeological relic.

Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta joined the EU in 2004, but could not be part of the Schengen frontier-free zone until now because their police and border guards were not considered in line with EU norms.

With funding from their richer neighbors, they have introduced tighter controls but a German minister warned that the loss of border checks from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic was happening too fast.

"It would have been better to wait a year or two longer to abolish the border controls," said Joachim Herrmann, the interior minister of the German state of Bavaria, which borders the Czech Republic. "It's all a matter of how well-protected the border is from Belarus to Poland, from Ukraine to Slovakia."

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said Friday his country will be ready to join the Schengen zone by 2011.

"The realistic date for entering the Schengen area is 2010 or 2011," Kalfin said. "It depends, of course, on how prepared Romania will be, since it would be strange for Bulgaria to join, but to have a Schengen border with Romania."

Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union in January but Romania has set a later date for its entry.

Flight delays as holiday travel begins-More than 65 million travelers expected between Christmas, New Year's

Dense fog and a low cloud ceiling forced airlines to cancel more than 200 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday at the start of the busy holiday travel season. Travelers also encountered weather-related delays at airports in the New York City area.

Flights in and out of O'Hare, the nation's second-busiest airport, were delayed by up to two hours, airport spokesman Gregg Cunningham said. Chicago's Midway International Airport reported delays of up to 45 minutes, but did not report any cancelations.

AAA says more than 65 million people will travel for Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations, slightly more than last year, even though airfares and gasoline are significantly more expensive. Fifty-three million will drive, while 9 million will fly.

An average plane ticket costs 16 percent more than last Christmas, according to AAA. Its latest fuel gauge report shows gas is back below $3 a gallon, with regular averaging $2.98 nationwide. But that’s 65 cents higher than last year.

Travel deals

Many threads have been started requesting help in finding travel deals. Here are some locations that should be checked first before posting requests for additional assistance.

These are price comparison sites for airfare, hotels, cars and general travel deals:
www.airfarewatchdog.com
www.bookingbuddy.com
www.expedia.com
www.farecompare.com
www.flightorder.com
www.iexplore.com
www.kayak.com
http://us.lastminute.com/ - last minute travel deals
www.lonelyplanet.com
www.mobissimo.com
www.orbitz.com
http://www.pricegrabber.com/home_...romo_id=63
www.sidestep.com
www.studentuniverse.com - fantastic student prices (especially airline)
www.travelocity.com
www.travelzoo.com
www.qixo.com
farechase.yahoo.com

This website will give you reviews of hotels, resorts and vacations from people who have stayed there:
www.tripadvisor.com

If you want to try your hand at bidding for travel or lodging, try these out:
www.hotwire.com – price provided, no names (lodging or carrier)
www.priceline.com – tells you the lodging place or carrier, but not the price

Now, wouldn’t you like a cheat sheet for hotwire or priceline? Why not check these great sites out to help you?
www.betterbidding.com
www.biddingfortravel.com

If Southwest Airlines flies to/from where you want to go, try installing their notification software that provides great prices – it has no spyware and works great. While you’re there, check out their hot fares.
www.southwest.com/ding
www.southwest.com/hotfares

Here is a guide to getting a better price on car rentals:
http://www.betterbidding.com/inde...opic=17412

Coupons for car rentals from our friend mlhm5 @ FW:
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/63/521905/

If you want to talk travel points, miles and more, you must check out the forums at:
http://www.flyertalk.com/

Here are some new sites that use predictive technology to figure out how much the fare will go up or down. It is limited in its cities right now, but should be expanding in the near future.

http://alpha.flyspy.com/ - Northwest Airlines out of Minneapolis only right now (8/18/2006)
http://www.farecast.com/

Group Travel Planning Made Easy - www.triphub.com

Priority Pass (gets you into airport lounges) 15% off - http://forums.slickdeals.net/show...?p=7250920

Always get Boarding Class A on Southwest Airlines - http://www.iBoardA.com

Check out the great posts below for specialized travel info!