Travel

It's time to plan your summer vacation, but check the fine print before you book a flight: That big, exciting trip across the country or overseas could carry surprising costs and added fees imposed by the airline.
It's time to plan your summer vacation, but check the fine print before you book a flight: That big, exciting trip across the country or overseas could carry surprising costs and added fees imposed by the airline.

Daily Finance

"If money doesn't make you happy, then you probably aren't spending it right."

That's the excellent and descriptive title of a paper published last year in the Journal of Consumer Psychology by the University of British Columbia's Elizabeth W. Dunn, Harvard's Daniel T. Gilbert, and UVA's Timothy D. Wilson.

The paper, which summarizes decades of study on the subject, notes that "money allows people to do what they please, to live longer and healthier lives, to buffer themselves against worry and harm, to have leisure time to spend with friends and family, and to control the nature of their daily activities -- all of which are sources of happiness."

Unfortunately, money is "an opportunity that people routinely squander because the things they think will make them happy often don't."

So how do you make sure to spend your money in order to to maximize your happiness? Follow these eight steps:

Do you deserve a vacation Canada?

Has work, daily life and the endless wait for spring weather made you feel like you need an escape? For those of us who want to recharge or revive, a vacation is the answer.

Whether it's a change of scenery, a romantic weekend for the two of you or a family holiday to have some fun, there are several options that won't make you regret taking your credit card out of your wallet. Heck, even the Griswolds are getting back on the road.

So where

By Bruce Watson
Daily Finance

Summer vacation season is right around the corner, but with sequestration cutting hours and reducing services at many national parks, it's getting harder to find a low-cost, educational place to take the kids during the time off. Museums are a good option, but admission costs can be bruising, especially for large families.

On the bright side, there is a simple, fairly inexpensive trick that your family can use to get free admission at 662 museums -- and counting -- across Canada and the United States. By joining the North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM) at a member museum, you can gain admission to any other museum in the network free of charge.

I found out about the program during a visit to the Norman Rockwell museum in Stockbridge, Mass. One-time admission to the museum for my wife, my daughter and myself cost $37 -- not exactly a punishing fee, but high enough that we would have to think twice before coming back. The thing is, after wandering through the museum a bit, we realized that we definitely wanted to return.

Now that the roads are clear, Canadians are dusting off helmets and reflective jackets and pulling out their bikes to get to work. It's not just cyclists who want to hit the road during the warmer months. Drivers who love getting out in their car in the great wide open have no doubt started planning where they'll be traveling to. But whether you're a cyclist or a driver or both, what you really need to start thinking about this time of year is making sure your "vehicle" is fit to go where you want to take it. Here's what the experts say you need to do to make sure your bike or car is tuned up for spring:





Related Links:
Top 10 Tips for Budget Family Travel
Do it Yourself: What You Don't Need to Pay for This Spring
Spring Cleaning: Seven Steps to Get Your Financial House in Order

Camping season will soon be here and, for many families, it's a great way to get away. Once you have the gear, camping is a relatively inexpensive way to vacation and kids love it.

If you're new to camping, you may be wondering how to save money on camping supplies. Here are a few tips:

As Opening Day arrives, the Toronto Blue Jays are in a position they haven't been for two decades: They enter the baseball season as World Series favourites. The addition of three elite starting pitchers - Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson - as well as All-Star position players Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera ensure the Blue Jays will be one of the most exciting teams to watch in 2013. The offseason moves have rekindled thoughts of the feats former general manager Pat Gillick pulled off in the early 1990s. Whether this team can bring the glory days of 1992-93 back to Toronto will not be revealed for months. For now, what we do know is the electricity that has been absent during the past 20 years - as the Jays have failed to come within even a warning-track flyball of the postseason - will be back. They are going to be competitive. Game days will be exciting, bars and restaurants will be full, hotels will enjoy a boost with visitors coming in to see the hottest show in town.

If you're going to see a game, here are five tips to save you money and help you get the most out of the Blue Jays' experience:

By Molly McCluskey
Daily Finance

Cash may be king, but figuring out how much of it to tip -- and to whom -- can leave travelers feeling like paupers.

We asked experts and seasoned travelers for their tips on how to show appreciation for the people who make traveling worth doing.

By Matt Brownell
Daily Finance

American Airlines is tired of passengers hauling bulky suitcases onto its planes, and it may be willing to entice them to quit with the promise of priority boarding.

Last week, John DiScala of travel site JohnnyJet.com was flying out of Fort Lauderdale when he noticed an American Airlines flight testing a new boarding procedure. The gate attendant announced that passengers who didn't have carry-on luggage that needed to be stowed could board the flight immediately following the first-class passengers and elite frequent fliers.

American Airlines confirmed to him on Twitter that it was indeed testing a priority boarding program for passengers who didn't have carry-on luggage. While it's the first of the big legacy airlines to pursue such a strategy, it's not the first airline to consider it -- DiScala notes that Southwest, Alaska and Frontier are all testing similar programs.