Visiting New York City this month? Check out Time Out’s 101 things to do in New York City in the winter for some inspiration.

You may remember our recent posts on the top do’s and don’ts in 10 cities or what not to do in Hawaii; Jaunted’s posted some great advice on what not to do in Paris.

It’s been quite a year in travel, check out the The Vacation Gals’ Top Ten Weirdest & Wackiest Travel Stories of 2009 for a roundup (and stay tuned for our own 2009 roundup next week.) Looking for even more 2009 retrospective? Have a look at TIME’s The Year in Pictures 2009.

And lastly, this haunting yet moving piece on GoBackpacking, Walking Among Ghosts: Nazi Concentration Camps, is a must-read.

[Photo: Ella_Marie]

THE SPECS:

80 liters of packing space.That’s right – you can squeeze in all 80 of your favorite Sigg Water Bottles. Score.

Volume-enhancing cram zones. So you can fit your little sister in there. Or souvenirs. Your call.

Removable Laundry and toiletry bag. 3 bags in 1 so you can carry smaller versions of your stuff. Check out George Carlin’s take on stuff.

IXIOM skate wheel system and EVA/TPU back panel. Not sure what these acronyms mean? Work them into conversation anyway – people are sure to be impressed.

The ability to SEPARATE INTO 2 BAGS to help you beat airline weight restrictions. Yes. You heard me.

Awesome prints. Neon camo? Zebra print? Sign us up.

THE REVIEW:

I bought this bag for a trip to Germany a while ago. Since then, it has weathered flights to San Antonio, Tahoe, Hawaii and Europe again (this time with my little sister). Not only is it still in great shape, but I have yet to get tired of the print, which is infinitely useful for spotting your suitcase on the luggage carousal.

The IXIOM skate wheel system is great – those are actual skateboarding wheels and they work better than any other rolling luggage I’ve ever had. Case in point: the suitcase had no problem being hauled around the Austrian Alps one night as we searched for the farmhouse our cousins were staying in. My aunt got scratched up after falling down a rocky slope, but my bag was fine.

Luggage is the kind of purchase you only want to make once, so if you’re in the market for a lumberjack of a suitcase (big, capable, cool in a retro-and-not-ashamed-of-it way), then do yourself a favor and buy one of these bad boys. Then tell me about and we can start a fan club.

Alexi is a resident gear junkie at NileGuide. Have a question about travel gear? Shoot the gear junkies an email at gearjunkies@nileguide.com.

photo courtesy of dbking

Defeat the …

1. Crowds

a. Prepare to become intimately familiar with the back of stranger’s heads. Buy a harness for your child, walkie-talkies for loved ones and stilts. Although those might be classified as weapons (see 2a below).

b. Use maps from the official inaugural website to find the subway and commuter train stations closest to the hotel/tent/port-a-potty you are staying in.

c. Consider spending the night in nearby and probably mostly-empty Philadelphia.

2. Security

a. Leave behind anything that could potentially be used as a weapon, ever. This list includes: guns, knives, pocket knives, pepper spray, fireworks, laser pointers, sticks, umbrellas, underwear and your children.

b. Don’t plan on drinking. Anything. Alcoholic beverages, coolers and thermoses (even that cute one you found featuring Barack Obama’s face) will not be allowed in. Hydrate yourself at Café du Parc, Local 16 or other, less crowded venues, beforehand.

3. Weather

a. Since umbrellas are classified as a weapon (see 2a above), bring a poncho. Weather predictions for the day are cold (37 F) and wet. Consider making a sacrifice to the sun god the day before.

b. Layer up, wear comfy shoes and throw in a couple handwarmers. I’m not saying they’ll make hours outside in the freezing January weather bearable, but at least 4 square inches of your body will be warm.

4. Regrets

a. Charge your phone. Whether it’s to leave bragging messages on your friends’ answering machines, to call loved ones while you’re bored in line or to try to find missing members of your group, you’ll probably want it.

b. Take your camera. Otherwise, how will you prove you were there? You’ll need at least a couple shots featuring a sea a people and a tiny dot at the back that is the president to show your grandkids someday.

c. Sleep (and go to the bathroom) the day before. Most bars in DC are open until 5am, so take advantage and party with the masses. No one will want to hear that you made an early night of it and were in bed by 10pm.

5. Post-party let down

photo courtesy of Brian Finifter

a. As soon as the Inauguration is over, hole up in your hotel for a couple of days to allow the crowds to filter out of the city; catch up on sleeping, eating and bathroom visits that you missed out on earlier. Then, take advantage of the sightseeing you couldn’t before. (Not that what you saw wasn’t amazing, historical and awe-inspiring – it’s just that all the monuments were probably covered up by people at the time).

b. First hit up the National Mall for the Jefferson, Vietnam, Korean, WWII and FDR memorials. Then, if you have another day or so, I recommend the Arlington National Cemetery, Dupont Circle and Georgetown.

Did we leave anything out? Let us know in a comment below.

1. Latin America will be caliente. As American appetites for overseas travel become ever more circumscribed by the falling (or at least wildly fluctuating) dollar, terrorist incidents, airline fuel surcharges, and lingering anti-Americanism, there’s one place where travelers can have a taste of the new and exotic without being subjected to transoceanic plane trips, worrying about local religious practices, or expecting their credit card limit to be reached. Whether it’s a quick trip to a beach in Mexico, a cultural experience in Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, or a full-fledged Macchu Picchu adventure, Latin America is sure to be one region that captures market share in the American travel wallet. Colombia, Nicaragua, and Argentina are hot baby!
2. Mobile goes major. With the launch of the iPhone, the Google Android, new BlackBerry apps, and a coming new OS for Palm, mobile devices will have finally reached a tipping point of capability. 2009 will see new travel planning tools, GPS-based proximity searching, and traveler ratings, reviews and photos finally reach their potential on mobile devices. This wave will have 2 main thrusts: First, the volume of user-generated travel content created on, and uploaded from, mobile devices will approach that uploaded from tradition computers. And second, the delivery of trip planning tools, itineraries, and destination content to mobile devices will become more widespread and powerful than ever before. Time for the old media world to get on board…the train is leaving the station!
3. Who’s really pulling the strings? 2009 will be the year when consumers finally get fed up with the puppetmasters (otherwise known as “merchandisers”) who control the display of results on major travel booking websites. As new travel planning options like NileGuide become available (blush), consumers will start to see through the “highest margin first” agenda and demand more relevant recommendations — recommendations that are right for them. This means that travelers will start to shift toward sources of information that offer real transparency and objectivity. When transactions are involved, these sources will do their utmost to provide comparison tools to reassure users that they’re truly finding the best deal or the best recommendation. Which brings us to the next point…
4. Personalization = Empowerment. For too many years, “personalization” has meant some fancy algorithm that is supposedly telling you that you’re a family or business traveler (don’t you already know that?). Unfortunately, it always turns out that there is no one way to pigeonhole a “traveler” — there are often only different types of “trips.” And even if they were sophisticated enough to recognize that reality, these tools often failed because travelers look for different things even within a single trip, or they either were clunky and difficult to use. 2009 will be the year that one or more travel sites breaks through to empower consumers to find recommendations that are right for then, quickly and easily. Consumers will be turning the knobs and dials themselves, with a better end result.
5. The Spaces in Between. As the economy continues its stuggles, travelers will increasingly look for “2nd tier” destinations as their first choice when planning a trip. For example, instead of looking at Miami, San Francisco, or Washington DC, more and more travelers will look to places like Savannah, Asheville, Santa Fe, or Medford. Not only do these somewhat less well-known destinations offer affordability, relaxation, free recreation in the form of outdoor activities or cultural tours, but they also speak to a “hearth and home” retrenchment that many Americans are feeling in response to the overextended years of late. In addition, the drop in gas prices will mean that these drive destinations, which may lack a convenient airport, become more cost-competitive with their fly-to brethren.
6. SWF: Surfing While Flying. 2009 will see the broad-based introduction of in-flight internet access, with its commensurate concerns about safety, indecency, and sheer annoyance. And what about instant messaging or VoIP calling? There are obviously still questions to be resolved, and airlines will struggle to develop policies that keep up with technology. At $10-$20 per flight, access won’t be cheap, but will certainly be taken advantage of by business travelers and the hyper-connected. Now about those plugs for my laptop…
7. Asia Rising. While everyone knows that India and China are still the fastest-growing of the world’s major economies, 2009 will certainly see them outpace the anemic growth in rest of the world when it comes to travel. Increasingly, this growth will extend into emerging areas like outbound travel to the near abroad, and even in some cases to North America, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. This in turn will put pressure on governments to liberalize laws preventing the travel industry from developing further, like airline ownership restrictions and travel bans (see: Tibet), and will also force them to address critical infrastructure concerns. Perhaps most importantly, as travelers from these countries venture out into the broader world, both they and their hosts can benefit from some real cultural cross-pollination.
8. Lost in Translation: Security-related travel restrictions will continue to take a bite out of inbound travel to the USA, and the Obama Administration will come under pressure from trade groups to address the unintended consequences of our crackdown. The data shows that, while potential terrorists can still sneak a bomb on board a plane quite easily, or cross our borders, foreign business and leisure travelers are increasingly frustrated with security-related impediments to American travel. The State Department and U.S. Customs will continue to negotiate with foreign governments about the state of visa and passport requirements, and Americans themselves will agitate about the sorry state of the TSA. It will be up to the President-elect and his Cabinet to put some sense back into our travel security apparatus.
9. Going Hybrid. This will be the year when travel transaction sites finally embrace a hybrid business model whole-hog. By hybrid, I mean that they will finally commit to making money from the 95% of people who come to their websites but don’t book. This means advertising, sponsorships, and performance-based lead generation, with actual transactional capabilities existing just alongside. In navigating their way through these uncharted waters, booking sites will look to innovators in other categories like Amazon, as well as traditional media companies and emerging partners. Kayak and TripAdvisor have been at the forefront of this trend, but the OTA’s will finally jump right in — the recession will put too much pressure on them to resist all of that high-margin revenue opportunity sitting under their noses. A bolder prediction: a supplier website (airline or hotel like United or Hilton) will start carrying non-competitive 3rd party advertising in 2009.
10. Lean, Green, and Mean. While many commentators have been predicting the coming green revolution in travel for some time, to date those grand ambitions have largely failed to materialize. “Eco-travel” has been more of a marketing hook than a discernable pattern in the industry. However, it is likely that in 2009, with the start of the Obama Adminstration, we will finally start to see a real shift in thinking by everyone involved in the travel ecosystem, whether it’s airlines, hoteliers, road builders, energy companies, or consumers. I won’t be so bold as to predict the launch of a real carbon tax regime, or even a robust cap-and-trade system, but I do believe that a critical inflection point has been reached. You know that when Tom Friedman is highlighting plug-in car startups in his New York Times editorial, and the President-elect is calling for a new national power grid to support delivering renewable energy to a new generation of vehicles. Hell, airplanes are even being flown on french fry oil. This last prediction isn’t a quick hit, but it is a signal that things, finally, are starting to change. I for one would like to take my grandkids to the mountains for a ski trip in 2040, and have there be snow…actual snow!