Wealthier travelers no longer hostile to idea of hostels

BY KIMBERLY CHOW THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The tumbling U.S. dollar is forcing a new experience on many Americans traveling through Europe: a stay in a youth hostel. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Party towns

BY BRIAN BAKST THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hosting a Republican National Convention is old hat to Minnesota. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Denver, host of the Democratic National Convention, has a colorful political history of its own

BY DAN ELLIOTT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DENVER — If you want to see some classy history, Denver’s got that, like the custom-crafted table where Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin and other global big shots sat during a 1997 summit at the public library. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

TRAVEL IN EUROPE : Rustic Spanish hamlet gives off a time-machine vibe

BY RICK STEVES TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES

O CEBREIRO, Spain — Perched on a high ridge, the impossibly quaint hobbit hamlet of O Cebreiro welcomes visitors to Galicia — a hilly, damp, green region in northwest Spain that feels vaguely Irish. O Cebreiro is a time warp to an uncomplicated, almost prehistoric past, when people lived very close to nature in stone igloos with thatched roofs. With sweeping views across the verdant but harsh Galician landscape, O Cebreiro (pronounced oh theh-BRAY-roh ) is constantly pummeled by some of the fiercest weather in Spain. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Confluence hunts use map and GPS

BY PATRICK JOSEPH UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE

When J. Baker Hill bought his first Global Positioning System (GPS) unit in 1998, he went online to find the geographical coordinates for some of the places he had visited around the world. It was then that the 55-year-old Georgian stumbled upon the Degree Confluence Project (DCP), a Web site that encourages people to visit and document — in words and photos — places where wholenumbered lines of latitude and longitude intersect. No minutes, no seconds, just integers. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Naval air museum home to old fliers

BY MELISSA NELSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PENSACOLA NAVAL AIR STATION, Fla. — Ed Ellis steps across the National Naval Aviation Museum into the aircraft that was Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Chester Nimitz’s flying headquarters during World War II. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

CONSUMER TRAVEL : Change has travelers on PINs, needles

ED PERKINS

A few weeks ago I reported on some of the many new fees and unexpected surprises you face as a traveler — and that you’ll likely face even more in the future. I heard from quite a few readers who had experiences such as I described, as well as some new wrinkles. Here are some of the more important updates and recent developments in the fast-changing field of unhappy surprises. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

‘Gonzo’ journalist Thompson’s wild ride

BY JONATHAN YARDLEY THE WASHINGTON POST

Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S.Thompson, by William McKeen, Norton, 428 pages, $27.95 Hunter Stockton Thompson, who took his life three years ago at the age of 67, was a superbly gifted and original prose stylist who wanted to be a novelist but, failing in that, settled for journalism. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Reporter argues tide has turned in Iraq war

BY JOHN A. NAGL THE WASHINGTON POST

The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq, by Bing West, Random House, 417 pages, $28 We interpret reality through the clouded prism of our own experience, so it is unsurprising that Bing West sees Iraq through the lens of Vietnam. He served as a Marine officer there, and he thinks politicians and the media caused the American public to turn against a war that could have been won. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Book hints at why privileged pair killed boy in ’24

BY JOHN STEELE GORDON THE NEW YORK TIMES

For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder That Shocked Chicago, by Simon Baatz, Harper, illustrated, 541 pages, $27.95 Murder is the most serious crime one human being can commit against another. Perhaps that is why it has such an enduring fascination and why a whole literary genre — the whodunit — has been inspired by it. But as entertaining as Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers can be, real murder stories often trump the best fictional ones and live on in the folk memory just as long. The Jack the Ripper and Lizzie Borden cases obsessed the news media of the day and well over a century later they still generate books, movies, television docudramas, even the occasional ballet and opera. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Terminal Spy digs into poisoning mystery

BY JOSEPH WEISBERG THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Terminal Spy: A True Story of Espionage, Betrayal and Murder — The First Act of Nuclear Terrorism and the New Cold War, by Alan S. Cowell, illustrated, Doubleday/Broadway, 432 pages, $26.95. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

REMEMBERING ARKANSAS : Battleship’s silver came from much effort, expense

TOM W. DILLARD

Irecently had the pleasu re of reading a report and appraisal on the fine silver service that for many years was aboard the USS Arkansas BB-33 battleship. The report was prepared by Charles S. Curb of Clarksville, a former English professor and authority on antique silver. While the USS Arkansas had a long and noble record, the effort by the people of Arkansas to raise money to purchase a silver service was protracted and probably would not have succeeded had it not been for the women of the state. - Sunday, August 24, 2008

Living lavish life in gentrified Ireland is a luxury

BY T.D. GRIFFITH UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE

At least once in your traveler’s life, you should permit yourself the pleasure of excess, to believe you, too, can experience a time of landed gentry, castles and cliffs, and clever Gaelic gents with genuine smiles. - Sunday, August 24, 2008