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Two weeks ago, Budapest's Winter Festival--a massive four-month event--kicked off.  The festival includes a variety of activities, but its five-week Christmas Festival is by far the most popular. This year, the 10th annual Christmas Festival takes place today through December 29th. Attended by 600,000 people annually, it is considered one of the largest Christmas fairs in Europe.

But this isn't your average tourist trap full of kitschy trinkets. Every one of the baskets, leather goods, hand-blown glass, and other crafts sold at the over 100 craft pavilions must be judged and approved by the Association of Hungarian Folk Artists. Such high standards have given Budapest's Christmas Festival a reputation of being one of the most authentic Christmas festivals in the world. Some highlights of the festival include:

Daily Advent Presentation
As a child, I loved hanging a new advent ornament on the tree every day leading up to Christmas, but Budapest's Christmas festival has a tradition that would have blown my 6-year-old mind. Every evening at 5 p.m. from December 1st through the 24th, a different piece of contemporary art is revealed from behind a massive window of the Gerbeaud Confectionery (left). The event is accompanied by a light show and music.

Handmade Gifts
Because the gifts are so authentic and beautiful, the Christmas Festival is a popular shopping destination for locals and visitors alike. Peruse the selection of hand-made jewelry, leather goods, and traditional wooden toys.

For our upcoming January/February 2010 issue, we're preparing tips on how to survive a plane crash. Don't despair! The story's not as morbid as it seems as your chance of being in a plane crash is about the same as giving birth to identical quadruplets! (1 in over 11 million). Fact-checking the story got me thinking about so-called "lap children," kids two years of age and younger who sit on their parent's lap while flying.

Is this a safe way for little kids to travel? Apparently the Federal Aviation Administration does not require infants to be belted in during flight though they do recommend parents use child restraint systems (CRSs) during take-off, landing, and turbulence. It strikes me as odd that kids have been required to be buckled up in cars since 1982, but they're still not required to be similarly secured while on planes.

The FAA said in 2005 that it doesn't mandate the use of safety seats on planes because this would require adults to purchase a separate seat for the infant, and that when forced to buy an additional ticket, many families will choose to drive rather than fly. And, as driving is a statistically much more dangerous way to travel, permitting kids to fly as lap children is seen as the lesser of two evils.

Most domestic airlines don't charge for kids to fly as lap children, hence the perpetuation of this dangerous practice. Restraining your child in a CRS requires a separate seat, for which most airlines charge full ticket price. For many parents hoping to travel with their kids, it's often too steep a price to pay, especially in these tough economic times, if flying with Junior as a lap child is free. While I'm not a mom and thus not personally faced with this decision, I'm inclined to agree with Consumer Reports contributing editor and aircraft dispatcher Bill McGee. Last summer he opined in USA Today that "[i]f a trip is too expensive for a child's seat, then that's a trip that shouldn't be taken."

What do you think?

Photo: Bertabetti via Flickr

I could have skipped my coffee yesterday. When I got on the elevator here at Headquarters, I was jolted awake by a behemoth photo of a great white shark covering the entire back wall. This unexpected elevator companion was there to inform me about Expedition Week--a National Geographic Channel event that "takes you on cutting-edge scientific missions to explore and discover lost treasures and never-before-seen worlds." Expedition Week begins this Sunday and runs through Saturday, November 21. It will feature a variety of programs about recent research and exploration being done around the world. National Geographic Channel is very enthusiastic about this event because it "is what we are all about--adventure, exploration and the pursuit of knowledge."  Some of the upcoming episodes include:

Sunday, November 15: "Search for the Amazon Headshrinkers": Follow Piers Gibbon as he retraces explorer Edmundo Bielawski's steps deep into the Amazon in search of the tribe that Bielawski videotaped in the 1960s.  National Geographic Channel has exclusive U.S. access to this 45-year-old footage that purportedly is the only of its kind to show the process of an actual--recently deceased--human head being shrunk.

Wednesday, November 18: "Deep Secrets: The Ballard Gallipoli Expeditions":  In this episode, Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Bob Ballard searches for British and French warships that sank during the Battle of Gallipoli--one of the bloodiest campaigns of WWI.  Ballard's expedition is the most comprehensive underwater exploration of shipwrecks from this battle ever undertaken.  [For information on the episode that tells the riveting story of Ballard's search for the Titanic, click here.]

A 2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy found that only half of 18-24 year olds in the United States could correctly identify India or Japan on a map.  Things didn't look any better when it came to domestic locations, either--only 50 percent could correctly identify the state of New York and a mere 43 percent could pinpoint Ohio on a map. This November 15-21, National Geographic will attempt to combat young Americans' lack of geographic knowledge by sponsoring Geography Awareness Week.  Launched in 1987 by a presidential proclamation, Geography Awareness Week takes place annually during the third week of November. 

There are many ways to get involved in this year's event.  Teachers can take advantage of programs and tools from National Geographic's Geography Action! program--such as downloadable wall-sized maps to hang in their classrooms and support material geared toward specific age groups, from Kindergarteners through high school seniors.

Easton, Maryland--located just inland from the Chesapeake Bay--is hosting its 39th annual Waterfowl Festival this weekend. From Friday, November 13th to Sunday, November 15th, visitors can attend the festival, which pays tribute to the annual migrating of Canada geese over the area. This small-town festival is surprisingly full of things to do, here are a few:

View wildlife paintings, sculptures, carvings, and photographs produced by local artisans in locations around the town and in the main festival area. Don't miss the demonstrations where the craftsmen show the techniques they use to create their art. On the Thursday before the festival starts, you can take a master's class in painting, carving, or photography from experienced professionals. Classes are either three or six hours and cost an additional fee.

Outdoorsmen and -women should check out the Sportsman's Pavilion at the Elk's Lodge. Visitors can peruse vendors hawking everything from hunting gear to boats and "exotic" hunting trips. Then head over to Easton High School where you can haggle for some new duck calls and other hunting or fishing memorabilia. Have a knack for goose calling? Well, it's time to unveil it at the "one and only" World Championship Goose Calling Contest. Amateurs and experts alike are welcome to enter one of the six contests and compete for prizes ranging from $250 - $10,000.  Preliminaries begin Friday, so you had better start practicing.

Last year, we wrote about a progressive green community with a fitting name--Greensburg, Kansas--that continues to set new standards in eco-development.

After a May 2007 tornado ravaged this town of 1,500 residents, the community voted to rebuild Greensburg as energy-efficient as possible. According to a New York Times article, community leaders' goals were to "build a sense of economic dynamism that would generate new businesses and jobs and persuade Greensburg's talented young people not to leave." 

One of the newest additions to the town, the Sun Chips Business Incubator (above), is designed to help local businesses recover after the tornado. The Business Incubator, completed in May 2009, received a LEED Platinum rating, the highest rating possible, due to its greater than 50% energy savings and innovative water reuse system.  Strategic window placement and skylights allow the Incubator to be mostly day lit, while photovoltaic panels mounted on the roof supply 10% of the building's energy needs. Water from the sinks and showers is collected and reused to flush the toilets.

It's that time of year again: yup, that's right, time to head outside and get lost in your local corn maze. According to The MAiZE, a leading corn maze company (yes, there is such a thing) based in Utah, the annual tradition lets family farms generate extra income by attracting day-trippers from nearby urban areas with their woven fields of corn. The MAiZE counts over 500 mazes in the U.S. (one in nearly every state), 15 in Canada, one in the UK, Italy, one even in Staszów in south-central Poland.
 
Rural theme parks that they are, corn mazes have been around for centuries, serving ceremonial purposes or amusing royalty in the days of kings and princesses. The "modern" corn maze has been around only since the mid-1990s when British maze developer, Adrian Fisher, claims to have created the first corn maze in Pennsylvania.

Mardi Gras has been synonymous with New Orleans for over 150 years, but the man behind some of the most stalwart traditions of Fat Tuesday is trying to change his city from a one-holiday town. Blaine Kern, the owner of Kern Studios, which produces 80 percent of the floats that zigzag through the city throughout Mardi Gras season, is on a mission to make New Orleans the nation's new Halloween capital. In 2007, he started the Krewe of Boo, a month-long series of events that culminates in a huge all-out Halloween parade. "We have cemeteries, voodoo parlors, haunted houses, and Gothic architecture," Kern said recently, enumerating the city's many creepy assets. With all that spooky stuff, it was a no-brainer for him to launch a new parade and encourage visitors to take part in the costumed revelry.

But the root of Kern's efforts isn't simply a passion for goblins and ghouls. He created the event as a way to raise money for his charity, The First Responders Fund, which helps house and support the city's fire, EMS, and police departments, many of which are still recovering from the impact of Katrina. "I found out that after Katrina most of the police were going home to trailers at night," Kern says. "The only way I know how to raise money [is to throw a parade]. " He has partnered with the Salvation Army and plans to construct 10 homes for first responders in the Algiers neighborhood of the city this year. This year's parade will be held on October 24th, at 7 p.m., followed by the annual Costume Exposé. Tickets to the party are $100, and all proceeds from both events go toward the fund.

[Krewe of Boo]

Photo: Krewe of Boo

Popular culture has done Cleveland a disservice. Most of its references to the city are negative: Drew Carey's "Cleveland Rocks" anthem did little more than reinforce stuffy mid-Western stereotypes; basketball star Lebron James is from there, but can't ever seem to stop talking about leaving town; David Foster Wallace used it as the ideal-because-it-isn't-ideal setting for his first major novel, The Broom of the System; even Dr. Seuss commented on the polluted state of Lake Erie in The Lorax. There was that unfortunate burning river situation (due to pollution) back in the '60s, and more recently, this series of "hastily made" tourism videos, which have drawn over a million views on YouTube, haven't helped. 

As we noted earlier this year, Cleveland is making strides to clean up its act. And you gotta love a city that doesn't take itself too seriously, as evidenced by the annual tongue-in-cheek Burning River Fest. But the one attraction that has me itching to visit Rock City, despite negative media representations, is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (pictured above), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Interestingly, the celebratory concert will be held in NYC's Madison Square Garden (on October 29 and 30), rather than in the Rock Hall's hometown. And with the opening of the Rock Annex in New York last year, it looks like Cleveland may be experiencing some competition to maintain its nickname. In the meantime, click through the jump for a few reasons to add the original Rock City to your destination list:

We've got leaves on the brain today, and frankly, that's not such a terrible thing, particularly when the National Park Foundation and Olympus just announced the ten most photogenic parks for fall foliage this season. Feeling inspired? You can submit your favorite photos to the Share the Experience contest, put on by the Federal Recreation Lands, for the chance to win trips, camera gear, and other prizes. You've watched the Ken Burns documentary, now get out there this weekend and see America's "Best Idea" in all its splendor. Complete list after the jump.

There's a crispness in the air, and with a long weekend approaching, it's the perfect time to plan the quintessential autumn leaf-viewing trip. A few weeks ago, we ran a list of the Top Ten Fall Foliage Drives excerpted from National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways, and your comments assured us that there are far more than ten out there. So we decided to open it up to the masses. I asked Traveler staffers for their favorite fall drives, and then went to the Twitterverse (via @NatGeoTraveler) for more suggestions. Here's what we've gathered so far. Feel free to share your own, or look for a great drive near you in the comments.

Instead of responding by email, Traveler Editor in Chief Keith Bellows came into my office and had me Google "The Dragon" just so I could see the infamous US129 highway on a map. Spanning Tennessee and North Carolina, the drive has 138 hairpin turns in just 11 miles, and if you can take your eyes off the road, the leaves are incredible. "It. Is. Awesome," was all he needed to say.

National Geographic Expeditions Marketing Manager Sarah Muenzenmayer shares tips on planning a Hawaii trip that's budget-friendly and full of local color.

As avid travelers in our early 30s, my husband and I like to plan trips that will challenge us--language barriers and exploring foreign cultures are the aspects of travel we find both adventurous and memorable. But with the hubby currently in grad school, we wanted a trip that was slightly easier to plan, not to mention easy on the wallet. Drawn to Hawaii's natural beauty, we decided to skip the resorts and instead to camp along the spectacular coastline. Here are a few tips on how we kept our trip to the Big Island and Kauai challenging, and kept the total cost pretty darn low.

National Geographic Digital Media staffer Jo Dickison was in Albuquerque last week to watch the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  She shares a few tips for travelers planning to make the trip.

Mass Happiness has begun. The 2009 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off on Saturday with the spectacular mass ascension of 600-plus hot air balloons, dancing a delicate rainbow ballet in the air. The "mass happiness" theme is apt - it's hard not to smile at the sight of these balloons gently lifting into the sky. The annual Fiesta, which runs through October 11, includes a full roster of activities, but here are a few of the highlights.

Each day of the festival begins with the Dawn Patrol, where 12 balloons ascend to test the wind speed and direction for the mass lift-off at dawn. Saturday's Mass Ascension came off beautifully, with hundreds of balloons participating and excellent weather. Aside from the some 500 regular hot air balloons this year, there are an additional 80 or so "special shape" balloons of cartoon characters that are perennial favorites with kids. Look out for a flying pink pig, a floating Pepsi can and the Two Bees, which turns up every year. In the evenings there is usually a Glow Show at dusk when the balloons on the field are inflated and lit with burners, creating a lovely glow across the field. The glows are followed by a fireworks display, bringing the day's festivities to a close around 9 p.m. each night.

The Albuquerque festival is billed as the largest balloon festival in the world, and is unique in that visitors on the field can watch every step in the process as the crews prepare, inflate and launch the balloons. Festival Launch Directors, known as Zebras for the black-and-white shirts they wear, are in charge of air traffic control and launch procedures.

I've already discussed how Maurice Sendak's classic children's story, Where the Wild Things Are, inspired me to travel as a kid, so I openly admit to counting down the days until the upcoming film comes out. But in the meantime, I've been entertaining myself by looking at the images submitted to director Spike Jonze's website, in a contest called "Where the Wild Things Ought to Be." Artists have placed the Wild Things in classic paintings, movie stills, Where's Waldo? drawings, and even on Fox News. One of my favorites is Max on the The Great Wave, by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. He really looks like he's a natural fit in the wilds of the ocean. You can see more of the submissions here.

[via Neatorama]

Travel writer Chris O'Toole sends along a dispatch from a quiet corner of Pittsburgh, where the G-20 Summit is being hosted this week.

Before they discuss firing up the world economy, leaders at the G-20 Summit, beginning today in Pittsburgh, get a chance to chill out in one of my favorite places, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Tonight President Obama welcomes the A-list crowd for dinner at this classic Victorian glasshouse with a twenty-first century twist. Tweaks like geothermal heating tubes, passive cooling in its indoor tropical forest and a grass roof atop its subterranean entrance makes it one of the greenest greenhouses in the world.

Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you that I'm a big nerd. I'm also a college student (i.e. broke and cheap), so any event that allows me to learn for free gets two big thumbs up. This is why I'm so excited for the Smithsonian magazine Museum Day. This coming Saturday, September 26, over 1,250 museums around the U.S. are offering free admission. That's right, FREE. All you have to do is go to the Museum Day website and print off the admission card.  Each admission card is valid for two visitors and the only stipulation is that only one card be used per household.

This event provides a great opportunity to take that trip to the museum you've been putting off or to check out a funky one you normally wouldn't consider. With a price tag like this one, what do you have to loose?

I've compiled a list (after the jump) of some of my favorite participating museums from the Museum Day list...

You've helped plan my Kenya trip and been with me through the paperwork, vaccines, and packing. You were even with me as I blogged my way through the trip itself, sharing my thoughts on designing a trip with teens in mind, the conundrum of the Masai Mara, and the questions raised when visiting the slums.

Now, you can see an online gallery of photos, on National Geographic Traveler's website. Click through to see a couple of my favorite images. Click here to see the whole slideshow.

Ah, autumn is here - which brings to mind changing leaves, back-to-school sales, and...crab races. Yes, crab races.

Every year on Labor Day weekend, the seaside town of Crisfield, Maryland holds its Annual Hard Crab Derby and Fair. This quaint village of 2,800 on the Chesapeake Bay has a long tradition of catching - and racing - its seafood. The festival is a celebration of the town's fishing heritage, particularly of the abundant (and delicious!) blue crabs that teem in the bay's waters.

Here, you can watch a parade on Main Street, a boat docking contest, a crab picking contest, and the crowning of the beautiful Miss Crustacean. But the main attraction of the festival is its namesake "crab derby," in which hundreds of crabs scramble down a chute to the finish line in a knock-down, drag-out race (okay, so the crabs aren't even aware of the race). The bets - and the crowd's enthusiasm - get intense. Afterward, nothing beats finishing off a fresh platter of crabs steamed with Old Bay spice while taking in views of the water at the Olde Crisfield Crab and Steakhouse. If you're hardy enough, you can top it off with a generous slice of Smith Island cake.

The best way to enjoy the festival is by renting a campsite in nearby Jane's Island State Park, which boasts 3,100 acres of Eastern Maryland's prettiest shoreline. When you need a break from the festivities, quiet kayak trails and beach walks await you in the park. So grab some friends, a tent, and a healthy appetite for crab and you've got one shell of a Labor Day weekend.  

Photo: kathyhaduch via Flickr

Some of my colleagues (I'm talking about you, Norie) got to safari in Africa and traipse around European capitals with their kids this summer, but I only got my act together enough to accomplish two nights in Atlantic City before school started this week.  

The surprise: Despite Atlantic City's rep as a resort town for casinos and nightlife, we had a better experience there with our three-year-old than the first time my husband and I visited on a last-minute weekend whim several years ago B.K. (Before Kid).

Here are some of the top toddler-tested attractions at this Jersey Shore destination.

Rolling Chairs: Introduced in 1887, these chairs pushed by young men and women were a great way to tour Atlantic City's four-mile-long Boardwalk. Go for the vintage-looking wicker chairs. Our chair attendant turned out to be a university student from Romania, where my husband is from, so they chatted away in Romanian. A half-hour tour cost us about $25 (plus Stefan ended up tipping his fellow countryman very generously). Our daughter loved tooling along, saying "beep beep" to pedestrians who wandered into our path, while eating a messy soft-serve ice cream cone from one of the Boardwalk vendors. A magical time to do a tour is at sunset or dusk when the beach is quieter and the light softens.