Every trip should have a soundtrack, so we've asked CJ Fahey with Nat Geo Music to select artists from their catalog whose songs will inspire you to get going.

 

Last week a friend took me to a party at the stunning Swedish Embassy in Washington, DC, so I've been feeling in a Swedish mood ever since. And considering its small population, Sweden has made a disproportionate contribution to global music. Most famous are guilty-pleasure groups like ABBA and Ace Of Base, but recently it seems that every other indie rock sensation comes from Sweden. And then there's Stockholm-based producer Max Martin who is responsible for massive hits by Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, and the Backstreet Boys. I took a course on Scandinavian literature in college and the professor suggested that Sweden owes its laudable artistic output to precisely the thing that would inspire me to do nothing: their long, dark winters.

One thing that all famous Swedish music groups have in common is that they sing in impeccable English. It makes sense for two reasons: it opens their music to a wider market and much of the music that inspires these rock and pop groups is sung in English. But the lack of internationally successful native language singers from Sweden is one of the things that makes me love so much the Swedish hip-hop group Snook.
 

To compile his new book, My Favorite Place on Earth, Jerry Camarillo Dunn Jr., interviewed dozens of famous people -- from Natalie Portman to the Dalai Lama -- about the places they loved most. He's been guest-blogging about his experiences here on Intelligent Travel. Click here for recent posts.

What makes a place memorable? Often it's the people who live there, or did long ago: Think of Egypt, Mesa Verde, or Angkor Wat. It may even be a single person, as mind-body medicine pioneer Deepak Chopra discovered in Jerusalem. Here's part of his story from My Favorite Place on Earth:

"One day I walked down the Via Dolorosa, the street in the Old City where Jesus carried the cross. The stations of the cross are marked out, and I began my walk where he was sentenced, at Pontius Pilate's court. The second station is where Jesus was flagellated, the third where he fell and was helped up. And I ended at Calvary, the hill where he was crucified.

• Lots of folks will make a national park their firework-watching destination this weekend (I'm heading to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial), and the National Park Service has launched a website to give updates on events happening at national parks across the U.S.
  
  
• One ring to rule them all... or to see Italy, at least. Italian jeweler Damiani is offering round-trip airfare and a week in a hotel in any Italian city with the purchase of one of its Gomitolo rings. The rings start at $7,700.
  
  
• Amsterdam's got free music, and EuroCheapo breaks down the best places to groove on weeknights.

Photo: National Park Service

Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting our annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year we're letting readers preview the submissions and vote on their favorites. We just put a new batch of images up on our website, and here's one of our favorite picks:

This image, of Isla Palenque, Panama, was taken by Adam Elliott. Submit your photos now for a chance to win fabulous trips, gear, and other prizes.

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

When our TACA flight from Lima finally touched down in the capital city of Costa Rica, it marked just the first time on this entire world tour that we arrived in a new country without any game plan whatsoever. Admittedly, we aren't exactly backpacking it around the planet, so this was new territory for our family. This was also intentional because we wanted to add a twist to the final month of the trip so we wouldn't get too caught up in counting down the days until we had to go home. The only arrangements we had made were to spend a day in San Jose with a Lonely Planet guide to get our bearings and devise a strategy for the next two weeks.

The first of many spontaneous decisions was made before we even checked into the hotel. Driving from the airport, I noticed several street vendors selling Costa Rican soccer jerseys. The taxi driver explained that the U.S. was in town for a World Cup Qualifier match that very night, and the stadium was only 10 minutes from where we were staying. Never one to pass up an opportunity to attend a major sporting event, I scalped myself a ticket and jumped right into the local culture by watching Costa Rica embarrass the U.S. 3-1 in front of a jubilant sold-out crowd.

To my surprise, there were more than a handful of Americans in attendance, a precursor of sorts to the large number of U.S. tourists and expats we would encounter throughout our stay. I subsequently found out that a sizable contingent of Americans have come down here in recent years to retire, start up businesses, or relocate to a tropical paradise. Their large presence also served as a reminder that we were not too far from home anymore, a thought that didn't actually excite us. For this reason, we made a conscious decision to try to avoid the more commercialized and developed areas of the country and stick to the more natural, unspoiled terrain.  

The Costa Rican tourism business seems to cater to three distinct groups of travelers: eco-friendly, wildlife enthusiasts; adventure seekers; and sea, surf and sand lovers. The latter has certainly contributed to the increased number of tourists and resident expats from the States. It's also blamed for transforming several of the country's laid-back beach communities into Miami Beach-style resort towns.  Although many people like ourselves could easily fall into two or more of these categories, we opted to pursue the exotic wildlife and natural beauty that put Costa Rica on the tourist map in the first place, while sprinkling in a little adventure and surf every now and then for good measure.    

Scott Booker is the aptly-named chief hotel expert and guest advocate for Hotels.com. I asked him about this summer's unprecedented crop of hotel bargains and how to take advantage of them in a recessionary economy, plus the outlook for new hotel fees.

Can you give me a sense of how inexpensive hotels are this summer, compared with summers past?

This is absolutely the summer of the deal, and bargain pricing is just about everywhere. For instance, we have a three-star Ramada near Universal Studios in Southern California starting at $76 that typically runs for $109. It's $50 lower than other three-stars in the area, and includes breakfast. The Walt Disney World Swan, which typically has rates in the $250 range, has rooms starting at $180. The Hotel Valencia Riverwalk in San Antonio has rooms at $142 that typically go for more than $250. But it's not just about an inexpensive nightly rate, but the value travelers are getting for their money. Properties are making the trip more affordable overall with promotional offers like gift cards, dining and spa credits, and free nights with a multiple night stay -- these are quite common right now.

Where are the best deals to be found? And which destinations are still pricey?

Deals are literally everywhere -- I think it's harder to find a city that's not on sale. We're seeing amazing values in places like Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Phoenix, and San Antonio. New York has a sale now with more than 60 deals in the market. In Los Angeles, we have a brand new five-star property, Terranea Resort, at 50 percent off, with rates from $145. This is more than $300 below other five-stars in L.A. In Vegas, the Trump International Hotel has the lowest rates among the five-star set at $99 a night, plus a $50 spa credit. New York has the Park Central with rooms from $137, and the St. James at Times Square from $109.

Other than booking a hotel through your site, how do you land a deal this summer?

Even though that's the best way to find a deal, I'd recommend two additional points: Read as much as you can about the destinations you want to visit. And, look at package deals that can bring the overall cost of the vacation.