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Sun, sand, services for our fallen heroes, history lessons, parades, picnics … Can you have it all this Memorial Day? TPG Contributor Adam Erace lays out six great destinations (with good points-redeeming opportunities) for the holiday weekend, from urban centers to evergreen islands.The Longwood Fountains outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaArrive: Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)Do: Philly is a city steeped in history. Get your fix at the National Constitution Center, which has special Memorial Day weekend programming ranging from flag ceremonies to a thank-a-vet letter-writing station, then make the drive out to Chester County’s dazzling Longwood Gardens, kicking off its summer-long Fireworks and Fountains show on Saturday, May 24....

Yesterday I boarded the world’s longest commercial flight: Singapore Airlines Flight 21 from Newark to Singapore, which lasts an astonishing 18 hours and 40 minutes, practically an entire day up in the sky! In fact, due to the flight timing and time zone changes, I spend the entire Tuesday, March 20th in the air!The flight took off from EWR at 11:00pm Monday and landed in SIN at 5:40am local time Wednesday, so I anticipated my internal clock was going to be all kinds of confused by the time we cruised into Singapore....

Commercial flying isn’t what it used to be — and that’s no surprise. In the last couple decades alone, aviation has gone through serious (and many of them positive) changes from prohibiting smoking onboard (for the most part), to a huge security overhaul. While some changes have been subtle, a look at this recently re-discovered promotional video from Pan American World Airlines from 1958 gives us a little insight into just how much commercial things have changed in the last 60 years....

The most Canadian thing happened at Calgary International Airport (YYC) this week.Two moose showed up to a grassy area at the airport and settled down there, grazing and walking around just outside the airfield, drawing a significant amount of attention. According to Louis Simoni, who works at the airport, the moose have been “quite the celebrities around here the last three days.”Locals are even heading to the airport just to catch a glimpse of the moose – not even flights....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Chase Sapphire Preferred CardUpdate: As of July 20, 2014, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card no longer offers the 7% annual points dividend.It’s almost lunchtime on the east coast, which means you’re probably thinking about where to eat and hopefully which credit card to use to maximize the points on your dining purchase, so I wanted to post a reminder that today is the first Friday of March and you can earn 3X points per $1 at restaurants using your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire cards today....

Once again, Southwest Airlines is giving away 50 million Rapid Rewards points to a handful of lucky California residents… and a little bit of LUV to the rest of us outside the Golden State.The California Millions Sweepstakes begins today, March 12, and continues for the next 30 days until April 10 at 11:58pm PT. Interested eligible contestants can participate in several ways:Register — To get started, submit your name, valid email address, Rapid Rewards account number and zip code at www....

The Federal Aviation Administration said it’s working to clear a major regulatory hurdle for US supersonic passenger jets.The aviation agency is writing new regulations that will “accommodate noise certification of new supersonic aircraft,” meaning that new jets will be soon be authorized to break the sound barrier in the US.The only jet that has had such authorization in the past was the Concorde, the iconic European jet that flew at 1,354 mph (more than two times faster than the speed of sound) and ferried passengers from New York (JFK) to London (LHR) or Paris (CDG) in just under three and a half hours....

You may have encountered dogs, cats and possibly even pigs (we said possibly) flying in the cabin during your travels. But have you ever received a seat assignment next to a koala?On the evening of Aug. 9, Tanami, a 19-month-old koala, boarded a Eurowings A320 for his 700-mile trip from Dusseldorf, Germany (DUS) to Edinburgh, Scotland (EDI).Tanami, a Queensland koala, was headed to his new habitat at the Edinburgh Zoo as part of a conservation breeding program....

Since President Obama lifted travel restrictions between the United States and Cuba in 2014, Americans have flocked to the long-forbidden island. But for many travelers used to top-notch hotels and first-class service, Cuba has had little to offer.That all changed with the opening of the five-star Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski in Old Havana this week. Owned by Swiss luxury hotel group Kempinski Hotels, the Gran Hotel Manzana occupies Havana’s historic Manzana de Gómez building, which opened as Cuba’s first European-style shopping mall in 1917....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Air travel is notoriously bad for the environment. But, Virgin Atlantic, Boeing and emissions recycling company LanzaTech have partnered to change that.Wednesday’s Virgin Atlantic Flight VS16 from Orlando to London Gatwick will be the inaugural commercial flight powered by jet fuel made from recycled waste carbon gases....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Airplanes are typically found flying high in the sky, far from dangerous obstacles like trees, rocks and other pesky ground-based debris. When you’re rocketing forward at speeds well over 400 mph, its not so easy to avoid collisions; if you make one wrong move and you’re toast....

Joey Fatone can do it all. The former ‘NSYNC singer is an actor (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Dead 7”), a dancer (he finished second on “Dancing With the Stars”) and the owner of a new foodie franchise, Fat One’s Hot Dogs & Italian Ice, which recently opened its first shop at The Florida Mall in Orlando. And this jack of many trades travels often. Here, Fatone spills about his best and worst trips and the crazy things fans will do to get close to him on the road....

If you’ve ever longed to drink a beer at a bar where everybody knows your name, celebrate a Bayside Tigers victory with a burger and milkshake or thank your gal pals for being a friend over a shared cheesecake, you’re in luck. All around the world, hit television shows have been providing inspiration for restaurateurs and bar owners, so whether your small-screen tastes lean toward classic sci-fi or cheesy ‘90s teen dramadies, there’s a place for you....

On Friday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost a close 119-116 game in Minneapolis to the Minnesota Timberwolves. But the team could have lost significantly more in the air later that night on the way to Chicago.The team’s Boeing 757-200 charter flight operating as Delta #8935 was struck mid-air by an yet-to-be-identified object, leaving a significant dent in the nose of the aircraft. 10-time All Star Carmelo Anthony took to Instagram to post this shocking photo of the front of the aircraft upon arrival at Chicago’s Midway (MDW):https://www....

In my Giveaway post this week, where two lucky readers can win $500 Marriott gift cards, I mentioned that Marriott would be coming out with a great deal for December 2nd, Cyber Monday, and today we received the full details of their sale:“30% off of room rates at over 350 participating Marriott hotels across several brands. This includes a wide selection of hotels, from New York to San Francisco and over 350 hotels in between....

Just a couple of weeks after the United States and United Arab Emirates governments reached an agreement regarding Open Skies, Delta has announced that it’s reentering the Indian market. While Delta has announced its intentions, firm — and important — details as to what routes, what aircraft and a timeline have yet to be released.In a press release on Thursday, Delta announced that it will launch nonstop flights between the US and Mumbai, India (BOM) beginning next year....

The Malaysian government released its final report on the disappearance of flight MH370 on Monday.Malaysian authorities were still largely unable to draw any definitive conclusions on why the Boeing 777 mysteriously disappeared or offer any new details on the location of the aircraft wreckage. The best the investigators were able to do was to rule out several theories that have been swirling since the Beijing-bound plane carrying 239 people vanished mid-flight on March 8, 2014....

Amid Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano’s ongoing eruption and earthquakes, the US Geological Survey released a new alert on Wednesday that warned of an explosive eruption that could launch 10-ton volcanic rocks thousands of feet into the air and spew plumes of ash as far as 20 miles.Kilauea hasn’t had such an eruption in almost 100 years, despite being Hawaii’s most active volcano. The last explosive eruption happened in 1924, killing one person and causing ash to cloud the air for 17 days....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.I wrote this morning about my frustration with finding reasonably priced transcontinental flights. Well, the fare gods (or revenue management departments) must have heard my complaints - Continental/United just launched a major fare sale on NYC - San Diego, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Portland and more....

Just days after announcing its new unified loyalty program with SPG, Marriott is tackling another frontier. The world’s largest hotel chain officially entered the homesharing market on April 23, launching a six-month partnership with Hostmaker, a London-based home rental management company.“Hostmaker already does an incredible job of curating a great portfolio of homes," said Marriott Chief Customer Experience Officer Adam Malamut. “Within that portfolio, we added other types of design, safety and security criteria that meet our standards....