I was staying in the Forest Hills section of JP, which is a T stop at the end of the Orange Line, about a 20-minute ride from downtown Boston. From this T stop, you’ve got a short walk to Centre Street, where I found some of the best food in town.

A short stretch of Centre Street is home to a cluster of businesses, a handful of yoga studios, some trendy shops and boutiques, and lots of good eatin’. Or as they say in Boston, “wicked good.” Sometimes being a vegetarian on vacation sucks because you can’t find any restaurants with options for you, but this is not a problem in Jamaica Plain. Not only do vegetarian choices abound, it should be pretty easy to find organic vegan entrees as well.

My first stop was the The Purple Cactus. This small cafe specializes in southwestern-influenced burritos and wraps with a twist of international flavor — with lots of choices for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. I can’t speak for the meat side of the menu, but I give my highest recommendations to the Squash & Corn burrito and the Tofu burrito. Wait, wait, don’t gag! I am NOT a squash fan, but when I had a bite of my husband’s burrito, I loved it. And he tried to steal all the tofu from mine, even though he is a self-proclaimed tofu hater. I have a feeling we would have loved anything on the menu. Added bonus: the burritos are large enough for two meals and cost less than you’d spend on one frozen dinner at the grocery store. Check out The Purple Cactus menu here.

Pretty much right across the street from The Purple Cactus was Bukhara Indian Bistro, where I enjoyed my favorite dinner of the trip.  Whenever I’m in a new city, the first thing I do is find the nearest Indian restaurant, and this one did not disappoint.  The menu was larger than most, prices were a touch higher than most other Indian joints, the atmosphere was classy and the service was good.  It wasn’t my favorite Indian Restaurant ever, but it was definitely yummy — worth the train ride even if you’re not in JP already.  I tried a new drink here, called the Salty Lassi.  If you enjoy salt, you’ve got to taste this beverage.  It’s as salty as the traditional food is spicy… so it’s not for everyone.  (They also have the more common Mango Lassi for the less adventurous.)

Unfortunately, when you’re stuck at a bridge table for twelve hours a day, you don’t get much time to savor your meals, so I didn’t get to sample all the other eateries on Centre Street.  The locals tell me I missed out on plenty.  Based on The Purple Cactus and Bukhara, I definitely believe it.  All in all, the weather for my week in Boston gets a D+ (and I’m grading generously there), but the food gets a solid A.  If you must get stuck in Beantown in the winter, duck inside one of these restaurants to warm up.

At least your taste buds will be comfortable.

I landed in Boston yesterday for the 2008 Fall North American Bridge Championships. There are few other reasons I would agree to visit New England in the late Fall. It’s effing freezing here! And seeing as how it’s still not totally cold at home yet, this cold weather might well be more uncomfortable for me than, say, dead-of-winter in Boston, when I’ve had a few months to get used to the cold weather at home. Ah well. For the next six days, I’m resigned to freezing my nose off each day, all for some good card games.

Seriously, Boston is a rad place. I’ve been here a couple of times before, and I’ve always enjoyed it. In the summer, the weather is perfectly agreeable and the city is quite beautiful. It’s hard for me to appreciate Beantown’s beauty with my head wrapped in scarves and bowed against the wind. The sidewalks here are just OK.

As the land of the Pilgrims, Boston does have some touristy stuff going on for Thanksgiving, though most everything I’ve seen advertised is for special Thanksgiving meals and mall sales. These are not things worth suffering through the cold and wind, if you ask me. I heard from a questionably reliable source the last time I was here that Boston is actually windier than Chicago, the “Windy City.” I’m not sure if it’s true, but it’d definitely believable. The forecast may call for highs in the 30s, but the wind chill keeps the outside air at a brisk negative forty or so.

Copley Square, where I will be playing cards all week. No flowers in November, though.

Have I made my point yet? It is cold here. Unless you have a damn good reason to be here in the non-summer months, like competitive duplicate bridge or getting a degree from Harvard, I recommend staying away until the weather perks up again. Besides, if you don’t do Boston in the summer, then you’re going to miss out on what I think is the number one reason to come here anyway: Red Sox games at Fenway Park.

Boston loves its Sox

The New England Patriots may be Boston’s best pro team, and the Celtics have a recent title, if I’m remembering correctly, but the Red Sox are the real heart of Boston sports, and the true Boston experience has to include a game at Fenway — which you can only see in the summer.  If you want to see the Celtics, Bruins, or Patriots play, try going to one of their away games in Arizona or Texas.

Nothing against Boston.  The people here are cool, the accents are nifty, and there’s a lot to see and do here, really.  I’m just sayin’, do it all when it’s warm.  Then the city’s windiness will feel great.  And don’t you want a home-cooked meal for Thanksgiving anyway?

That’s why it takes more than just a little effort for a hotel to go green. Every little bit counts, of course, and we treehuggers appreciate every baby step taken, but for a hotel to really call itself a friend of the environment requires major efforts. Some do it by cutting back on certain amenities, meaning travelers often have to choose between their conscience and their comfort.

AAA says it doesn’t have to be this way. There are hotels that are both green and luxurious, and though most of the industry has a long way to go, more and more hotels are going green nowadays as consumers become more aware of their own environmental impact. AAA is currently working with the hotel industry to develop and publish eco-certification standards, and in a recent article, the travel authority has highlighted three American hotels that do both luxury and green very well.

Garden at the Fairmont Olympic

AAA commends the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, which has maintained its AAA Five Diamond hotel status (the highest) for 24 consecutive years. It’s the only Five Diamond hotel in the Pacific Northwest, and it was one of the first in the country to embrace the green movement, putting compact fluorescent light bulbs in all guest rooms, implementing a recycling program, and using steam for heating and hot water. Earlier this year, the Fairmont began a composting program that has already diverted over 26 tons of organic waste from the landfills. The Fairmont has also published a Green Partnership Guide, full of ideas to help other businesses go green.

On the other side of the US, two Florida hotels also receive high marks from AAA, both as Five Diamond and eco-certified hotels.

The Breakers Palm Beach

First up is The Breakers in Palm Beach.  In addition to the standard green practices of recycling, regular A/C maintenance, and using energy efficient appliances and post-consumer recycled products throughout the property, The Breakers has an innovative water conservation program in place.  The hotel has installed low-flow automatic faucets and a reverse-osmosis plant with a 1,500-foot well.  This converts undrinkable water into irrigation water that the hotel uses in landscaping, saving 104 million gallons of potable water each year.  Wow!

The third Five Diamond eco-friendly hotel is The Four Seasons Hotel Miami.  Both the Four Seasons and The Breakers participate in the Florida Green Lodging Program.  The Four Seasons uses the latest technology in all of its plumbing to ensure water conservation, and the hotel promotes recycling among guests by providing a recycling bag in every room.  The hotel purchases the best in energy efficient appliances and eco-friendly cleaners, and has a massive daily recycling program for its 70-story building.

Your very green, super luxe bathroom at The Four Seasons Miami

These three getaways really are the best of the best, each striving for the best in luxury and eco-friendliness.  Here’s hoping that more vacation destinations will soon follow these excellent examples.

I was visiting a friend in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and the nasty weather had trumped our plans for a day of hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But all was not lost! Just outside Harrisonburg, in lovely McGaheysville, VA, is Massanutten Resort on Massanutten Mountain.

In 2005, Massanutten opened a fantastic new attraction — an indoor water park. There’s an outdoor section, too, open in the summer, but the extensive indoor park is vast enough for a full day’s enjoyment, perfect for totally crappy days like Saturday.

The Massanutten WaterPark is open to all visitors, with discounts available for Massanutten property owners and guests who have purchased an activity card from the resort. The park hours vary, but you can find a full schedule here. Even though we visited on a Saturday afternoon, we found the park pleasantly uncrowded. What few lines existed moved swiftly, and we were glad not to be constantly trampled by swarms of children, which is a risk you take when you spend a day at a place like this. The nice thing about this park is that there is no one ride that steals the show. Every part of the park has its own appeal, and the lines were nicely divided between all attractions, with one exception, which I’ll get to shortly.

When you enter the park from the locker rooms, you’re at the mouth of the Blue Ridge Rapids — aka the lazy river. This is a good place to start, but keep in mind that at a couple of points in the river, large buckets of water are known to dump onto unexpecting drifters. You’ve been warned.

Massanutten Meltdown

Once you exit the lazy river, it’s time to get started on the slides. In the center of the building you’ll see a 3-story jungle gym of sorts called Massanutten Meltdown. This tower takes you to several of the park’s smaller slides, with lots of water gadgets spaced throughout. You can grab a hose and spray your friends, or turn a wheel or pull a cord to dump water on people walking below you. Expect to be splashed thoroughly as you pass through here. The slides coming off of this center tower range from toddler-sized straight sliding boards to tall, twisting chutes. These are a good place for apprehensive kids to get started. They’re not enclosed tubes, and they’re not quite as fast as some of the other slides in the park, so it’s not an intimidating experience. Once you’ve tried a couple of these, you’re ready for the big stuff.

A trio of riders exits the Peak Splash slide

At the far end of the building from the entrance are the five largest slides in the park. Three of them are tube slides, where you can ride solo or on a tube for two or three people. The other two are body slides, which might be the fastest slides in the park. The tube slides are my favorite, though. I love that you can ride down with a friend, especially in the orange slide (I think that one’s called Melting Mogul), which is full of surprises… I won’t give anything away…

Surfing on the FlowRider

The last ride in the indoor part of the park is the FlowRider, the WaterPark’s simulated surfing and boogieboarding wave. This is the only part of the park where you’ll have to wait in line for a while, because only one person is allowed to ride at a time, and rides can last a few minutes each. Waiting in line isn’t so bad, though, because it’s fun to watch the people in front of you take on the wave and try tricks. If you can’t get enough of the FlowRider, you can take lessons to get better and learn new tricks, and come back for one of the park’s special jam sessions. Get more information on special FlowRider events here. One little tip for the FlowRider — make sure your swimsuit is secure. That’s some strong water.

When you need a break from the rides, you can relax in one of two large hot tubs, or take your kids to the Frog Pond kiddie area where they can splash around without getting in the path of the big kids.

When you’re done with the water, you’re just getting started at the park. You don’t want to skip Diamond Jim’s Arcade, which has all the classic games you’d find in most amusement parks, plus duckpin bowling, Dance Dance Revolution, and of course, tickets redeemable for prizes. Kids can kill hours of time here while parents chill out next door at the Hideaway Lounge, which is just one of several dining establishments inside the park. Click here for a full list.

The Massanutten WaterPark is definitely a great place to take your kids, but who says parks are just for children? This place is fun for all ages, all seasons of the year. For information about the rest of Massanutten Resort, visit www.massresort.com.

Ha! There’s always a way to ask for more money. Canadian airline WestJet may be introducing still more fees, and while I’m sure I’m not the only traveler growing quite weary of all the fees, fees, fees!, I do applaud WestJet’s ingenuity.

The airline recently surveyed its customers to find out what perks they might be willing to pay $10 extra for, and also what services they’d be willing to sacrifice for $10 savings on their tickets. WestJet wanted to know, would you pay $10 more for:

• Priority boarding — The only perk to getting on the plane first that I can think of is guaranteed overhead bin space. Of course, if there’s no assigned seating, then picking your seat first is definitely worth a few extra bucks, but once you’re in your seat, you’re going to sit there for at least another 30 minutes before the plane even starts moving. Hardly a perk, if you ask me.
• Priority disembarking — This might be worthwhile for folks who have tight connections to catch, as unloading a plane can take a really long time. Also, it might mean that you get to sit in the bulkhead (the front row with lots of leg room), because I don’t see any other way they’d be able to enforce this.
• Expedited baggage delivery — Please. If your time is really so valuable that you’d pay $10 more for the three minutes it would save you waiting at baggage claim, shouldn’t you be on a private jet or something? This is just ridiculous.
• Priority rebooking in case of flight cancellation — Another ridiculous one, if you ask me. If that airline isn’t doing every last thing in their power to make it up to every last person it’s inconvenienced, then they’re not getting any of that business again, and they know that. What happens when two people pay for this and there’s only one seat on the next flight? What happens when there are plenty of empty seats on the next plane, but nobody paid for the priority rebooking? The day that airlines start charging for this is the day that the industry truly surprises me.
• Complimentary meals/hotel accommodations when a flight is either canceled or substantially delayed — Again, this is something that airline better damn well be doing already. This is like buying insurance for your insurance policies.
• In-flight Internet access — Oh hell yes I’d pay for this. I could eliminate an entire carry-on bag filled with all the stuff I bring to keep myself entertained throughout my day of traveling if only I could surf the web from my airplane seat.
• Guaranteed space in the overhead bin — This would be nice, but as long as the airline isn’t going to charge me to stow my bags below the plane once the overhead bin is full, I really don’t need to have it with me. I never get anything out of it during the flight anyway — I usually just pull out my books and crossword puzzles and knitting or whatever before I stow anything.
• In-seat power — On a long flight, it might be nice to be able to keep my laptop alive — especially if I had internet access. I imagine this means equipping certain seats with electrical outlets — but what happens if you don’t sell that service? Do some lucky passengers get seated here for no extra charge? Or do flight attendants have access to a switch of some sort that activates power in the seats? It seems like this might cost the airlines more to implement than it would bring them in revenues…
• Premium snack/meal offering — Barf. The airlines’ idea of “premium” food is a step below the dollar menu at most fast food joints. No thanks. You know you can still bring your own food on board a plane.
• A freshly laundered pillow/blanket set that you may keep after the flight — Again, these are things that you’re perfectly allowed to bring on board yourself. Why settle for that 3×5 piece of scrap felt they call a blanket?
• An amenity kit with earplugs, eyeshades and toiletries to keep you refreshed on the plane — Once again, all things that you can bring yourself if you really want them, and for much less than $10. All the good airlines still give you this stuff for free, though.
• A wait of 10 minutes or less to clear security checkpoints — There are services out there that you can pay for to get through security faster, but there’s really no way to guarantee you won’t be held up. “I know it looks like a bomb, but we’ve gotta let this guy go — he paid his $10.” Yeah. Right.
• Sitting away from parents traveling with babies/small children — Ahhh, yes, now here’s a brilliant idea. Airlines could be cool and seat all babies and their families at the ends of the plane, but that’s never how they do it, is it? Look, you definitely have a right to travel with your kids, but if you and your baby sit next to me, or worse, behind me, I hate you. That’s just the way it is. Babies cry on planes, and somehow even though the roar of the engine is so loud that it’s hard to talk to the person next to you, that baby’s wailing is always the loudest thing on the plane. It seems it’d be more fair to charge extra for the baby, but the airlines will make more money if they can squeeze ten bucks out of everyone who doesn’t want to sit next to the screamer, because here’s a fee almost everyone will pay. Am I right? If only those earplugs actually worked…

For the most part, I can’t imagine paying for these things, but I know that a lot of people really would. I think that if I bring an infant on a plane, though, and the airline is making money off all the people who don’t want to sit near my kid, I should get some sort of compensation, right? Ha. I’ll just get dirty looks from all the people who’ll wish they’d ponied up the extra ten.

In a truly innovative move, WestJet is also considering knocking $10 off your ticket if you’re willing to give up certain perks. Like these:

• Not checking bags — With so many airlines charging $25 per bag now, you’re probably already doing everything you can to avoid checking luggage, right? But hey, another $10 for what you were going to do anyway? Score.
• Not earning frequent flier miles — Most airlines will charge 25,000 miles for a free flight. You really do have to be a frequent flier to get anything out of this. If you only fly a few times a year or less on this airline, this is actually a pretty good deal, unless you’re flying around the world.
• Only bringing aboard one small piece of carry-on baggage — I wonder if they enforce it when they say “small.”
• Being the last to board — Wait just a second. I get more time to finish my lunch/chapter/crossword puzzle, less time scrunched in my seat with no leg room next to the screaming baby and the smelly guy, AND you’ll give me $10 for this? Where do I sign up?
• Using online check-in instead of a kiosk — I’ve been doing this all along. Who wouldn’t? It’s much more convenient. Definitely take this option.
• Using either a kiosk or online check-in instead of a human agent — Looks like they’re trying to lighten their payroll. Sorry ticket agents, but this really is the most convenient way to check in.
• Savings for having my checked luggage to be among the last to be delivered — This I don’t understand. How would this save money for the airline? Wouldn’t they have to do extra work to make sure my bags were the last onto the conveyor belt? Sure, I’ll take $10 for you to unnecessarily inconvenience both of us…
• Sitting in a middle seat — These seats should be cheaper anyway. But for couples, this is great. One of us is always sitting in the middle anyway, just so we can sit together.
• Making no changes to your ticket prior to departure — How many people make changes, really?
• Not getting free water, coffee/tea, juices or soft drinks in flight — Fine, I’ll bring my own.
• Sitting in a seat that does not recline — You know, the three inches that those seats “recline” don’t make much of a difference anyway, except on the leg room of the person behind you.
• Taking a seat near parents traveling with babies/small children — $10 off tickets for all deaf people.

On the savings side, a lot of these things actually make sense, and they’d be easy for me. At the same time, though, this list sort of highlights all the ways the airlines jack you. No matter how much we hate the fees — hidden and exposed — they’re the industry standard now, so we’re going to have to get used to it. At least WestJet is trying to give us some choices here.

What perks are you willing to pay for, and what would you be willing to give up for a discount?

Willi Chevalier, German Partial Beard Freestyle Category Champion

It’s never too early to start planning ahead for an event like this — the World Beard and Moustache Championships are coming up in May 2009. The championships, held every two years in a different location, bring hundreds of bearded men and their friends, family, and fans from all over the world to compete in over a dozen different categories.

The upcoming competition is hosted by the South Central Alaska Beard and Moustache Club in Anchorage, Alaska. Event organizers are anticipating the biggest event yet, following a very successful 2007 championship in Brighton, England.

Bearded and moustached Americans and their friends are invited to join Beard Team USA, which took five first place trophies in 2007. You don’t have to have facial hair to join in the fun, says the team; their only request is “No boring people, please.”

Jurgen Burkhardt, German Sideburns Freestyle Category Champion

BTUSA is planning a couple of different group trips before the competition to maximize fun and team spirit. Option A is a seven-day cruise from Vancouver, British Columbia to Alaska on board the Carnival Spirit, followed by six days in and around Anchorage and all WMBC events. Option B is seven days in and around Anchorage, including all WMBC events.

Jack Passion, American Full Beard Natural Category Champion

These guys really look like they know how to have a good time. The upcoming competition will even feature music from The Australian Bushrangers, who play “songs about beards, for people with beards.” Find the schedule of events for the Anchorage competition here. If you can’t make it to the festivities in person, be sure to check the WBMC website for photographs of winners. These beards are incredible!

Find information on international teams here.

Maybe you skipped this summer, though, because the economy is so bad you couldn’t afford it. Have you ever considered that a week in fall or winter might be the best time ever to go to the beach?

I’m writing now from a condo in Virginia Beach, where my husband and I are staying all week. We come here every November for an annual bridge tournament, and I’d have to argue that it’s better than a summer beach vacation.

Swimming in the ocean and sunbathing are out, so if that’s the only reason you come to the beach, you can keep coming in the summer with everyone else. But just about everything other than the weather is more pleasant the rest of the year. For one thing, the crowds are gone. It’s like having the whole city to yourself. It’s easy to find parking, and you never have a wait at a restaurant. In fact, restaurants are so happy just to have customers, your service is better than ever. Some places are closed in the off-season, or keep shorter hours, but without crowds to fight with, you’ll have plenty of choices among the things that are still available.

Everything is on sale in stores. Now’s the time to buy your summer swimsuit — they’re all 50-75% off in the shops, and all the beach souvenirs are deeply discounted, too.

Also deeply discounted are the hotel rooms and condos. A week at the beach in the summer will probably cost a few thousand bucks for a small family in an oceanfront condo, but look at the same room rates for October through April. Not only are the rooms much less expensive than in the peak season, but you’re very likely to score some great freebies from hotels as they fight for what little business is available this time of year. When you call for reservations, just ask if there are any special promotions going on — you may get free meals, spa treatments, room upgrades, and more if you just ask.

The rad indoor pool at the Ocean Beach Club

For families with kids who equate beach trips with swimming, look for a hotel with a swimming pool. Lots of the places here at Virginia Beach have indoor and outdoor heated pools that are great for swimming even when it’s freezing outside. No, it’s not the same as the ocean, but most kids are pretty content as long as they can splash around somewhere. In fact, the pool here at the Ocean Beach Club has waterfalls and all sorts of gadgets built in that might even be more fun than the Atlantic’s waves. It’s less salt in the eyes, anyway.

Late fall is such an easy time to vacation at the beach. Instead of fighting for the hotel I want and the dates I want, I have hotels fighting over my business for exactly the times I want to be here. Without the crowds, it’s much less hassle and much less money out of my pocket. While I’m here, I’ll stock up on all my summer beach wear (because yeah, I’ll probably come back and swim in the ocean with my nieces in six or seven months) at clearance prices, and I’ll enjoy walks on the beach with my beloved without getting hit in the head by errant frisbees. I can’t swim in the icy water, but the ocean still makes a lovely backdrop for this vacation.

Don’t discount the coast if you’re looking for a relaxing getaway. You can’t beat the prices here right now and you can’t imagine what a treat it is to be in such a touristy place without any other tourists to get in your way.

My college always hosted a “Politics & Popcorn” party to watch the returns, but that was jointly hosted by College Republicans and Young Democrats, and it was always a pretty tense atmosphere. I highly recommend sticking with just your own political party on election night. The likelihood of a fist fight is much lower that way.

There will be huge rallies for each presidential nominee in each of their home states. Barack Obama, known for his ability to draw enormous crowds, is hosting his party in Chicago’s Grant Park. You can sign up for the ticket waiting list here. John McCain’s party will be held at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, but his campaign has said that due to space limitations, the Republican candidate will address reporters on the hotel lawn, and will not likely be present for much of his own party. Your age is showing, Senator….

If you’re not nearby or can’t get tickets to these A-list events, that doesn’t mean your party hopes are dashed. There will be hundreds if not thousands of election watch parties on November 4. Nearly every candidate for every office being contested next week will be hosting a shindig somewhere. Most of these events are free and open to the public. Call your local political party headquarters for information about election night events. With the notable exception of John McCain, most politicians plan to show up at their election parties — this could be your chance to schmooze with your representatives and influence policy in the coming term.

If you want to stay home on election night, you can always throw your own party. Here’s an article with good recipes and ideas for your election night party, and this MSNBC article is a good guide for what you’ll want to know when the returns start coming in. Be prepared for a long night, though — ever since that awful mess with Florida in 2000, analysts have been very slow to call any close races one way or the other. Don’t expect guests to clear out before all the important races have been decided, and many of those are very, very tight.

Had I known that it wasn’t Nick’s (a sandwich-shop sounding name), but Nicholas Restaurant, a Lebanese diner, I may not have suggested the place. I’m a very picky eater, and don’t like to try new things when it comes to food. I’d never had Lebanese before, and I wasn’t in a particularly adventurous mood. My mother-in-law kept saying how wonderful the tabouli would be, but that did little to improve my outlook. I’m not a tabouli fan.

A look at the menu perked me up. There were lots of choices, many vegetarian and vegan (I’m a strict vegetarian and love it when a restaurant offers more than one option for me), and while most were things I’d never heard of before, a look around at the other tables got my mouth watering. Everything looked and smelled very good.

My father-in-law told me that he first discovered Nicholas Restaurant years ago when a Lebanese friend of his brought him there, saying that it was the best Lebanese in Oregon. I don’t know how many Lebanese dining options there are in the state, but it’s good to know I was starting at the top.

When the food came, it didn’t take long for me to drop the last of my reservations. I’d ordered the Spinach Pie with feta, which was described as a traditional Lebanese pizza. When it arrived, it looked more like a calzone and tasted nothing like pizza, really, but the first bite won me over. Delicious, four stars, can we come back tomorrow, please?

The portions are enormous, and combos come with a huge (I estimated about 20″ in diameter) pita and some of the yummiest hummus I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t love the tabouli, but liked it at least as well as any other tabouli I’ve ever had, and we all felt very satisfied with our meals. There were enough leftovers to feed us all for dinner, too, while the prices were lower than most meals half this size anywhere else.

My only criticism of the restaurant is that everyone’s meals came out at different times. The soup I’d ordered for an appetizer came several minutes after my entree, and my father-in-law and I had finished our meals before my husband and mother-in-law got their entrees. That was annoying, but the meal was so good that it’s easy to overlook this problem. The enormous pita that came out at the beginning was enough to keep everyone happy while waiting for the last of their meals. The entire small dining space was crammed full of customers while we were there; perhaps at a less busy time, the kitchen would keep up with orders better.

Nicholas Restaurant is located at 318 SE Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97214; phone: (503) 235-5123. Open Mon-Sat 10-9pm; Sun 12-9pm. This picky eater gives it her highest recommendations. Bon apetit!

On one of my flights earlier this year, so many passengers had oversized carry-ons that I missed my connecting flight due to the delay of all the last-minute baggage checking at the gate. Yet none of these rule breakers were charged for their luggage, and I was left to fend for myself to find a new flight. With this experience in my memory, I harbor a deep loathing for anyone who thinks they are above the rules. And it also annoys the bejesus out of me that airlines don’t enforce their own rules, and that these spacehogs keep getting away with this crap.

That’s why I’m cautiously optimistic about new carry-on size requirements that many airlines have adopted. It remains to be seen if the airlines will actually enforce their new rules, but I think it’s a good idea, in theory. Continental Airlines is the latest in a string of carriers to reduce the maximum carry-on size from 51 linear inches (width + height + length in inches) to just 45 linear inches. The new rules will apply to all travelers regardless of when the tickets were purchased.

30 x 14 x 13 = Don't even TRY it!

No airlines are charging for carry-ons just yet, but the new guidelines are designed to push more bags over the limit and force travelers to check bags that they may have thought they could carry on. Then checked luggage fees would apply. Continental announced that new luggage sizing boxes will be available at most check-in counters so that travelers can make sure their bags will fit — but by the time you’re at the check-in desk, it’s a bit late to switch your luggage if you find yours is too big.

Some of my fellow travel bloggers are cheesed off at the new regulations, which stink of yet another money grab. I don’t really see it that way, though. Even though fuel prices are dropping and airlines are generating good revenue from luggage fees already in place, most airlines are still really struggling. I can understand their need to drum up more cash, and while I admit it’s annoying for me as a frequent flier, it’s much less annoying than not having a flight available, which is what happens when struggling airlines are forced to cut costs.

Maybe it is a money grab, but this shouldn’t be a problem for savvy travelers, who would know the rules before showing up at the check-in desk for a flight. Some critics argue that six linear inches of space won’t be enough to make a difference in space problems or fuel costs, but I disagree. If airlines actually enforce their new rules, those six inches per bag will add up dramatically, especially considering the number of people who have been flipping off the rules for so long with their monster carry-on bags.

I’m flying cross-country again tomorrow, so I’ll be able to report back shortly as to whether or not United Airlines is enforcing the 45″ rule. Check back soon and I’ll let you know.

For a comprehensive list of luggage size requirements by airline, check here.

Edited 10/25:  I landed in Portland this afternoon and I can definitely say that nothing’s changed.  People are still bringing giant bags on board and gate agents and flight attendants are still letting them.  My flight was full, so I suspect that if they were going to enforce the rules, this would have been the time, but so far it’s business as usual in the air.