Think you meant to say New York is the most expensive city in the U.S. to dine in, right?

My bad. Of course, I meant the U.S., not the world -- that distinction (according to Zagat) goes to London (average cost: $79.46), Paris ($74.24) and Tokyo ($69.58).

I missed today's on-line chat and want to comment on the questions that dealt with getting to the airports. A related question should concern arriving back in the U.S. from abroad, something we did twice in the past four months, once at Philly and once at Dulles. Both times we had connecting flights and it was very stressful being in the cattle lines in those two airports, even though we had allowed 2 or 3 hours layover.

Getting through customs and security coming back was horrible at both places. Folks who had purchased duty free booze had an especially tough time, as they had to force that into checked bags prior to the next flight.

I had the pleasure of going to Asilah earlier this year, and I highly recommend it. Great food, beautiful sights and genuinely friendly people.

Thinking about the AAA item on the amount of trips between Thanksgiving and New Years, I can probably agree. I remember as a kid, my family (or parts of it) would definitely do that. But, I am talking about a day trip (less then 2 hours one way) to see relatives.

I can't see the figure on 4 and 5 star properties being correct. Possibly during the holidays it is looked at as being a good time to "splurge" on travel. Lets face it, a 4 year old is going to be as happy(or miserable) at a Motel 6 as they are at a Conrad Hilton.

Looking at the vacation time issue, I think teachers have really skewed that 4 or more week figure. Where I work you need to be employeed for over 12 years to get 4 weeks. Also it has only been since we were purchased by a larger company, that it has even been possible to take more than a week's vacation at one time. But I agree $ is a factor in being able to afford to go anywhere other than porchville for many.

For myself I am planning 2 trips for next year. One week to Montreal and Quebec City, and 2 weeks to Northern Europe. I know the Doller is tanking, but I recently joined L/ghei ( sort of a couch-surfing group for gays and lesbians ) So hopefully I will save a little on accommodations. I plan on flying in and out of Brussels for the first 2 weeks of December. I plan on going to Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Cologne, I just need to line up my itinerary.

These all sound right to me. Briefly:

* Spending as much on leisure travel as last year IS a cut-back, given rising fuel prices, airline prices, and inflation. The average trip probably costs 10% more this year. If the survey said "more than last year" that would be surprising.

* The economy, on the whole, is doing well, but primarily for those earning more than, say $200k a year. These are the people who book four star hotels and business class travel, no? When you look at the target market, a rise in upscale vacations is not at all surprising.

* It's an excellent time to stay off the road precisely because 1/3 of Americans are taking two or more trips in a month. Reminds me of, "No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

* London, Paris, and Tokyo are three of the most desirable cities to live in in the world, hence, the three of the most expensive. Given the dollar's decline and this story's choice to denominate in dollars, not local currency, the fact that a meal costs twice what it does in London isn't surprising in the least. In fact, in London most everything costs twice what it would in America if you're paying in dollars.

* Many companies now lump together vacation and sick days, leading (A) people to appear to have more vacation time than they really do and (B) people to save a few days at the end of their fiscal year in case they get sick. Given that there are only about 3m full-time teachers in America, that isn't nearly enough to skew a survey of the 100m+ workers in America. More interesting questions would have been "Of those who have separate sick leave, how much vacation time do you have?" and "Of those with three or more unused days of leave, what was the most important reason not all leave was used?" Does anyone ask those?

Am I asking too much in hoping for rigorous methodology in travel-industry surveys? I would think the travel industry would do quality market research, but these surveys tell us nothing we don't already know.

Yes, John, you're asking too much! Most of these "findings" are skewed to benefit the pollsters, it would appear. But we bring our reporters' skepticism to all of these results, and we can still glean some interesting fun facts from them.