Just in time for the Thanksgiving drive to grandmas! Download a free 24-page road trip activity book that has word games, math facts, and brain busters for kids aged 8 and up.

The free download is courtesy of RadRoadTrips.com, a site devoted to ensuring your drive is entertaining. Thanks, Freebie Blogger!

If you happen to be bringing baby over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house for Thanksgiving, you're not alone. Despite the fact The Air Transport Authority is reporting a 4% decline in air travelers, Gail Weinholzer, director of public affairs for AAA said the auto club still expects 40 million people to travel this holiday. Thirty-five million of them will be driving their own cars.

If you're traveling with kids, you not only have to pack your patience, but also a whole lot of gear. It can be tempting to stay home, lock the doors and order-in Chinese.

But tradition calls. In an attempt to actually see out the windows of our SUV, my family recently invested in one of those soft-sided, roof-top storage thingies that strap to the roof rails on top of the car. It definitely helps, but it also transforms our ride into a cross between Vacation, the not-so-funny sequel and Grapes of Wrath.

If you'd rather not go the Sherpa route or are looking to avoid outrageous fees for checking items under the plane, baby equipment rentals seek to offer the solution. Stocked with the kind of sanity saving amenities to which baby has become accustomed (high-chair, Exersaucer, baby gates, infant swing, jogger, double jogger, Boppy ring, etc.) instead of schlepping a frazzled parent might consider renting --and it's not too late to make reservations for those must-have items.

Travel may be down in this economy, but there's one area where business is booming: discount booking sites. With travel providers desperate to unload unused rooms and tickets, it seems like the only sectors of the travel industry that are exploding are the ones previously seen as a last resort by the industry.

Priceline.com reported that bookings through its site, which offers steep discounts on hotel rooms and other travel products, are at their best levels in nine years. Hotwire.com, which is owned by Expedia, reports a similar boost in revenue. The Hotwire Group's sales over 12 months have exceeded $250 million for the first time, and reps told WalletPop that compared to last year, hotel bookings in the biggest markets (meaning the most popular travelers' cities) are up between 20% and 30%.

More companies are looking for ways to demonstrate that they're environmentally conscious, and one way they're doing so is seeking out eco-friendly hotels for their employees to stay in when traveling for business, according to this USA Today article.

If all other factors, such as cost and amenities, are identical, corporations today seem more willing to choose eco-friendly lodgings for their employees. More than one in five now ask about hotel environmental policies before signing contracts with them, according to a survey taken this summer by the National Business Travel Association cited by the article.

Google wants you to stay connected while you are doing your holiday traveling this year, so it has teamed up with Boingo Wireless to provide travelers with free WiFi at 47 airports across the U.S. until January 15. In addition to offering free WiFi access in the airports, Google is also working with GoGo, an in-flight WiFi provider, to provide free Internet access on Virgin America flights for the holidays.

Nelson George, executive producer of Chris Rock's controversial documentary now out in theaters, "Good Hair," talks about how the film exposes the global business and religious resources behind popular black hairstyles. Watch the video interview with George, an esteemed cultural critic, to find out why Beyonce has a religious ceremony in India to thank for her hair extensions.

George is also busy launching BlackAtlas.com, a new site funded by American Airlines that provides tips and personal insight about touring the world, from an African-American perspective. BlackAtlas highlights the hottest destinations in the world, pointing out stores, hangouts, beauty salons (for the good hair) that black tourists should be aware of in planning their trips.

After the peso crisis of 2001, Argentina became the destination célèbre for Americans, who flocked to South America to revel in the astonishing buys that a devalued currency can yield. Time has passed, and now we're slogging through our own economic turmoil. So is a trip to Buenos Aires still a great buy, or have the locals caught on to the influx and jacked up rates to milk tourist dollars?

Michael Luongo, author of Frommer's Buenos Aires, visits WalletPop's studios to tell us that the answer is a little bit of both. He lets us know what the situation is in the storied colonial capital of Argentina, and he fills us in on how a first-time visitor there can still find deals without losing the authenticity of the local culture. Sure, you've seem washed-up reality stars do the tango on Dancing with the Stars, but is it feasible to dance it in the real Argentine milongueros?

As part of our ongoing series, WalletPop tells you how to go for less:

Milan and Florence weighed in at over $1.6 million for a home, on average; Rome just under $1.3 million. And that's dollars, not lira (which, of course, don't even exist anymore).

Also out of reach for many Americans these days are the pink sands of Hamilton, Bermuda, Bucaresti, Romania and Shanghai, all averaging above $1.3 million, not to mention Vancouver and Dublin at $1.1 million -- and Dubai trailing not far behind.

The most expensive market is not in Italy, however. It's in Singapore, where homes average nearly $1.9 million. Coldwell Banker points out that is "10% lower than La Jolla" but fails to mention it is also 10 times the average home value in everyday places like Phoenix, Mobile, Ala, Lexington, KY, and Syracuse, NY.

Time was when the sage advice was to "go west young man" in search of fame, fortune and nifty real estate deals. But in 2009, heading east may be a better idea. At least if you are starting out in the U.S. And, when I say east, I mean like all the way to Poland! Now hold on to your Polish zlotys while I explain this one:

Seems Poland, Krakow in particular, is a darn good place to not only indulge in a sausage or two, but also to buy up chunks of real estate at prices that are down anywhere from 9% to 17%.

Here are some serious stocking stuffers -- if you can get them: Always wanted to spend a Christmas in Washington D.C.? Your dream might come true, especially if you can score some free tickets to the 2009 National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Free tickets for this event will be distributed via lottery system for the first time this year. The lottery system opened just after midnight on Wednesday November 4 and will remain open until 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, November 6.

The National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009 at 5 p.m.

To participate, visit the event's website here, or call (877) 444-6777. The ticket lottery will include 2,800 ticketed seats and an additional 7,000 standing room tickets, which significantly increases capacity, and your likelihood of getting in on the event.

You'll be notified by email or U.S. mail (if you entered the lottery by phone) if you're a lucky ticket-holder. Tickets will be mailed by November 15.

What are you waiting for? Enter and get yourself in the holiday spirit.

Royal Caribbean's newest behemoth, the Oasis of the Seas, doesn't arrive in our waters for another couple of weeks, but pictures of the awesome cruise ship are already appearing in the news.

How could they not? She's the largest cruise ship on the planet, towering 20 stories over the waves and cutting a 1,180-foot-long profile against the horizon. On board, there's space for 6,300 paying guests, 2,000 crew members, a 1,300-seat theater (larger than some on Broadway), some duplex cabins, an ice rink, an indoor/outdoor park, and a cocktail bar that travels from deck to deck via an elevator system.

WalletPop will be on board for her maiden voyage out of Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 20, and our own Jason Cochran will bring you video proof of this astonishing new feat of engineering.

Survey after survey confirms what you and I already know: Staycations are stupid. You and I don't just hate the stupid word, which was dreamed up by opportunistic marketing departments to sell old things in a new way. We also hate the idea of them, and as soon as the money starts flowing again, we're outta here.

But there's also no doubt that more of us are staying closer to home right now. Due both to a downturn in personal spending and a cutback in business travel expenses, America's hotels and airlines are dramatically less full nowadays than they were three years ago.

The urge to explore, being an inherent and eternal quality of mankind, hasn't left us; only the means to explore have. Still, it's also true that the longer this mess persists, the more travel will be changed forever. Some shifts have already been cemented into place.

Dear WalletPop:

On Oct. 8, Karl and I checked into our Southwest flight to Vegas. The man at the counter was totally distracted -- carrying on a conversation with another employee behind the counter. I really didn't think much of it at the time but ... he carelessly placed our tickets back on the counter and continued his conversation. I picked up the tickets and noticed that we ONLY had a boarding pass now.

We originally had handed him lavender oaktag tickets we received in the mail three weeks before, and those tickets were for our flight to Vegas as well as our return trip. When he handed us back a plain-paper boarding pass, I asked if that was all we needed. He stopped his conversation mid-sentence and told us we were free to proceed.

In the next generation of Disney Cruise Line ships, the windowless inside cabin may be the ones kids beg their parents to book. In a boon to budget travelers, the cheapest, least desirable cruise stateroom category will be getting a major sexing up in January of 2011, when the Disney Dream, now under construction, is christened.

All inside cabins on the new Dream will be equipped with an oh-so-Disney innovation: the "virtual porthole." Above the bed, a round TV window will be embedded in the wall, made to look like an old-fashioned ship's porthole. Through it, the tenants in the modern equivalent of steerage will be able to watch live, streaming high-def images of the ocean outside, just as the guests in more expensive cabins see it for real.

Americans, we have something of the caveman in us. We, like our furry forebears, regularly gather the family around an open fire, where we roast meat for ritual consumption. From flaming pit to flaming pit, fierce rivalries have developed between clans over the right way to prepare and devour the kill.

Yes, when it comes to cheap meals that satisfy our bellies, there's nothing quite as fundamental, or as all-American, as barbecue. Despite its long preparation time and complicated and guarded seasoning methods, BBQ is also one of the most reliable budget meals available.