While cheap travel deals including cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms and cheap vacation packages are great ways to get to New York City and relax while there, taking a little advice from more experienced travelers can help you truly enjoy your stay there over the holidays.

The following are things you should do and avoid while in New York City during the Christmas season, according to the Lonely Planet:

€ Do visit Rockefeller Center Plaza and take in the big Christmas tree that is home to 30,000 lights. It is well worth dealing with the crowds, particularly at night when the tree's Christmas lights can fully be enjoyed. Do not try to skate on the ice rink there given how tiny it is, expensive, and lines that often take up to two hours to get ice time.

€ Do check out FAO Schwartz and tap your feet on the giant floor piano keyboard in New York's most famous toy store. Do not visit this store on weekends when lines can go around the block. Kids tend to love visiting the Times Square Toy R Us and its indoor Ferris Wheel.

€ Do see Macy's impressive €Santaland€ which includes Christmas trees, elves, toy trains and snow filled wonder. Do not go on weekends or mid day any day. If you show up shortly before it opens (9 am during the week through Christmas Eve), waits tend to be around five minutes.

€ Make a point of seeing a holiday show. St John the Divine's Winter Solstice is very popular and tends to be secular. Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular is a show every kid should see with dozens of dancing Santas and the ever popular Rockettes a-leg-kicking.

€ Do not miss holiday attractions going on in the other boroughs. Brooklyn's BAM is going irreverent on the €Nutcracker€ while the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx is one of the city's best Christmas traditions.

€ Do window shop. Boutiques and department stores throughout the city tend to be dressed up for the season. Do not limit yourself to hipster downtown. Midtown has much more to offer. Walk up Fifth Avenue from Rockefeller Center, to FAO, and then over to Madison to see the modern, funny displays of Barney's on Madison Ave. and 62nd St.
http://www.cheapfares.com

Hawaii Trending Towards Record Visitor Count

Cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages are helping to bring a record number of visitors to the Hawaiian Islands this year.

Hawaiian tourism count was up almost 9 percent in October when compared to a year ago. Those travelers spent close to 13 percent more. Experts expect this positive trend to continue through the final two months of this year.

Total visor arrivals in 2012 are now forecast at about 8 million, with $14 billion in total expenditures. Previously the most visitors to ever come in Hawaii in one year was the 7.6 million in 2006. The next year experienced the record for spending which came in at $12.8 billion.

Hawaii's biggest tourism market is the West Coast which witnessed an increase of almost 10 percent for October. The number of available seats on scheduled flights during the month increased by over 7 percent. Air service increased in Los Angeles and Las Vegas which more than offset drops in service from Portland and San Francisco.

Japanese tourism in October increased by over 15 percent and was responsible for almost half as many visitors as those that arrived from the West Coast. The number of airline seats to Hawaii from Japan increased by almost 17 percent as airlines added direct flights from Fukuoka and Sapporo to Honolulu and increased service from Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo's Narita airport.

Hawaii's Big Island saw the greatest increase in visitor growth during October. Hawaii Island saw a rise of slightly over 14 percent compared to Oahu whose tourist count was up almost 8 percent, with Maui up over five percent, and Kauai up by less than three percent.
http://www.cheapfares.com