President Obama is most closely associated with the city of Chicago, but he spent five years in New York as a student and community organizer, and a local actor has created a walking tour that shines a light on what he calls Obama's "lost years" here. The AP introduces us to Jeremiah Miller, whose two-hour "Obama's New York" tour takes visitors to some of the places the 44th president spent time during his 1981-1985 stint in the city.

I've never taken a pedicab in my life, but it seems I'm in the minority, as the number of the pedal-powered bicycle taxis has risen dramatically since their introduction to New York in 1995. Pedicabs have become so popular, in fact, that they're now regulated by the city, which requires vehicles to be insured, inspected, and fitted with seat belts, headlights, and hydraulic brakes. A story in The New York Times explains that the new regulations legitimize an industry that began as something of a fringe group, attracting actors, artists, and various downtown weirdos to a unique profession that could net them up to $1,000 a week and help them stay skinny and hot.

Things travelers should put in a money belt: Passport, tickets, cash, emergency contact information. Things travelers should not put in a money belt: lizards. It may seem rather obvious to most readers of this blog, but there's one guy in California who somehow never picked up this basic tenet of travel wisdom. As the LA Times points out, 40-year-old Michael Plank was arrested by U.S. Customs agents at Los Angeles International Airport this week when he was found to have 15 lizards stuffed in a money belt. Plank was on his way back from Australia and apparently decided to bring 11 skinks, two monitor lizards, and two geckos with him to his LA home, where they'd be worth around $8,500.

Almost six months ago, Southwest Airlines gave New Yorkers an outright gift: the Southwest Porch, a relaxing, open-air venue in the middle of the city at Bryant Park. During the day, workers from offices in Midtown would sit in the adirondack chairs and on the cushioned lounges to eat their packed lunches, and at night, they can return for a drink and snacks when the bar opens.

The Porch is a pleasant surprise for its lack of pretension and excess of good food choices (being from Top Chef Tom Colicchio' s 'wichcraft chain). We expected it to close down for the winter when the leaves began to fall, but instead the Porch has re-inaugurated itself via a winter menu and introduction of fire pits and slankets, the slankets in celebration of Southwest's recent SkyMall cover.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel has a long and checkered history that well pre-dates today’s celebrity tantrums and “Super Sweet 16” parties. As a way of hearkening back to that golden-hued heyday, the hotel has started offering a new ”Jazz Brunch” on Sundays from 11:00am-3:00pm.

Since the special brunch starts at $18 per person, it’s actually a pretty good deal, especially for a Thompson Hotel, and especially considering that overnight parking will run you around $30, and the standard rate for a stay at the hotel starts at $225 a night.

If you’re anything like us, you’re naturally dubious about any meal that is accompanied by live music. What is this, the shoe department of Nordstrom’s? But we

One of our favorite milestones when tracking a new hotel opening is the release of photos. Not renderings, not collages, but full color pictures of the guestrooms we’re so eager to check into. Today The Distrikt Hotel reaches that milestone by posting photos on its Facebook page.

We’ve been dying for a glimpse inside the hotel since the funky collages on the website--while arty and cool--left us without a clue as to room design. Now The Distrikt delivers and we’re both relieved and disappointed.

Relieved that the neighborhood theme is not an OTT mish-mash as it could have been, but a little sad that the décor plays it so safe. For all its savvy

Last year, audiences around the world watched as Jamal and Latika (spoiler alert!) reunited for a Bollywood-style dance on a Mumbai train platform. Now Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, the stars of Best Picture Winner "Slumdog Millionaire," are a jet-setting couple chasing their next big projects all over the globe.

The young actors, British and Indian by birth respectively, were spotted recently at LAX after a romantic lunch at La Conversation Cafe in Los Angeles. Pinto recently finished filming her role as the title character in "Miral," a drama about adoption shot in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel with Best Director nominee Julian Schnabel. Now, she's filming Woody Allen's new movie "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" in London with Naomi Watts and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

The weather is getting cooler, and college football is going strong. Here’s the scoop on just one of the country’s best rivalries to help your sports travel planning.

· Rivalry Match-Up: UCLA at USC on November 28.
These two teams have been playing since you great grandparents were in college, so there has been plenty of bad blood over the years to get the rivalry going. Students see each other around town since both schools are located in Los Angeles, so the constant trash talking isn’t just between the schools’ coaches. Yes, they too love to mouth off at one another whenever they get the chance. USC leads the all time series and will probably bring home the win this year. However, if UCLA can pull out a win, the Victory Bell will be sporting Bruin blue for the holiday season.

Stadium Info and tips on where to sleep and party, after the jump.

Miami's soon-to-be-opened Hotel Urbano is pushing a Grand Opening gimmick that ranks low in creativity but high on the savings-o-meter.

Originally slated to open in October, as we reported, its unveiling will now take place in late December, just in time to receive an onslaught of travelers in the new year.

The themed deal offers guests who book two or more nights in January 2010 a rate of $20.10 for their first night. That's good enough for those who want to kick off 2010 in a snow-free climate, but just remember--the hotel is located in Brickell which is downtown Miami as opposed to Miami Beach and its party scene. But with regular room rates

What a long way in such a short time The Ames Hotel in Boston has come. When we checked in on the hotel at the beginning of October, we were quite skeptical based on the construction work we saw going on.

But lo and behold, The Ames has gone ahead and opened itself up. Boston.com has the scoop on the hotel execs that made it out last night to the hotel's opening party:

The opening party for the Ames drew a long list of VIP guests including the project’s celebrated architect and designer David Rockwell, hotel partner Seth Greenberg, former “Top Chef’’ contestant Sam Talbot, who’ll be at the Ames restaurant, Woodward, until he moves