I'm fond of Greyhound bus travel. I like the idea of humanity rolling along on a highway. I like bus people. As one bus ticket seller once told me at the station in Columbus, Ohio as she surveyed the milling about passengers in the waiting area, "If you're hard up and you need money, anyone of these people will help you out."

Bus people have a certain air of resignation and quiet about them. Their expectations are low. They know getting where they are going will take time so why fuss? Bus people feel as comfortable as a favorite broken in, but not broken down shoe.

On a Greyhound bus, there are just the driver and the passengers. The driver lays down the rules: No smoking of anything; no drinking; no swearing; no loud talking; no cell phones ringing, and if you make a call, keep it down. If you break the cussing, smoking and drinking rules, you'll find yourself off the bus and in a load of trouble.

The passengers, for the most part, don't give grief and everyone is equal. No one is better than anyone else on the bus. The driver is accessible. You can see the driver drive. You can see where you are going. The bus doesn't have secrets.

In general, I love Greyhound because Greyhound has treated me right even when there have been problems. Greyhound does seem like a problem magnet, however.

Reading that Laura Dekker has been found safe and sound in St. Maartin made me think of Devon Hollahan, the American teacher living in Prague who disappeared after a Portugal and the Man concert in Frankfurt, Germany. When his friend's back was turned, Hollahan went missing.

I wrote about Hollahan in a post about the worst nightmares of parents whose children travel overseas. I've been busy these last few weeks, so I forgot about him until I read about Dekker.

Hollahan's story is not so splashy as Laura Dekker's. It might be because his family seems like most of us. They appear to be normal, regular people whose lives tend to flow through the days like anyone else's unless something bad happens on a slow news day. On a slow news day, normal people's stories can make the international news. Hollahan's bad news story was a fleeting blip on the media radar. A day or two after he was reported missing, he didn't show up again in a big news way.

Amanda Knox's story has had more press time than Hollahan's. She is the other person of note in my parent's worst nightmare post. But, when a person is found guilty of murdering her roommate which results in a 27 year jail sentence in Italy, it's no surprise that we'd hear more about Knox--at least until Tiger Woods's story eclipsed everyone's bad news.

What about Hollahan, though? That's who I want to know about--the guy who could be any one of us. After a search, I found this bit of news in The Huffington Post. Hollahan has not been found, but possibly the shoe found floating in The Main River in Frankfurt belongs to him.

It is thought that Hollahan was drunk and fell into the river. As a sad, devastating part of this tale, it's possible that he was seen alive at 4 a.m. lying on a sidewalk. Unfortunately, whoever was on the sidewalk, got up and ran away when someone said that an ambulance was coming.

Hollahan's body has not been found. His parents are still in their nightmare, and I wonder if Hollahan's body is found, will there be a news story about it? My thoughts go out to his family.

You've made your travel resolutions, but how do you keep them? We all know the resolution drill. Sometime around the end of December, in the glow of holiday cheer when all things seem possible, we make a list of how we'll improve. As travelers, perhaps we leaf through a copy of 1000 Places to See Before You Die and make a list of our own must see places. Or we decide that we'll travel smarter. We'll travel greener. We'll be the best traveler there is.

Then roundabout January 5, the glow is gone and it's same old same old. Your travel habits are the same they've always been except for perhaps a tweak or two.

There are things you can do to break your travel pattern. It has to do with your thinking. Here are 10 thoughts to keep you traveling and happy with your resolutions intact.

This scene in Honeymoon in Vegas is the most unusual way to head to Las Vegas if I've ever seen one. Here at Gadling, unusual travel is not unknown. Catherine is trying out various travel options in China at this moment, Jeremy is traveling around Southeast Asia as creatively as he can, and if you check out Mike's personal blog, you'll see A LOT of the unusual. I mean A LOT.

Although Honeymoon in Vegas is not the best movie Nicholas Cage has been in--Moonstruck and Raising Arizona are my two favorites, this scene is a hoot. This is something Mike would do when he slips out from behind his SkyMall Monday desk. Totally. The Flying Elvi, sky divers who are Elvis impersonators, do exist. I can see Mike now.

By the way, Honeymoon in Vegas is still wandering around cable channels. I saw part of it two weeks ago which reminded me of this scene. It also has one of the funniest altercations with another passenger at an airline check-in desk. You can see that here.

Even though it's almost Christmas, and Halloween is long gone, it's not the end of haunted travel. Fells Point, Maryland is one of those towns where ghosts and their stories don't go on vacation until the next season of fright delight. In Fells Point, the ghosts are woven into the town's lore all year long.

Located on the waterfront as a section of Baltimore, Fells Point, founded in 1763, is one of those U.S. locations that has gradually woven its historic lore into modern amenities.

The result is cobblestone streets edged with an eclectic mix of buildings that range from the pubs, to independently owned shops and eateries to museums that touch on area history.

Amid it all, ghosts wander. At the Admiral Fell Inn ghosts are embraced as an important feature.

In recent years, winning a Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right, and the once in awhile trip that appears on the Wheel of Fortune's roulette wheel have been the two main ways to snag a travel experience on someone else's dime. There is another option where trips are handed out almost like candy at a small town parade. The daily game show Let's Make a Deal has been resurrected on CBS.

The new Let's Make A Deal has not changed much since the show last aired in 1977. Filmed at the Tropicana Las Vegas, the new version began airing in October with host Wayne Brady fitting into Monty Hall's role as if it was made for him.

Brady moves through the audience of people dressed up in funky, oddball costumes picking out contestants based on who catches his eye. Whether its the box on the display floor, a box on a table or curtains 1, 2 or 3, the chances that a trip is one of the wins is quite high. Trips to Prague, Hawaii, and Japan have been some of the offerings I've seen each time I caught the show.

To be a contestant, head to the show's website. If you dress up in the most unusual clever way, your options of being picked are higher. One woman was dressed as a tree with a woodpecker attached. When you pulled on the string, the woodpecker pecked.

If you do go, put a wide assortment of things in a handbag to bring with you. You could win $100 if you have the item Brady calls for. Think of the obvious like a pen to the unusual like an egg timer.

To be in the audience, click here for the link to Let's Make a Deal, On Camera Audience, and then click on the date that you would like to attend.

Good luck. Hope you win that trip. I've had three friends who have been on game shows. It is possible. One of them won $10,000 on the Price is Right.

Virgin America and American Airlines are rescuing Chihuahuas from California by the dozens. As it turns out, California is not a place to be a Chihuahua. There are just too many of them. When Chihuahuas became the dog flavor of the day, thanks to the movies "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "Legally Blond," and the Chihuahua carrying habits of celebrities like Paris Hilton, dog breeders overshot the numbers of Chihuahuas. Supply, in essence, overshot the demand.

The numbers are astounding. 4,700 Chihuahuas have been taken in by animal shelters in California this year, some from owners who couldn't afford their dog any more due to the recession.

Thankfully, people on the east coast don't have enough small dogs so Virgin America and Project Flying Chihuahua, and American Airlines and Kinder4Rescue, a non-profit started by actress Katherine Heigl, are taking the Chihuahuas there. The Chihuahuas have a discounted fee and money is being raised to help with the Chihuahua rescue efforts. So far Chihuahuas are going by air to New Hampshire and New York City.

Dogs have also been sent to Arizona, Washington and Oregon, but by S.U.V.

There is a chance that Virgin America may offer a week of half price trips to people who are willing to take a Chihuahua to New York from California. This doesn't mean you'd be the one adopting the dog, just the one helping it make it to its new home.

Perhaps you read about the tourist couple who recently were ushered into a White House breakfast buffet with President and Michelle Obama even though they did not have an invitation. All Harvey and Paula Darden planned on doing when they showed up at the White House was take a tour that their congressman helped arrange for them. Unfortunately, they arrived a day earlier than they were supposed to.

This turned out to be a good thing. When they arrived saying they were there for a tour, the White House staff person lead the Dardens into the East Room. There the couple found themselves chowing down food in the midst of people who were not dressed in tourist attire.

The buffet was for veterans--something neither of the Dardens are. But, according to the White House staff, because the Dardens had been cleared by security like all the other guests---and since there wasn't a tour, they were given breakfast instead.

The only reason we know about this incident is because the Dardens became worried after Tareq and Michaele Salahi crashed the state dinner two weeks after the Dardens' visit. The Dardens, I suppose, felt it necessary to come forward to tell about how their off the cuff visit happened. It wasn't something they planned. They don't want people to get the wrong idea about them. They are not event crashers who tried to pull one over on the White House.

Hopefully, the Dardens' splash into national news won't halt the unexpected buffet invites for the rest of us who might show up at the White House for a legitimate reason but on the wrong day.

The news story, unfortunately, was written as if this might have been another White House gaff.

No, no, no. Don't say that. Just say that the Dardens felt uncomfortable with their unexpected luck. To feel better, I suggest the Dardens write a thank-you note and add that it's nice to know that tourists have access to a White House brunch every once in awhile when they least expect it---with the proper security clearance, of course.

Last Saturday night, Times Square was literally a Santa free for all. I first noticed the Santa madness as I approached from the direction of the Empire State Building while walking along Broadway. Along the way, a group of five Santas passed me. Then another group of Santas strolled by. Then there was a lone Santa and a Santa with Mrs. Claus. There were also elves.

By the time I reached 42nd Street, I wondered if this was some Improv Everywhere stunt. Nope. This was the annual Santa pub crawl where people dress like Santa Claus--some better than others, and wander the streets stopping to pop into a bar now and then or indulge a tourist with a photo op.

These hundreds of jolly Santas provided a surprising night of entertainment and an unusual taste of holiday cheer. There's nothing quite like seeing Santa Claus taking pictures of tourists who are flanked by other Santas. The guy with the fake ear locks dressed up like a Jewish Santa was my favorite version.

Here are 15 more shots of Santa's around the world--some in surprising places. Each was taken by a traveler who happened by. From Gadling to you, here's another version of a Santa crawl. Ho! ho! ho! and enjoy.

A few days ago, Kraig wrote about the three hikers lost on Mt. Hood. At the time of his post, one of the hikers had been found dead. The other two were still missing. Almost a week after they set out on their climb, they are still missing and most probably are dead. Because of this tragic situation, the question of who foots the bill for rescue efforts has come up once more.

Back in 2005, then Gadling blogger Erik Olsen wrestled with the question about who should pay--the lost hiker who hopefully is found--or tax payers? Olsen's musings came about after a hiker hurt his ankle while hiking in Colorado. Several fire departments rescued the hiker after he spent a night on the mountain. The sticker price for the rescue was $5,000. In this case, the fire departments wanted the hiker to pay.

Usually, the people who are getting rescued don't pay anything. But is that fair? Rescue attempts can be pricey. Consider this: From 1992 to 2007, the U.S. National Park Service spent $58 million on search and rescue efforts.

This recent Newsweek article echoes some of Erik's points. As the article highlights, the hard economics question of who should pay for rescue attempts has as many facets to consider as it always has.