So Uncle Sam gifted you a huge refund and you spent it on a ticket to Coachella? NICE. After six straight months of grim economic news you’ve more than earned a chance to blow off a little steam. But don’t space out yet. There will be plenty of time for that once My Bloody Valentine starts their set.

Here are some tips to make your Coachella experience rock.

Glowing is for Glowsticks:

Baseball fever is in the air and in just a few days Major League Baseball will be kicking off opening day in the City of Brotherly Love, where the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies will play against the Atlanta Braves.

And if there's one thing is for sure, die-hard baseball fans will be traveling miles away, braving the rainstorms, humidity, cold, or the extra long ball games (you know, the ones that goes into extra innings and neither team scores a run until the 12th inning) to cheer on their teams.

Last season, as a compromise with my significant other over baseball and shoe shopping, I accompanied him to three baseball games across the East Coast from Boston to Philadelphia to follow his New York Mets team and suprisingly, I had a wonderful time!

I just opted out of trips to attend the Coachella and Pitchfork music festivals (not that I don’t love me some Palm Springs, Chicago, and Paul McCartney, but I’m saving my travel budget for some other things this year). So I was pretty excited to read today that Woodstock might return for a 40th-anniversary edition, right here in New York City.

We’ll have to wait to see if the idea will materialize, but Woodstock’s founder is reportedly seeking sponsors for a free, environmentally friendly NYC concert, possibly even in Central Park. If it happens, I’ll be among the first to dole out my $2 to travel uptown.

I have a friend who says that when he gets married, he wants a pirate-themed wedding, where instead of marching down the aisle, the bride and groom walk a plank (note: he’s yet to find a bride taker). If he can find it anywhere, he can find it in Vegas, where wacky weddings are a whimsical nod to what’s otherwise a rather stuffy institution.

In 2007, Clark County received over 108,000 marriage applications. That number was expected to rise in 2008, and although weddings are a year-round business in Las Vegas, the month of March kicks off the “I do” high season in which Elvis and a whole host of other characters are ready and willing to officiate your Nevada nuptials.

Maybe it’s because I’m a travel writer, but some of my favorite movies are ones that transport me elsewhere. Whether it’s seeing John Goodman emerge from the underbelly of the desert southwest in Raising Arizona, or watching Dustin Hoffman drive the wrong way across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in The Graduate, movies are certainly cheaper than a plane ticket if you want to escape to another time and place.

That’s why I love this list of airport and airplane-centric movies compiled by David Armstrong over at Aviation.com. Here are his top 10:

Photo: Me and my good pal Ricky Bobby, of Talladega Nights.

About 10 years ago, Hollywood wasn’t really much to see. Rundown and dirty, you had to dodge the homeless and their shopping carts to see the handprints in the ground at Mann’s Chinese Theater. The stars on the Walk of Fame had lost their luster, and many tourists went back home disappointed. But last weekend, I headed to Hollywood for the first time in years, and was shocked. It’s got its star power back! The streets are clean, the stars are bright, and stores like H&M have opened up and are thriving. Once again, Hollywood is the land of movie stars and fancy cars--and I was about to have a weekend straight out of the pages of Us Weekly.

Photo: Me and a scary new friend at the Quarantine movie premiere.

I recently moved apartments, cutting my subway commute by about two-thirds. I should be overjoyed, but I caught myself complaining that I’m no longer speeding through books like I used to when I had stops and stops worth of reading time. The thing is, I’ve been on a travel-book kick for months now, and I can’t stop. I miss Liberia in the morning.

It doesn’t seem to matter who’s doing the traveling—I’ve been hooked on 1930s novels and travelogues by Graham Greene, essays by modern-day master of observation Pico Iyer, and a pair of motorcycle diaries by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Bill Bryson, Karen Blixen, Rick Ridgeway, Adam Gopnik. I’m all over the map. And I already know my next quest: a trip across the US with the upcoming State by State.

In the battle of the YouTube all-stars, Battle at Kruger reigned supreme, snagging the 2007 YouTube Video Award in the Eyewitness category.

I watched the 8-minute opus for the first time this weekend, and (like 27 million others before me) sat glued to my computer screen as lions stalked a buffalo calf, battled a crocodile for it, and staged a Sharks-Jets-style showdown when the young buffalo’s herd returned. And the most amazing part of all? The gnawed-on calf survives the tug-o-war.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member sjmclaughlin

Yesterday marked the official beginning of Chinese New Year. To many people, this late winter holiday means vibrant street festivities complete with fireworks, colorful dragon floats, and tasty Chinese goodies galore. To others, the term “Chinese New Year” barely rings a bell. But given the growing influence of Chinese culture, more people are learning about the holiday and making plans to participate in celebrations across the country and the world.

Think of the popular travel writers publishing today and the names Bill Bryson and Pico Iyer come to mind. Soon enough, their books will sit on the shelves next to a new sort of travel book, written by a person who is wildly popular, but who does not actually exist.

Over the weekend, CNN reported that Borat, the fictional Kazakh reporter who recently made such a big hit at the box office, now has set his literary sights on dishing out travel advice. The book deal has already been signed with Flying Dolphin Press. Coming to the shelves in November, the book will be entitled "Borat: Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A." and "Borat: Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." That's two books in one. Nice!