You probably already have a favorite travel search engine, such Kayak or Mobissimo. But a revamped and renamed website has debuted today with a clever twist on travel planning.

UpTake is a new name for Kango.com, which used to merely archive travel reviews from hundreds of websites and guidebooks to help users plan trips. UpTake has now become much bolder. It scours more than 1,000 travel sites and filters millions of opinions to have edited lists of advice on what do do and where to stay in the U.S.

Uptake also makes it easier for you to do "theme-based" travel searching, such as a search for "“girls-getaways” or “pet-friendly" in, say, Las Vegas. This may be a more intuitive way for some people to search for travel. The site says it has listings for 400,000 hotels and activities, culled from multiple sources. It only covers the U.S., though. [Uptake.com]

Below, you'll find a two-minute video from the company explaining how to make the most of the site, such as by how to plan a trip to Monterrey, Calif. The narrator is a bit stiff.* But overall, the two-minute video is helpful, and it includes a sneak peak of what's going to be rolled out on the site within a couple of months.

If you've ever stood in line at U.S. Immigration and wondered if the agents feel a bit too comfortable in their power--I know I have--then you should absolutely read this story in today's New York Times. (Actually, it's even more imperative that you read it if you don't think immigration agents are abusing their power.) To sum it up, an Italian man flew to Dulles airport outside D.C. to visit his American girlfriend. He ended up being detained in jail for 10 days for no apparent reason. (Agents claimed he asked for asylum; as the man's girlfriend says, "Who on earth would seek asylum from Italy?")

Whether or not this is truly an isolated incident remains to be seen. But even if it is, the federal government must set up some kind of basic protection for travelers visiting the U.S. (because they have no rights at all). At a bare minimum, they must have the right—if refused entry—to communicate with whomever they choose (an embassy, family, the person they're visiting), and they must be given some sort of due process, including an explanation of why they're being held. What's more, U.S. immigration should have to regularly publish (daily? weekly?) a list of who's being detained and for how long.

One of the best ways to sample Italian culture without spending many euros is participating in a small town festival, such as a festa, fiera or sagra.

While these are simple celebrations of an event or a saint, food is often the major focus. Starting with the first spring blossoms, regional festivals sprout up from north to south, celebrating cherries, porchetta (spit roasted pork), chianti (wine), asparagus, leeks, truffles, and chocolate, to name just a few. The delicacies are far from the "hand cramp prices" charged in the major cities, and the quality of the food is much higher.

The vibe is always local, too. Neighborhood lore, language, and traditions intermingle with food and wine tasting, live entertainment, and outdoor markets.

[+] Enlarge photo

"The New York City Waterfalls," rendering by Olafur Eliasson, 2008 (Courtesy Public Art Fund)

The locations are underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, on the Brooklyn side; between Piers 4 and 5 in Brooklyn Heights; on Governor's Island (near the Statue of Liberty); and in Lower Manhattan at Pier 35 north of the Manhattan Bridge.

Circle Line Downtown has already begun to sell tickets for yacht rides to see the waterfalls, with tickets for 30-minute rides starting at $10. (circlelinedowntown.com)

[nycwaterfalls.org]

Starting next summer, Philadelphia will require licenses for private tour guides operating within its historic district—which is, roughly put, the square mile around Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

The law requires guides—whether on foot, buses, trolleys, or horse-drawn carriages—to pass a written test and be re-certified every three years. (The National Park Service rangers who work inside Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell aren't affected by the rule, though. NPS has its own training requirements and quality-control checks.)

I recently met with Philadelphia tourism officials, who were buzzing about the legislation, which mayor Michael Nutter is expected to sign this Thursday. Once the program is running in little more than a year from now, the city's tourism website gophila.com plans to list the companies with certified guides.

One of the most fulfilling parts of travel is showing people your photos. And the premier showcase for the world's funniest photos snapped by ordinary travelers—Signspotting.com—has relaunched. Its new format improves the odds your photo will be seen—roughly a factor of 10. Photos now receive votes from all other users, rather than from a few judges.

Soon at major airports, projectors will beam advertisements on terminal floors. When you step on one of these images, your foot motions will control the action you see.

Let's cut to the video! Watch a puppy play with one of these ads:

Airports where these Reactrix StepScape interactive ads will be installed include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago (O'Hare and Midway), Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle-Tacoma, and St. Louis.

The ads will begin to be rolled out nationwide later this year. [Reactrix]

Here's how it began: Hotel concierges at the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts chain reported to their bosses about a trend they were noticing. Young couples, having only gone on a few dates with each other, were taking overnight trips together.

Folks at the luxury chain's Canadian branch became curious. They did a survey of users of the online personal ads at Lavalife. More than 27 percent of men and 19 percent of women said they would hit the road with someone only a month into dating, according to a story in Toronto's Globe and Mail that's headlined Get a Room.

A TSA inspector at a small East Coast airport has contacted us with a tip. I am choosing not to identify her because, as a TSA employee, she is not supposed to talk to the press without official permission. Plus, TSA workers do not have whistleblower protections, which other federal workers have.

(Courtesy Amazon.com and Flybye.com)

It's not necessary to buy the pricey, TSA-approved locks. You don't have to buy fancy luggage locks at all. Instead, buy a pack of plastic zip-ties, or cable locks, for about $1.

Here's what our tipster says:

While booking online, have you ever clicked on a rate only to find that it was no longer available and replaced by a higher one? When that recently happened to David Rowell at The Travel Insider, he tried again. His report on what happened is below. In the meantime, please share any instances of this happening to you!

David's report:

"I experienced something like that myself when booking a London hotel last week. I used Lastminute.com, a sister company to Travelocity, and found a hotel I liked with a total cost for my stay of £300. After researching the hotel, I decided to book it and clicked on the 'book' button, only to get an excuse from Lastminute.com telling me that between when I'd first requested the rate and when I went to book the hotel, there'd been an increase in rate, and the £300 rate was no longer available. The lowest rate was now £357.

I winced and wished I'd been quicker to book the hotel. But then, I thought suspiciously to myself - is this really true? So I re-requested the hotel availability and rate, and guess what? The rate now showed as £300 again. I instantly booked it, but there was the apology and the £357 rate once more. Even at £357 it was an okay deal, so I shrugged and proceeded to book it. And then, out of curiosity, did another availability request, and there it was again - back at £300."

Here's what we found especially worth reading this week:

World Hum: Venice says "No!" to pigeons--or to the feeding of pigeons, at least. The city birds are pecking their way into the marble in St. Mark's Square, prompting officials to ban birdseed. (The International Herald Tribune also has coverage.)

FrugalTravelGuy: In the U.S., Marriott and Hilton hotels are running a special for their rewards programs this year. Marriott Rewards offers new members 1,000 extra bonus points for each of their first five stays in the remainder of 2008. "The Hilton Honors program gives you 1000 points after your second stay in 2008." [For more on loyalty programs, see Erik Torkells' recent post.]

Consumerist: So much for Fourth Amendment guarantees against unlawful search and seizure. A federal court has ruled that, when you re-enter the U.S., officers from Homeland Security can review the data on all of your computers, cell phones, and data devices without cause, and "that all collected data may be stored indefinitely."

Upgrade: Travel Better: In Europe, Hertz has begun to offer half-day car rentals, which can be a more affordable way to take day trips. (For example, you can spare overnight parking costs.)

[+] Enlarge photo

Sketch of downtown Whitney building as seen from the south (Courtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Cooper, Robertson & Partners)

The building, located in the Meatpacking District, will offer six floors and about 50,000 square feet of gallery space. Award-winning Italian architect Renzo Piano, based in Paris, is the designer—the New York Times said "the museum’s monumental exterior forms are conceived as a barrier against the area’s increasingly amusement-park atmosphere," a departure from his other works, including the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas.

[+] Enlarge photo

(Courtesy Contiki)

Contiki, a vacation-planning service specializing in travel for 18- to 35-year-olds, has a gift registry. You can post your dream trip, and your friends and family can log on to fund parts of it—including airfare and hotel(s).

More than 90 readers have commented on our recent blog post "Has the TSA stolen from you?" Many have had precious items vanish from checked luggage.

And many of you are demanding answers: How many victims are there? Who's to blame? And what can victims do?

We've posted the TSA's response here.

What about the perspective of the airline's baggage workers? What do they think about thefts from checked luggage?

I recently interviewed Scott T. Mueller, who worked his way up from baggage handler to manager of central baggage systems for Midwest Airlines (though the opinions he expresses are his own and not that airline's). He's the author of The Empty Carousel: A Consumer's Guide to Checked and Carry-on Luggage, and he also has a blog. He knows a lot about how to handle lost, pilfered, and damaged baggage claims.

I kind of hate to admit it, but I'm looking forward to the Sex and the City movie coming out later this month (mostly because I know I'll laugh, and too few movies make you laugh anymore). Our other magazine, Girlfriend Getaways, has a story in the current issue in which we asked women outside NYC's Magnolia Bakery a bunch of SATC-related questions (such as "Aidan or Big?"). Their answers are here.

But my favorite SATC question is from an online poll the magazine did, in which we asked which character you think most represents you, and which character your friends would say most represents you. The results are after the jump. The main point? People seem to relate to Miranda and Charlotte as much as to Carrie.