Sorry! American Airlines is no longer gate checking big strollers!

Parents, the party is over...American Airlines will no longer gate check certain strollers beginning June 1, 2011.

Large joggers and non-collapsibles will now have to be checked at the ticket counter. So if you've got a little one in tow and want to roll them right up to the gate, you'll have to bring a collapsible or umbrella-style stroller that weighs under 20 pounds.

Thankfully there's no charge for checking strollers.

American isn't the first to slap families with this rule. United has a similar policy. But Delta, Alaska, and Southwest allow all strollers to be checked at the gate.

Photo: Teeny Manolo

New website magically puts together road-trip itineraries

So you want to go on a family road trip this summer. You're thinking Florida. You have two kids who will want to spend some time at an amusement park and you also hope to squeeze in a few days of hiking and getting out in nature. You'd like to stay a few nights in a hotel and then move onto the next locaion. You have seven days and a budget of $3500.

You could spend hours online doing research and planning, or you could simply let a new website called YourTour know what you want and then presto, it spits out an itinerary that includes recommended attractions, accommodations, and precise driving directions between destinations.

The site is brand-new and currently only puts together itineraries for Florida, Andorra, Spain, and France (where Best Western Hotels have partnered with Your Tour). But stay tuned because the site will be adding new destinations soon. Visit, yourtour.com.

Tips and tricks for saving on gas this summer

My family will be hitting the road this summer. We've mapped out a week-long trip through Montana that takes us from Missoula, down into the Bitterroot Valley, up to Helena, back down to Bozeman and then onto Billings. We'll be covering about 700 miles.

We hope to make this a budget trip--limiting ourselves to only $150 a day. Sound tight? Yes, especially with gas prices expected to go through the roof this summer.

How will we ever manage to meet our budget goal and keep our gas prices low? We'll follow many of the tips and tricks offered up in a recent New York Times article, "13 Ways to Save on Gas this Summer."

Here's a look at a few of the tips.

GET A GAS APP There are dozens of apps that help users find cheap gas while on the road. GasBuddy.com, offers one of the more comprehensive for iPhone and Android users, with a clean design and estimated drive times to gas stations in your vicinity. Just tap “Find Gas Near Me” or search by city or ZIP code for a list of gas stations sorted by price. You can click Midgrade, Premium or Diesel for those prices. Selecting Map View displays the stations on a map. Another option is AAA’s free TripTik Mobile app for the iPhone, which allows users to search prices for their preferred grade of gasoline.

STAY OUT OF TRAFFIC Google Maps, which comes preinstalled on many smartphones or is available for download, offers an at-a-glance display of road conditions in major cities to help you find the best route around congestion so you don’t burn up extra fuel in stop-and-go traffic. Color-coded lines correspond to the intensity of traffic: green for no traffic jams, yellow for medium congestion, red for heavy congestion, and red-and-black for stop-and-go. Google Maps Navigation, offered through Google Maps for Android, has recently been updated to offer alternate routes to avoid tie-ups.

PAY LESS FOR YOUR RENTAL CAR A cheaper rental will help offset the cost of gas. Check out the booking site Autoslash.com, which searches the Web for discount coupons on car rentals and applies them after you book. It then continually checks for lower rates and coupons up until your trip date, and automatically applies any discounts it finds. Willing to gamble? Consider Web sites like Priceline.com and Hotwire.com, which offer deep discounts to travelers willing to be locked into a preset price before learning what company they’ll be renting from.

For all 13 tips

Do you feel guilty about leaving the kids behind?

Two years ago my husband and I left our kids--ages 4 and 6 at the time--with the grandparents and hopped on a plane for Barcelona. We stayed out until 2 a.m. every night and slept in until 2 p.m. We walked miles upon miles, exploring the Spanish city, and we spent hours in museums. Most importantly, we reconnected as a couple, reminiscing about old times over pitchers of sangria.

We were away from our kids for five days and while I missed them, I didn't feel a tinge of guilt. We needed that trip.

Turns out that I'm not alone. According to a recent survey by Orbitz, 71% of women do not feel guilty about taking a summer vacation without their kids. This number was even higher than the men polled, though 67% of men would also take that summer trip kid-free sans guilt.

Have you left your kids behind? Did you feel guilty?

Best Western summer promotion

To kick the summer travel season into gear, Best Western is introducing a special promotion. Now through June 5, Best Western Rewards members who register for the promotion and stay with Best Western three separate times will earn a $50 USD Best Western Travel Card, which can be used like cash at any of the chain’s 4,000 global hotels until November 1, 2011.

And there's more: Best Western Rewards members who qualify for the promotion and stay with at least two separate descriptor hotels (BEST WESTERN and/or BEST WESTERN PLUS, and/or BEST WESTERN PREMIER), will be automatically entered in the brand’s biggest-ever points giveaway and one of the biggest-ever one-time points prize giveaways by any hotel company: The grand prize is 6.5 million Best Western Rewards points – the equivalent of more than a year of free hotel stays. Five second-place winners will receive a $650 Best Western Travel Card. All who register for the promotion will be entered into a daily drawing for a $65 Best Western Travel Card.

Register for the promotion at www.bestwestern.com/jump.

What's your favorite Best Western?

As the family travel spokesperson for Best Western, I've stayed at dozens of properties all over the country--and most of the time I have my kids in tow.

My children have become so familiar with the brand that they scream out, "Best Western!" every time we pass a hotel while driving.

And on our recent trip to Florida it became apparent that they're becoming hotel connoisseurs. As they were walking from a hotel to the parking lot, I eavesdropped on a conversation in which they were discussing which Best Westerns were their favorites. It was hilarious because they were comparing how many waffle makers various properties had available at breakfast and which hotels had hot tubs and which ones had fast elevators.

Later back at the hotel, I asked them to re-create that conversation and I videotaped it. The end result feels a little forced and my children certainly aren't professional actors but I still think it turned out pretty cute.