Know + Go: For screening, questions work better than visual scan

Talking and screening

Airport screeners are wasting their time trying to spot bad guys simply by checking out the body language of travelers. That is the conclusion of a new report published by the American Psychological Association. It said security agents are 20 times more successful at spotting deception when they question passengers than when they simply look for physical clues.

Rental car satisfation is flat

You're not happier with your rental car experience, but you're not significantly unhappier either. That is one of the findings of a study that shows that after years of steady increases, rental car customer satisfaction has hit a plateau. Customer happiness declined by a point from 2013, according to J.D. Power's 2014 North American Rental Car Satisfaction study, released last week. On a 1,000-point scale, overall satisfaction ranked 774 for 2014.Los Angeles Times

Travel trend

Cruise Europe's Christmas markets

What started as a way to increase offseason occupancy has turned into a high-occupancy rush as river cruise lines capitalize on the Christmas markets of Europe. In November and December, most major river cruise companies offer Christmas market itineraries, calling at cities primarily on the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers when the popular holiday pop-ups are in full swing. For visitors, the trips offer a chance to drink mulled wine, do some holiday shopping and celebrate like the locals in a festive season. "Cruising is always the tapas of sightseeing, in that you can sample things in different places without committing to one," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com. "A Christmas market trip is tapas on gingerbread." Given their seasonal success, cruise lines have been expanding departures to holiday markets, which generally run from mid-November until a few days before Christmas. Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection reports that holiday-market bookings have doubled in the past five years.New York Times

Deal of the week

Shipboard promotion on 12 cruises

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is offering a promotion on 12 cruises that includes shipboard credits, free Wi-Fi and business-class airfares starting at $999 per person each way. For example, a seven-night cruise from Monte Carlo, Monaco, to Civitavecchia, Italy, aboard the Seven Seas Mariner departing June 4, with fares starting at $6,599 per person double, now offers a $400-per-suite shipboard credit, free Wi-Fi valued at about $210 per stateroom, and business-class flights from Washington Dulles to Nice, France, with return from Rome, for an additional $1,998 per person. The Why Choose deal must be booked by Dec. 31. Info: 1-844-473-4368; www.rssc.com.

Washington Post

Eat here now

Rustic and refined fare in Freedom, Maine

Freedom, Maine, population 719 at latest count, is where self-taught chef Erin French grew up, flipping burgers at her father's diner. After single motherhood forced her to drop out of college, she returned to the kitchen, opening a secret supper club in Belfast, 16 miles away. Her simple yet sophisticated fare quickly gained a following, and she opened her first restaurant there in 2011. A year and a half later, she lost it in a divorce. So she turned a vintage Airstream into a roving kitchen. One location was a beautifully renovated 19th-century grist mill in Freedom, which she knew was where she belonged. French's daily-changing menu reflects the freshest ingredients, many of them grown by her waitstaff. New York Times