Real deal: travel shorts

No free ride. Really? Megabus.com wants to refute the old adage by giving away 100,000 seats for travel between Jan. 16 and March 11. Megabus.com, which offers bus trips between Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago and 10 Midwestern points beyond, such as Ann Arbor, Mich., and Indianapolis, will hand out the freebies to the first takers. The number of free seats per route varies from one to 20; the 100,000 will be split between Megabus.com's Midwest and West Coast routes. Travelers can book -- and vie for the free spots -- only 45 days out from the day of travel. Go to the website early (as early as 12:01 a.m.), select the trip you'd like, and type in the promotion code WIN2008. The company touts the give-away as a way to reduce carbon emissions (fewer cars on the road). I see it as the best price break around.

KERRI WESTENBERG

Sun Country gets thumbs up Sun Country Airlines has been ranked the No. 1 airline in customer satisfaction by Market Metrix Hospitality Index, a provider of customer and employee feedback for the hospitality industry. The results of the survey were based on 35,000 customer interviews conducted in the past quarter. Sun Country also was ranked as one of the top 10 domestic airlines by Travel+Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler for the second consecutive year. The Twin Cities-based airline has increased frequency to such destinations as New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco and will start service to West Palm Beach, Fla., and Tucson, Ariz., this month (www.suncountry.com).

BUSINESS WIRE

Libya requires translation Tourists visiting Libya have been turned away recently as the nation suddenly demanded that passport details be translated into Arabic by government-approved translators. Ships stopping in Tripoli last month were ordered out of Libyan waters. Passengers on flights to Libya are being denied boarding if they do not have the required translation. Not only were cruise lines not informed in advance, but "Libyan embassies and consulates in Europe were not immediately informed," according to a statement by Costa Cruises, one of a number of lines with stops in Tripoli. Libya does not maintain an embassy in the United States. Personnel at the Libyan Interest Section in Washington referred the Washington Post to its embassy in Ottawa, which is formally called the People's Bureau of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (www.libya-canada.org, 1-613-216-0136).

WASHINGTON POST

Best travel tip is to get lost Editor Jason Wilson notes in the foreword of "The Best American Travel Writing 2007" (Houghton Mifflin, $14) that each story derives from a particular point of view and a singular experience: "No one could duplicate these journeys." In the introduction, guest editor Susan Orlean offers a personal -- and humorous -- story about the joys and agonies of travel (she fell madly in love with a tour guide in Bhutan who ultimately ditched her for a local girl). The point, she reminds us, is that the excitement and romance of travel can do strange things to you. What makes travel so seductive, she suggests, is "the creation of a new buoyant version of yourself. ... " Thus, travel is not about finding something, but about getting lost. There's the late David Halberstam on Saigon and Andrew Solomon on Libya. Ann Patchett discusses staying at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles to work in solitude. The funniest piece is by Jonathan Stern, who parodies the excesses of guidebook writing by offering a guide to his apartment.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Dinner at the Swedish moose Promoters of two Swedish counties 540 miles north of Stockholm are pinning their tourism hopes on a gargantuan wooden moose. When completed in 2009, the 148-foot-tall, 155-foot long moose will have a restaurant in its belly, as well as a concert hall, conference rooms and a shop, according to Thorbjorn Holmlund, project coordinator.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Not to be paranoid, but ... Think about bringing a carbon monoxide detector on your next trip, especially if you're headed to a cozy cabin with a fireplace. The scentless gas is called the "silent killer."

KERRI WESTENBERG