Instead of the same old pack of golf balls or #1 Dad mug, this year let dad know you appreciate him passing on his genes by giving him the chance to ride alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., have cocktails with Richard Branson, or score a guitar signed by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.

These are just a few of the more than 300 experiences that have hit the auction block over at CharityBuzz with dad in mind. Packages range from a Seth Rogan autographed DVD collection estimated at $100, to the chance to name a Virgin Atlantic A330 Aircraft estimated at $50,000. ("Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the Flying Daddio Backyard BBQ King...")

And besides giving dad a truly unique gift he'll remember forever, all proceeds benefit organizations including the Robin Hood Foundation, New York Foundling, Mercy College, Liberty Hill Foundation, Musician on Call, Citymeals on Wheels, Ten O’Clock Classics, and dozens of others.

And in case the packages above won't get your dad's blood pumping, here are a few more to consider:

• Make dad's acting debut with a walk on role in NBC’s Community
• Be the first to name a Virgin A330 Aircraft
• Ride along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for three heart-racing laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway
• A private lesson and lunch with PGA Tour Pro ...There's more

Sometimes you just don't have the time (or funds), to take a vacation. But that doesn't mean your face can't get a little R & R...

That's right. Through the miracle of modern computer technology, Hotels.com has made it possible for your face to party like a rock star in your choice of Vegas, New York or Paris with their new interactive site TripYourFace.com. Just upload a pic of you and a few friends, and not only do your faces get to jet around the world, they get to hang with the likes of Dennis Rodman and Vanilla Ice. Ever partied with Rodman or Vanilla Ice? Your face may not make it back in one piece...

So to celebrate your face's new found quasi-celebrity, I'm giving you a chance to win some prizes. I'm going to give 3 winners a Flip cam, to record your own vacation debauchery, and one of you will win the grand prize of a 2-night stay for you and a friend at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, and a $100 pre-paid debit card to help cover the bar tab. (Airfare and other transportation are not included. Read the other legal stuff at the end of this post.)

Just send me a tweet @TheBachelorGuy, and tell me why your face should get the trip to the Trop, and include the hashtag #TripYourFace, and the folks at TripYourFace.com and I will pick the winners on this Friday, May 27th.

In the meantime, your new best friend, Vanilla Ice, wants you to check out his hook while his DJ revolves it...


...There's more

Got some vacation time coming up? A bachelor party that needs to be epic? Or just for adventure in a place that doesn't have you on a watch list? AskMen has you covered. They did the research and leg work (while racking up some serious frequent flier miles), to bring you their list of the Top 29 Cities to Visit in 2011.

What constitutes a Top City? They looked for the ones with things like the most sunshine hours, the most beautiful women, the best martinis (as chosen by the Next Iron Chef judge Simon Majumdar), "explorability," sports, culture, and nightlife, and then they ranked them all.

And with (my town) Miami at Number 3, Buenos Aires at number 2 and Barcelona taking the top spot at Number 1,it looks like having a little Latin flair (along with a endless supply of beautiful women), helps a city's visit-ability. My hometown, New York City, last year's "Top City to Live," came in at Number 4, while London rounded out the Top 5.

Other interesting city rankings include Bangkok (#9) just nudging Las Vegas (#10), Seoul, South Korea beating them both to come in at #6 (read why), and Tel-Aviv scoring the #13 spot.

To see the entire list, head over to AskMen.com

A lot of us may be traveling during the holidays, and considering there's roughly 50,000 planes in the air over the US every single day, that means a lot of airport sitting during delays, airport sleeping during cancellations, and stressing during traffic delays that make you want to head butt a basket of kittens.

But it isn't all mechanical problems and outrageous baggage fees. Here are a couple of videos to remind you how amazing and beautiful flight can be. (Yeah, I know, it's a stretch to keep that in mind while some TSA agent gropes your junk looking for weapons of mass destruction, but go with it.)

The first vid, "Paths of Flight" is from GE Aviation designs, and they wanted to show us the "intricate choreography" of take offs and landings. So they spent 24 hours doing time-lapse video at different airports of 63 different planes. Unbelievable how precise the flight paths are.



The next video is from "data visualization artist" Aaron Koblin. He created it (and the image above), by taking data from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and ...There's more

In light of the TSA turning into the "Touchy Squeezy Administration" here are 14 new slogans promoting the TSA's "enhanced" screening procedures. My personal favorite? "It's not a grope. It's a Freedom Pat." Travel safe America!

It's Spring Break time again, when hordes of people - college student or not - leave the confines of their desks, dorm rooms and cubicles, to fly off to someplace warm where they can relax, rehabilitate and rejuvenate. (Read: get shitfaced and wake up next to some chick in a Party Naked t-shirt with remnants of a strawberry daquiri in her hair.)

And part of the getaway experience is the hotel. Some like to go cheap, because they'll be spending little time in the room... some prefer top-shelf, and want all the pampering they can get.

No matter which side of the rent-a-room spectrum you fall on, you've probably notice the increasing habit hotels have had lately of piling on extra charges. Like airlines charging low rates, then wallet-raping you on baggage charges and $5 "snacks" on cross country flights, hotels have been getting pretty devious in finding little ways to squeeze more and more money out of you.

Whether it be cut backs in services, fewer soaps and shampoos in rooms, or $9 bottles of water on the nightstand, here are 14 of the most irritating tricks hotels use to cut costs:

1. We Appreciate Your Call
Payroll is one of any hotel's top three expenses. So many have turned to automation, replacing the face-to-face contact of someone who can actually help you. While there are many drawbacks to us as guests, there are some benefits: For example, you may receive a better rate if you reserve and pay for your room online.

2. Disappearing Staff
It's not just bell boys, doormen and concierges that have disappeared. Wonder why check-in lines are so long? That's because hotels have made the biggest cuts in behind-the-scenes staff, forcing clerks to multitask instead of focusing on guests. The result is remaining employees may feel devalued and constantly threatened with loss of their jobs, leading to a reduction in motivation, commitment and productivity. BTW: Another disappearing position is the housekeeping inspector, who ensures each room is clean before a new guest arrives.

3. Sweat the Small Stuff
No more newspapers at your door. Mini bars are now filled with peanuts instead of cashews. And you can entirely forget about free coffee. More pools, whirlpools and saunas are closed... or they charge a fee for their use. Exercise rooms have poorly maintained equipment or don't exist at all. When they do exist, make sure you ...There's more

You like tigers, babies, losing teeth, hot women, tasers, and best of all, friendship?

Well Harrah's in Las Vegas wants to give you all these things and more with their Sin City Giveaway, a promotion hyping the hysterical new comedy, "The Hangover".

Here's a chance for you and three friends to win a 3-night/4-day "Hangover" vacation package including round trip airfare to Vegas, transportation to and from the airport, a $150 food and beverage credit redeemable at any restaurant throughout Caesars Palace and two Roman Ritual passes to Qua Bath Spas. All you need to do to enter is become a Facebook fan or follow Caesars Palace on Twitter. To win, post or write about Caesars Palace or the movie, "The Hangover" on your own personal pages.

If you don't win, you can still book one of Caesar's "Hangover Packages" (yeah, they're milking this one big time), through Aug 1, 2009. Surf over to www.caesarspalace.com for details.

Now, if you end up winning the trip, let me give you a few pieces of sage advice: the slots at the Sahara are prudish bitches, it most assuredly is not her first night working at the strip club, and never, ever trust a taxi driver named Julio who speaks with a Russian accent.

We've said it a million times, a million ways: The traveling process sucks. I can’t think of one redeeming quality when it comes to air travel and it always culminates in the general kick-in-the-nuts known as the security-screening checkpoint. Here’s the picture; roller bag at your side, shoes untied but still on, your belt and liquids bag in one hand and your laptop under your arm. Will I get offered a choice of oral or anal exam because of the iPod in my briefcase? Is grandma going to cause an international incident with her metal hip? Serenity now. Serenity now.

Aerovation®, a leader in the manufacture of checkpoint-friendly laptop bags, has taken our problems to heart. Their team of designers and mobile device enclosure engineers (do they have a school for that?), has come up with a pair of products that are sure to have road warriors weeping with joy: the Aerovation CPF® Laptop Bag and CPF® Trolley Bag.

The Aerovation CPF® Laptop Bag is a padded laptop carrier that provides two separate compartments – one for a laptop, and the other to house the laptop accessories. The two compartments are secured together by Velcro strips and fold open to lie flat on the X-ray conveyer belt without taking the laptop out of the bag.

Once the bag has wandered its way through x-ray land, you are free to pick it up at the other end and get the hell outta Dodge. And since the bag is TSA approved, the screeners have been trained to recognize it. (Which in itself is a miracle.) This means fewer, “Is this your bag?” moments. I don’t know ...There's more

I'll be in Laguna Beach until Wednesday, test driving the new Mazda 3. So I'll be a little light on the posts. (And that pic above is the hotel they're putting me up in, so I'm thinking there's gonna be a few other things I'll be doing than sitting in my room writing posts.)

But I will be tweeting regularly. So if you're not already, follow me at twitter.com/thebachelorguy. It aint Shaq's feed, but I'll try to keep it interesting.

St. Patrick's Day is only a couple of weeks away, and besides the excuse to get 'faced on a Tuesday, that means parades with cops in kilts, rivers of green beer, hot chicks dressed as leprechauns, and the 11th Annual Luck of The Irish St. Patrick's Pub Crawl in New York City.

Taking place over the three days and nights of March 14th, March 15th and March 17th, spanning five miles of city streets, with over 100 bars and pubs pouring drinks non-stop, the pub crawl is your opportunity to celebrate the luck of the Irish with 4000 of your closest - and drunkest - friends.

Tickets run $20 for single day tickets, but you can get your green drink on all three days for just $30. Your ticket gets you $1 Bud Lights, $2 well drinks and 2-for-1 Jameson shots. (And unlimited access to drunk chicks with shamrocks painted on their cheeks, wearing "Kiss Me I'm Irish" tees.)

You can get info and buy tix at www.saintpattys.com. Just don't tell your liver.