Travel Globe

President Obama likes Martha’s Vineyard, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney favors Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, and both Vice President Joe Biden and Romney's running mate Paul Ryan recently took a little time off.

Hey, if vacations are good for the candidates for the highest offices in the land, isn’t it about time for a candidate to stand up and do something for vacations?

Orbitz.com wants you to be that candidate. Declaring that vacations are 100 percent awesome, yet concerned that only 57 percent of Americans take all of their vacation time, the online travel company has announced that it is seeking a Vacation Party candidate who will “cut the vacation deficit, provide universal access to beachfront views and fill hotel rooms from sea to shining sea.”

Think you’ve got what it takes to snag the nomination? You don’t have to hit the campaign trail, participate in debates or kiss a single baby. Instead, would-be nominees will need to make a 60-second video touting their worthiness and upload it to the campaign’s Facebook page, aka Orbitz Vacation Party headquarters, by Aug. 27.

The winner, who will be chosen from a short list of three finalists and determined by public voting between Sept. 6–19, will be announced on or around Sept. 25 and receive $25,000 in free travel.

It may not be super PAC money, but since neither Karl Rove nor Jeffrey Katzenberg is likely to fork over any cash for the cause, it’ll have to do.

In the meantime, the field is already getting crowded. According to campaign spokesperson Marita Hudson, nearly 125 contenders have already submitted their clips. Presumably, they’re pleasantly devoid of the mud-slinging that typifies the current crop of campaign ads, although we suspect some sand will get flung.

Obviously, the campaign is tongue-in-cheek, although it does tap into the idea that Americans get less vacation than their counterparts in other developed countries and don’t even take the days they’re entitled to.

Last year, for example, American workers received an average of 14 vacation days, according to an annual survey conducted by Expedia.com, down from 15 the year before. Of those, they took 12, a far cry from the 25 to 30 days that many Europeans get and take.

Of course, travel companies releasing statistics that fit their corporate agenda is just another form of lobbying, and political spin has probably been a fact of life since the plebeians and patricians went at it in ancient Rome.

As for the Orbitz campaign, the company has created merchandise — United We Tan water bottles and Give Me Vacation or Give Me Death (Preferably Vacation) bumper stickers — and gathered nearly 13,000 signatures on a Take Back Vacation pledge.

Could this be the unifying issue that puts an end to the partisan bickering and name-calling that constitutes political discourse today? Despite high unemployment and a rocky recovery, the folks at Orbitz clearly think so.

“With numerous studies documenting the physical and mental health benefits of vacation, we believe most companies are like Orbitz and want employees to take their vacations to rejuvenate,” said Hudson. “That said, people have to feel comfortable with being away from the office and need to assess their individual situations.”

Personally, we’d settle for a permanent vacation from the endless stream of political ads those other candidates have in store for us.

Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him on Twitter.

More stories you might like:

• New travel guides target convention cities
• World's craziest waterslides
• Jet-skier breaches $100 million security system at JFK

NEW YORK — Transportation Security Administration officers at Boston's Logan International Airport are alleging that a program intended to help flag possible terrorists based on passengers' mannerisms has led to rampant racial profiling, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The New York Times reported on its website that in interviews and internal complaints it has obtained, more than 30 officers involved in the "behavior detection" program at Logan contend that the operation targets not only Middle Easterners, but also passengers who fit certain profiles — such as Hispanics traveling to Miami, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward.

The TSA told the newspaper on Friday that it is investigating the officers' claims. At a meeting last month with the agency, officers provided written complaints, some of them anonymous, from 32 officers.

The officers said their co-workers were increasingly targeting minorities, believing the stops would lead to the discovery of drugs, outstanding arrest warrants and immigration problems, in response to pressure from managers who wanted high numbers of stops, searches and criminal referrals, The Times reported.

"The behavior detection program is no longer a behavior-based program, but it is a racial profiling program," one officer wrote in an anonymous complaint The Times obtained.

The program, which has been billed as a model for other airports across the country, is intended to allow officers to stop, search and question passengers who seem suspicious. Specially trained "assessors" observe security lines for unusual activity and speak individually with each passenger, looking for inconsistencies in the passenger's responses to questions and behavior such as avoiding eye contact, fidgeting or sweating.

Passengers considered suspicious can be taken aside for more intensive questioning.

At least one passenger has filed a formal complaint with the TSA. Kenneth Boatner, a black psychologist and educational consultant who was traveling to Atlanta on business last month, said he was detained for nearly half an hour as agents examined his belongings, including his checkbook and his patients' clinical notes.

In an interview with The Times, Boatner said he felt humiliated, and that the officers never explained why they were singling him out, but he suspected it was because of his race and attire. He was wearing sweat pants, a white T-shirt and high-top sneakers.

"I had never been subjected to anything like that," Boatner said.

The TSA said the program at Logan "in no way encourages or tolerates profiling," and that passengers cannot be subjected to behavior assessments based on their nationality, race, ethnicity or religion.

"If any of these claims prove accurate, we will take immediate and decisive action to ensure there are consequences to such activity," the agency said in a statement.

The TSA said it did not compile information on passengers' race or ethnicity and could not provide a breakdown of passengers who may have been stopped on either basis through the program.

A jet-skier who became stranded in Jamaica Bay easily breached the security system at John F. Kennedy International Airport by walking undetected through two runways and into a terminal.      

Daniel Castillo of Queens swam to shore and then walked past motion sensors and closed-circuit cameras of the airport's state-of-the art Perimeter Intrusion Detection System.

Read the original story on NBCNewYork.

The $100 million system is meant to safeguard against terrorists.      

Castillo climbed an eight-foot-tall perimeter fence and made his way to Terminal 3, according to The New York Post. He approached a Delta Air Lines worker, who alerted authorities, the paper said.    

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is investigating. The agency says it has increased patrols on the ground and in the water and plans to meet with the security system's maker this week.      

"We have called for an expedited review of the incident and a complete investigation to determine how Raytheon's perimeter intrusion detection system -- which exceeds federal requirements -- could be improved," the Port Authority said in a statement. "Our goal is to keep the region's airports safe and secure at all times."

Castillo was charged with criminal trespass. Information on whether or not he had attorney wasn't available.    

This story originally appeared on NBCNewYork.

More stories you might like:

• As Olympics wind down, medal-worthy travel mishaps abound
• Flier claims Virgin Australia policy made him feel like a pedophile
• Veterans may get unclaimed clothing left at airport checkpoints