Fare

We have a cruise to Europe planned for October of this year. I haven't booked air travel yet because I want to get the lowest rate possible. When is the best time to do so? My wife thinks it should be as soon as possible. The time to buy an airline ticket is like the time to buy an antique, and that is usually right now (if it's what you want and the price seems reasonable) because it might not be there when you go back. I can't tell you the number of times I've waited to see if the fare would drop, only to regret it later.

The $215 round trip fare to Atlanta looks good. You call the airline but discover that seats are no longer available at that price. You can buy a ticket for $274. Or you might call back next week and find the $215 fare available after all.Confused? Blame it on technology -- and the airlines' urgency to squeeze the most money out of each flight.On thousands of flights every day, computers constantly crunch data to help carriers figure out how many tickets to sell at what price and how many to overbook.

Harford Transit LINK, will be providing a free shuttle bus service for the Veterans Day event at the Liriodendron Mansion, 502 West Gordon Street, Bel Air, on Saturday. The shuttle service will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. All Harford Transit LINK buses are ADA compliant (wheelchair accessible) to make sure everyone is transported safely and comfortably, according to a county press release. Passengers can board at the lower lot of the Liriodendron Mansion and the buses will take them directly to the building.

A mere 35 percent fare box recovery is mandated for the Baltimore bus and light rail systems and the Metro subway. Maryland's 5,000-plus miles of state highways recover nothing from users. Yet the Maryland Transportation Authority demands that users of the state's toll facilities pay 100 percent of their costs through tolls alone. We pay 23.5 cents on every gallon of gasoline pumped into our vehicles at Maryland gas stations. That contribution to Maryland's Transportation Trust Fund should be used to benefit users of Maryland's toll facilities equally with those who use the state's roads and rapid transit.

Fares, times and other things you should know about our four ways to get to Manhattan:PLANES ... What: One-hour Southwest Airlines "no-frills" shuttle from BWI to MacArthur Airport in Islip, Long Island, then a train into Manhattan. Cost: $102 round-trip if returning the same day. If you stay overnight, the fare is $88. Fares include taxes. (By comparison, TWA flies from BWI to LaGuardia for $188; Delta flies from Washington National to LaGuardia for $170.) Conditions: $102 fare requires 14-day advance purchase; $88 fare requires seven-day advance purchase.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court has said that Congress cannot control what is on the Internet -- not even in the lofty pretense of protecting our children from smut. Yet we have Congress dictating what is a proper warning about the content of the television programs watched on regular networks every day.Threatening harsh legislation, some lawmakers have browbeaten TV programmers into accepting a system of ''stronger advisories'' to inform parents when a program contains sex, violence or crude language.

I ARRIVED HOME from an overseas trip this week to learn of the death of my friend, the faithful cabdriver Marc Baladi, who perished in the line of driving duty in the fiery gasoline tanker truck accident on Interstate 95. For 20 years, he was one of my essential city teachers, a person whose windshield observations about Baltimore were squarely on the mark. He saw the city through eyes that wisely knew that things were not always what they seemed to be. What I found so appealing was his kindness to his patrons and his happy acceptance of Baltimore, good and bad. He could tell me which Inner Harbor restaurants were favored by the drug kingpins.

As the holidays and harsh winter weather approach, this is often the time of year when families get drawn into a difficult decision - is it time mom or dad stopped driving? This can be one of the more vexing ordeals a son or daughter with an aging parent can face. It's not a matter to be taken lightly. Seniors age 80 and older have the highest rate of fatal crashes per mile driven of any group, including teens, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The death of a Johns Hopkins University bicyclist nearly two years ago - killed by an octogenarian driver turning into a marked bike lane on University Parkway - underscored the potential risks involved.

The state has unveiled plans to eliminate or reduce service on 17 of the Baltimore area's 62 bus lines, the deepest cutback in service ever proposed by the Mass Transit Administration.The downsizing would amount to a 5 percent reduction in daily mileage for the MTA buses and would save the state an estimated $4 million annually in salaries and operating costs.The reductions will generally hurt residents in the suburban counties the most and city dwellers the least. The city routes are simply busier than the suburban bus lines and their costs are easier to justify, said Harvey Zelefsky, the agency's manager of service planning.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.