1. Underestimating Mother Nature.

Even if there’s no inclement weather canceling flights at the airport you’re departing from – flight cancellations always create an elaborate domino effect that can delay perfectly unrelated climates. Of course, this year no one was safe since Hell apparently froze over and snow even whitened Las Vegas and L.A. Arriving with plenty of time and knowing your options for wait lists and flight changes won’t always mean you’ll have trouble-free travel, but it’s the easiest way to help ensure you’ll get where you need to go.

2. Not Keeping the Kids Entertained.

What, you didn’t notice the tiny little punches at the back of your seat accompanied with “Are we there yet?”s and desperate cries to go home? Sure, not all kids are tough to travel with, but if you’ve got a full car or a long flight, you’ll be saving your sanity (not to mention all the people surrounding you) if you make sure to bring plenty of things to keep the kids entertained. There are a ton of easy solutions here: coloring books, crayons, books, etc. Thanks to technology, there are loads of even more effective tools, such as handheld DVD players, iPods, and the Nintendo DS. Now, if you’re lucky enough to be on an airline that provides it, wireless networking technology from D-Link allows air travelers to enjoy digEcor’s portable, lightweight in-flight entertainment players that provide passengers with a wide selection of movies, TV shows, music and games. With all of these gadgets, however, don’t forget to bring enough headphones and batteries to last you.

3. Not Understanding Travelers Insurance Needs or Coverage.

According to a new national survey on travel insurance issued by Trusted Choice and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”), millions of Americans have no clue when they might already be covered or where they might have gaps while on vacation. Big “I” President & CEO Robert A. Rusbuldt says ” The good news for consumers is that homeowner’s insurance policies may cover lost property, car insurance policies often offer the option of rental coverage, and medical policies usually have clauses that explain where and when you are covered”. Whether the airline loses luggage containing gifts, you’re renting a car, or doing daredevil ski jumps abroad, it’s going to help a great deal to know if you’re covered for any or all of these things beforehand.

So maybe while you’re toasting to the New Year (and then riding home with a designated driver – don’t make another huge travel mistake) you might make a resolution to help yourself and all other travelers in the coming seasons by learning from your, and everyone else’s, travel mistakes.

In his youth, James Crotty may have qualified for the title of Youngest Professional Photographer in Dayton, Ohio.

A shy personality in a family of extroverts, he discovered his passion once he started messing around with a 35mm camera his father brought home one day when he was 10 or 11.

“That was my escape,” he explained. “I was more quiet, introverted, and more aware of my natural surroundings. It was a way for me to go out and explore nature.”

At 13, Crotty had already set up a makeshift darkroom in the basement of his parents’ house, where he developed the photographs he regularly took around the neighborhood and in the wooded area around his home. When he entered high school, he got a job working in a local frame shop. He talked the owner into displaying some of his photographs, and people started buying them.

“I started seeing that people were responding to what I was creating,” he said.

And they’re still responding.

In September, the 42-year-old was awarded a first place prize in National Wildlife magazine’s annual Photography Awards, in the category of New Life. The winning picture, which was published in the December/January 2007 issue of National Wildlife, was an image he snapped in May of two young house finches nesting.

The photo was also chosen by Nature’s Best Photography magazine to be displayed as part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. through April.

Every spring, Crotty said, the birds build a nest beneath hanging ferns on his front porch. This year, after two days of anxious waiting, the eggs hatched. The hatchlings were less than an inch long in their early days, Crotty said.

“I started seeing if I could get a really good shot of them,” he explained. “I kind of know when the babies are the most photogenic, the most interesting. They’ve got this otherworldly look to them; they almost look like Muppets. It only lasts a few days because they grow so quickly.”

Crotty said he was able to get off a series of shots with his 35mm macro lens camera and hand-held flash before the birds ducked back into their nest, realizing they would not be fed.

“It’s just a very brief moment to get them up when they’re looking at the camera,” he said. “The whole look of new life–it’s just something I wanted to capture and I happened to hit it at just the right time.” The birds were only days old at the time the picture was taken, and the fact that their eyes had not yet opened would normally be detrimental to a wildlife photograph. But not in this case.

“Most wildlife photographs are so engaging when the photographer is able to capture the animal’s personality through their eyes,” Crotty explained. “What’s interesting about this one is their eyes are closed, but you can still tell so much about what these birds are going through and the challenge of being so new in the world and so dependent on their parents. [Their wide-open mouths] kind of take the place of the eyes.”

According to Crotty, the photo started generating buzz as soon as he posted it in an online album on Flickr. Complete strangers began marking it as one of their Favorites.

“That one just took off,” he said. “It got a huge amount of hits. I kind of had a hint that it was a good image when I saw that… It was an image that really caught people’s attention.”

After he came across the National Wildlife photography contest online in August, Crotty decided to enter the photograph on a whim.