The deal to buy the Travel Channel makes perfect sense as the network seems to be as much about food as travel anyway.

Scripps To Buy Big Stake In Travel Channel

Scripps Networks Interactive has entered into an agreement to buy a majority stake in the Travel Channel from Cox Communications. The deal is valued at a pricey $975 million.

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Scripps will form a new programming joint venture for Travel, which will also include the Food Network, DIY Network and HGTV. Scripps will control 65% of the new venture, and Cox will control 35%.

San Jose mom and cranky 2-year-old kicked off Southwest flight

Pamela Root’s 2-year-old son was screaming for the Southwest Airlines plane to “Go! Plane! Go!”

“I want Daddy!” Adam shouted. Over and over again.

Root and her son, Adam, were on their way home to San Jose when they were kicked off Monday’s Southwest Flight 637.

Southwest apologizes, reimburses San Jose mom tossed from a flight with cranky 2-year-old

But Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis told the Mercury News the airline did not regret its decision to yank Pamela Root and her son, Adam, off the plane — which flight attendants made in the interests of safety, she said — just the inconvenience it caused the family.

OK, I don’t even have young kids but I love a good water slide!

The latest gee-whiz attraction on a cruise ship: a ‘water coaster’

Disney Cruise Line is upping the ante in the battle for family cruisers today by announcing plans for a high-speed flume ride on its next ship, the Disney Dream.

The 765-foot-long attraction, to be called AquaDuck, is like nothing ever before seen on a cruise ship. It will wind around a good portion of the top deck of the 1,250-cabin vessel, currently under construction at a shipyard in Germany and scheduled to debut in January 2011.

It is 5x larger than the Titanic but ship builders were very careful not to use the phrase “unsinkable”.

World’s largest cruise ship sails for US port

It’s five times larger than the Titanic, has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, a golf course and a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater. The world’s largest cruise ship is finally finished and Friday it began gliding toward its home port in Florida.

The Oasis of the Seas will meet its first obstacle Saturday when exits the Baltic Sea and must squeeze under the Great Belt Bridge, which is just 1 foot taller than the ship — even after its telescopic smokestacks are lowered.

Other articles I liked this week:

• How to Make Money While Travelling