To the second problem in the title, I believe that I recently have been associating the loading slowness with the amount of activity in the banner ads at the top and the right margin. Not the simple jerky worms, birds or gyrating figures. But the more it's like a full-blown television commercial, the more going on per page, and the more often it changes (e.g., different commercials page to page) the longer the reload of content here in the center. I mention it now because I now don't believe it's my imagination.

I would add that it's the case in other websites I use, as well -- particularly TripAdvisor. Maybe it has to do with the nature of travel advertisement, as compared with, say, script, or mobile phones that move up into your face, or gyrating mortgage people...