Travel Briefs

The Lisboa Card allows free unlimited travel in Lisbon, Portugal, on Carris buses, trolleys and funiculars, the metro and the CP train lines Rossio-Sintra-Oriente and Cais do Sodré-Cascais. Cardholders also receive free admission at 25 museums and historic buildings plus 10%-50% discounts at some 40 restaurants and shops.

Available at many locations, including rail stations and the Lisbon airport, the card comes in one-, 2- and 3-day increments and costs €15-€32 (near $20-$43) adult or €8-€16 ($11-$21) child. Phone +351 218 4 50 660, www.askmelisboa.com.

People with phones that run Nokia Maps now can download Lonely Planet guides directly to their phone.

From inside Nokia Maps 2.0, select “Extras,” “Guides” and then “Download more Guides” to browse the catalog of city guides. If you’re already in your target country, local guides will appear in the list. If not, click on “Options” and “More Destinations” to browse the 56 countries for which guides are available.

Example — the Berlin guide includes the locations of embassies and consulates as well as 46 eateries, 59 hotels, 34 shops and 44 sights. These points of interest can...

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The opening date for Shanghai Disney Resort (www.shanghaidisneyresort.com.cn), initially set for December 2015, has been pushed back to spring 2016. 

The resort will include a traditional Disney theme park (at the center of which will be the largest Storybook Castle of any of their parks) with Disneyland-style rides, two themed hotels and a 495,000-square-foot shopping-and-dining complex called Disneytown.

As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 38 destinations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, El Salvador, Eritrea, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Kenya, North Korea, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.

For details, call the State Department at 202/647-5225 or visit www.travel.state....

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Visit www.cruiselinehistory.com or www.cruisingthepast.com to examine the history of cruise lines, cruise ships and steamships.

Articles, pictures and video clips provide anecdotes of some of the great liners and include “Celebrities at Sea” and “Ships in the Movies.” There also are reviews of current cruise lines and new ships, with candid recommendations by the website editors.

Members of AirAsia’s “BIGshot” frequent-flyer program can purchase an ASEAN Pass for MYR499 (near $138) or an ASEAN Pass + for MYR888.

Each pass has a value in “credits,” 10 for the ASEAN Pass, 20 for the ASEAN Pass +. For flights to any AirAsia destination in the 10-country ASEAN region (which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), each route costs from one to five credits.

ASEAN Passes are good for one year from the time of purchase, but, once activated, the points must be used in 30 days for the ASEAN...

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Head back to the luggage store. Continental Airlines on Nov. 1 changed the size restriction for passenger carry-on bags from 51 linear inches down to 45 (22"x14"x9") on flights from virtually all locations. New “sizing” bins have been installed at domestic check-in counters.

This brings Continental in line with American Airlines, Delta and Northwest, which recently also reduced the accepted size of carry-on baggage. The 45-inch size is also the current standard size for most European airlines.

Carry-ons that exceed the size limit must be checked. Continental charges $15 for...

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In Japan, Christmastime has some Western-style decorations, with many cities displaying elaborate light shows and tree decorations, but many Japanese celebrate Christmas on the 24th rather than the 25th.

For young couples, Dec. 24 is the most romantic day of the year, while many families go to Kentucky Fried Chicken for their dinner and later have a Christmas cake that can cost $20 or more.

New Year’s Eve is rather quiet, with no big fireworks celebrations or crazy parties.

On the first three days of the new year, most people go to a temple or shrine to witness a...

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