Travel Briefs

January 2008 issue

Inspect hotels from home

The website www.TVTrips.com offers video tours of many hotels in Europe. On city maps, visitors to the site can click on a numbered hotel and a video pops up showing the surrounding area, the hotel’s public areas and each class of room. Sample prices are listed.

July 2008 issue

Laos highway

The last link on a cross-border road system leading from Singapore to Beijing, a new all-weather highway, Route 3, opened in Laos in March 2008 between China’s Yunnan province and northern Thailand. The previous highway was closed for four months each year during the rainy season.

May 2008 issue

Augustus’ palace

After decades of restoration, the garden and some of the public spaces of Emperor Augustus’ palace on Palatine Hill in Rome, Italy, have reopened to the public. The 2,000-year-old palace is next to the House of Livia, built for Augustus’ wife. (Inquire about times of tours visiting the garden and receiving hall.)

Open 8:30-4:30 (depending on season). Palatine Hill tickets cost €10 ($15) for same-day admission to the palace, Colosseum and Roman Forum (entry to which as of March 10 is no longer free). The ticket center is at the Largo Romolo e Remo. Phone 06-39967700. 

September 2008 issue

Changing Places, UK

Twenty-one toilets in the U.K. with enough space for disabled people and their caregivers, and with the right equipment, including a height-adjustable changing bench and a hoist, are shown on a map produced by the Changing Places Consortium.

Visit www.changing-places.org/map.asp for news of the campaign and to ask questions and exchange ideas. Call 0808 808 1111 (Mencap), www.mencap.org.uk.

August 2008 issue

Catch Mini Israel

El Al has partnered with Mini Israel, a park near Latrun with scale models of over 360 tourist attractions in Israel, to offer airport check-in, security checks and luggage transfer to passengers who wish to visit the park before departing Ben Guryon airport. Visitors can see the park and arrive at the airport up to 55 minutes before takeoff.

The service costs $40 each for two people or $65 for a single, not including airport transfers, or $110 and $185, respectively, with airport transfers. It’s available 7-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 7 a.m.-noon Friday. Contact Mini Israel (phone...

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October 2009 issue

London art fair

Featuring Old Master paintings and antique ceramics, jewelry and furniture and more on sale from over 260 individual galleries, the Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair (Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London SW5 9TA, UK; phone +44 0 20 7370 8211, fax 8221, www.olympiaartsinternational.com) will be held in June 2010. 

Tickets cost, on June 4 (preview day), £80 and on June 5-13, £10 single or £18 per couple in advance or £14 single or £22 per couple at the door. Open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (till 9 p.m. June 9).

January 2009 issue

Clear Customs faster

US Customs & Border Protection has added more airports to the Global Entry program for travelers coming back into the US. Airports with kiosks that offer registered members a speedier alternative to the passport control lines include Miami Int’l, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, George Bush (Houston), Washington Dulles, JFK-New York, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles.

A Global Entry member can go to a kiosk, insert his passport and have his fingerprints scanned. The kiosk will check the information, ask standard Customs declaration questions on a touch-screen and issue a receipt to be...

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July 2009 issue

Singles and OAT/GCT

The single supplement now will be waived or offered at 50% off on all land trips and some river cruises of Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/493-6824, www.oattravel.com) and its sister company, Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA; 800/959-0405, www.gct.com).

There also are two new services to assist single travelers: 1) a free roommate-matching service, with the single supplement waived if the company fails to find an appropriate match, and 2) a “Travel Companions” board on the GCT and OAT websites. Travelers can create a profile and search for potential travel partners. ...

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