Rolling Stone
Sharon Stone showed a leg (though not as much as she has in the past) at the
annual Life Ball in Vienna last weekend. Among 4,000 revellers who were
allowed in for a cut-price £68 if they dressed up to the fairytale theme
were Vivienne Westwood and Mario Testino. If waltzing isn’t your thing,
Vienna also has a contemporary dance festival from July 12-August 12. Details:
www.impulstanz.com.
Lunch date
“Green peace” runs the slogan over a view of the South Downs Way in a new
eco-inspired advertising campaign by Eastbourne, which may be feeling that
its beaches, 1930s seafront bandstand and Carpet Gardens don’t quite cut it
for the 21st century. But “Greenhouse gas” over a picture of ladies who
lunch? A mite too judgmental, surely.
Laughs all round
Having fun yet? If you have trouble letting work go while on holiday, the
Spanish company Cortijo-Romero (www.cortijo-romero.co.uk)
wants you. It has made laughter its theme for the year and has six holiday
courses in the south of the country, including “Spice Up Your Laugh Life”
and “Flip to the Fun Side”. Makes a change from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Summer fling
If the dog has chewed the Frisbee and Swingball has strung you out, try
Flingo, which comes in a pocket-sized tube that is ideal to take to the
beach. The aim is to keep a foam ball in the air using nylon-spandex bibs
worn around the neck and held out with your hands. Any resemblance to Nora
Batty running around with her apron held out is down to you. Details: £10
from The Present Finder (0870 442 0280, www.presentfinder.co.uk).
Watery words
You get comfy on the li-lo with your cocktail floating in its own inflatable
beside you – then drop your airport novel in the pool. No problem if you’ve
bought The Beach Book or Poolside (Dorling Kindersley, £8.99 each), two
collections of far-from-soggy short stories on aquatic themes by authors
such as Roald Dahl and Edna O’Brien. Both are waterproof – suntan lotion
wipes off easily, too.
Captain's table
Men have long grumbled about their other halves hankering to dine at the
captain’s table on cruise ships – but the lure of a smart uniform has taken
on new meaning on the Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas. Karin
Stahre-Janson, from Stromstad in Sweden, has become the first woman in the
cruise industry to command a major ship.
Previously she has worked as a first officer and a staff captain on ships in
Royal Caribbean’s 21-strong fleet. Monarch of the Seas, which is based in
Los Angeles and sails along the US West Coast to Mexico, is 880ft long with
850 crew members and up to 2,400 passengers.
Captain Stahre-Janson said: “I hope my achievements can serve as an example to
young women around the world and inspire them to work towards their dreams –
no matter how unusual they may be.” Details: 0845 1659090, www.royalcaribbean.com.
Pick a winner
More than 450 nominations have been received in the first month of the 2007
Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards, supported by The Times – up 50
per cent on the same time last year. Interesting entries include Andaman
Discoveries for its “life-changing” holidays that include volunteer work on
tsunami-struck islands.
Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island, Australia, has been put forward for
its use of low-energy lightbulbs, recycling and bird-watching trips. The
Soweto Rhubuluza educational tours of the Johannesburg township were also
included in the “best for poverty reduction” section.
The awards are in association with www.responsibletravel.com,
the World Travel Market and Geographical magazine. Nominations close on July
2.
Hotel Babylon?
The head of the Camberwell Society has criticised last week’s Times Travel
review of the Church Street Hotel on Camberwell Green, London, as being
“universally downbeat”. Jeremy Bennett said: “In describing the area as full
of winos, drugs and weapons and claiming that four murders have been
committed near by in the past six months, he [Martin Fletcher] greatly
exaggerates the problems which any inner-London area shares.”
Fletcher, who pointed out that the review was accurate, responded: “I live a
few hundred yards from Camberwell Green and love it dearly, but with the
best will in the world I could hardly describe it as salubrious.”
News in brief
Hole in one The St Andrews Golf Hotel in Scotland has reopened with a
new bar and restaurant and smart interiors. B&B doubles cost from £200.
Details: 01334 472611, www.standrews-golf.co.uk.
Room service Germans like to tidy rooms before chambermaids arrive,
according to a survey by www.expedia.co.uk.
California campers In last week’s article “California, here we come”
Robert Crampton and family hired their campervan through California Campers
(001 650 216 0000, www.californiacampers.com).
In summer vehicles can be rented from £60 (US$120) a day.
Web of the week
www.childfriendlycottages.co.uk
Websites marketing tot-friendly travel are springing up all over the place.
This one, which has only 136 properties, is different because the entries
for each property are incredibly detailed. Under headings including bedtime,
bathtime, feeding time and playtime, you can see not only whether cots are
provided, but also if there’s bedding, blackout curtains, stairgates,
backpack carriers, double buggy access ... you get the idea.
News from The Sunday Times Travel section...
SCOTTISH GOLD RUSH
The Highland town of Tyndrum, built on the promise of a 19th-century gold
rush, could see history repeated after Scotgold Resources revealed that up
to £70m in gold and silver is still lying in those hills. Panners and
prospectors can stay at the Glengarry House B&B (01838 400224, www.glengarryhouse.com
) for £26.50pp per night – gold not accepted in lieu of cash.
BEES BRING DOWN BOEING
An Algarve-bound airliner was forced to return to Bournemouth airport last
week after thousands of bees were sucked into one of the engines. The
Palmair Boeing 737 flew into the swarm on takeoff and made an emergency
landing after experiencing an engine surge, stinging the 90 passengers with
an 11-hour delay.
VIN DE VILLE
The world’s most urban vineyard was inaugurated last week – a 10,000 sq ft
plot set among the skyscrapers of the Paris business district. Named Clos de
Chantecoq – after the site on which La Défense was built – the organic
vineyard, cultivating chardonnay and pinot noir varietals, promises to
produce its first vintage by 2010.
IT’S NOT THAT THEY DON’T TRUST YOU
If you’re renting from Europcar this summer, you’ll need to provide your
thumbprint alongside your driving licence and credit card, as the company
strives to curb vehicle theft. The prints, taken using an inkless gel, will
be forwarded to the police should the car fail to return. “The
ever-increasing sophistication in producing false documentation has made it
increasingly difficult for us to trace and recover vehicles that are not
returned,” said Europcar.
THE FINAL FRONTIER
Budding astronauts can now book trips to space. Elegant Resorts (01244 897003, www.elegantresorts.co.uk
) has been appointed the exclusive UK tour operator for Virgin Galactic
flights from the Mojave desert in California. Passengers pay £100,000: if
you can stretch to the £50,000 deposit now, you could enter orbit by 2010.
Travel insurance is not yet available.
SERIAL MOANERS
Stansted airport has admitted it received 13,956 complaints about noise in the
past year – a rate of nearly 40 a day – but the joy of antiexpansion
campaigners was short-lived when it was revealed that 9,195 of the
complaints were made by just 14 callers. Carol Barbone of the Stop Stansted
Expansion campaign suggests: “If you want to complain, then complain
responsibly.”
ALIEN ABDUCTIONS ON INCREASE
Roswell, New Mexico, home of the notorious Area 51, is planning to open an
Alien Apex Resort in 2010, which will feature a simulated alien abduction.
“Nobody will be harmed, and everybody will be returned, hopefully, in the
same shape,” said the concept designer. All very mysterious, but we’ve seen
the plans and can reveal it’s just a rollercoaster.
