Rub those eyes

Those pesky northern lights are notoriously difficult to see, but Activities Abroad (www.activitiesabroad.com ) has had a neat idea to maximise your chances: when you arrive at its lights-spotting tour in Luosto, Lapland, it’ll dole out mobile phones and give you a ring if the sky starts glowing mysteriously. What, even at three in the morning? “You can opt out,” the company says. “But they’re worth missing your beauty sleep for.” If they’d seen us at 3am, they might change their minds.

Every breath you take (costs £1.62)

Breathing in Bangkok can be like sucking on an exhaust pipe, so this sounds like a pretty good idea: the city’s Conrad hotel has started stocking its minibars with oxygen cylinders. The price might leave you gasping, though: it’s £6.50... for four breaths’ worth. Cough. Splutter. Still, think of the health benefits: “Used as an antioxidant to neutralise toxins, oxygen is reputably a powerful tool for combating jet lag,” the hotel’s blurb reports. Hang on, oxygen as an antioxidant? Perhaps they’ve been at the cylinders too long.

Sleep with the fishes

The Salt & Sill restaurant, on the Swedish island of Kladesholmen, serves 25 types of flavoured herring. Yum. Still, best not try all of them before staying in its new hotel (www.saltosill.se ; doubles from £165), which opens next month: it’s built on pontoons out into the North Sea, and rocks gently on the waves. Or not so gently in the frequent storms. If you have a rough night and need reviving in the morning, never fear - there’s herring for breakfast, too.

Don’t forget to water the roof

When the California Academy of Sciences told Renzo Piano that it wanted him to make its new museum (www.calacademy.org ; £14.50) the greenest on earth, he took it literally. The result will join San Francisco’s list of must-sees when it opens on the 27th, partly because it’ll be a great day out - huge aquarium, planetarium, buckets of natural-history exhibits - but also for Renzo’s bizarre Living Roof, which consists of 1.7m native plants. Given that Governor Arnie has declared a state-wide drought, let’s hope it doesn’t become the brownest museum on earth instead.

Lights, camera ... shopping!

Nice idea from the Peninsula, Beverly Hills. The hotel will get an Emmy-nominated producer and crew to make a movie of your stay in Tinseltown - “sightseeing, shopping, surfing and relaxing by the pool”, they say. Hmm... hardly a box-office smash. It’s $2,500 a day, so can’t they arrange for us to save Los Angeles from alien invaders? “Aliens are extra.” Tough town, Hollywood.

Times recommends

• Same flight + different airline code = £225 out of pocket
• The UK and Ireland's 25 best Christmas events
• Book 2010's best holidays now