“Careful! Don’t step on the sea lion.”
With those words, our guide Joed introduced us to the unique experience of observing wildlife in the Galápagos Islands.
On the shores of Lake Zürich, Switzerland, the campground Fischer’s Fritz (Seestrasse 559, 8038 Zürich, Switzerland; phone +41 44 482 1612, www.fischers-fritz.ch/en), open all year, offers three ways for visitors to camp.
For CHF30 (near $30) per person per night for up to three people, campers can sleep under a “hanging tent” (no walls) suspended from a tree. Campers must bring their own bedding.
In The Hague, Netherlands, a hop-on, hop-off tram catering to foreign visitors began service in June 2016, running every half hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The retro-style, cream-and-green-colored Tourist Tram runs through the city center to Scheveningen Beach, making 16 stops at places such as the Peace Palace, Beelden aan Zee museum and Kerkplein. Recorded commentary in English plays from speakers in the seats.
The Gatimaan Express began operating high-speed rail service from Hazrat Nizamuddin Station in Delhi, India, to Agra, location of the Taj Mahal, in April. The train makes the nearly 130-mile journey in about an hour and 40 minutes. Food service, TV and Wi-Fi are offered on board.
Starting on Aug. 1, American Airlines’ AAdvantage members will earn frequent-flyer miles based on the fare amount as opposed to the distance traveled. For each $1 spent, standard AAdvantage members each will earn five miles, while Gold, Platinum and Executive-Platinum members will earn seven, eight or eleven miles, respectively.
In making this change, American Airlines joins the other major US carriers, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, both of which switched their mileage programs from being distance-based to being fare-based in 2015.
United Airlines and Spain’s Iberia ended flights to Nigeria due to difficulties in converting Nigeria’s currency, the naira (NGN), into dollars. Nigeria has a shortage of dollars, as its government has blocked Nigerian banks from accessing foreign-currency markets since 2015. Iberia’s final flight to Nigeria occurred in May, while United’s Houston-Lagos route ended on June 30.
The first US-based credit card able to be used in Cuba was released on June 14 by Stonegate Bank (Pompano Beach, FL; 954/315-5500, www.stonegate bank.com). The Stonegate Platinum, World and World Elite MasterCards are the chip-and-PIN type and can be used at any point-of-sale (POS) terminal in Cuba.
To apply for a card online, visit www.stonegatebank.com/credit_cards.htm and, from the red “Online Applications” menu, select “Consumer credit card.”
On June 6, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) approved six US carriers to begin scheduling commercial flights to Cuba. They are American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Jetblue Airways, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines.
The approved destination cities in Cuba do not include Havana, but the DOT is expected to approve airline routes to Havana by the end of summer. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines both have requested Havana routes.
