At the Ayers Rock Resort (phone +61 2 8296 8010, www.ayersrockresort.com.au), in central Australia, Astronomy Weekend will be held Sept. 14-16, 2018. Many events are scheduled, including astrophotography and lectures on Aboriginal astronomy and astrophysics.
Entry to Astronomy Weekend is free for guests of the resort. Six hotels are located at the resort, with nightly rates for a double ranging from AUS220 to AUS2,800 (near $177-$2,248). A campground is also available.
In central London, you can ride on one of four converted traditional narrowboats on the Regents Canal between Camden and Little Venice, enjoying simple commentary. Depart from Brownings Pool at Little Venice, Paddington, or from Camden Lock Market, with its craft, clothing and food shops. Pass part of Regents Park plus 19th-century buildings and bridges.
Tickets are sold on board (card only; no cash) and subject to availability; it’s most busy 11 a.m.-1 p.m. One way (50 mins.), £9 (near $13) adult or £7.50 senior or child, or round trip (110 mins.), £14/£12.
A 3-hour walking tour of Barcelona begins with a tasting of three Spanish foods (such as cheeses or meats) before members are led through the city’s Gothic and La Rambla quarters to stop at two tapas restaurants for food and wine. La Boqueria food market is also visited.
One tour is held each day, Mon.-Sat., starting at 5 p.m. €70 (near $87.50) per person includes eight tapas plates and two drinks. Group limit, 15. With notice, dietary restrictions can be accommodated.
Hundreds of classic vehicles — cars, motorcycles and bicycles — on the Portuguese island of Madeira are gathered annually over two days each May at the Madeira Classic Car Revival. Awards are announced in a number of categories, such as best pre-1945 vehicle and best military vehicle. A classic sports car race follows.
The revival is held at the Praça do Povo on the waterfront in Funchal. Admission is free. For more info and, once announced, the dates in 2018, visit www.madeiraclassiccar.com.
Travelers to Japan’s capital can take a 2½-hour dinner cruise of Tokyo Bay and the Sumida River aboard a yakatabune, a leisure boat with traditional tatami-mat-covered floors. English is not spoken by staff on any of the cruises, which travel round trip from Shinagawa to the Tokyo Skytree, passing under the Rainbow Bridge.
On the 3-hour “Raft & Snorkel with Salmon” day tour, guests will take a boat up the Campbell River on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and snorkel with any of the five species of salmon that spawn in the river. The season starts in late July with pink salmon, followed by chinook, coho and sockeye in August and, in September, the chum. Bears, beavers, seals and other wildlife may also be seen.
Draining glacial meltwater from the mountains Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in Switzerland, Trümmelbach Falls are the largest subterranean waterfalls in Europe, with up to 5,000 gallons of water per second streaming down the mountain. Via a tunnel lift, walkways and platforms, visitors can walk the entire course of the cascades. Facilities and a gift shop are at the base of the falls.
A subscriber suggested using Matrix.itasoftware.com simply to find out which airline partners fly to particular destinations (“Mileage-award-ticket Secrets,” Dec. ’17, pg. 11). After using that site to determine which airlines fly to Panama City, Panama, and San José, Costa Rica, I then also checked out the airfare comparisons on that site, and I found them to be quite inaccurate. It seemed to always point me to Delta Air Lines. For other airlines, it listed prices much higher than what I ultimately found.
In the letter titled “Traveler’s Power Strip” (Nov. ’17, pg. 49), a subscriber recommended packing the Simran SM-60 power strip with three universal outlets and surge-overload protection.
Someone who plans on taking a cruise, however, should be aware that, while there is no problem with simple multioutlet strips or extension cords, cruise lines do not allow ones that have surge protection because of the possibility of fire.
I am a longtime resident of Cape Town, South Africa, and have the following suggestions for places to visit.
The V&A Waterfront (www.waterfront.co.za) is certainly worth a visit, and it now boasts the new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (https://zeitzmocaa.museum), topped by an exceptional hotel, all in a redevelopment of what used to be grain silos — spectacular architecture.