The Porsche museum, being built next to the Porsche factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany, will open in fall 2008, exhibiting 80 of the most valuable Porsche cars. The on-site museum (Porscheplatz 1; www.porsche.com) will remain open until the new museum is officially open. Admission is free.
Pitotubes (199 E. 52nd, Ste. 362, Boise, ID 83714; 208/853-1416, www.pitotubes.com) offers TSA-compliant travel containers. All the bottles hold fewer than three ounces and are shatterproof, leak-proof (even under pressure changes) and refillable. Tops can interchange a pump or spray head.
Bottles and small jars at $5 to $10 each are sold at various retail stores and online. The biggest kit includes six bottles (two each of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.7 ounce) in a quart bag for $52.
Open since April in Hamburg, Germany, the museum “Prototyp” (Shanghaiallee 7, Beim Lohseplatz; phone 040 3999 69 68, www.prototyp-hamburg.de) shows the history of race car driving. On three floors are 50 cars, from a 1949 Porsche to the Jordan 191 in which German Formula 1 Champion Michael Schumacher gave his debut.
Open 10-6, Tuesday-Sunday. €7.50 ($12) adult.
In Paris, the self-service bicycle rental service Velib allows anyone to pick up and drop off any of more than 20,000 bikes at 1,450 automated stations.
Using a Navigo pass or credit card, a person can buy a one-day access card for €1, a weekly card for €5 or an annual card for €29 ($45). After the access card purchase, riding for the first half hour is free, but a supplement of €1 is charged for the next half hour, €2 for the next half hour and €4 for every half hour after that. Five hours cost €31 and 10, €71. Rates increase sharply to keep bikes available for others to rent.
AirportParkingReservations.com (Suffield, CT; 800/727-5464) offers a listing of parking lots near 65 U.S. airports. The service allows price comparisons and the ability to reserve a space instantly for a fee equal to the price of the first day of parking plus $5.
All of the parking lots listed offer free shuttle and luggage service to the airport.
Busabout Explorer (258 Vauxhall Bridge Rd., Victoria, London SW1V 1BS, U.K., phone +44 020 7950 1661, fax 7950 1662, www.busabout.com) offers independent trips through its bus network in Europe on three loops. It costs $639 to ride one loop, $1,069 to ride two loops and $1,319 on three with a Busabout pass, valid May through October.
In Helsinki, Finland, for about €2 ($3) you can hop on Tram No. 3 (in either direction, T or B) and do a figure-8 through the city. The self-guided tour lasts about an hour. Among stops are South Harbor’s Market Square, the Opera House, the Natural History Museum, the Rock Church and Senate Square. Tickets good for one hour can be purchased from the driver.
For more info and a downloadable route map, visit www.hel.fi/wps/wcm/resources/file/eb950102caf5a17/3T_english_2007_net.pdf.
Explore Portugal’s Costa Azul on a one-, 3- or 7-day self-guided bicycle tour with Blue Coast Bikes (Setúbal, Portugal; phone +351 96 819 8872, www.bluecoastbikes.com… or write P.O. Box 837, Twin Lakes, WI 53181).
The cruise line P&O Cruises (Southampton, UK; www.pocruises.com) has changed its smoking policy to coincide with the UK law, which came into effect in July of 2007, prohibiting smoking in public places. The new policy allows smoking only on ships’ balconies, in certain areas of open decks and in a designated smoking area of one public room.
The 27-day “Icebergs & Emperors” voyage, departing Hobart, Australia, on Dec. 12, 2008, visits the wildlife oases of the sub-Antarctic islands, the east coast of Antarctica and the historic huts of Sir Douglas Mawson, with his great-granddaughter Emma McEwin on board.
Cruise-only prices aboard the 100-passenger ship Marina Svetaeva range from $12,290 to $23,190 per person. Contact Aurora Expeditions (182 Cumberland St., The Rocks, NSW 2000, Australia; phone +61 2 9252 1033, http://auroraexpeditions.com.au).