A 1,500-year-old Byzantine mosaic, which was found during an excavation in 1957 and has been undergoing restoration at Jerusalem’s Rockefeller Museum since 2006, was reinstalled at its original site this spring at the settlement of Ma’on-Nirim in Israel’s western Negev Desert.
The Thai Bankers Association in April began charging a 150-baht fee (near $4.25) for ATM withdrawals made with a foreign debit or credit card at TBA member banks. You can find a list of member banks at www.tba.or.th/tbamembers.htm. Other banks in Thailand also may raise the rates.
A US Coast Guard “Maritime Security Directive” revised in May requires all US-flagged ships to submit antipiracy security plans (which will not be made public) and requires all ships that sail around the Horn of Africa to post guards.
There is a debate about whether to allow or encourage crews to carry arms as part of their security procedures. Some countries do not allow armed vessels to use their ports. Insurance costs and liability also are issues.
The single supplement now will be waived or offered at 50% off on all land trips and some river cruises of Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/493-6824, www.oattravel.com) and its sister company, Grand Circle Travel (Boston, MA; 800/959-0405, www.gct.com).
As of Sept. 16, 2009, British-based Saga Holidays (Folkestone, Kent, UK; phone +44 [0] 1303 771 111; www.saga.co.uk) will be a one-ship cruise line.
Saga had planned to acquire Club Cruises’ M/S Astoria, then refit it and name it Saga Pearl II in time to replace the Saga Rose, which will sail its final cruise Sept. 8-16. However, the sale encountered legal snarls and stalled when Club Cruises went into administration (the British equivalent of bankruptcy) in December 2008.
The job of repainting the Eiffel Tower — by hand using small brushes — began this spring. The 18-month task is done every seven years. It will cost €4 million (near $5.3 million).
The world’s most-visited tourist attraction, drawing six million people a year, the tower was built in 1889 for the World’s Fair. Now “Eiffel Tower Brown,” at various times in the past it has been red, orange or yellow.
The Cadw Explorer Pass allows free admission to historic properties in Wales operated by the Welsh government conservation organization Cadw (Plas Carew, Unit 5/7, Cefn Coed, Parc Nantgarw, Cardiff, CF15 7QQ, U.K.; phone 01443 33 6000, fax 6001, www.cadw.wales.gov.uk). These include the 14th-century Caernarfon Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Plas Mawr, a 16th-century Elizabethan townhouse.
As of May 20, the low-cost Irish airline Ryanair requires that all passengers with new bookings check in online. The airline will phase out the use of airport check-in desks by Oct. 1, 2009.
United Airlines (www.united.com) announced in May that “passengers requiring extra space” now must purchase a second seat.
United’s new policy reads, “For the comfort and well-being of all customers aboard United flights, we have aligned with other major airlines’ seating policies relating to passengers who: • are unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin; • are unable to properly buckle the seatbelt using a single seatbelt extender; and/or • are unable to put the seat’s armrests down when seated.”
A Transportation Security Administration requirement that all airlines operating within the US collect the full name, date of birth and gender of each passenger began to be phased in on May 15. The Secure Flight program was put in place by the TSA to help prevent the misidentification of passengers who have names similar to those of people on the “terrorist watch list.”