Marriott announced on Dec. 4 that it will pay for replacement passports for anyone who can show that their passport numbers were used fraudulently due to the data breach of Marriott's Starwood-brand hotels (Jan. '19, pg. 4). The personal information (names, addresses, etc.) of at least 500 million people was stolen in the breach, and passport numbers were among the info of about 327 million of them.
A commercial court in Brussels, Belgium, declared on Jan. 3 that the activities of the ride-sharing company Uber were illegal. The court determined that only drivers with taxi licenses driving for approved taxi companies could be hired for rides in the city.
Belgium's government is split between two semiautonomous sides: the French-speaking southern half and the Dutch-speaking northern half. Due to the split, the court's ruling only affects Uber in the Dutch areas of the country, which includes Brussels. Uber is still free to operate in the French section.
Liechtenstein celebrates its National Day, Staatsfeiertag, each August 15th, and it's even more special in 2019, as it is the 300th anniversary of the country's independence.
National Day begins with a proclamation by the prince and the president in front of Vaduz Castle, followed by a reception in the castle's garden, which everyone present is invited to. (It is the only day of the year the garden is open to the public.) A day-long fair in Vaduz ends in a fireworks display.
A Skyhour gift card can be purchased in hour and half-hour increments at $1 per minute (one hour costs $60 and a half-hour, $30). The card can then be used to book flights of equivalent time through the Skyhour website on any of the more than 350 participating airlines.
For example, a 12-hour flight can be booked with 720 Skyhours ($720) on any airline flying a chosen route.
All major US airlines and many international airlines, such as British Air, Emirates, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, can be booked through Skyhour. Visit www.skyhour.com.
The online travel agency CruiseWire (Miami Beach, FL; 888/422-4334, https://cruisewire.com) has introduced a Back to Back Cruises search option, allowing visitors to the website to find and book one-way and back-to-back cruises.
The website lists 11 popular cruise lines offering a total of 25,000-plus cruises to 121 countries. Custom searches can be sorted by company, destination, date and even age of ship.
June 6, 2019, is the 75th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy, France. Visit www.ddayfestival.com for info on special events, including the following:
June 1-9 — Reconstructions of the US camps Camp Geronimo (Sainte-Mère-Église) and Camp American (Viervelle-sur-Mer) will be open to the public.
June 2-9 — Civilian reenactors portraying American and German forces will be on Omaha Beach outside Viervelle-sur-Mer. The beach-entry fee of €7 (near $8) includes entry to Musée D-Day Omaha.
A data breach at Starwood (owned by Marriott since 2016) exposed the names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and passport numbers of about 327 million hotel guests. Other guests also had credit card information stolen, bringing the total to about 500 million people; however, the credit card numbers and expiration dates were stored with two levels of encryption, and Marriott does not know if the thieves were able to successfully retrieve that information.
Two border crossings, near the cities of Lefke, in the north, and Dherynia, in the south, were opened between the Greek and Turkish halves of the island of Cyprus on Nov. 12, the only official crossings to be open in more than eight years.
The city of Rome instituted new rules on Nov. 14 aimed at cleaning up the city. The rules include fines for swimming in fountains and eating in restricted areas. People caught swimming or otherwise defacing fountains may be banned from designated city zones and public transport for 48 hours, repeat offenders for up to 60 days.
The city of Florence, Italy, is handing out fines of up to €500 (near $565) to people caught eating outdoors along any of four streets — Via de’ Neri, Piazza degli Uffizi, Piazza del Grano and Via della Ninna — between the hours of 12 and 3 p.m. and 6 and 10 p.m. The city is attempting to reduce congestion and litter in those areas.