Travel Briefs

In Australia’s Northern Territory, the Australia Chamber Orchestra (ACO) will perform three outdoor concerts at Uluru (Ayers Rock) in 2017, one on the evening of June 2 plus matinee and evening concerts on June 3. Attendance at the ACO Uluru Festival is limited to 400 people. 

A ticket costs AUD495 (near $379) for a standard seat or AUD595, premium, each granting entry to all three concerts. With a ticket, cultural tours and exclusive meals can also be booked. Visit www.ayersrockresort.com.au/events/detail/aco-uluru-festival.

On the southeastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand, Napier was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in the popular style of the time, Art Deco, thus the small city of 65,000 has one of the largest concentrations of Art Deco buildings in the world. 

Worldwide artists’ and architects’ works of art incorporating high-tech light installations will be displayed along two routes at the fifth annual Amsterdam Light Festival, to be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in December 2016 and January 2017.

“Water Colors,” Dec. 1-Jan. 22, will exhibit monumental works meant to be viewed from boats in a canal. “Illuminade,” Dec. 15-Jan. 8, will have interactive art along a walking route in the Plantage neighborhood. Visit www.amsterdamlight festival.com/en.

On Sept. 1, Slovenia introduced “integrated public passenger transport” (IPPT), and now a rider can travel on all of the country’s interurban public transportation systems, including national trains and buses, and on urban transport in the cities of Ljubljana and Maribor without having to buy separate tickets.

In order to maintain a presence in China, ride-sharing company Uber (www.uber.com) sold its Chinese operations to China ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing. Uber customers in China will still use the Uber app to hail a ride and should not see any difference in operation. Uber has operated in China since 2013, and its ride-sharing is available in 37 cities there, including Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai.

Air travelers transiting through Doha, Qatar, now can receive a free, 96-hour transit visa when arriving at Hamad International Airport (DOH); this is double the previous 48-hour limit. Proof of onward journey, whether by plane or cruise ship, is required to receive the transit visa.

Online travel broker CheapAir.com has partnered with the financing company Affirm (San Francisco, CA; www.affirm.com) to allow travelers to finance their airline ticket purchases by choosing 3-, 6- or 12-month repayment plans. 

As of Nov. 1, 2016, eyeglasses are no longer allowed in US passport photos. Existing passports containing photos with eyeglasses will not have to be replaced until they expire.

Beginning in late 2017 and early 2018, US passports being issued to travelers will have clearer photos as well as patterns and ink that are more difficult to counterfeit plus RFID chips coated in polycarbonate to help prevent identity theft, among other new security features.

In southeastern London, after more than 20 years of restoration work, a beautiful example of industrial architecture opened to visitors as a museum in April 2016. Originally built in 1865, the Crossness Pumping Station (The Old Works, Thames Water S.T.W., Bazalgette Way, Abbey Wood, London, SE2 9AQ, U.K.; phone +44 208 311 3711, www.crossness.org.uk) pumped sewage out of the city and into the Thames estuary until 1956.

A new, eye-catching, glass-facade concert hall, built on the Norderelbe River atop the 120-foot-tall, brick Kaispeicher — once the largest warehouse in Hamburg — is scheduled to open Jan. 11, 2017. 

The Elbphilharmonie (Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1, 20457, Hamburg, Germany; phone +49 40 357 666 66, www.elbphilharmonie.de/en) houses two concert venues, a hotel, apartments and a restaurant. The lower Kaispeicher section, now containing parking, is also topped with a viewing platform.