Travel Briefs

In planning upcoming trips, I have been surprised how often payments can be made using PayPal.com; it’s common when booking tours. Planning for a trip that would begin in July 2015, I used PayPal to pay for the Blue Line Ferry from Ancona, Italy, to Split, Croatia, and to pay for a tour in England that would include a visit to a home in the Cotswolds for lunch.

Be aware that if you choose to use PayPal, there will be a 2.5% currency-conversion fee when making purchases not in dollars*. 

For its 2016 riverboat and small-ship cruises, sailing in 17 countries in Europe plus Morocco, Panama and Antarctica, Grand Circle Cruise Line (Boston, MA; 800/866-5892, www.gct.com) is adding more than 600 single-passenger cabins, a 21% increase over the number of single cabins offered in 2015. 

Due to open in February 2016, St. Helena Airport will connect the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena, 1,200 miles west of Africa’s southern coast, to the rest of the world by air for the first time. 

Most famous as the final home of Napoleon Bonaparte, the British Overseas Territory of St. Helena is home to more than 4,000 people. It currently is accessible to visitors only via the RMS St. Helena, which makes the 5-day journey from Cape Town once every three weeks. The ship will be retired in April 2016. 

In Paris, the “Rétromobile” car show will bring together 500 cars and 450 exhibitors from around the world, Feb. 3-7, 2016.

See the Porsche 936 that won the 1977 24 Hueres du Mans, a unique, pre-war Mercedes 540K in its first exhibit and a 1912 Ford Model T finishing, at the show, a ’round-the-world trip begun in June 2012. An auto auction also will be held.

The countries of India and Bangladesh have swapped control of enclaves — 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India — ending almost 70 years of confusion and frustration for the 50,000 citizens living within them.

As part of the celebration marking the 70th anniversary of the nation’s liberation from Japan, on Aug. 15, 2015, North Korea announced that it was moving to its own, unique time zone, “Pyongyang time,” noted on time zone maps as (-8:30 UTC). 

The new time is 30 minutes behind Japan’s and South Korea’s, countries with which North Korea has shared a time zone since 1910, so, now, when it is 10:00 in South Korea, it is 9:30 in North Korea.

Despite preconstruction soil treatment, the runway at the klia2 passenger terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, opened in 2014 to service low-cost flights, is sinking due to unstable soil, causing bumps, cracks and the pooling of water. 

This has led to flight delays and may contribute to airplane damage. AirAsia, which operates the largest fleet flying out of klia2, has sued the airport’s operator for losses and damage. It is estimated that it will take five years for the issues to be resolved.

During the “Winter Nights” event at the Rigas Zoodarzs, or Riga Zoo (Meža prospekts 1, LV-1014, Riga, Latvia; phone +371 67518409, http://rigazoo.lv/public/index_en.html), visitors are free to wander around and observe many of the zoo’s more than 3,000 animals after normal operating hours, up until 9 p.m. 

In the Gévaudan region of southern France, Musée de la Bête du Gévaudan, or Museum of the Beast of the Gévaudan (Rue de la Tour de Anglais, 43170 Saugues, France; phone +33 4 71 77 64 22, www.musee-bete-gevaudan.com [in French only]), which opened in 1999, focuses on the 18th-century wild animal attacks that left up to 124 people dead.

The Mobile Passport Control App allows US travelers to submit passport and Customs declarations information on their smartphones or tablets before encountering the Customs desk.

On the app (free on iOS and Android), a traveler creates a personal profile with his passport information and submits a Customs declaration in the “New Trip” section. A Customs receipt with a bar code will be downloaded onto the user’s phone or tablet to be presented at Customs along with a passport.