A Trip News

Orient-Express has announced the start of its summer season aboard the Eastern & Oriental Express (E&OE). With 28 journeys planned over the remainder of the year, the E&OE will travel on routes between Singapore and Bangkok, and up to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. T
The green and cream E&OE can accommodate 132 passengers in 66 air-conditioned cabins, all furnished with luxurious fabrics and fine linens and soft towels, and serviced with by friendly staff 24 hours a day.

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Boeing Tuesday delayed the first flight and delivery of its 787 Dreamliner to reinforce the structure of the aircraft, the latest setback in a program seen as a key to the aerospace giant’s future.
Boeing said a new schedule for the first flight and delivery would be available in “several weeks” and that in the interim the 787 team will continue with other aspects of testing.
Boeing said in a statement the delay was “due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the (more…)

Work began yesterday to repaint Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s passionate kiss with East German strongman Eric Honecker on the longest-surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall.
“I am a little bit afraid,” Russian artist Dmitry Vrubel said as he began recreating his mural, one of more than 100 painted after the Wall was torn down in November 1989 on a surviving stretch known as the East Side Gallery.
“Maybe I can’t remember everything, so it won’t be exactly the same painting, not 100 percent the (more…)

Passengers who find themselves cooling their heels at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport while waiting for a connection can now escape the airport for a few hours. Starting in June, passengers on stopovers of less than 12 hours can sign up for a four-hour city tour.
Options include seeing the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha, boating along the klongs, watching a cultural production at the Siam Niramit theatre or being pampered with a massage and spa.
Other tours include shopping, golf and seeing (more…)

Clint Eastwood has holed up on Hollywood Boulevard waiting for John Wayne and busloads of visitors to join him, as Madame Tussauds prepares to open its latest wax museum in the tourist mecca this August.
The US$55 million (A$68 million) complex, featuring more than 100 celebrity waxworks spread across three floors, is the biggest attraction to join the teeming thoroughfare in years.
It also represents the latest attempt to restore some glamour to the faded area, whose 10 million annual visitors (more…)

Arts » Beleaguered City Opera Fends Off Ultimate Finale Opinion » Op-Chart: The States of Iraq and Afghanistan Home & Garden » On Location: Closeting the Arguments World » Penned-In Egyptians Find Peace in City’s Din Opinion » Op-Ed: With Iran, Think Before You Speak
For reformers to have any success, Iran’s election must be about Iran — not America, writes John Kerry. Arts » Dress the Set With Tears: It’s a Wrap Opinion » Errol Morris: More (more…)

The Mexican government and Google Mexico on Tuesday signed an agreement on providing Google with Mexico’s cultural heritage information to help revive tourism.
    Under their arrangement, the National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH) will provide photographs, videos and other information to Google Mexico. INAH will also provide maps and floor plans for its museums, archeological areas and historical monuments.
    Google Maps will offer visitors (more…)

Who says caves are only for spelunkers? 76 passengers of Emeraude Classic Cruises donned evening dress and made merry in the limestone grotto of Drum Cave recently. In each of the past five years, the Emeraude has moored off this island, one of nearly 2,000 in the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Halong Bay, and ferried passengers ashore to this one-of-a-kind celebratory event.
Why the black tie?
 ”It’s our way of paying homage to the otherworldly splendor of one of the world’s greatest natural (more…)

Anticipating a January 2010 opening, the Life Resorts Management Company has selected a team of seasoned general managers to spearhead the launch of the Life Resort Danang. The two managers — Michelle Ford and Cyrille Stegmann, both from South Africa — previously worked as the general management team at the Life Wellness Resort Quy Nhon.
 The 187-room Life Resort Danang is under development by Hoang Tra Travel and Trading Co. and when complete will stand as the closest upscale resort (more…)

The first flight of newly-established Tianjin Airlines took ff Wednesday morning, marking the start of 20 daily flights.
    The plane, an E190, departed at 8:10 a.m. for Guiyang of southwestern Guizhou Province en route to Xi’an in Shaanxi.
    Stewardesses in red Qipaos, traditional Chinese dress, served passengers special Tianjin snacks, including fried dough twists and stuffed-steamed buns to mark the occasion.
    Nine other (more…)