A Trip News

Abu Dhabi-based real estate developer, Aldar Properties, has said that it has completed infrastructure-related work on Yas Island, where the inaugural Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix is scheduled to be held on 1 November. Gulf News reported Aldar’s Director of Planning and Infrastructure, Talal Al Dhiyebi, as saying that the facilities are now in the final stages of testing. He added that seven hotels on Yas Island are in the process of being handed over to the operators.CNTA chiefs to visit PATA Travel (more…)

Aircraft Etihad Airways Airbus A340-600.
Route Sydney to Abu Dhabi.
Class Business, seat 5C.
Seat pitch and width 224 centimetres between rows of seats; 51 centimetres between armrests. Every seat reclines flat into a 185-centimetre-long bed.
Seat configuration The one-two-one layout ensures all seats have unimpeded aisle access. There are 30 business class seats in total.
Luggage allowance 30 kilograms of checked baggage, plus two pieces of cabin baggage up to seven kilograms.
Scheduled (more…)

Arab investors will spend MYR1.1 billion (US$303 million) on building two ‘Arab Cities’ to lure Middle Eastern tourists to the historic Malaysian town of Malacca, according to The Star newspaper.
One of the ‘cities’ will be built on a small island south of Malacca town, while the second will be located at a beachside resort west of the historic port, the report said. The projects will include an Arabian bazaar, Middle Eastern restaurants, shopping complex, five-star hotel, water theme park, and (more…)

Today…
The 10th annual Christmas fair in Budapest opens: stock up on paprika, Tokaj, sweets and crafts while listening to carols. A giant advent calendar appears on 1 December (budapestinfo.hu).
This week…
A huge rugby ball promoting the 2011 Rugby World Cup host, New Zealand, will open next to Tower Bridge on Wednesday; visitors can step inside for a journey around New Zealand or take part in Maori culture workshops (newzealand.com). In Australasia itself, the Southern (more…)

Simon Kane stocks up for the festive table in Pas-de-Calais
“Champagne tasting is a strange concept,” says wine critic Oz Clarke, as he kicks off our sampling session. “We don’t usually bother tasting it, we just get on with drinking it.”
Over the next 36 hours I drink and eat a lot, with Oz as one of my guides. I’m on a whistlestop gastronomic tour of the Pas-de-Calais, courtesy of SeaFrance. Along with the local tourist board, the ferry company wants to (more…)

A new contemporary art gallery has opened at Gate Village in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Artspace, the regional institution promoting regional art, has said that the new gallery will focus on Middle Eastern contemporary art across a range of mediums, from oil on canvas to photography to sculpture.
Artspace Gallery in DIFC is sponsored by Barclays Wealth and Mondrian South Beach.

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