It seems like every few months, some bigger, better and more ostentatious landmark is built somewhere in the Middle East. Most recently, Atlantis, Dubai’s long-anticipated resort on the manmade Palm Island, held its $20-million opening gala. The lavish underwater-themed resort features 113 acres of family entertainment, including waterslides and gigantic aquariums filled with fish and other sea creatures. With megastructures like Atlantis and the city’s other famous hotel, the Burj Al Arab, it’s easy to label the blossoming Persian Gulf cities as grandiose and flashy.

Qatar: An Art Mecca?

However, the small country of Qatar plans to change that image with the opening of its capital's newest cultural attraction, the Islamic Museum of Art in Doha. The building which houses the new museum was designed by internationally acclaimed architect, I.M. Pei, designer of the Pyramid at the Louvre and Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Pei had to be convinced to come out of retirement for the project, which he admits will likely be his last major cultural design at age 91. After accepting the project, he spent months traveling across the Middle East searching for inspiration. His goal was to create a structure that would embody the “essence of Islamic architecture.” The building’s understated, modern elegance was inspired by a 13th-century mosque in Cairo, an ancient fortress in Tunisia and the Alhambra Palace in Spain. The museum exemplifies the “strong and simple” design that Pei hoped to achieve. “There is nothing superfluous,” says Pei.

Like the Atlantis, the Islamic Museum of Art was built atop an artificial island in the Persian Gulf off the shore of Doha. Unlike the Atlantis, the choice of location came from Pei, who wanted his monument to be isolated from the rest of the city. He hoped that this would prevent the beauty of the building from being overshadowed by future development in Doha, which plans to open more than a dozen new museums in the coming years.

cc: Abdurahman

Yo-Yo Ma, Robert DeNiro and Tribeca Film Fest

The opening ceremonies for the much-anticipated museum began this past weekend and included fireworks, an outdoor exhibition, a lecture from Pei and a performance by Yo-Yo Ma. More than 1,000 invited guests attended, including political leaders, members of the Qatar royal family and celebrities, like Robert DeNiro. However, DeNiro wasn’t there just for pleasure; on Nov. 23, DeNiro signed an agreement to bring a satellite of his Tribeca Film Festival to Doha in November 2009. The new museum will host the event, which plans to feature close to 40 films from internationally acclaimed filmmakers, new talent, and the local Qatari and broader Arab community.

The commission of this building signals a break by Qatar from the rest of the Persian Gulf's sybaritic paradise, full of ultra-modern feats of architecture. Qatar looks forward to acting as a bridge between the Middle East and the rest of the world. While right now, Qatar may seem like an unlikely vacation, the country plans to soon be the Persian Gulf destination for the arts.

Get a firsthand look of the behind-the-scenes operations of a cruise ship on the Ultimate Ship Tour now offered by Princess Cruises. For $150 per person, you can see the inner workings of Princess Cruises’ newest vessel, the 113,000-ton Ruby Princess. The ship’s debut was Nov. 8, 2008.

The tour lasts around three hours and is offered once or twice per cruise on a sea day. Participants learn how the ship functions with backstage passes to the laundry room, bakery, print shop, medical center and the much anticipated visit to the engine control room, which is off limits to all other cruise ship passengers. At one point, the people on the tour can climb through the ship’s funnel for an exclusive view of the ship and encompassing ocean.

The Ultimate Ship Tour begins at the Ruby Princess theater and ends at the ship’s command center, where participants get to meet and pose for a complimentary framed photo with the captain. In addition, passengers also get to take home themed souvenirs that are provided during the tour. 

The tour is limited to 12 spots and fills quickly, so make sure to book your space once you board the ship. In the upcoming months, Princess Cruises is planning on extending the tour to include all Princess ships.

For more information about the Ultimate Ship Tour and Princess Cruises, visit www.princess.com.

As if travelers didn’t have enough to deal with when traveling by air, add luggage weight to the mix. Sure, we all know that overweight bags are going to cost us extra, but just whether or not a bag is accurately over the limit is at issue.

New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs recently led an investigation which found that of 102 scales of 810 total—14 percent of the scales at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and 4 percent of those at LaGuardia Airport (LGA)—overestimated the weight of bags by a pound or more, according to the New York Daily News.

With some airlines charging up to $100 per overweight bag, that’s a lot of dough for a few innocent pounds.

The worst offender appears to be American Airlines, with 28 scales off balance, according to the New York Post.

The city warned the airlines to correct the scales, and on a follow-up inspection most of the imbalanced machines had been recalibrated, except for 10 American Airlines scales, which were still off and have been marked with red “condemned” stickers, so passengers should try to avoid using lanes with those scales. The airline was fined $1,500.

American charges $15 for the first checked bag under 50 pounds and $25 for the second bag. Bags between 51 and 70 pounds cost $50; those weighing more than 70 pounds cost $100. In some cases, it would be cheaper to check a second bag than pay the fine on an overweight piece of luggage.

My question is, what if this is happening at more airports across the country, or even globally? While a majority of the scales used by airlines are accurate, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. On a recent trip, one of my bags weighed in at exactly 50 pounds; I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized I hadn’t tipped the scales to a higher fee. And you can be certain I’ll weighing my bag at home before catching my flight on American next week, just to be safe.

Have any TravelMusings readers been suspicious of overweight baggage charges during their travels?

Sorry for the back-to-back Disney info this week, but I wanted to share the news that Walt Disney Parks and Resorts broke ground yesterday for its first family destination resort in Hawaii. The event included a traditional Hawaiian blessing ceremony for the 21-acre property, which will be part of the Ko Olina Resort & Marina development project on the west side of the island of Oahu. Disney paid $144 million for the site. What makes this project unique for Disney is that it will not include a Disney theme park, nor be located near one.

Mickey and Minnie get in on the groundbreaking action. (Credit: Disney Vacation Club)

The resort plans are still being finaliized, but currently call for 350 hotel rooms, 480 Disney Vacation Club timeshare villas, an expansive pool and water play area, an 18,000-square-foot spa, two restaurants, a wedding lawn, a children's club, a water way with family friendly tubes and body slides that will weave through volcanic rockwork and include an iconic caldera volcano, a wading pool for parents with toddlers, a sprawling zero-entry fun pool and a saltwater snorkel lagoon filled with a variety of exotic fish. The project is currently scheduled to open in 2011.

Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, noted that Disney chose to build a resort on Oahu due to the international popularity of Hawaii as a family vacation destination, and in keeping with Disney being such a strong a family-oriented brand, that the design also calls for activities and amenities that aim to engage every member of the family.

The resort also is being designed to respect and connect with the local culture of the Hawaiian islands, and the property will include cultural programming in the areas of environmental education, music, dance, history, and arts and crafts.

Question is, will you be willing to book a Disney resort vacation that does not include a theme park?

Your bags are checked and you’ve gotten settled in your seat. The last thing you want is to be stuck on the tarmac without an idea of when you’ll get to your destination.

A federal task force, unofficially referred to as the “tarmac task force,” recently came up with a series of voluntary guidelines for airlines, in order to help the thousands of passengers each year who get stranded on the tarmac for hours. These guidelines include: updating the passengers on the flight’s status every 15 minutes, providing a secure room for those who can't make their overseas flights (so they don't have to go through security more than once), and offering refreshments and entertainment. However, none of the guidelines specify a certain time limit for how long passengers need to be stuck on a plane until they are allowed off the aircraft.

Some of the reasons given for the decision delays include the fact that the time limits for passengers need to be tailored to each airline and airport. Also, until now, airlines had not yet worked on coming up with an effective strategy on dealing with delayed flights on the tarmac. Yet, the tarmac task force, created in December 2007, is currently working on a separate rule that would specifically require airlines to develop their own plans-which would include a time limit-for how to deal with passengers who get stuck on the tarmac. Although this plan is still in the works, it could be a welcome relief for future passengers.

This week Kevin and I are participating in the PhoCusWright Travel Conference, Nov. 17 to 20, in Los Angeles’ Hollywood, Calif.  In between preparing for the start of the conference, we took advantage of the fact that the venue, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, is right on Hollywood Boulevard.   

We took a stroll along the nearby  Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s pretty fascinating to see all the stars who have contributed to the Hollywood industry immortalized in the sidewalk! There are more than 2,000 stars listed over this 3.5-mile round-trip walk.  Does anyone know what the criteria are to earn a star on the sidewalk?  I set off looking for fellow Scots Sean Connery and Ewan MacGregor, but failed—let me know if you find them!

On route, we also stopped at the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre which is a film theater but is more famous for all the handprints and footprints of the rich and famous. These range from Shirley Temple’s 1935 signature, to Will Smith’s more recent handprints.

However, as they say … on with the show, so it’s back to work for us with an exciting few days hearing about what’s going on in the Travel Industry and presenting TravelMuse. I’ll be posting news from PhoCusWright on our TravelMuse Company Blog and you can also follow TravelMuse on Twitter. 

One of the great things about having friends in foreign cities is that you can visit them and get an insider’s view of their local neighborhoods. Clapham, in South London, is the place I’ve gotten to know better recently, as I have two friends from the United States currently living there. (One is actually in adjacent Wandsworth.)

I spent a few days exploring the neighborhood prior to attending World Travel Market this past week, and here are three places that I can recommend if you too find yourself south of the Thames on your next jaunt across the pond.

The Clapham North

For a modern pub atmosphere where you can sit by the fire and chat with locals or gather around one of the TVs to watch the latest European football game, check out The Clapham North. It couldn’t be easier to find: Take the Northern tube line to the Clapham North stop, exit and cross the street. The food on offer is a step above typical pub grub, with overtones of Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. While not out-of-this-world wonderful, the burger and steak with chips (fries) were solidly good. There are wine and cocktail lists, but surprisingly no ale on tap. But don’t despair, you can get Guinness, Hoegaarden and Leffe (although given my allergy to beer, I stuck with the Lagavulin).

http://www.theclaphamnorth.co.uk/index.html

The Loft lounge area. Photo by: Donna M. Airoldi

The Loft

This popular cocktail lounge was voted Time Out London’s Best Bar 2008, and it’s a favorite of both my fiends in the area. Blink and you’ll miss the small entry door, but once you’re up the stairs to its second-floor home, the room opens to a long space with terrific views of London and Clapham High Street, the main drag of the neighborhood. The Loft features more than 50 cocktails and 25 beers on the menu, with additional specials offered regularly. The Vesper Martini, in honor of Casino Royale, had the perfect mix of gin, vodka and Lillet. Other concoctions featured ingredients ranging from passionfruit to chili peppers. The space contains a restaurant as well, with both bar and dinner menus. The platter of flatbreads, crudities, meatballs, and spicy chorizo served with homemade hummus, babaganoush and taramosalata was mighty tasty.

http://theloft-clapham.co.uk/

Chez Bruce

Chez Bruce, a Michelin-starred restaurant provided what was by far my favorite meal of the trip. It actually is located in Wandsworth Common, which is near Clapham. We lingered over a three-hour lunch that started with a wonderful pappardelle of braised oxtail, bacon and parmesan cheese and ended with a selection from about 20 artisenal cheeses. The butternut squash soup with ricotta dumpling, sage beurre noisette and pine nuts; confit belly and burger of pork with choucroute, cavolo nero and grain mustard; and fillet of cod with olive oil mash, ratatouille and oregano also were fantastic. The lunch menu is prix fixe, with a choice of one to four courses, ranging from £14.50 to £35.50 (at time of publishing about $21.50 to $53). I strongly encourage including a cheese plate as one of your courses for a £4 ($6) supplement. We tried eight. All but one were excellent, the Coolea hard cheese from Cork in Ireland, a Hertfordshire goat cheese and Cashel Blue being favorites. Reservations recommended.

http://www.chezbruce.co.uk/

Traveling to the airport doesn’t have to be a drain on your wallet, time and sanity. After its New York City debut two years ago, Hitchsters launched its San Francisco edition of the popular Web-based rideshare service on Nov. 11.

Hitchsters matches riders who need a ride to the airport. Simply choose your flight time and Hitchsters hooks you up with a rider (who’s on the same flight as you) and a driver (they’ve partnered with local sedan and limo companies to provide the rides). Other Hitchsters features include Google Maps distance matching and user accounts, which allow riders to see how much money and carbon dioxide they’ve saved.

The benefits? Splitting the cost of gas, meeting cool, eco-conscious folk, and reducing CO2 emissions. According to Hitchsters, riders save an average of $21 per trip and reduce CO2 spew by 30 lbs. Read our TravelMuse article on Carbon Offsetting, in our upcoming issue on Nov. 14, to learn how you can reduce CO2 emissions during your travels.

I’d be totally into this. Why spend $40 on a cab fare to the airport when you can spend $20? That’ll afford you a nice dinner—with your new friend. Sign up with Hitchsters at www.hitchsters.com.

Have you used Hitchsters or rideshared before? What do you think about this new service?

You no longer have to spend your flight watching endless movies or passing the time flipping through the SkyMall catalog. Now, when you fly with American Airlines, you can check your e-mail or catch up on the latest news with newly offered inflight Wi-Fi broadband service, Gogo Inflight Internet.

The new service, announced in August, was developed by Aircell LLC. Gogo can be accessed when the plane flies above 10,000 feet and you can connect from your laptop, Blackberry, smartphone and other devices that are capable of connecting to Wi-Fi.

American Airlines charges $12.95 for the Gogo service on flights longer than three hours, and $9.95 on flights shorter than three hours.

Gogo Limitations

While it's great to access the Web and e-mail, the service is currently only available on certain flights depending on your destination-this includes nonstop flights between New York City and San Francisco as well as New York City and Miami. Aircell is planning to extend the existing network to include Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. And you still can't talk on the phone; passengers are ubable to access certain voice over IP (VOIP) services like Skype.

Airlines Adding Wi-Fi

While American Airlines is the first U.S. air carrier to offer Internet access to passengers, several more are following suit, including JetBlue Airways and Delta Air Lines. Air Canada is scheduled to offer the Wi-Fi service in 2009.

Does the addition of Wi-Fi make you more likely to fly American Airlines (or any airline that offers it)?

If you’re in New York this weekend and you love chocolate, head over to the 11th Annual New York Chocolate Show. The show kicked off its weekend festivities with a fabulous fashion show and preview gala last night at Pier 94 on Manhattan’s far West Side (55th Street and the Hudson River), which I was lucky enough to attend.

Each year, organizers pair designers and chefs to create whimsical, tasty outfits for the catwalk. This year’s theme to riff on: all-time superheroes. Proceeds from the event benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Greater New York City chapter.

Nearly all the delicious designs are edible. Highlight from last night’s event included “Sedusa” by Esther Nash and Lauri Ditunno, of Cake Alchemy; “Black Phoenix (X-Men)” by Kit Scarbo, Fritz Knipschildt and Torben Bang; “Glamour Girl” by Jessie Lyric and Bethany Thouin; “Urban Superhero” by Brian Bustos and Steve Evetts; and “Batgirl” by Michael Plosky and Martin Howard.

Lauri Ditunno of Cake Alchemy with “Sedusa”;                         “Black Phoenix (X-Men)”

Costumes will be on display for the duration of the event.

While at the show, troll the floor for samples (for a price) of some of the best cocoa confections you’ll ever find. There also are several coffee and, surprisingly, tea exhibitors as well.

For families, there’s a Kids Zone with events and activities for young ones, including demos on how to make Smores and chocolate mousse, and a Kids Spa offering chocolate treatments.

“Batgirl”;                                                                                Chuao Chocolatiers from Carlsbad, Calif.

The show runs Nov. 7 to 9; Fri. and Sat., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sun. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets: adults, $28; children under 5, free; children 5 to 12, free (limit 2 children per adult, each additional child (5 to 12), $8). Tickets are valid for one day.

In conjunction with the Chocolate Show (same days and hours) is the Tastings NYC food show, with chef demonstrations and food and wine to sample and buy. Tickets are $75 per day, $80 in combination with the Chocolate Show, $95 including access to special events. Available from www.tastingsnewyorkcity.com.

“Urban Superhero”;                                            Chocolate sculptures from the International Culinary Center

Yesterday’s election of Barack Obama as the 44th President was an historic moment for the United States on many levels. People today are talking about what an Obama presidency means for America’s standing in the world, her economic future and the future of its citizens. 

If the initial reaction from the international community is any sign, it’s safe to say that the United State’s perception in the world enjoyed a significant jump overnight. The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom said:

So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in the eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world.

For those of us in the travel business, it’s interesting to examine what this election means to the future of the U.S. travel industry. Will personal fortunes rise over the next four years and spurn more tourism? Will the United States see an increase in international visitors?

Roger Dow, President of the Travel Industry Association had this to say:

… we look forward to working with our policy leaders to address two of the most daunting challenges facing America today: improving the U.S. economy and strengthening America's image around the world. We have already seen President-elect Obama take important steps over the past year to demonstrate his support for travel by cosponsoring the Travel Promotion Act, encouraging expansion of the Visa Waiver Program and speaking out on our nation's deteriorating air travel system. He now  has an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to improving the American economy and winning hearts and minds around the world by supporting lower barriers to travel to and within the United States, and by making improvement of the travel process a central priority of his administration.

It is my belief that the next four years will be transformative for the United States, and that we’ll see an economic resurgence that will lead to more discretionary income at home and abroad, and ultimately yield a strengthening of U.S. tourism. Further bolstering the travel sector will be increased investment in infrastructure—such as upgrading our airports and air traffic control system—leading to more jobs and a more efficient travel experience for consumers. Lastly, I suspect that Obama’s global perspective and multi-cultural background is likely to stoke Americans’ curiosity in the world and trigger more foreign travel.

Am I just a hopeless romantic, or do you agree?

What are your thoughts on the travel industry on this historic day? 

I am not one to dish on the whereabouts of celebrities. In fact, I am a big believer in everyone’s right to privacy; even if you make your living mugging for the camera.

Given that mind set, during a recent visit to a wilderness retreat near Vancouver Island in British Columbia, I couldn’t help but think it would make for a great celebrity hide out.

Remote yet luxurious. Brilliant, fresh and creative food. Seaside spa treatments. It is tucked away such that arrivals take place via seaplanes or motorboats. The paparazzi would have a tough time making a stealth arrival.

Clearly, the Hollywood crowd didn’t need to get the 411 from me. Several days after my departure, People magazine reported that Scarlett Johansson had just married her beau at the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort. And since the magazine spread the news, I don’t have to feel bad about mentioning it.

***

On an unrelated note, I am glad it is Election Day. While I am thrilled that so many Americans have been heartily engaged in the political process, it will be nice to have the national dialogue gently shift to a more congenial tone of voice.

In the midst of it all, I cannot help wondering if Sarah Palin is silently hoping she’ll return to Alaska as Governor and Adventure Mom. Does she secretly pine for that simpler life that allowed more time for her five kids, big-game hunting, snowmobiling and deep-sea fishing? Or is she up for the grown-up games played inside Washington, D.C.’s Beltway?

Early in my career, I took a ride on the D.C. roller coaster. I much prefer being the Adventure Mom.