This has to be one of the most unique things I have ever seen, a beautifully built ice palace in the middle of St. Petersburg Russia. This ice palace is filled with ice furniture and other furnishings throughout. Worth a trip if you are going to be in the city over the next couple of months.

A replica of an ice palace built in the eighteenth century was unveiled Wednesday in the center of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city.
The structure, which is six meters high and covers a total area of some 100 sq m, is furnished with ice tables, chairs, beds, mirrors, and crockery.
The original ice palace was built in the city in 1740 to mark the 10th anniversary of Empress Anna Ioannovna’s reign and Russia’s victory over Turkey.
The construction of the palace, whose purpose is to attract tourists to St. Petersburg during the winter, began on January 18. Russia’s foremost ice sculptors used more than three tons of ice blocks from neighboring lakes to build it.
The opening ceremony, which was accompanied by fireworks and a fashion show, gathered about 300 people despite the freezing temperature (minus 20 degrees Celsius).  via RIA Novosti

The Economist Intelligence Unit, a division of the Economist Magazine,  has released it’s annual survey that ranks the top 130 cities in the world by cost of living, and for 2005 Oslo was the most expensive and surprise, surprise, Tehran was the least expensive city to do business in. New York City was the most expensive city in the United States coming in at 27th position.

Latin America saw inflation hit their currencies and moved up the list while the United States saw a modest increase and most of it’s cities moved down the charts.

The 10 Most Expensive Cities in the World

1 Oslo, Norway
2 Tokyo, Japan
3 Reykjavik, Iceland
4 Osaka Kobe, Japan
4 Paris, France 
6 Copenhagen, Denmark
7 London, UK
8 Zurich, Switzerland
9 Geneva, Switzerland
10 Helsinki, Finland

The Economist  goes on further to explain how the cost of living is determined:

There are two major reasons why a city’s cost of living index will change over time: exchange rate movement and price movement. Since a common currency is required in making a comparative calculation all local prices are converted into dollars, which emphasises the role of currency movement. If, for example, a currency strengthens or inflation pushes the price of goods up, so the relative cost of living in that country will also rise.

 

It looks like the problems Muslim rioting in the Middle East over the cartoons in European newspapers is starting to affect travel to the region. In addition to warning people already in the Middle East to leave immediately, travel warnings have been issued for 14 countries.

Denmark on Monday issued a list of 14 Muslim countries that they advised their citizens to avoid following violent protests against the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The 14 countries are Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
via International Herald Tribune.

The Airbus A380 will be entering airlines fleets in 2006, and the impact will be felt initially on the long haul internation routes before they impact domestic routes. These double decker planes are the largest passenger airplanes to go into service. An interesting article from the New Zealand Herald discusses the impact that will be felt on this hard to reach nation with the coming of the A380.

In 2005 the Airbus A380 finally took to the skies. Singapore Airlines will be the first to fly the new plane - it hopes later this year, barring any more delays in testing.

And the giant jet - while not expected to be a regular visitor to Auckland, will be flying not too far from us, with Singapore Airlines first deploying it on the Sydney-Singapore-London route.

There is a total of 159 “orders and commitments” for the massive new plane, though not all are for the passenger model, with the world’s cargo operators keen to start using the freighter version, which is yet to fly.

The impact of the plane on world aviation has been debated for years. Airbus says it may have the same kind of effect as the introduction of the Boeing 747 in the late 1960s - dramatically lowering the cost of air travel.

Emirates, the Dubai-based airline that has been flying to New Zealand for just over two years, may again shake up the local aviation scene with its anticipated Auckland-Dubai direct flights.

Aviation sector awaits A380 effect - 09 Jan 2006 - Business.

It is interesting how the book “The Da Vinci Code” has increased traffic at the Lourve. It has introduced another section of the traveling population to the great museum.

The Louvre Museum in Paris had a record number of visitors in 2005, with successful soirees for young people, crowd-pleasing exhibitions and promotion from “The Da Vinci Code,” a top administrator said Tuesday.
About 7.3 million people visited the art museum in 2005, up from 6.7 million in 2004 — the previous record — general administrator Didier Selles told The Associated Press. Definitive 2005 figures are expected in coming weeks.
Selles said Dan Brown’s mystical thriller “The Da Vinci Code” was in part responsible for drawing fans to the Louvre, though likely “not in gigantic proportions.” Some travel companies offer Da Vinci code tours that make stops at the Louvre.
The museum expects more dramatic results starting this spring, when Oscar-winning director Ron Howard’s movie based on the novel debuts.CNN.com .

FlyBe  is setting a new standard for the airline add on cost. However, it is my opinion that this is a very smart move. It reduces upfront ticket costs, charges a nominal fee for the luggage, and if you do not reserve a place for the luggage, you pay a small penalty.

Low-fare British carrier Flybe now charges passengers about $3.50 per checked bag –IF you booked it in advance. Otherwise if you just show up and haven’t reserved a spot for your bag and want to check it, it’s going to run you $7 per bag. But with the advent of online and kiosk check-in, waiting in long lines while people check their bags could be a thing of the past for tech-savvy travelers. Via The Daily Traveler.

The only draw back to this is that travel portals such as Expedia are not designed to handle this extra charge. I would think that this concept would have real legs in the United States.

Update: I was talking to my Flight Attendant wife and she hated the idea. All she could see was passengers trying to bring 5 bags on the airline and causing a scene when they were to be charged for having to check them.

Monarch Airlines had a problem with a drunken passenger. He was being abusive to both flight attendants and passengers. The beauty of the situation, they dropped him off in the middle of a desert island, to make his own way home! Monarch Airlines is in my Top 10 airlines list from now on.

Monarch Airlines has yet to decide whether to sue him for the cost of the unscheduled diversion, estimated at “many thousands of pounds”.
The unnamed passenger’s difficulties began on Tuesday evening at 35,000 ft when he began abusing the cabin crew of flight ZB558 from Manchester. He refused to calm down and then turned his attention to the other 210 passengers.
Eventually the pilot decided that he posed a risk to safety and had to be removed.
Rather than continue for a further 45 minutes to Tenerife he diverted his Airbus A321 to Porto Santo. Within moments of the plane touching down the passenger was escorted to the terminal. Last night he remained a castaway on the Portuguese-controlled island. His New Year home is a mere 10 miles long by three miles wide with a population of 4,000. There is little entertainment apart from walking on the sand dunes.Telegraph .

The Swiss have decided that smoke filled trains are to be a thing of the past. They will be  joining Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden in making their trains  smoke free.

“In addition to protecting non-smoking passengers and staff from passive smoke, the ban will also free up more seats, as smoking compartments — typically underutilized — are currently being converted into non-smoking ones,” notes Fabrice Morel, President and CEO of the Rail Europe Group. Within 6 months, all ashtrays will be removed from SBB trains, a process that has already begun. Smoking is prohibited in Swiss rail stations except in designated areas and on the outdoor platforms.

This will be a most welcome transition for the non smoking traveler.