Departure gate

Your passport to the latest destinations and airline promotions

Experience a piece of history and set sail on a Viking longship

The dream of setting out across the fjord in a Viking longboat of the type made famous in sagas and verse can become a reality for visitors to the Danish city of Roskilde this summer and autumn. A day trip on a replica of an ocean-going longship is one of the highlights of a visit to the museum island in Roskilde which lies around 30 minutes from the capital Copenhagen.

The excursion is offered daily until September 30. Just how the Vikings managed to built these impressive ships back in 1030 is shown in a workshop at the museum which also contains extensive exhibits from the heroic Scandinavian era. The longship copy was put together here using largely contemporary tools in order to ensure maximum authenticity. (www. vikingeskibsmuseet.dk)

Take a walk on the edge with volcano trails in the Azores

The longest trail in the Azores, the "10 Volcanoes Trail," offers a total of 27 kilometres of adventure and is the latest attraction for energetic visitors to the island of Faial. The new hiking path links four shorter trails, each of which can be explored on its own.

To create the new route several paths which follow the island's levadas or irrigation paths were revived. They had been damaged and disused since an earthquake in 1998. Highlights of the new trail include the Capelinhos and Caldeira sections, with the latter leading down inside the crater of the extinct Caldeira volcano. For those who want to attempt the entire route in one session there are numerous reasonably priced hostelries along the way, including bed and breakfast establishments. (www.visitportugal.com)

Happy holidays for the gay and lesbian travelers in Mexico City

Mexico City has set up an office for homosexual visitors in an effort to increase the number of gay and lesbian travellers to the Mexican capital.

The office is the first of its kind in the whole of Latin America, Mexico City's Tourism Minister Alejandro Rojas said. Visitors will be able to find out about tourist routes, restaurants and other information and the office will help ensure gay tourists don't suffer discrimination.

According to Mexico City's tourist ministry, gay tourists spend more on their trips than heterosexuals. They also travel more, with 55 per cent of gays and lesbians making three holiday trips a year while a third travel five times. The majority of gay tourists to Latin America and the Caribbean come from the US and Canada, said Rojas.

Lonely Planet e-books to hit iPad with European destinations

Lonely Planet, publisher of the popular travel guides, launched interactive e-books for the iPad on Monday for popular European destinations.

E-books for Italy, Spain, France, Great Britain and Ireland, each containing more than 3,000 hyperlinks and imbedded points of interest, will be sold at Apple's iBook stores.

The initial five electronic books will be followed by interactive guides for Japan, Thailand and Australia.

Latest Californian fad: Locally grown fruits for specialty spas

Visitors have long come to the hilly Southern California hamlet of Ojai to get stuffed with the Pixie tangerines grown as a specialty in the area's citrus groves.

Now they're coming to get scrubbed with them too.

The Ojai Valley Inn and other spas across the country are cashing in on the craze for locally grown fruits and herbs by integrating them into skin treatments and massage therapies.

Airline deals and news

Fly to Dubai in a super jumbo A380: Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline, is offering China's first scheduled super jumbo A380 service from Beijing.

The 517-seat plane operates on flight EK 306, departing Dubai daily at 4:10 am and touching down in the Chinese capital city at 3:10 pm. The return flight, EK 307, takes off from Beijing Capital International Airport at 11:55 pm and lands at Terminal 3, Dubai International Airport, at 4:20 am the following day.

The airline's fleet of 11 A380s is also running services from Dubai to London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Toronto, Seoul, Bangkok, Beijing, Jeddah, Sydney and Auckland.

Mexico's largest airline folds up: Mexican de Aviacion, the largest airline in Mexico, filed for bankruptcy protection this week.

The company has already laid off 40 percent of its employees and cut wages of those remaining. Pilot salaries have been dropped by 41 percent, with flight attendants taking home 39 percent less in wages.

Discounts with China Southern: China Southern Airlines are offering tickets on selected routes for 90 yuan, 190 yuan and 290 yuan, discounts of as much as 90 percent from regular fares. Check China Southern's website www.csair.com for more details.

Delaware Press Association - Reuters - China Daily

(China Daily 08/08/2010 page16)