One of the more useful travel-related websites to emerge this year is The Culture Trip (
www.theculturetrip.com) a resource that offers a wealth of book and film recommendations for anyone visiting just about anywhere in the world. Just select a location from the world map, and up comes a comprehensive selection of titles to get you inspired for your next journey - from Tintin books to the densest classical literature, and from light romantic comedies to obscure art-house films. Thailand, for example, is covered by an incredibly eclectic range of films, from The King and I to the complete works of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, while those heading to India are tempted with everything from the great filmmaker Satyajit Ray to Slumdog Millionaire. Each of the hundreds of thousands of books and films can, of course, be purchased online from the site, and while this is convenient, it's worth shopping around with other online retailers once you have made your selections. A world music section, which will allow visitors to download related digital music files, is in the pipeline.
Flight numbers
Qantas will be suspending its flights between Hong Kong and London from early next year and will be switching to a double-decker Airbus A380 for four flights a week between Hong Kong and Sydney starting from January 15. The airline's A380 configuration provides 450 seats in four classes - 332 in economy, 32 in premium economy, 72 in business and 14 in first class. This is a fairly generous set-up compared with Air France's A380s, which have 538 seats in three classes, but even that sounds spacious when compared to the 700 seats planned by Russian airline Transaero for its recently ordered A380s, and the pair of nightmarish-sounding 840-seat, all-economy versions due to be delivered to French carrier Air Austral in 2014.
Deal of the week
Westminster Travel is offering two- night packages to both Delhi and Mumbai that start from HK$4,700 per person, twin-share, with round-trip flights on Jet Airways. This price will get you into the mid-range Vikram (
www.hotelvikram.com) in Delhi, but for HK$5,250 you can stay at the Oberoi Maidens (
www.maidenshotel. com), which was rated as the best hotel in the city when it opened - in 1903 - and is still a high-end property. Choices for Mumbai include the Royal Orchid Central Grazia (
www.royalorchidhotels.com) for HK$4,810 but The Leela Mumbai (
www.theleela.com) offers much better value, at HK$5,390. These prices will be valid until the end of March and include daily breakfast and travel insurance. For further package details and reservations, call 3665 3488 or e-mail
[email protected], quoting Tour Code 9WDELGV1001, or visit
www.westminstertravel.com. As there is not much point in visiting India for only two nights (and flight tickets with this package are valid for up to 14 days), you might like to extend your stay quite cheaply by checking in to one of the hundreds of interesting-looking homestays viewable at
www.mahindrahomestays.com.
