Category: Cool Service
Barcelona's free bike program.
While Paris's highly successful Velib bike-sharing program has received the most attention, Barcelona's "Bicing" celebrated its first birthday this week. Launched last year with 1,500 bikes and 100 station, the program now boasts 4,300 bikes, 286 stations, and 130,000 users.The annual subscription fee of €24 lets users take a bike for a maximum of two hours. The first 30 minutes are free, after that, the cost is .30€ for 30 minutes. The small-wheeled, red-and-white bikes are tricked out with baskets, bells, and lights. And the swipe cards used to liberate the bikes from their stands have pretty much eliminated theft.
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London Hidden Treasure: Kensington Roof Gardens
One of London's best kept secrets is the Kensington Roof Gardens. Still known to Londoners as Derry and Tom's, the gardens were laid out atop a department store in the mid-1930s. The gardens -- which cover 1-½ acres -- comprise the largest roof garden in Europe.
There are Spanish (based on the Alhambra in Granada), English Woodland -- with 30 species of trees -- and Tudor style gardens. And now, a hot nightclub and award-winning restaurant.
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Abercrombie & Kent tours for women.
Abercrombie & Kent sent me an email today announcing their "women-only journeys."To be honest, we've never been fans of women's tours. The pioneers in this field were notoriously unprofessional. Travelers who'd paid in full for their trips would often learn a couple of weeks before departure that they'd need to pay a "supplement" because too few people had signed up for their tour. And the standard of accommodation was not commensurate with the price.
But we're all for A&K entering the market. So many single women want to travel but don't want to go it alone and don't want to feel like fifth wheels in a world of couples.
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Protecting yourself with travel insurance.
Last time I looked, American Airlines had cancelled over 3,000 flights, inconveniencing a quarter of a million travelers.These days, there's not much you can do to prevent travel hassles. But you can limit your financial risk by purchasing travel insurance.
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Free bikes, almost-free cars, and free WiFi in Paris.
Betrand Delanoe, Paris's openly-gay mayor, is turning out to be one of the most progressive in Europe. Last year, he introduced the hugely successful Velib bicycle program. And in January of this year, he announced plans for Automobile-en-Libre-Service or Voiturelib.
Reelected in March, Delanoe wants to make 2,000 non-polluting electric cars available to rent for just a few euros an hour. Reservations aren't required. You just pick up a car and drop it anywhere in the city. Like the bicycle program, it's subsidized by advertising.
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