Kids Have Free Time With Florida Deal

“Free kids.” No, they aren’t being given away. That’s the brochure to ask for in a program by the Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, which allows children accompanied by parents to be housed free in more than 250 Broward County hotels. They also will be admitted free to more than 30 attractions and festivals. The program ends Sept. 30. For more information and a Free Kids brochure, call (800) 356-1662.

Travel quiz: When was the only time the lights on the Las Vegas Strip were ever voluntarily turned out? Answer below.

Indian dance: Visitors to Colorado will have a rare opportunity to attend performances by dancers from the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona, when the performers appear at Mesa Verde National Park July 7-8.

Shows will take place at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 and 4 p.m. at the Chapin Mesa Amphitheater near the archeological museum inside the park. Admission free to the dances, but there is a $5 charge per vehicle to enter Mesa Verde National Park. For more information, call (800) 346-6528.

Some hot news: The new Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel is offering a special $100 rate on 10 of its deluxe rooms every time the temperature hits the 100-degree mark in downtown Los Angeles (as verified by the National Weather Service). The first 10 people who call for reservations that night, and ask for the special rate, will pay $100 for double occupancy. Normal double-occupancy rate is $175. Call (213) 458-6700 for more information and reservations.

Out of work: At least 2,000 hotel workers have lost their jobs in the Mexican resort city of Mazatlan because of low occupancy rates, the Notimex news agency reported.

Notimex quoted Ignacio Zepeda Valdez, president of the Mazatlan Hotel Assn., as saying that occupancy rates have been running about 30%.

Valdez said the 2,000 laid-off workers compose a quarter of the work force in the city’s hotel industry.

Mazatlan is about halfway between Mexico City and the U.S. border.

Das Beatles: Cologne is the site of the only museum in Europe that is dedicated to the Beatles. The British pop artists from Liverpool are remembered through childhood photographs, record album covers, film posters, concert programs and various Beatles souvenirs such as mop-top wigs and Sgt. Pepper soup cans. The museum, located on Heinsbergstrasse 13, is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Travel costs: A family of four vacationing by car this summer should budget an average of $173 for daily food and lodging, plus $25 for each 300 miles of driving, according to the American Automobile Assn.

The $198 total is $6 more per day than last year’s suggested average budget.

AAA recommends that a family of two adults and two children plan to spend $80 per day for lodging, $93 a day for meals and $8.40 for each 100 miles of driving.

Quick fact: It’s not surprising that Hong Kong is the world’s biggest purchaser of ginseng. But give yourself a gold star if you knew where most of the Chinese herb favored by many athletes for its quick energy boost comes from? Answer: Wisconsin.

Concorde award: Until Aug. 31 in Washington, D.C., or New York City, on eastbound stopovers only, passengers may travel to London on British Airways Concorde for the price of a first-class ticket. All that’s needed is to purchase a round-trip ticket and complete the domestic portion of travel in first class on United Airlines from Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and other designated gateways. Details are available from travel agents, British Airways or United.

Smart business move: Air Canada is offering a 50% discount off business-class fares for any immediate family member traveling with a full-fare executive-class passenger, until Sept. 7.

Quick fact: Frequent fliers represented only 6% of all air passengers last year, though they accounted for 41% of all air travel, according to an annual Gallup Organization survey conducted for the Air Transport Assn. Frequent fliers were defined as those who take more than 10 trips a year.

Quiz answer: The day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated--Nov. 22, 1963.