It’s Business as Usual (Almost) in Kuwait City

Two signs that the travel business is beginning to return to normal in Kuwait City: American Express has reopened its office at the Meridien Hotel, and the 450-room Sheraton is expecting to be about half-open by the end of September. American Express is offering a full range of services, including travel arrangements; purchase, exchange and refund of traveler’s checks; foreign currency exchange, emergency check cashing and emergency card replacement. The office wasn’t damaged during the war, although other offices in the complex were. The Sheraton sustained considerable damage and is not expected to fully reopen until next year.

Travel Quiz: Which country is the only one in the world to contain both the Equator and a tropic?

Alaska Highway Party: Temperatures stood frozen at 70 degrees below zero, diesel fuel stopped flowing and steel snapped in the cold. Workers would finish a stretch of dry road one day, then find it a sunken mass of mud the next. It took the bombing of Pearl Harbor to motivate the United States and Canada to build the Alaska Highway, a two-lane, 1,500-mile road deemed necessary to defend the West Coast from the Japanese threat in the Pacific.

The Alaska Highway will turn 50 next year and, as part of the celebration, communities all along the highway are planning parades, festivals and cultural events to honor the link between Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and Delta Junction, Alaska. International air shows and treks of the highway will commemorate early modes of transportation. Opening ceremonies will be Feb. 15-16 in Dawson Creek.

For more information, contact Alaska Highway Rendezvous ‘92, Ste. 14-9223 100th St., Ft. St. John, B.C., VIJ 3X3, (604) 787-1992.

Quick Fact: Percentage of traffic carried January-March, 1991, by U.S. airlines that have filed for bankruptcy: 20%. Airlines are Pan Am, Continental, America West and Midway. (Source: Travel Weekly.)

Travel Caution: The Department of State is advising U.S. citizens not to travel on major Spanish railway lines. The travel caution notes that the E.T.A., a Spanish terrorist group, has renewed threats against lines between Madrid and Gijon, Madrid-Tarragona and between Zaragoza and Valladolid. The E.T.A., according to the notice, says that it has placed explosive devices on tracks in several locations on these lines, and that they are set to explode sometime between Aug. 3 and 25.

Safety for Kids: Several U.S. hotels have come up with a new service for parents traveling with young children. The Four Seasons Clift Hotel in San Francisco and its sister hotel, the Four Seasons in Washington, plus the Ritz-Carlton, Boston, all have instituted provisions for “child-proofing” rooms for toddlers, should parents request it when reservations are made. At the Four Seasons hotels, safety features include protective covers on electrical outlets, elephant-shaped protectors on bathtub faucets, baby gates and night lights. The Ritz-Carlton in Boston has windows secured so that they can open only a few inches, table lamps and matches removed and supplies of no-tear shampoo. A random check of other major hotel chains turned up no similar programs elsewhere.

Sling Without the Sting: Singapore, birthplace of the decidedly alcoholic “Singapore Sling,” launched a new nonalcoholic cocktail to celebrate its 26th birthday last week, according to the Straits Times newspaper. The drink was winner of a competition to create a cocktail that the whole family could enjoy in celebration of Singapore’s independence from Malaysia in 1965.

The red and white “Spirit of Singapore” consists of pineapple and lemon juice, and grenadine and ginger ale, and comes with a slice of lime and a miniature Singapore flag. It was the winning entry in a competition organized by the Singapore Hotel Assn. after the political secretary to the prime minister, Matthias Yao, said the island state needed some National Day traditions.

The renowned and potent “Singapore Sling” features gin, cherry brandy and Cointreau, with a dash of Benedictine and bitters, topped off with orange, pineapple and lime juice.

Comparatively Speaking: U.S. citizens who traveled to China in 1988: 274,000. In 1989: 222,000. In 1990 (year after the Tian An Men Square massacre): 63,000. U.S citizens who traveled to Eastern Europe in 1988: 361,000. In 1989: 444,000. In 1990 (year after the fall of the Berlin Wall): 476,000. (Source: U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration.)

Endangered Aqueduct: What will be the next tourist site to fall ruin to environmental pollution?

One candidate is Segovia’s famed Roman aqueduct, which has survived Moorish assault and centuries of modifications by Spanish engineers, but is now threatened by dirty traffic and well-intentioned restoration experts. According to archeologist Alonso Zamora, director of the city museum, car fumes are causing the granite to slowly crumble into a fine sand, easily visible around the bases of the columns.

But a recent restoration attempt may have done the worst damage. The aqueduct was still functioning as a conduit for water until 1973 when engineers drilled through it vertically and horizontally, filling the holes with metal poles and resin to strengthen the structure.

“The aqueduct survived so long because it had elasticity,” said Zamora. “When you stick it together with poles and resin, it becomes more rigid and more dangerous.”

Fair Warning: A rodeo, barbecue dinner, riding competition and Western dance will be part of the Tehachapi Mountain Festival next weekend in Tehachapi, about 40 miles southeast of Bakersfield. The annual festival, in its 28th year, will also include a pet parade, pancake breakfast, pony rides and a petting zoo. It begins at 7 p.m. Friday and continues through 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call the Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce at (805) 822-4180.

Quiz Answer: Brazil, which also contains the Tropic of Capricorn.