Allow an Extra Hour to Clear Airport Traffic

Officials at Los Angeles International Airport are predicting that this week and next, 1.8 million travelers--a slight increase over this time last year--will crowd its terminals and parking lots as people pass through for the Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s holidays. While passenger traffic increases each year at LAX, international traffic--especially to Mexico and Pacific Rim countries--is expanding at a particularly rapid rate in step with Los Angeles’ growing ethnic diversity, according to an airport spokeswoman. Although most public and private parking lots are not expected to fill completely for the holidays (with the possible exceptions of the WallyPark Parking Garage and Airport Valet, both of which say they may fill by midweek), travelers should allow an extra hour to compensate for delays in traffic and parking. According to airport officials, LAX will likely be most crowded today, Dec. 23-24 and Jan. 3. For recorded information on parking, ground transportation, services for the disabled or airline locations, call (310) 646-5252 or (818) AIRPORT.

Travel Quiz: Which U.S. state consists almost entirely of two peninsulas?

Otter Show Goes Dark: The popular Sea Otter exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is closed for extensive renovation, which will include the addition of a new filtration system and the replacing of rock work so that the area more closely resembles a natural habitat. The exhibit, which closed in September, is scheduled to reopen April 3.

Fire Will Not Delay Maiden Voyage: A Dec. 7 fire aboard the still-to-be-launched, 1,266-passenger Holland America cruise ship Statendam will not delay the ship’s Jan. 25 inaugural cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to Los Angeles, according to a company spokesman. However, the electrical fire, which occurred in the main engine room while the vessel was docked at Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy--where it was built--will delay its arrival in Ft. Lauderdale, and has caused cancellation of some preview cruises. It will still depart Ft. Lauderdale on schedule on a Panama Canal cruise that will reach Los Angeles Feb. 10. After picking up passengers in San Francisco Feb. 13, the Statendam will return to Los Angeles for a reverse trip through the canal. The ship’s eventual cruise venue for 1993 will be Europe and the Caribbean.

Warning on India: A new State Department warning advises U.S. citizens to defer non-essential travel to the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh because of the riots and violence following the Dec. 6 destruction by Hindu extremists of the Babri Mosque in the town of Ayodhya. U.S. citizens should exercise caution anywhere in India as related riots sparked by Hindu-Muslim tensions have occurred elsewhere, and Indian authorities have imposed curfews and placed the army on alert in many areas of the country. The new State Department advisory joins advisories already in effect urging deferral of all travel to the Kashmir portion of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and to the state of Assam in northeast India, and all but essential travel to the state of Punjab. The State Department advises travelers to read local English-language newspapers and check with the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi (local telephone 600-651) or consulates in Bombay (363-3611), Madras (473-040 or 477-542) and Calcutta (223-611) for current security information at proposed destinations.

National Parks Take a Hike: The National Park Service will increase entrance fees by $1 at many parks and historical sites, beginning Jan 1. Under the higher fee structure, about 100 of the 129 parks in the system that have fees will now charge $4 per private vehicle, or in the case of motor coaches and tour buses, $2 per person. Most other parks will charge $5 per vehicle and $3 per person for motor coaches and tour buses. Among the parks and monuments to raise rates will be Craters of the Moon, in Idaho; Canyonlands, Utah, and Devils Tower, Wyo. Grand Canyon, Grand Teton and Yellowstone, among a handful of parks that already have much higher fees, will remain the same at $10 per vehicle, $4 per person.

Cruise Instead of Cards: Norwegian Cruise Line will continue to stop in two California ports, San Diego and Avalon, despite a new state law that goes into effect Jan. 1 outlawing gambling on any ship sailing from one California port to another. To keep its California ports of call and still operate lawfully, the 752-passenger NCL ship Southward will close its casino between Los Angeles and Avalon on three-day itineraries and between Los Angeles and Avalon and San Diego on four-day itineraries. The NCL decision follows one by Royal Caribbean to drop ports (rather than gambling) from the route of its Viking Serenade, which sails the same itinerary. The Viking Serenade will discontinue its Catalina port of call on three-night Baja Mexico sailings and delete San Diego from its itinerary on four-night sailings, changes that will take effect Jan. 4.

Quick Fact: Cathay Pacific Airways made $191,000 for UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, during its four-month “Change for Good” drive this fall--by collecting passengers’ unwanted foreign change on long-haul flights, including those between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

Breakfast Fast: A Chicago hotel has created a “flying kitchen” that guarantees breakfast delivery within 15 minutes. The new 34-story, 1,200-room Sheraton Chicago has an elevator outfitted for exclusive use by room service to prepare continental breakfasts. Coffee, decaf and tea are kept hot in the elevator, which is also stocked with juices, pastries, croissants and muffins. When a guest phones room service, the order is punched into a computer, printed out in the elevator computer and a tray is prepared. When the door opens on the correct floor, breakfast is whizzed to the room. The hotel averages 150-170 room-service breakfasts a day, 50 an hour from 6 to 8 a.m.

Quiz Answer: Michigan, which is made up almost entirely of an upper peninsula north of Wisconsin and a lower peninsula north of Indiana and Ohio.