Find a B&B dealA bed-and-breakfast directory at www.BnBFinder.com offers listings of thousands of bed and breakfasts, inns and small hotels throughout the world — including ones that offer military discounts.
The site has more than 130 categories and gives information on prices, locations, availability and sightseeing activities.
It also includes a section called “Specials & Packages” that lists deals and special offers. While most are in the States, at least one in Europe, the Sea-Breeze Lodge on the Bay of Galway in Ireland, offers a 10-percent discount to military members.
Rates vary by date, but those currently posted for June and July 2008 range from 110 euros a night for a single room with a view of Galway Bay to a room sleeping three with Galway Bay view for 195 euros.
In America, the Wildberry Lodge in Leicester, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, also offers a 10 percent discount. Double rooms usually start at $149 per night. The La Belle de la Riviere in Newaygo, Michigan, discounts a room to $50 and suite to $100. And the Captain Wohlt Inn in Hermann, Missouri, offers a 15 percent discount per room. Usual prices start at $75 and $100.
The Web site also has one-time specials and issues gift certificates.
Stay somewhere uniqueLooking for something different for your next overnight? Take a look at www.uhotw.com, a Web site that features unusual hotels around the world.
Among the choices are a hotel featuring rooms in converted trams in the Netherlands; igloos in Finland; the Hotel St. Merry, a former church, in Paris; a lighthouse in Harlingen, Netherlands; the Utter Inn, an underwater hotel in Stockholm; the Kadirs Tree House Hotel in Antalya, Turkey; and Das Park Hotel, a hotel near Linz, Austria, where the rooms are made from converted sewage pipes.
The Web site includes photos, details and price ranges for each destination. Organizers note they haven’t visited all of the hotels but do offer visitor ratings that range from “different” to “wow.” They also solicit comments from guests who stay at the lodgings.
Ideas for BritainHere are some of the latest travel suggestions from the British Tourist Authority:
• James Bond fans might want to head to the Imperial War Museum in London April 17 to March 1, 2009, for the centenary celebration of the birth of Ian Fleming.
“For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond” looks at the lives of both the author and the fictional special agent. It includes exhibits on Fleming’s life as a wartime journalist and travel writer, and examines how he used his experiences to create the world of James Bond. It also includes other personal effects such as the research notes for “From Russia With Love,” written in Istanbul, and the transcript for his novel “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
Admission to the museum is 8 pounds (about $16.75) for adults, 4 pounds for children. The Web site is www.iwm.org.uk.
• Liverpool, England, has been chosen as a 2008 European Capital of Culture. Some of the highlights of the year’s program include: a free open-air show in St. Georges Plateau on Jan. 11-13 featuring Ringo Starr; classical concerts in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall; a special exhibit of Gustav Klimt, “Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life in Vienna 1900” in the Tate Liverpool May 30 to Aug. 31; the “Liverpool Sound” outdoor concert in the Anfield football stadium June 1, featuring Paul McCartney and his band; and the start of the Tall Ships Race July 18-21. Full details at www.liverpool08.com.
• Miss the surfing scene back home? You can catch the British version April 24 to May 1 during the professional O’Neill Highland Open surfing competition. International surfers will ride the waves in the 38-degree Fahrenheit waters off Thurso, the northernmost town on the Scottish mainland, for a prize of $135,000. Details at www.oneilleurope.com.
• A new youth hostel has opened in London’s West End near Oxford Street and a mile from St. Pancras station. It contains 36 four-bed rooms, 17 six- bed rooms and six eight-bed rooms. Each room has individual security lockers and key card access. The hostel offers use of a laundry room, luggage store, 24-hour reception desk and cafe/bar.
Beds start at 14.95 pounds (about $30) a night for those younger than 18 and 18.95 pounds for adults. Find details at www.yha.org.uk.
Send submissions to Let’s Go to travel@estripes.osd.mil.
Best BetsENGLAND: Ripon Cathedral’s annual Boxing Day pilgrimage in North Yorkshire commemorates the founding of Fountains Abbey by a group of monks from St. Mary’s Abbey in York in 1132. Unhappy with what they felt was a drift away from the simple, spiritual life to one of wealth and pleasures of the city, 13 monks traveled to Ripon on Christmas Eve. The next day they walked to a then-desolate site in the Yorkshire hills, discovered a source of fresh water and founded the abbey.
In remembrance of this trip, today’s pilgrims meet in the Ripon Cathedral for a service at 9:30 a.m. At 10:15, they make the four-mile journey to the abbey through Ripon, outlying fields, Studley Royal parkland and John Aislabie’s 18th-century water gardens. Find more at Ripon’s Web site, www. ripon.org.
— Jayne Traendly
