Burn the midnight oil
If you’re running on empty, this quirky new hotel in Norway offers the perfect place to refuel. It’s a converted oil tank. The architecture may be a matter of taste, but the views should please everyone: perched on a hill on the island of Skrova, it overlooks the sweeping, islet-studded seascapes of the Lofoten archipelago. It sleeps up to seven in an indecent amount of comfort, given its origins, and in the living room, there’s a hatch leading to the roof, which has a hammock for northern-lights spotting.
From £880 a week; cabinly.co.uk
Zen out in barcelona
Spain’s party capital is going all touchy-feely with its latest hotel. Casa Bonay, in a 19th-century block in the Eixample district, has yoga mats in the rooms, a juice barand a roof terrace with an aromatic orchard for yoga and Pilates sessions. That’s what we call stag-do proof.
Doubles from £107, B&B, casabonay.com
Think inside the box
Never mind lie-flat seats. How about your own bedroom at 35,000ft? OK, bedroom is stretching it — which is what you’ll need to do after a few hours in one of the “sleeping boxes” being proposed by Airbus. The European aircraft manufacturer has filed a patent application for the pod-like spaces, which would be stacked at the rear of commercial jets and offered to passengers looking for a lie-down. The mile-high club, you’d have to say, just got a lot less exclusive.
Check out my snowplough
You might have seen them through the dark from your ski chalet window: those gravity-defying vehicles that buzz around the slopes at night, grooming impossibly steep pistes. Now you can ride one. The PistenBully co-driver experience is being offered by the uber-refined Gstaad Palace hotel, in the Swiss resort. It lasts up to 90 minutes, and you’ll be presented with a “diploma” once you arrive back at the hotel. No, you can’t do the gears. £95; palace.ch
They sleep with the fishes
Snorkelling with sharks doesn’t quite have enough of a frisson of danger for you? How about doing it in darkness? The Sea Life London Aquarium is offering visitors over Halloween the chance to submerge themselves in a special mesh with a transparent Perspex floor, and to use adapted red-light torches to pick out more than 15 resident sharks in the murky depths. Given that some of the creatures measure nearly 9ft, one suspects this won’t take too long.
From £175pp for up to four people; www2.visitsealife.com/london
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Briefing
Airline routes changed after missile warning
Cathay Pacific has broken ranks with the airline industry by announcing that it will no longer fly over Iranian airspace. Following a safety bulletin issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa), the Hong Kong-based airline said it was suspending flights over Iran and the Caspian Sea due to safety concerns over Russian missile launches in the region.
The Easa bulletin advised airlines that Russian cruise missiles launched against targets in Syria “are crossing the airspace above the Caspian Sea, Iran and Iraq, below flight routes which are used by commercial transport aeroplanes”.
So far, Cathay Pacific is the only airline to suspend flights over Iran. British Airways, Emirates, Jet Airways, KLM, Singapore Airlines and Qatar continue to use the airspace, primarily on flights to the Gulf. Commercial aircraft fly at altitudes far higher than those typically used by Russia’s Kalibr-NK cruise missiles, which are designed to hug the terrain to avoid detection.
BA said: “We have regular meetings with the UK government, security agencies and international aviation organisations. We would never fly in airspace unless we were satisfied that it was safe to do so.”
The aviation consultant John Hutchinson, a former RAF pilot and BA captain, said the carriers would be balancing risk against cost: “There is no way an airline like BA would operate on that route if they thought there was a specific risk, but they would also be reluctant to change routings because of the effect on schedules and costs.”
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Cathay’s decision was announced in the week when Dutch investigators concluded that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down last year by a Russian-made Buk missile.
Peru braced for El Nino
Tourists heading to Peru should be prepared for challenging conditions this winter, as a record-breaking El Niño is poised to bring weather chaos to the region. Disaster-preparedness agencies say floods and landslides could cause the widespread destruction of roads and bridges. There are public health concerns, too with the Peruvian ministry of health warning that the expected floods will lead to an increase in the mosquito-borne chikungunya and dengue viruses.
Poachers poison Elephants with cyanide
Ivory poachers have used poison to kill at least 37 elephants in Zimbabwe’s premier safari park, rangers report. The poachers struck in Hwange National Park — where Cecil the lion was shot — lacing natural salt licks with cyanide.
Burning issue
Q You’re the only diners in the restaurant you were recommended. Do you stick it out?
A Time to update your gastronomy guide, non? Yes, this was a charming restaurant with a certain epicurean élan. In 1986. Today, it’s a culinary cul-de-sac where chefs and their dishes come to die. The two things in your favour are that a) assuming you’re not holidaying in Saudi Arabia, you’ve got booze to fall back on; and b) this is already becoming “a tale”, surely? You’re in all likelihood in for a terrible meal, but also a fun-filled evening of whispered mickey-taking. Effective, too, if you’re on romantic duty. What do they say about laughter being the way to someone’s heart? Assuming that E coli doesn’t get there first.