Next TSA streamlining: luggage
The Transportation Security Administration plans to adapt its "risk-based security" to the screening of luggage. As part of a TSA plan to spend $2.2 billion over the next five years, the agency wants to adopt a system that can identify the risk level of each bag, based on information about its owners.
los angeles times
Norwegian Air making waves
Upstart Norwegian Air Shuttle is ruffling rivals' feathers with plans to bring the kind of low-fare service offered domestically by Southwest and JetBlue to flights across the Atlantic. Norwegian Air Shuttle offers flights up to $150 to $500 cheaper than its U.S.-based competitors. But critics say the move to operate a long-haul company out of Ireland would let Norwegian take advantage of more lenient labor laws to undercut rivals by even more.
los angeles times
Hotel check-in
Tradition meets restoration, renovation
Accommodations rarely get more atmospheric than this: a 100-plus-year-old Kyoto townhouse that once housed maiko, or apprentice geisha, now thoroughly renovated to 21st-century standards trimmed in 1,000-year-old temple beams, antique art and tatami mats. On the banks of the Kamogawa River, the two-bedroom Kamogawa-tei (Kiyamachi Street; 81-75-354-7770; en.kyoto-stay.jp/list/kamogawa.html) is one of six traditional townhouses known as machiya renovated by Aoi Kyoto Stay. Most closely associated with Kyoto, the former imperial capital of Japan, machiya developed as merchant townhouses from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Though larger and more elaborate machiya-for-rent can run more than $400 per night, modest options abound: Shirakawa Cottage (Umemiya-Cho, Higashiyama-ku, 81-75-711-2527; kyotomachiyastay.com) has a 12,000 yen rate ($121) for a full kitchen, bedroom and itty-bitty bathroom.
new york times
Deal of the week
Sail away for half-price
This summer, two can sail for the price of one on select 15-night cruises with Blount Small Ship Adventures. The deal applies to the Atlantic Coastal Waterways itinerary, which sails from Jacksonville, Fla., to Warren, R.I., on June 30, along with two July departures of the Great American Waterways cruise between Chicago and Warren. Prices vary. Info: 888-618-4770, www.blountsmallshipadventures.com/2014offers.
washington post
on the web
Booking buses and trains
Wanderu.com, a one-stop-shop website that lets you find and book bus and train tickets in the U.S. and Canada, just added the big granddaddy of bus travel, Greyhound, to its long list of bus and rail partners. Greyhound routes in the Northeast and Canada will be added first. To use the site, plug in your destinations for departure and arrival, and filter your search results by price, departure or arrival time and duration (an important, often-overlooked factor).
los angeles times
