Bermuda’s island life
If you want an entire tropical island to yourself at this time of year, skip the Caribbean. Try Bermuda instead. Balmy but not oppressively humid, cultured but not pretentious, quaint without being antiquated, Bermuda is practically abandoned between Thanksgiving and Easter and, for all intents and purposes, visitor-free during the two weeks leading up to Christmas.
It’s a Christmas whiteout
As the countdown to Christmas ticks away, the roads, rails and sky are expected to be flooded with the largest number of travelers ever recorded. While state police have launched extra patrols to keep busy roads safe, airports including Logan International are trying to deal with cancellations caused by blizzards in the Midwest and South.
Smoking areas under fire
Airports such as Atlanta’s that have smoking areas are putting the health of travelers and workers at risk, according to a federal report released Wednesday, near the peak of the holiday season. Most of the nation’s small airports ban smoking, but most large hubs let people light up. Hartsfield-Jackson International, which has doorless smoking rooms, was cited as one of the worst contributors to secondhand smoke. More than eight out of 10 non-hub airports ban smoking anywhere indoors. But of the 31 largest airports, which account for 70 percent of passengers, only 13 forbid lighting up.
Another Norwalk outbreak
A hotel may re-open tomorrow after it was closed by an outbreak of the Norwalk virus. The Grand Hotel in Scarborough, which has been hit by similar outbreaks in the past, closed on Monday afternoon and guests were moved out to enable intensive disinfection to be carried out. Ten guests had been taken ill with the norovirus, an airborne infection that can cause vomiting and diarrhea. No guests were admitted to hospital and none of the Grand’s staff was affected. The management took the decision to close the 460-room hotel in consultation with North Yorkshire Health Protection Unit, Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale Primary Care Trust and Scarborough Council’s environmental health team.