Travel Wires
Economy Class airline passengers are being promised a revolution in seat design, with London designers Layer producing a prototype seat fabric that uses smart textiles and sensors to adapt to your body and make the journey more comfortable.
Tourist tax in Scotland?
Edinburgh is set to become the first UK city to impose a tourist tax. The $3.80 per night Transient Visitor Levy (TVL) would be added to the bill for visitors staying overnight in paid accommodation and max out at seven nights or $26.50. It wouldn’t apply to campers but Travel Wires can’t, in all honesty, recommend sleeping in a tent in Scotland during most months of the year. If the tax passes the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh will join an increasing list of destinations charging tourist taxes to maintain infrastructure and gather revenue from daytrippers. Jane Austen’s Bath and 2022 Comm Games host Birmingham are also mulling levies.
Golden Girls: The cruise
There will be cheesecake, bingo and a Key West bar crawl when The Golden Girls fans sail on a fivenight cruise themed around the 80s sitcom. Celebrity Infinity will sail from Miami — Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia’s hometown — in February 2020, on a round trip to Cozumel, Mexico. Events include a cheesecake party to honour the characters’ love of the dessert and a bar crawl and karaoke party at the Rusty Anchor, Blanche’s favourite place to meet men. The show, starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, ran from 1985-92. White, the only survivor, is 97; doubt she’ll make an appearance.
You in Economy, move now
Economy flyers are being promised a revolution in seat design. London designers Layer have created a prototype that uses smart textiles and sensors to adapt to your body and make the journey more comfortable. The seat fabric has threads that conduct electricity and can change in thickness to create cushioning in different areas. Sensors help analyse a person’s weight, size and how they move in the seat, making adjustments that make them more comfortable,, warmer or cooler. Data from the sensors can remind the passenger to move if they’ve stayed still too long.
Branson empire grows
Virgin Hotels has opened its second property, with 192 rooms, a rooftop bar and street-priced minibar snacks, in San Francisco. It’s described as a mix between the city’s Victorian-era past, the 1960s rock ’n’roll era and 19th-century Britain. It has two restaurants, that exclusive members-only bar and a cafe serving Hugh Jackman’s Laughing Man coffee. The first Virgin Hotel opened in Chicago in 2015; eight more are planned around the US. First UK location: Edinburgh in 2021. You’ll have to pay the TVL.