Travel Wires

No one will hear you scream

With absolutely no apologies to David Bowie, TripAdvisor is offering the chance to experience life on Mars. In reality, it will happen deep in the caves of northern Spain’s Cantabrian mountains. The Astroland company has developed Ares Station, a 60m high, 1.5km-long cave “to accurately replicate the hostile conditions of Mars … isolated from human contact”. The $10,500 experience lasts 30 days, including a three-week online training programme, three days of physical and psychological training and finally three days and nights in the cave. Sorry, Ares Station. The first paying guests are due in the coming weeks.

Breathtaking museum or junkyard?

Jordan has launched an underwater military museum, sinking tanks, helicopters, an ambulance, personnel carrier and anti-aircraft guns in 28m waters off the Red Sea diving resort of Aqaba. It will offer “a new and unique museum experience” where tourists can experience “the interaction between sports, the environment and the display pieces”, according to the state news agency. Bahrain is also climbing aboard the trend, sinking a Boeing 747 off an artificial island to attract divers and tourists. Turkey has sunk an Airbus jet off the Gallipoli Peninsula to create a diving hotspot.

Fly green for another $650

Lufthansa is allowing customers to buy climatefriendly plane fuel to compensate for their flight’s emissions. The sustainable aviation fuel will be added to one of the airline’s flights, reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent. The industry has come under fire from climate campaigners for its carbon footprint, though airlines say it’s only 2 per cent of worldwide

Nobu going up in the world

Nobu — the luxe restaurant and hotel chain — turned 25 this year, and its founders are taking things to another level, building the first Nobu residences — 700 units in 49-storey twin towers — at their Toronto property. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa started out with one restaurant in LA, and his name now adorns contemporary Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, London, Las Vegas, Cape Town, Mexico City, Beijing and other global cities. There are nine Nobu hotels, including the Nobu Ryokan in Malibu, which has a working farm. It might never have happened: when his future business partner liked Matsuhisa’s LA restaurant and offered to bankroll a second joint, the chef said no. The customer came back a few weeks later and the chef agreed. Not many people say no to Robert De Niro.