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Side Trips

Briefs: Tales from above

Frequent fliers and anybody else who has ever had a complaint, question or confession after getting off an airplane will enjoy Air Travel Tales From the Flight Crew (Impact Publications, $14.95). The author is A. Frank Steward, a pen name for James Wysong, who has worked as a flight attendant for 17 years.

It contains practical advice on everything from minimizing jet lag (drink a lot of water to compensate for dehydration during the flight) to avoiding germs during the flight (point the nozzle of your fan toward a seat mate who's sneezing to direct airborne germs away and never go into the lavatory without shoes on).

You'll also get the skinny on what's so great about first class and whether it's worth the money; tips for flying standby, dealing with canceled flights and upgrading your seat; and a deciphering of what the flight attendants really mean when they speak to you. (Hint: If they recommend the beef, it's because they're running out of chicken.)

Tourism operators will be paid to kill giant coral-chomping starfish on the Great Barrier Reef in a move to protect its fragile ecosystem, the Australian government has announced.

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said a $440,000 grant would fund a two-year program to eradicate crown-of-thorns starfish from some of the reef's most popular patches of coral.

The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators will be in charge of the program to remove from the reef the spiny starfish which can measure nearly 3 feet in diameter.

Crown-of-thorns starfish are common in Australian and Southeast Asian waters, and can be found as far afield as the shores of East Africa and the west coast of the United States.

Airports with percentage of restaurants that offer healthy entrees, from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

- Chicago O'Hare: 92 percent

- Detroit Metropolitan: 89 percent

- San Francisco: 88 percent

- New York-JFK: 83 percent

- Dallas/Fort Worth: 81 percent

- Denver: 78 percent

- Atlanta: 77 percent

- Orlando: 76 percent

- Newark: 75 percent

Mark Twain was an incorrigible wanderer, as the attractive collection Mark Twain on Travel (Lyons Press/Globe Pequot Press; $24.95) amply proves. He went most everywhere it seems: along the Mississippi, of course, but also the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, India, Egypt, Jerusalem, Venice, the Alps and Paris. Throughout his travels, he maintained a peerless eye for detail and a distinctive sense of humor that continues to charm and delight.

Travel+Leisure magazine has honored seven projects around the world for contributions to local economies, the environment or cultural preservation. Some of the projects featured in this month's issue already have a tie-in with tourism as a way to promote economic development; others hope to lure travelers in the future once their goals are further along.

The winners of the magazine's Global Vision Awards include an ecological restoration project in Mauritius; EcoTaj, a project with Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces in India that encourages employees to volunteer in their communities; and a restoration effort in Falmouth, Jamaica, where locals are preserving the town's rich Georgian architecture in the hope of eventually drawing tourists.

For 13 years, superstar DJ Erick Morillo has been spinning for stalkarazzi-worthy celebrities such as Kylie Minogue and Shakira at Pacha's flagship club on Ibiza. This month, Morillo becomes resident DJ of a four-level, 30,000-square-foot Pacha superclub in New York (618 W 46th St., (212) 209-7500) that opens in the space that once held the legendary SoundFactory. The New York Pacha will accommodate more than 2,600 partiers, while the petite Pachita on the top floor will be set aside exclusively for celebrities.

- Compiled by JANET K. KEELER from the Associated Press, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and New York Times. Reach her at 727 893-8586 or krieta@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 08:38:03]