According to this month’s National Geographic Traveler, the most exclusive place to sell hotdogs in the United States is outside of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The cart owner pays the city over $600,000 a year to operate in the location!

I’ve definitely seen that cart and there is always a line for it. I can’t even imagine how much the owner earns in a year but I’m sure it’s in the millions!

The current issue of Sherman’s Travel magazine featured a list of hotels offering unusual amenities:

Setai, Miami Beach – Guests can record music in the hotel’s celebrity frequented, state of the art studio for $250/hour.

Hotel 100, Seattle – Infrared sensors detect when your room is occupied and alert housekeeping so you’ll never get the dreaded wake up knock.

Algonquin, New York – Guests can borrow hotel-owned Amazon Kindles preloaded with classics and bestsellers.

Muse, New York – With just 48 hours notice, room service will create a pint of ice cream with almost any requested ingredients.

Although many hotels are offering unheard of deals to lure in customers during these tough economic times, some are pricier than ever. According to a 2008 survey by the Hogg Robinson Group, the following cities have the highest average prices for a hotel stay, listed in order from most expensive:

1. Moscow
2. New York
3. Paris
4. Mumbai
5. Abu Dhabi
6. Milan
7. Geneva
8. Dubai
9. Stockholm
10. Zurich

It costs an average of $500/night to stay in Moscow which tops the list and NYC is close behind at just over $400/night. While it may seem like the worst time to visit any of these places, with the record low airfares I’ve seen for some of them you may still end up paying less for your trip than you would in a better economy.

I’ve had my current passport for several years so even though I knew that passports got a new look, I had no idea how different it was…or ugly!!! I recently added visa pages to mine which, unlike the older, plain blue versions, are purple and contain loud and often dark images. I guess they are more detailed to make counterfeiting harder but some of the pictures are so big and invasive I don’t know how you’ll read the visas that get stamped on top of them. Take the picture above; how clear do you think a stamp put in the water area is going to be? I know a passport is purely an I.D. that is seen by few others, but I enjoy looking through my visa stamps when I travel and I think these pages, taped in crookedly I might add, are a bit of an eye sore.

Trying to decide how to celebrate the new year? Here are some ways the locals celebrate in countries around the world:

Portugal: Eat 12 grapes for each strike of the clock at midnight for good luck.

Netherlands: Eat a ring shaped food such as a donut to “come full circle” in the new year.

Peru: Walk around the block with a suitcase to bring travels.

Italy: Wear red underwear for good luck. (They wear yellow in Peru!)

Japan: Ring bells to dispel evil temptations.

Source: EveryDay With Rachael Ray

Sometimes we come across strange rules and/or laws when we’re traveling and National Geographic Traveler had a few good ones in their magazine this month.

Did you know that it’s against the law to:

-Walk a pig on Miami Beach, FL?

-Ride a bike with your hands off the handlebars in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin?

-Hoot loudly after 11pm on school nights in Athens, Georgia?

If you visit any of these places, please use caution!!

Next week, the first ever international version of Monopoly will hit stores. Instead of Boardwalk and Illinois Avenue, players will buy real estate in Montreal and London. The 22 cities that appear on the new game board were chosen online by fans who cast over 5 million votes. Chance and Community Chest cards will reflect global scenarios and tokens, houses and hotels will also have an international flare. Best of all, cash balances will be tracked with credit cards and a digital banking device in lieu of paper money!

$34.99 Monopoly.com

Pilots Scott Kasprowicz and Steve Sheik have broken the record for flying around the world in a helicopter. The 23,000 mile journey took them over 24 time zones and 14 countries and and was completed in 11 days, an astonishing 6 days earlier than the previous record.

You can read more about their trip on their official website:

The Grand Adventure

The federal government had announced that Southwest Airlines Flight 2709 from Houston to San Diego is the most delayed flight in the country. The flight is late a full 100% of the time!!

Source: The Week

Last month I wrote this post about the world’s largest hotels. Of course, when there is a first place, there is always a last place and the list made me wonder where the world’s smallest hotel is.

As it turns out, the Grand Hotel de Kromme Raake, located in the village of Eenrum in The Netherlands, is it. The former grocery store was converted into a one room hotel in 1989 and has held the smallest hotel slot in the Guinness Book of World Records ever since. It is recognized for its title worldwide and has played host to curious travelers and even celebrities from across the globe. The village has 3 cafes, a candle-maker and a mustard museum and is only 2 hours from Amsterdam.

From €150/night Grand Hotel de Kromme Raake