Roger Collis: Readers' Queries

I am approaching my 40th birthday and want it to be an intimate and fun occasion for close friends and relatives from the United States, Asia and Europe. I am geographically flexible. Any suggestions for places to stage a fabulous 40th? Todd Miller, Hong Kong If the world is your oyster, I would start by trawling the following sites: Leading Hotels of the World (www.lhw.com), a good source of resort hotels and resorts; www.fivestaralliance.com, which has links to luxury hotels around the world; www.luxurylink.com, good for finding deals on hotel suites around the world; www.luxuryexplorer.com, with links to more than 100 independent hotels and resorts in Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia-Pacific - along with jet and yacht charters; and www.luxres.com, which has deals on premium class airline tickets, hotels, luxury cruises and vacation packages. In addition, www.resortsonline.com lists 3,100 top hotels, resorts, lodges; enter your activity or lifestyle criteria and the search engine locates a resort in each area. Uniglobe Red Carpet Travel (www.redcarpettravel.com) has destination packages, cruises and "honeymoons and weddingmoons" - not exactly birthdays, but they may spark ideas; the British-based Red Carpet Group (www.redcarpet.co.uk) is about to launch "Red Carpet Occasions" for personal events. Vladi-private-islands.de has islands to rent around the world. It's also worth visiting www.unmissable.com, which offers more than 2,000 "ready-to-go experiences" and activities; and www.unusualvillarentals.com, a site that is dedicated to private villas and private island rentals, with 3,500 pages of properties in Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States. And www.worldwideescapes.com organizes customized weekend vacation trips for business travelers in Asia and South America. When comparing round-trip prices with Air Canada from Tokyo to Toronto and from Toronto to Tokyo, I found that fuel charges from Tokyo were almost double those from Toronto - around 110 Canadian dollars, or $93, versus 58 Canadian dollars - but that fares are cheaper from Tokyo. Why is this occurring, and is it legal? William Batcheller, Tokyo Most airlines have introduced a passenger "fuel surcharge," to cover rising oil prices, along with an "insurance and security surcharge," and airport taxes, on the price of every ticket. These extra charges are the same however much you pay for your ticket, but they vary depending on point of origin and flight sector, and you can assume that they are legal. However, airline sites should show the breakdown of "surcharges" in the total flight price before you click to book. Surcharges penalize low-fare-paying passengers. For example, I paid £41.70, or $76, in charges on a £48 fare between London and Geneva, bringing the total cost of my ticket to £89.70. One thing I miss living in Japan is being able to find decent airfares out of the country. Can you recommend anyone who can give good prices to places in Asia, Australia and Europe? Rick Gween, Tokyo Readers have recommended Yuriko Kurihara at American Express Nippon Travel Agency at (81-3) 3291 1528, e-mail: yuriko_kurihara@amex-nta.com, or Ms. Mukaijima of Executive Travel at etjapan@iac.co.jp. If you travel frequently to a particular destination, book a one-way ticket (or cheap round-trip) and then book a series of round-trips from there. Bangkok offers some of the best travel bargains in the world. Try SS Travel, telephone (66-2) 233 4038; Ambika Tours, telephone (60-2) 237 4105, ambika@gp.th.com; or DTC Travel, www.dtctravel.com. Zuji (www.zuji.com) has English-language booking sites in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. Travel.com.au and Trailfinders.com.au are good sources of fares out of Australia. Opodo.com has booking sites in Germany, Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. (Readers may contact Roger Collis by fax at (44-20) 7987-3451 or by e-mail at rcollis@iht.com. Please include city and country.)