Highclere Castle in Newbury, England.
Travel news from around the globe
On tour
Downton Abbey, an Edwardian period drama set on an English estate, has become the most popular series ever on PBS. Now British tour operator NoteWorthy Events is betting fans will pay big time for a private one-day visit to Highclere Castle, the filming location. For $12,367 (£7,900), four visitors can tour the castle, eat in the State Dining Room and meet the eighth Earl and Countess of Carnarvon. Details at noteworthyevents.com.
After the storm
Eight months after a tornado devastated Joplin, Mo., leaving 161 dead, the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau is distributing a tourist map showing the worst-hit area. The intent, according to the CVB, is to assist visitors who ask for directions to the site. But local photographer Aaron DuRall has created a Facebook page called Joplin Citizens Against Tornado Tours. He says that wanting to draw visitors to an area where people lost their lives less than a year earlier is "incredibly insensitive."
In the air
Lots of airlines have hired famous chefs to design their in-flight menus. But Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is the first to have those chefs prepare meals in the air. The airline has recruited 100 celebrity cooks from such restaurants as England's Fat Duck and Melbourne's Fenix Restaurant. The perk is already available to first-class passengers on flights to and from Paris, Geneva and Sydney, with New York to be added shortly. The meals can range from salads and soufflés to meats with sauces.
Sources: NoteWorthy Events, MSNBC, The New York Times
Special to The Globe and Mail