ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 17, 1996 TAG: 9611190051
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: travel tidbits
DATELINE: NORFOLK
More than two dozen international and domestic headline performers and companies, including the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and the Mark Morris Dance Group, will join with regional Virginia artists in the premiere season of the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival, April 27-May 11.
The Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival combines classical with contemporary, and Western with non-Western performances of music, dance, visual arts, and theatre in venues including opera houses, museums, recital halls and other performance spaces throughout The Virginia Waterfront region.
The Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival will feature contemporary artists such as Steve Reich and Musicians and STOMP and jazz legends Dr. Billy Taylor and Ramsey Lewis.
Performances are scheduled at venues within The Virginia Waterfront - Norfolk, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach . Schedules, event locations and ticket information can be obtained from the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival office at 757-664-6492.
Track down plane on World Wide Web
Calling an airline to ask whether a plane is on time is often a trip itself, into a long period on hold, or voice mail hell. But for any plane in flight in the 48 contiguous states, a site on the World Wide Web offers a map that shows the plane's route of flight, its location on that route, accurate to two or three minutes, and its expected time of arrival.
The free service is at http://www.amerwxcncpt.com/. The system asks for the flight number, the airline and the destination airport. The latter two are identified by three-letter codes, and the site provides a list of codes.
The Flyte Trax data comes from Flyte Comm, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which uses data from the Federal Aviation Administration. It is provided on the Web by a Pittsburgh company, American Weather Concepts, which sells weather forecasts and other weather data through the Internet. Flyte Trax, however, is free.
Flyte Trax also tells the kind of plane used for the flight. It does not explain why a plane is late, but its data are often more up to date than those available to airline reservations clerks.
- THE NEW YORK TIMES
How's the weather everywhere?
It's the dead of winter, and you're desperate for the feeling of warm sun on your back. Quick, are your chances for rainless days best in Puerto Rico, Belize or Maui?
``Traveler's Weather Guide'' (Ten Speed Press, $8.95), has the answer: Belize is usually rainfree for all but six days in February, while visitors to San Juan, P.R., can on average expect rain on 15 days and those going to Kahului, Maui, 10 wet days.
Written by Tom Loffman, a meteorologist, this paperback is useful in deciding where to go when. It lists month-by-month averages for the high and low temperatures, humidity, the number of days with precipitation, the inches of rainfall and of snowfall for more than 200 cities in the United States and overseas.
No book can predict the weather, but this one may help you elude the worst of it.
- THE NEW YORK TIMES
Quick takes
``Last Minute Travel Bargains'' is the latest feature of the American Express Web site at http://www.americanexpress.com/travel. It offers a selection of flights, lodgings, cruises and vacation packages.
Princess Cruises is seeking 50 sets of identical twins - each of whom has achieved some outstanding accomplishment - to enhance the launch of the Dawn Princess. Winners will join in the hoopla and sail on the May 10 inaugural voyage from Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal to Acapulco. For contest rules, call (212) 872-8235.
- NEWSDAY
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB