Amtrak offers deals as gas prices rise

Train travel

With gas prices rising, it's a good time to take the train. The Amtrak Cascades service, which includes four daily round-trips between Seattle and Portland, is booming with a record 676,670 passengers in 2007, a 7.4 percent increase over the year before.

Travelers can enjoy a free companion fare through May 23. Type in promotion code H750 when booking at www.amtrak.com. Blackout dates apply. For more information, see www.travelportland.com/deals/amtrak.html. Beware if you were thinking of taking a train south of Portland: The popular Coast Starlight service from Seattle to Los Angeles has been disrupted by mudslide damage to tracks near Chemult, Ore. The tracks are closed, and travelers are being taken by bus between Portland and Sacramento; the tracks aren't expected to reopen until April.

European travel

Euro continues its climb against the dollar

The euro rose to a record high against the dollar last week, and experts predict the European currency could go even higher, bad news for anyone planning travel abroad this spring and summer.

"The trend is very much for further euro upside," said Henrik Gullberg, a currency strategist in London at Calyon, the investment-banking arm of Credit Agricole SA, France's second-biggest bank by assets. "Until we see a shift in the relative growth prospects between Europe and the U.S., we're going to see the euro reaching new highs."

The euro reached $1.55 last week, meaning a hotel room priced at 100 euros now costs $155 compared to $130 this time last year and $120 in March of 2006.

Cruising

Major line agrees to fuel-surcharge refunds

One of the world's top cruise operators has agreed to reimburse passengers for fuel surcharges that were not adequately disclosed.

The settlement with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. affects 300,000 bookings, and will return $21 million to people nationwide who made trip deposits as of Nov. 15.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival Corp., another industry leader, announced in November they would start billing passengers to offset rising fuel prices — $5 per person, per day — for voyages beginning Feb. 1.

Florida's Attorney General Bill McCollum received more than 300 complaints about the fuel surcharge, and launched an investigation into whether customers were made aware of the new fee. Those who have not yet sailed will receive their refund as an onboard credit; those who have sailed will receive the money back. The cruise line also agreed to clearly disclose the charges in advertisements.

Middle East

Dubai delays opening of tallest building

The world's tallest skyscraper under construction in this Gulf city-state will take longer than planned to finish, its builders said, putting off the opening planned for the end of this year.

The Burj Dubai tower currently stands more than 1,700 feet tall. The state-owned developer Emaar Properties said completion would be postponed until sometime in 2009. It did not give specifics, but the newspaper Gulf News and the online news site ArabianBusiness.com said the delay would be four months.

The final height of Burj Dubai is a closely guarded secret. Last summer, the company said the skyscraper had reached 1,680 feet, surpassing Taiwan's Taipei 101, which has dominated the global skyline at 1,667 feet since 2004.

Advice book

Here's a guide to living abroad

If early retirement and an empty nest have you yearning for a new adventure, consider taking your next cue from "The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away From Home: Making a New Life Abroad" by Rosanne Knorr (Ten Speed Press, $14.95).

The book, now out in its second edition, can help you think through the logistics, risks and potential pleasures of living in another country for a year or longer. The book offers advice on downsizing, budgeting, packing, staying in touch, handling health issues, dealing with guests from back home and settling in to your new locale.

Oregon

Take a hike to see a schooner

Sightseers who want to visit a wreck on Oregon's coast will face a longer walk once seasonal nesting protections for a shorebird go into effect.

The schooner George L. Olson on Coos Bay's North Spit ran aground on the rocks in 1944 and was uncovered this winter by stormy weather. Starting Saturday, parts of Oregon's coastline will be closed to humans until September so the threatened snowy plover can hatch and raise chicks. But the wreck itself is on the wet part of the beach. Visitors will be able to get there by following signs to two routes, each 1.5 miles long.

Compiled by Times staff and news services