The Trail

For purchases on or after Nov. 1, international visitors in Japan no longer skip the consumption tax (8% on food and non-alcoholic drinks, 10% on most other goods) at tax-free shops. They pay the full price and claim a refund after a customs check when they leave, Nippon.com reports. The split between general and consumable goods ends, along with the daily cap on consumables and the sealed anti-tamper bags; items must be bought within 90 days of departure and carried out personally.

Time Out Tokyo says the minimum spend stays ¥5,000 before tax per store per day. At the airport, travellers scan their passport at a tax-free kiosk before checking bags (or use Visit Japan Web), and customs may inspect goods. Refunds are per receipt, so eating one tax-free snack can void a whole bill; refunds go to a card, an app or, for cash buyers, a bank transfer. Nippon.com notes suspected resale of tax-free goods inside Japan, and a 2025 ruling-party proposal to scrap the exemption.

Instead of paying cash and mixing snacks with gifts on one receipt, pay by card and keep consumables on a separate bill, unopened, until you fly.

The first Sydney Metro Southwest train left Bankstown at 4.31 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 30 (Sydney time), completing the conversion of the 130-year-old T3 Bankstown heavy-rail line to a driverless metro, Rail Express reports. More than 18,000 people rode it on day one. Passengers can now travel 66 km from Bankstown through the CBD to Tallawong in about 80 minutes without changing.

Trains run every four minutes at weekday peaks, every five minutes at other weekday times and every ten minutes in the evenings and at weekends, and the NSW Government says the line has 50% more capacity. Infrastructure Magazine lists time savings such as Marrickville to Gadigal in 12 minutes (16 faster) and Bankstown to Macquarie University in 54 minutes (25 faster). The Public Transport Association's Lauren Streifer pointed to eleven upgraded, fully accessible stations. Two-thirds of Sydney's 46 metro stations are now complete.

Instead of the old T3 line, ride straight through: Punchbowl to Barangaroo is now 32 minutes, 24 minutes faster.

During Thursday's nationwide strike, the Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors and ticket holders were told to check email and the official site for rescheduling or refunds, Sortiraparis reported. The Louvre opened, but some galleries were closed by the labor action, days after an Oct. 29 agreement ended 11 months of staff protests. The Palace of Versailles said it could not guarantee opening and warned of a significant risk of full closure, with automatic refunds if it shut. The Musée d'Orsay kept to 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m., skipping its Thursday late opening. CGT-Culture and CGT-Spectacle had called a general strike across the cultural sector from Nov. 5.

Twenty-five metro stations closed from 11 a.m. at the police prefecture's request, and a union march ran from Place de la République to Place de la Nation.

Instead of the strike-hit landmarks, the City of Paris museums kept normal hours: Carnavalet was listed as open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and the Catacombs 9:45 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

Naples-Capodichino airport is closed to all air traffic from Nov. 1 to 30 so its operator, GESAC, can rebuild the runway, taxiways and lighting, a €30 million project announced Oct. 29, Voyages d'Affaires reports. GESAC says it picked November for its usually low traffic; about 500 workers are on site around the clock. The airport handled about 13.3 million passengers in 2025, Yahoo Travel says.

Salerno Costa d'Amalfi airport is taking 15 routes: six domestic (Bergamo, Milan Malpensa and Linate, Genoa, Turin, Trieste) and nine international (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Casablanca, Dubai, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Madrid, Paris, Sharm el-Sheikh). Its two terminals are about 1,300 metres apart, linked by a free shuttle. Yahoo Travel also notes a Eurocontrol listing that shows a possible Nov. 22 end to the first closure period.

Instead of flying into Naples this month, book into Salerno and take the Busitalia Campania coach to Naples Piazza Garibaldi (eight a day each way, timed to flights, €12), or check fixed-fare shared taxis.

Peru's Ministry of Culture set visiting rules for Machu Picchu in 2027 in Resolución Ministerial N.º 000408-2026-MC, published Oct. 31, La República reports. Up to 5,600 visitors a day are allowed on 147 high-season days (Jan. 1-3, March 25-28, June 19 to Nov. 2, and Dec. 29-31); the rest of the year the cap is 4,500. Entry is capped at 800 visitors an hour, a limit tied to the Hiram Bingham road, where up to 24 vehicles are authorised. Mountain routes get set entry slots at 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., and places are split by circuit, route and sales channel.

Separately, the ministry said on Nov. 4 that visitors can now check whether a ticket is valid on the TuBoleto platform using an ID number plus a ticket code or visit date, including tickets bought through agencies, to fight fakes, Gestión reports.

Instead of trusting a reseller's confirmation, check the ticket yourself on TuBoleto before you travel.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has reopened the 0.8-mile section of Caldwell Fork Trail up to the Boogerman Trail junction, on the North Carolina side south of Cataloochee Valley, WATE reported on Nov. 5. Trail crews replaced two footbridges and rebuilt treadway that washed out in Hurricane Helene in 2024.

The rest of Caldwell Fork beyond the junction stays closed because it has not been rehabilitated; the park says large sections of trail surface washed away, rockslides and debris block the path, and lost bridges made crossings unsafe. Hiking Boogerman Trail is not advised: its first foot log, 55 feet long, was washed away, and the water there is usually more than two feet deep even at low flow.

Instead of trying to link up with Boogerman, treat the reopened section as an out-and-back, and check the park's Current Cautions and Closures page for each trail before you go.

Banning State Park, more than 6,000 acres along the Kettle River near Sandstone, Minnesota, is closing most of its grounds for upgrades because annual visits have tripled since 2020, MPR News reports. "Our current park infrastructure is really straining to support those numbers," park supervisor Clarissa Payne said in a release.

The campground closed in September; all parking areas and hiking trails close Nov. 9. Plans include more parking, new restrooms and campground showers, and accessibility upgrades for picnic areas, parking lots, trails and campsites. Day-use areas are set to reopen in October 2027, possibly in part next summer if construction allows, and the campground stays shut until May 2028. Created in 1963, the park includes the ruins of a sandstone quarry and a former town site.

Instead of the closed trails, the snowmobile trail along the park's north and west sides and the Eldon climbing area at the south end stay open.

From Monday, Oct. 26, Oxford Street between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street (almost a kilometre) is closed to private vehicles, buses, taxis, private-hire cars, cycles, scooters and pedicabs, the Mayor of London's office says. Mayor Sadiq Khan called it "a truly momentous occasion for the capital."

This first stage is a temporary "transitional scheme" to gather data and feedback before final designs. By the end of spring 2027 the plan is more than 50 new trees, two public squares, 100-plus seats and dining tables, new lighting and better signage. Deliveries are allowed from midnight to 7 a.m., and emergency services keep access. City Hall says around 7 in 10 consultation respondents backed the plan.

Instead of taking a bus along Oxford Street itself, use the new stops on Wigmore Street, Henrietta Place and Cavendish Place, about 200 metres from the traffic-free area.

Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland, closed its visitor center, Dunker Church and nearby roads and trails from Oct. 27, possibly into Oct. 28, while Marine Corps explosive ordnance specialists from Quantico removed 10 pieces of cannon ammunition embedded in the concrete base of the O.T. Reilly Monument, the National Park Service said.

Sharpsburg resident and local guide O.T. Reilly set the ammunition from his personal collection into the monument's base in the 1920s, when the land was privately owned; the Park Service acquired it in 2022. Because the shells might still contain explosives, the work was closed to the public. The monument is being lifted for preservation, given a new base and returned to its place.

Instead of the closed visitor center, the park set up a temporary information station where Dunker Church Road, Starke Avenue and Cornfield Avenue meet; other battlefield areas stayed open.

A Renfe AVE train from Madrid to Seville struck the rear of a stationary Iryo train near Urda, in Toledo province, on Wednesday morning, derailing two carriages. The regional government put the toll at 68 on Wednesday, with about 80 injured, Al Jazeera reports; the BBC reported 69 dead by Thursday. The Renfe train carried 397 passengers, the Iryo train 147.

Transport Minister Óscar Puente said the LZB control system failed around 8:30 a.m. along a 63 km stretch, and the Atocha control centre then let the Renfe train resume "normally," which he called "inexplicable." Leaked recordings published by El País and RTVE, described by the BBC, appear to show the driver being told to proceed at normal speed. Spain declared three days of mourning (Oct. 29-31). It follows a January crash on the same line, involving the same operators, that killed 46.

Rail infrastructure operator ADIF suspended high-speed services between Madrid and Andalusia, El País reported. Instead of assuming normal service on the Madrid–Seville route, travellers should check Renfe's and Iryo's notices before setting out.

Villa Vie Residences told everyone aboard the Odyssey, docked at Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to disembark on Tuesday, suspending a voyage that began in October 2024 and was planned to run about 3.5 years, The Maritime Executive reports. AP says the ship carried 203 mostly American passengers and 156 crew; residents were given about seven hours' notice.

The Florida-based operator blamed fuel: costs per cabin that averaged about $1,800 a month now run an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia because of the war in Iran. It says the ship will go into warm lay-up with crew aboard while it pursues restructuring over 60 days. Some residents told AP they got no support and had been asked repeatedly for extra money for fuel; one, Carol Larson, said she paid $120,000 for her cabin.

Instead of buying into a startup residential ship, consider how the model has fared: the Maritime Executive notes only the purpose-built MS The World has endured.

Kai, a 62,500-square-foot public bathing house designed by Kengo Kuma Associates, opens on Copenhagen's Paper Island on Saturday, Dec. 5, Condé Nast Traveler reports. It has ten pools, including an open-air rooftop pool, a heated onsen overlooking the harbour and an 82-foot pool on the ground floor, plus swimming and dipping zones around a timber boardwalk. Outdoor pools are heated year-round by a ground-source heat pump.

The 989 million kroner (about $150 million) project, funded by the City of Copenhagen and Nordea Fonden, was originally due in 2021. Tickets are expected to match other city-run pools, typically under 100 kroner (about $10), and capacity is capped at 380 swimmers. The idea came from residents' surveys asking for a central public pool.

Instead of a pricey private sauna club with a waiting list, consider the city-run Kai once it opens.

City Thameslink in central London will close from Monday, May 17, 2027, until late December 2027 so Network Rail can replace all ten of its ageing escalators, ianVisits reports. Thameslink trains will keep running but won't stop there.

Escalator failures have plagued the station, made worse by flood damage. Network Rail says a full closure is the safest and quickest option and meets safety requirements a partial closure could not. "This is not a decision we have taken lightly," said Lucy McAuliffe, Sussex route director.

Instead of walking to busy Farringdon, Network Rail recommends that all City Thameslink passengers use Blackfriars during the closure.

Hyatt announced The StandardX Times Square, an 1,800-room hotel in a supertall Midtown Manhattan tower under construction by Extell (nicknamed "The Torch"), The Points Guy reports. It would be Hyatt's largest property in New York and one of the city's largest hotels.

Hyatt says it will have a rooftop pool, an observation deck more than 1,000 feet up and "an enclosed free-fall thrill ride," plus restaurants, bars and nightlife. StandardX is the simpler, cheaper sibling of The Standard, launched in 2023 with a first hotel in Melbourne; Hyatt's Amar Lalvani said this flagship is a one-off, not the model for other StandardX hotels. Opening is scheduled for the second half of 2028.

Instead of planning around a ride that's two years away, note what's open now: the brand's existing Melbourne hotel.

Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona is now Chiricahua National Park, the 64th U.S. national park and the first new one since West Virginia's New River Gorge in 2020, after President Trump signed Rep. Juan Ciscomani's Chiricahua National Park Act (H.R. 6380) this week. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined a dedication ceremony at the park.

The roughly 12,000-acre park, protected as a monument since 1924, is known for rhyolite spires and balanced rocks formed after a volcanic eruption about 27 million years ago, and sits between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts as a "sky island," Condé Nast Traveler notes. It has more than 17 miles of trails and the Bonita Canyon scenic drive. Climbing on the pinnacles remains prohibited to protect resources and because the rock is unstable, Gripped reports.

Instead of hunting for a way up the rock towers, consider the Echo Canyon Trail and the drive to Massai Point, which the park service highlights for views of the standing rocks.