A $40 hotel room in central London? Of course there’s a catch
By Maureen O’Hare, CNN
(CNN) — In our roundup of travel news this week: the viral “snow” spot that’s actually hazardous waste, the design concept that reinvents the worst seat on the airplane, plus CNN spends a night at the world’s biggest capsule hotel.
Cozy or claustrophobic?
London is one of the world’s most expensive cities, so a central hotel stay right by Piccadilly Circus for just $40 a night is surely a bargain.
The only problem is that it involves sleeping in a tiny coffin-like box, one of almost 1,000 that make up the world’s largest capsule hotel.
CNN’s Barry Neild went downtown to try it out. Watch here, if you dare.
There’s more terrifying lodging in store in our feature on the multiple “Shining” hotels made famous by Stanley Kubrick’s film and Stephen King’s novel.
As we know from the twins in the movie, things can get eerie once duplicates are involved. CNN’s David Allan went to the hotels to stay — but would his visit last “forever and ever”?
Reinventing the ‘worst seat’
The last row of economy is typically the least desirable area of the plane: you can’t recline your seat and you’re right next to the line for the bathroom.
However, the new SkyNook concept by Collins Aerospace reimagines that rotten row as a “semi-private retreat” with a privacy screen and extra storage space. Check it out here.
For our subscribers — the business class of CNN coverage, if you will — we have tips from a traveler who’s flown premium more than 500 times and counting.
Here’s when he thinks it’s worth it — and when it’s not.
Finally, most of us have come to expect hidden fees when buying airline tickets, but did you realize you might regularly be paying a departure charge to leave a country?
While some destinations ask for cash in hand from tourists as they leave the airport, most of these fees are baked into the cost of your ticket. Here’s how it works.
Starting over in Spain
Colleen Crowley and her family had a great life in Montecito, California, a coastal enclave where Oprah Winfrey and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex own homes.
“It was a wonderful place to raise a family,” Crowley said. “But honestly, maybe a little too wonderful. It’s very manicured. It’s very limited.”
Three years ago, the family of five relocated to San Sebastián, the food capital of northern Spain’s autonomous Basque region.
The move has been “amazing and transformative,” Crowley tells CNN. “I think everyone is much happier here.”
Texan Cepee Tabibian moved on her own to Spain in her 30s, but even after a decade, she tells CNN she sometimes wakes up in her seaside home in Málaga and has to pinch herself.
“There’s so much less stress and more peace in my life in Spain than there ever was in the US,” she says.
Having loved her own relocation, the entrepreneur is now helping other would-be expats do the same.
Viral ‘snow’ spot is actually waste
India’s Kishangarh dumping yard is surprisingly picturesque with its snow-like marble slurry dust, but experts warn that the influx of visitors hungry for social media content is posing risks to human health and to the environment.
In case you missed it
Think you know about the weather? In lieu of this week’s news quiz, take CNN’s Weather Myths Quiz.
What you learn might even save your life one day. Sign up for the new CNN Weather newsletter.
Tourist’s ‘pre-wedding challenge’ damages historic Florence statue.
The bachelorette party stunt did thousands of dollars of harm.
Miami’s Mandarin Oriental hotel was demolished this month.
A skyline fixture was reduced to dust. Watch here.
Why is hay fever so bad in Japan?
Hay fever in Japan isn’t just uncomfortable — it’s expensive.
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