Keep tabs on Junior

THE Boardbug, a hi-tech toddler-and-baby monitor, is a marvellous new gadget if you're taking ankle-biters on holiday. Parents wear a not entirely unattractive baby-blue-coloured watch-style contraption while the child wears a bracelet on his or her wrist. The "watch" can tell you at a glance how far away your child is - you can even set an alarm to go off if they stray more than 5m, 10m or 20m.

When travelling to unfamiliar places, it's comforting to know that the children are nearby and safe. There's a tamper alarm on the bracelet, in case they fiddle with it or turn it off, a panic button, and a button on the parent's watch that makes Junior's beep loudly so you can find them up to 150m away.

The Boardbug can also monitor a baby's room for noise and unsafe temperatures. It's available for Pounds 99.99 next week from John Lewis, and Mothercare the week after, but I have four to give away. Send a postcard, to arrive by 23 July, with your name, address and daytime phone number, to: Boardbug Giveaway, PO Box 111, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4LA. Senders of the first four cards, picked at random, will win. See www.boardbug.com.

BRITISH Airways recently launched a new uniform for its air hostesses (or associate in-flight personal administrating coordinators, as they are now probably known).

The navy blue pinstriped uniforms were designed by Julien Macdonald and are a rather elegant departure from the curtain pattern outfits favoured by some airlines.

They were designed to hark back to a more glamorous age of airline travel in the Fifties.

I can now reveal that passengers and staff are so enamoured with the look that BA has had a Sindy doll designed with the new uniform.

She's very lovely and will be for sale on flights. In a sign of the times, it is the first Sindy to have knickers. They are painted on in pink.

It is not known whether this is standard issue.

A Ferry fine prize indeed

I HAVE a cracking treat to give away - two nights at the refurbished Priory Inn, in the Cotswolds, and two tickets to see Brian Ferry play at The Westonbirt Aboretum.

The Priory is a 17th century inn with vaulted ceilings but contemporary interiors, with black walnut furniture and DVD players.

It is the latest project from Dave Kelly and London restaurateur Stuart Hopson Jones, the man behind the excellent Smith's of Smithfield, and Westbourne Grove's Harlem.

The inn has excellent food, much of which is sourced from the organic gardens at nearby Highgrove, home to the Prince of Wales.

The weekend package includes two nights' BB (Friday 23 and Saturday 24 July), two tickets to Ferry's open-air concert, champagne, picnic hamper and transport to and from the venue.

Send a postcard with your name, address and daytime phone number to Gabrielle Shaw Communications, C20 The Old Imperial Laundry, 71 Warriner Gardens, SW11 4XW to arrive by no later than Wednesday 21 July.

The sender of the first postcard, picked at random, will win.

Global warnings

THE layer of snow and ice covering the peak of Kilimanjaro is melting so fast that it could disappear in a decade. The cap of the Tanzanian mountain, the highest in Africa, is thinning by a metre per year.

Between 1912 and 1989, 75 per cent of the mountain's ice melted and in the 11 years after 1989 a quarter of what was left was lost.

An article I penned in August's Conde Nast Traveller highlights the threat hanging over the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (95 per cent of the coral will die by 2050 if ocean temperatures continue to rise), the Maldives (they will be submerged this century if the predicted rate of Pacific rise is met) and the Great Wall of China (two-thirds has gone, with the greatest threat coming from construction companies pinching the stones).

See them while you can.

BAN chic continues with gusto, with Norway following New York City and Ireland in making smoking in bars and restaurants illegal. Meanwhile, Indonesia has drafted a bill to outlaw "heavy kissing in public", while Moscow is considering a similar heavy-petting law. Louisiana considered banning "clothing that intentionally exposes undergarments" after teenagers increasingly walked around with their pants showing. Still, it's not all bad.

Singapore has lifted its ban on eating chewing gum in public. There is one caveat, though: you have to be a registered user.

New York's Dream ticket

CELEBRITY photographer David LaChapelle and celebrity spiritualist Deepak Chopra are working on their first hotel project (with hotelier Vikram Chatwal), I can reveal. It is called Dream and will open this autumn at 210 West 55th Street, in New York City.

The partnership is being called Hautel Couture and is being described as an "escapist hostelry experience", which is a tad annoying. However, there is some substance to the project and it is likely to be the hottest hotel opening in NYC this year.

The 208 rooms and 20 suites will be flooded with an ethereal blue light.

There are 37-inch plasma screens and iPods loaded with music and connected to Bose speakers.

A mirror uses LED technology to display the time but also a series of soothing images (all dolphins and clouds, probably).

The lobby, designed by LaChapelle, has a black-andwhite speckled floor with white sofas and staff dressed in Diane von Furstenberg outfits.

The lounge will be inspired by the French Riviera of the Fifties, with views of Times Square. The bar, Subconscious, is made of marble, granite and translucent onyx and you can smoke because of a system that whisks away the fumes in an instant. It will have an Ayurvedic spa and the restaurant, Serafina, will be Italian and designed by David Rockwell.

Rates from $275 per night for a standard room. For reservations, call 001 212 247 2000 or visit www.dreamny. com.

A TRAVEL survey we have conducted says readers want budget breaks, unusual destinations, cities, winter sun, pampering, cool hotels, advice on eating out, ideas for children and free stuff.

Per head you spend an average Pounds 416 on a short break, Pounds 1,320 on a main holiday and Pounds 2,060 on a special holiday. Just one per cent didn't think holidays were important, while 70 per cent said they were crucial. Forty per cent of you are now independent travellers, while Paris is the most popular city break by miles.

With these points in mind, in September we will run the ultimate series of city guides to Paris to cover all budgets and an occasional column specifically for the independent traveller.

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