Live in Cave

    Kokopelli's Cave Bed &Breakfast, Farmington, New Mexico.

    The idea may seem very stone age, but this lone unit, which was carved into a 65-million-year-old sandstone rock, is filled with modern amenities(便利设施). The Travel Channel says these “cave comforts” include a comfortable bedroom, large fire circle, and rainfall shower. Plus, the views of the La Plata River and nearby mountains are breathtaking.

    $260/ night; bbonline.com

    Sleep below the Surface

    Jules' Undersea Lodge, Key Largo, Florida.

    This hotel, which is named after20,000 Leagues Under the Sea author Jules Verne, is the world's only underwater hotel. Lonely Planet says that this former research station has been turned into a pleasant hotel. Guests must make the 21-foot dive to its two rooms, fully stocked kitchen, and showers. Don't want to cook? The staff will dive and bring your food to you.

    $400/night; jul.com

    Sail into History

    The Queen Mary, Long Beach, California

    Wish you could experience the greatness of a ship like the Titanic? According to CNN Travel, here's your chance. Book a room to get a taste of a bygone time on this ship-turned hotel. You may not be able to sail into the sunset like Kate and Leo, but you can enjoy onboard attractions like original 1930s artwork and tours of strange and mysterious hot spots.

    $129/night;queenmary.com

    Last year, around Labor Day, I read a “Happy Ad” in our local newspaper. There was a lady in a local nursing home for the aged, who was celebrating her 90th birthday and her family wanted everyone to know about it. It said that if you wanted to drop her a line, here was her address. So I did. I found a birthday card and dropped her a short note, wishing her a happy birthday.

    A week or so later, someone knocked at my front door. I opened the door and found a middle-aged man standing on my doorstep. He introduced himself as the son of this woman to whom I had sent the card. He explained that he just wanted to drop by in person and thank me for sending such a nice card to his mom. Apparently, like many older folks, she did not receive much mail and was quite excited to receive mine. I just didn't know what to say. I told him it was my pleasure and that I hoped his mom had enjoyed her birthday.

    That year, I did not send out any Christmas cards, except to this lovely old lady in the nursing home. I just told her that I was thinking about her and hoped that she had a nice holiday. I sent her a holiday card and also a couple of notes in between. I just thought she might like to have someone write to her, to get some mails.

    She passed away a couple of months ago. I never met this lady, but I did keep her and her family in my thoughts. I dropped them a line of sympathy. I hope that my few little notes were enough to brighten a couple of her days here on earth.

    Dr. Amanda Harris was ready for sleep since it was already 11 pm. The phone rang. On the other end of the line was a woman about to break a promise. The woman was her mother's neighbor. Flora Harris had made the neighbor swear she wouldn't tell her daughter she'd had a heart attack and was in hospital. The neighbor wisely decided to disobey orders.

    Amanda desperately wanted to get to the hospital immediately, but she couldn't. She lives in Washington D. C. and her mother lives in California. For the past year and a half, Amanda has gone to Los Angeles every other month to take care of her mother. Flora Harris takes care of her husband, James, who's 91 and has Alzheimer's disease. They live in their own home, and a caregiver comes to help them a few hours a day.

    Amanda is one of many Americans facing the heartache of how to take care of aging parents from afar. She's often worried and guilty, not to mention busy with a demanding job, two teenage daughters and the frequent trips to California.

    In some ways, Amanda is lucky. She has the resources to make the trips to Los Angeles. Plus, she is a doctor who treats the elderly. She's treated countless patients whose children live far away.

    “But it's still tough,” she says. “I can foresee what the next few years are going to look like, and it's not a pretty picture. There will come a time when my father won't recognize me and I worry he's going to be violent and hurt my mother.”

    So what do you do when you live a continent away from your aging, sick parents? You can hire someone to help, but you can't count on it completely.

    Bedtime on the Orient Express. We stood in the corridor while a woman pulled our bunk beds (双层铺) into place-- there wasn't room in the carriage for all three of us. Barking the news that she would be waking us at 7 a.m. with a cup of instant coffee and a piece of cheese, the woman left and we retired for the night.

    'Bunk beds?' you may be thinking. Small carriage? Instant coffee? This can't be the real Orient Express! Oh, but it is. This is a very real Orient Express indeed. In search of a long weekend in Vienna, there seemed no more attractive way for my friend and me to get there.

    The original Orient Express service was started in 1863. Luxury carriages ran the route from Paris, France to Giugiu, Romania. In 1934, Agatha Christie sent Hercule Poirot on just such a journey in her novel Murder on the Orient Express. However, there was a rise in air travel which was quicker and cheaper and eventually the whole operation was brought to a halt in 1977. The name was reused in 1982, when the Venice Simplon-Orient-Expresss took its first voyage between London and Venice.

    Admittedly I would have loved to take the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, with its on-board shop and piano in the bar, but at around £1,700 per person for a four-night one-way journey, it was too expensive for us. So we chose this excellent way of buying into the romance for a small amount of the cost.

    But we loved it. Ours was no luxury bedroom, but it had its own rough charm-- not to mention the magic of travelling across international borders overnight. I haven't slept in a bunk bed since I was seven, and climbing up into it took 25 years off me. For one night only, it was comfortably appealing. Naturally, I took a copy of Murder on the Orient Express to read on the train. I smiled at the descriptions of airy dining cars and fresh coffee.

    My weekend in Vienna was wonderful and reunited with the cut-price Orient Express at the end of the holiday, we were rather delighted to see our little carriage again. Good old bunk beds. Terrifying old attendant. And best of all, nobody got murdered.

Guide to Stockholm University Library

    Our library offers different types of studying places and provides a good studying environment.

Zones

    The library is divided into different zones. The upper floor is a quiet zone with over a thousand places for silent reading, and places where you can sit and work with your own computer. The reading places consist mostly of tables and chairs. The ground floor is the zone where you can talk. Here you can find sofas and armchairs for group work.

Computers

    You can use your own computer to connect to the wi-fi specially prepared for notebook computers; you can also use library computers, which contain the most commonly used applications, such as Microsoft Office. They are situated in the area known as the Experimental Field on the ground floor.

Group-study places

    If you want to discuss freely without disturbing others, you can book a study room or sit at a table on the ground floor. Some study rooms are for 2～3 people and others can hold up to 6～8 people. All rooms are marked on the library maps.

    There are 40 group-study rooms that must be booked via the website. To book, you need an active University account and a valid University card. You can use a room three hours per day, nine hours at most per week.

    Storage of Study Material

    The library has lockers for students to store course literature. When you have obtained at least 40 credits, you may rent a locker and pay 400 SEK for a year's rental period.

    Rules to be Followed

    Mobile phone conversations are not permitted anywhere in the library. Keep your phone on silent as if you were in a lecture and exit the library if you need to receive calls.

    Please note that food and fruit are forbidden in the library, but you are allowed to have drinks and sweets with you.

    Yellowstone National Park is the flagship of the National Park Service and a favorite to millions of visitors each year. The park is a major destination for all members of the family. By driving the grand loop road, visitors can view the park from the comfort of their vehicle and also take a rest at one of the many roadside picnic areas.

    How much is the entrance fee?

    $25 - Private, noncommercial vehicle;

    $20 - Motorcycle or snowmobile (winter);

    $12 - Visitors 16 and older entering by foot, bike, ski, etc.

    This fee provides the visitor with a 7-day entrance permit for both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

    A $50 park annual pass provides entrance for a single private non-commercial vehicle at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The $10 Interagency Senior Pass (62 and older) is a lifetime pass available to U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

    Where can you stay?

    Inside Yellowstone, you can choose to stay in modern or historic hotels and cabins inside the park like the Old Faithful Inn, the world's largest log structure. For those who want to be a little closer to nature, there are 12 campgrounds with a range of services from primitive pit toilets to shower and laundry facilities. There's also RV camping with and without dumping stations.

    Staying outside the park gives you unique Old West experiences but still keeps you close to park attractions.

    If you're taking a road trip to Yellowstone, you'll want to check out our Hotels and Cabins On The Road section.