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Sunday, January 19, 2003

Compiled by Kim Crow

SUNSHINE STATE SHORTS

Tampa's historic streetcars return

The TECO Line Streetcar System in Tampa, Fla., with eight reproductions of 1920s electric streetcars, began operation last month in the first phase of a new system.

Tampa's first trolley line, built in 1892, at 53 miles was the longest in the southeastern United States before service was discontinued in 1946. The 84-passenger cars are air-conditioned and wheelchair-accessible. They travel 6.5 mph on a 2.3-mile route from downtown Tampa to Ybor City, a popular night-life district, a 22-minute trip, with 10 stops along the way.

The TECO Line (for Tampa Electric Co.) will run daily with extended hours on weekends. The one-way fare is $1.25; seniors and students pay 60 cents. For information: 1-813-223-6831; www.hartline.org.

Astronaut Hall of Fame reopens

Visitors can use training simulators to land a space shuttle and take a virtual moon walk at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, the newest attraction at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Hall of Fame, in Titusville, six miles west of the center's visitor complex, reopened last month after the space center acquired it.

The hall, previously run by the U.S. Space Camp Foundation, displays memorabilia and tributes to participants of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. The exhibit hall has a collection of spacecraft, including a Mercury Sigma 7 capsule, a Gemini training capsule and the Apollo 14 command module. The Astronaut Hall of Fame is open daily 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission, separate from the rest of the visitor complex, is $13.95; $9.95 for ages 3 to 11.

A new two-day ticket includes entrance to both the Hall of Fame and the Visitor Complex (usually $28 and $18) for $33 and $23. Information: 1-321-449-4444 or www.kennedyspacecenter.com.

YOU DO THE MATH

Lewis and Clark and Jefferson

On Jan. 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent a confidential letter to Congress urging authorization for an expedition to the Northwest in search of a river passage to the Pacific Ocean. This month, Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, Va., will commemorate the bicentennial of that expedition, which was headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

A centerpiece of the bicentennial observance at Jefferson's home, Monticello, will be "Framing the West at Monticello: Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition," which opened Jan. 16 and runs through Dec. 31. The exhibition re-creates Jefferson's "Indian Hall," where he displayed Indian objects sent or delivered by members of the expedition. Items on loan from other institutions for part of the year include plant specimens collected by Lewis and Clark and letters and documents related to the planning of the journey.

Other exhibitions in the Charlottesville area will commemorate Lewis and Clark.

The National Park Service's traveling exhibition and performance tent, "Corps of Discovery II: 200 Years to the Future," will be open through Jan. 28 (hours vary) at the Monticello Visitors Center and from Jan. 30 to Feb. 10 in downtown Charlottesville. The free exhibition combines an audio tour and visual displays with live presentations in the "Tent of Many Voices" to link visitors to the landscapes, waterways and people before, during and after the expedition.

"Honoring the Legacy: Native American Art and the 19th-Century American West" at the University of Virginia Museum through March 2, with such artifacts as beaded garments from the plains and prairie peoples, shows how Indians encountered by Lewis and Clark continued their styles and methods of production a century after the expedition.

Monticello is open daily. For hours and admission fees: 1-434-984-9822 or www.monticello.org.

Not to be outdone, Montpelier, the House Museum of James Madison in Montpelier Station, Va., has unveiled a yearlong exhibit commemorating the Lewis and Clark expedition and the behind-the-scenes role played by Madison, who served as Jefferson's secretary of state at the time.

For information: 1-540-672-2728 or www.montpelier.org.

AIRLINE POLICIES

Print your own boarding pass

US Airways is now offering computer-literate passengers the opportunity to complete two key steps toward boarding before they even reach the airport.

Using their home or office computer, passengers on domestic flights who are members of the US Airways' frequent-flier program can check in for their flights six hours to 90 minutes in advance, then print out the pass needed to hand to a gate agent just before boarding the plane.

The ability to print one's own boarding pass is a timely benefit. At a growing number of airports, a boarding pass is needed to move through security. Especially for those with only carry-on bags, a pass in hand can save a wait at a counter or ticketing kiosk en route to the gate.

The new check-in procedure also works for those checking bags at curbside or at the ticket counter, and passengers can review their itineraries and select or change seats before printing out their boarding pass.

Using the new option the first time requires some familiarization and set-up time. Most airlines require enrollment in a frequent-flier program, and most are available only to e-ticketed passengers. However, preprinting your boarding passes does raise the possibility that you can lose or misplace your document before arriving at the airport.

For details: www.usairways.com.

Similar options are also available on American, Delta and Northwest.

The price of standing by

For the third time in six months, US Airways has changed standby rules for nonrefundable tickets.

Last summer, it announced it would charge passengers using nonrefundable tickets $100 to fly standby on another flight on the same day. That policy was amended Dec. 18, when the airline announced that passengers could get a confirmed seat on another flight that day for a $100 fee. Last week, it lowered that charge to $25.

The new itinerary cannot be confirmed more than four hours before the departure of the new flight, and if the desired flight is sold out, passengers can still stand by for a last-minute seat for a $25 fee.

Several other major carriers announced plans to begin similar fees starting Jan. 1 but have since rescinded their decisions. American, Continental, Northwest and United allow passengers on nonrefundable tickets to fly standby on another flight the same day as their scheduled departure without paying a fee.

FREEBIES

Tampa: The Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau is offering a 76-page destination guide. For a free copy, call 1-800-448-2672 or visit www.visittampabay.com.