Words: Sophy Grimshaw

Tut’s new hut

If you enjoyed the exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at The O2 in London (running until 30 August 2008), you may want to follow this up with a trip to the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo. The world’s largest Egyptology museum is scheduled to open next to the Giza Pyramids in 2011, providing a much needed new exhibition space for all manner of ancient booty, much of which currently languishes in storage. For more information and to see images of the design by Dublin-based architects Heneghan Peng, visit the website www.gem.gov.eg

The future’s orange

A new study from Germany has found that consuming beta-carotene, the pigment that occurs naturally in some fruits and vegetables, can protect the skin from sun damage. Instead of packing carrots as well as sunscreen in your holiday suitcase, you could take along the new Israeli skin- and hair-care range called Yes To Carrots. Try the Pampering Carrot Juice Shampoo, £5.49; www.yes-to-carrots.com

FAMOUS FOOTSTEPS
France’s First Lady, folk singer Carla Bruni croons You Belong To Me, a song popularised by Bob Dylan, on her new album Comme Si De Rien N’Etait (As If Nothing Had Happened). Bruni and her husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, famously travelled around Egypt together earlier this year, visiting Cairo.

Stub it out

Staff at the Swissotel Chicago earn a $10 bonus each time they catch a guest having an illicit cigarette in one of the strictly smoke-free rooms. “I don’t want this to sound like a police state,” general manager Jack Breisacher told USA Today. “We want to make the hotel clean and safe.” Swissotel, 323 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, +1 312 565 0565; www.swissotel.com

FINDING NEMO

A new aquarium, designed to mirror the natural reefs of the Caribbean, has opened at Treehouse Club, the children’s area at the Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados. Tots too young to dive can get a close-up view of six tropical fish species. Film fans might find that the clownfish and dory fish look familiar – that’s because they’re the species that featured in the popular animated movie Finding Nemo. Treehouse Club, Sandy Lane, St James, Barbados, West Indies, +1 246 444 2000; www.sandylane.com

Bottle it

The items pictured aren’t actually light bulbs, although they look a bit like them. They are, in fact, silicone travel bottles. Developed in New York they are handy for anyone who needs to take their toiletries through airport security. The easy-to-squeeze containers can hold up to 60ml of liquid and they are virtually unbreakable. A set of two costs £9.95; from www.icklebockles.co.uk

True colours

Airports aren’t normally a place you’d expect to find new art, but East Midlands Airport recently

debuted a work by American visual artist Sally Sheinman. “It’s a piece about fun and hope and is quite joyful, because when you’re going off on holiday you’re full of good hopes,” she tells voyager. To create the artwork, which is located in the area after security, Sheinman painted letters and symbols onto rice paper on top of tiny pieces of Perspex. “Some languages, like Arabic, are quite beautiful to look at, whether you know what they mean or not, and words are an important part of Arabic art, for instance,” she explains. “So I’ve tried to use bits and pieces from different languages which, when viewed in the abstract, are restful to look at.”