Skycaps: Do you tip if there's a fee?

We've learned that the Southern California CityPass will go on sale at West Coast supermarkets in June. The news made us wonder: Is the Southern California CityPass worth buying? And what would be the cheapest way to buy it? The CityPass covers three days at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure Park as well as one day each at Universal Studios Hollywood and SeaWorld San Diego. You can also spend a day at either the San Diego Zoo or San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. The CityPass costs $247 per adult and $199 per child ages 3 to 9, at participating theme parks. (That's a slight increase from last year's prices.) You can also buy it at citypass.com, but you'll have to add at least $10 for shipping. Budget Travel Tip: Members of Costco can buy the CityPass for $217 per adult and $174 per child at Costco.com. If you’re ambitious enough to visit all the parks within 14 days, the CityPass can save you up to $99 per adult or up to $87 per child as compared to buying tickets at a main gate to a participating park. Even if you buy tickets online, you’ll save up to $79 per adult or $67 per child. Buying through Costco.com and occasional sales on coupon-code sites such as FatWallet.com, can save you even more. But back to the news: Folks in Northern California will see the pass for sale at full price many Safeway grocery stores, starting in June. Residents of Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Seattle will also start seeing the pass for sale in many local grocery stores, such as Albertsons, Bashas’, Fry’s, and Kroger.* Southern Californians should still look for resident-only promotions (available at Disney Stores and at disneyland.disney.go.com) that can tack on an extra day in the price of a single-day ticket to either Disneyland or California Adventure. CityPass should be in select supermarkets shortly after the new Simpsons Ride debuts at Universal Studios Hollywood. Opening in mid-May, the six-minute virtual ride will feature Homer, Bart and 27 other Springfield characters—including Krusty the Clown—projected on an 80-foot domed screen. Woo-hoo! *CLARIFICATION 3/24: Due to an editing error, this post originally said that Albertsons, Bashas’, Fry’s, and Kroger can be found in Northern California, when, in fact, they are located elsewhere.

Debuting this month, Ideo Eyes Open dispenses with the trappings of the standard city guidebook. Its New York City edition, for instance, doesn't have a subway map or info on the city's most famous museums. Similarly, its London edition points you to the city's hottest cupcake shop rather than Big Ben. What the guidebooks do offer is plenty of captioned photos of spots where you rub shoulders with locals, not tourists—as this slide show illustrates. In a surprise move, the photos are cross-indexed by theme and activity, somewhat like a children's Choose Your Own Adventure book. You're encouraged to flip back and forth through different pages, discovering boutique shops, foodie havens, and similar venues. The Wapping Project is a "former hydraulic power plant turned gallery/restaurant/bar hybrid." thewappingproject.com. Another tip from the book: Instead of taking high tea at a hotel lounge, go to Coffee@157. The light fixtures in this coffeehouse, as you can see, are made of to-go cups. Outside, a yellow vending machine dispenses artworks for less than 5 pounds each. (011-44/20-7729-2666). The Ideo guidebooks will amuse some travelers and irritate others. The only way to find out how you'll react is to take a peek for yourself. We've collected a bunch of images and tips from the London edition in our slide show. Images courtesy of Ideo Eyes Open: London by Fred Dust and Ideo (Chronicle Books), recently $16 at Amazon. EARLIER Paris through a photographer's eyes.

Ah, souvenirs—the tangible (and sometimes embarrassing) reminders of a trip. But did you know you can buy souvenirs for trips you haven't taken? In 2005, Alisa Grifo started Kiosk, full of thriftstore-like finds from across the globe. About three times a year, she goes on a trip to scavenge for true-to-their-origin items—Chinese New Year pinwheels from Hong Kong, Ice Fishing Line Weights from Finland, and handmade dishes from Mexico. She goes to markets, grocery stores, cafes—anywhere locals go, picking the shop owners' brains all the way. As she wrote on her site, "The goods assembled together in Kiosk become a rough portrait of each trip." Grifo focuses on offering items from one destination at a time. Currently, it's Hong Kong. You'll find her wares at Kiosk, a brick-and-mortar shop in New York City on 95 Spring Street, and at kioskkiosk.com. —JD Rinne Birdwhistles, $3 each, from Kiosk CORRECTED at 10:25 a.m.: Due to an editor's error, this post originally gave the incorrect price for the birdwhistles.