Theme-Park Thrills

1. Should I start at galleries? Galleries offer a wide range of art, but they also tend to be expensive. Look for smaller galleries that put together one-off shows for emerging artists—these places charge less than a gallery that has invested in building an artist's reputation. Large galleries that carry a number of artists' works, as well as different styles and sizes, may also charge more because they have spent time stocking their space with many pieces to choose from, saving you the time and effort of having to find them on your own. 2. Is there a cheaper option? One alternative is to search out young, unestablished artists selling their works from a studio. "Their doors are always open to the public," says Danielle Shang of the DF2 Gallery in Los Angeles. However, unless you're visiting a city with an arts district where galleries and studios are located, such as Beijing's 798 Art Zone (798art.org), you'll have to rely on word of mouth to find artists' work spaces. Galleries might point you in the right direction if you ask to meet an artist—just don't say you want to bypass the gallery to make a purchase. Openings of exhibitions at galleries and museums attract artists, who also may be able to tell you where to go. In addition, look online to see if there's a well-known market where indigenous art is sold, like the Saturday market in the San Angel suburb of Mexico City. This type of art is cheaper than what you'd find in galleries, and competition among artists may make for bargains. Another option is to visit an art school with a gallery that sells student work. For instance, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam (gerritrietveldacademie.nl) holds an annual show of its graduates' pieces—most of which are for sale. 3. How do I research artists? Magazines like Art in America, ARTnews, and The Art Newspaper are good sources for general information on the art scene in different countries, though the artists they feature are often established and sell their works at high prices. Websites like artfacts.net, artinfo.com, and artnet.com have comprehensive lists of artists and galleries, as well as details on upcom­ing exhibitions and fairs. Artfacts gives the names, addresses, phone numbers, and websites for thousands of galleries and schools in more than 100 countries, including places you wouldn't ordinarily associate with contemporary art, such as Mozambique and Moldova. Artnet has a catalog of the prices of many international artists' works, but to access it, you have to buy a monthly subscription for $30. You can also search for websites for specific countries, such as artscenechina.com and newchineseart.com in China, museuvirtual.com.br in Brazil, and contemporaryart-india.com in India. 4. How can I ensure that the art I buy is authentic? Paintings and photographic prints that are purchased at galleries should come with certificates of authenticity signed by the dealer. Determining whether indigenous art at a market is handmade or mass-produced is more difficult. In tourist centers with thriving art communities—such as Cuzco, Peru, and Siem Reap, Cambodia—do research online or ask in local shops or at your hotel where you can find fair-trade artisans collectives. The works at these places should be authentic, and the artists are guaranteed a certain percentage of the profits. In Cambodia, for example, the Artisans d'Angkor collective (011-855/63-963-330, artisansdangkor.com) trains young people in traditional crafts and gives them an outlet to sell their work. 5. Are prices negotiable? Galleries, studios, and art schools are sellers' markets, with little leeway on price negotiation. Nonetheless, making discreet inquiries never hurts. Gallerist Danielle Shang advises being up front with the seller about how much you're willing to spend—even if that doesn't bring down the price of your top choice, the shop may have other options in your range. One way to save money when buying photography is to look for early numbers of limited-edition prints. The higher the numbers are, the more likely the run is almost sold out and the less of a chance you'll get a deal. 6. How do I ship things home? If you don't buy art at a gallery, which will arrange shipping for you, check the rates at FedEx, UPS, or DHL, or at an art handling company such as Atelier 4 (atelier4.com). See if your home owners' insurance policy covers valuables shipped from abroad, as some policies do, up to a certain value. Framing a painting adds to the shipping cost, but it also protects the work during transit because it prevents anything from rubbing against the canvas. Bringing your piece of art on the plane is another option—but make sure you know the rules for oddly shaped carry-on items if it won't fit in the overhead. And never check a valuable piece of art. Airlines will accept no responsibility for art that is lost, stolen, or damaged. 7. Will my art rise in value? For people on a budget who are serious about acquiring art as an investment, Beijing-based dealer Maya Kovskaya recommends buying from young artists who have shown their works at international exhibitions, because their pieces are the most likely to increase in value. "Not only can you enjoy the artist's work, but you'll play a role in supporting a growing career," she says. For most travelers, however, "buying art should be purely out of love," says Shang. "It becomes an investment when you can afford to spend millions." Other Fair-Trade Art Collectives Rajana Association Started by a British NGO in 1995, the organization trains poor Cambodians to make jewelry, clothing, wall hangings, and cards. Toul Tom Pong market, St. 450, House 170, Phnom Penh, 011-855/23-364-795, rajanacrafts.org. Mercado Global Many women in this Guatemalan network lost their husbands in the country's civil war and sell traditional Mayan clothing, jewelry, and pottery to support their children. 203/772-4292 (the group's representative in the U.S.), mercadoglobal.org. Center for Traditional Textiles of Cuzco Founded 12 years ago, the Peruvian center's mission is to preserve the ancient Incan style of weaving by giving women a place to work and to sell their goods. 603 Ave. Sol, Cuzco, 011-51/84-228-117, textilescusco.org.

Renee Ruggero worked as a purser for Princess Cruises for three years. She has left the industry but still cruises frequently with her family. Hub for help The purser on a cruise ship is part hotel receptionist, part concierge. Guests line up at the purser's desk to pay their on board accounts, to ask questions like "What time do the whales swim by?" and to complain about everything under the sun. On mega ships, there may be as many as 20 pursers, who listen to the same gripes cruise after cruise. When I worked, not a cruise would go by that a family of four didn't grumble and grouse about being squashed into a 160-square-foot cabin with nowhere to put their luggage. I empathized as much as I possibly could, but in many cases, the customer was not always right. On one cruise, for instance, a passenger accused a cabin steward of stealing his Rolex watch. After searching the man's room, I finally found the watch in his safe—it had slid under the lip in the front. The man never apologized for his mistake. Little white lies I've been fed all kinds of lines from passengers, such as "I'm claustrophobic, so I need a bigger cabin," and "I want to be reimbursed for this spot the laundry service got on my dress" (even though the stain looked a lot like red wine). Some guests even make up elaborate excuses—or blatant lies—to try to score a free bottle of wine, credit for purchases made on the ship, or a stateroom upgrade. At times, I felt like a mix of Judge Judy and Sherlock Holmes, trying to decide which parts of passengers' stories were true. One woman claimed she had paid $10,000 for a balcony cabin on a weeklong cruise to Alaska and had been assigned an ocean-view room (with no balcony). I e-mailed the head office and discovered she had actually booked an ocean-view room—and paid only $4,000. Best location Some cabins are in noisy parts of the ship (above or below a dance floor or the theater) and when passengers in those rooms complain, they usually get moved somewhere else. Even though pursers may tell passengers the ship is "sailing full," there are sometimes a few open rooms for situations like these. That doesn't mean, however, that you'll get a luxury suite if you complain about a lot of noise. One guest was upset about the noise of chairs being dragged on the deck above his inside cabin, but when I offered him a similar room on the other end of the ship, he turned it down. I guess he was hoping for something better. Feeling queasy Seasickness is an occupational hazard when you work on a cruise ship, especially smaller vessels like the one I was on. I prefer not to take Dramamine, because it makes me drowsy. Instead, I drank Coke and snacked on bread—foods high in carbohydrates sometimes help prevent motion sickness—and my colleagues said ginger capsules worked well, too. Of course, there were always passengers who confused seasickness with the effects of too many martinis from the night before. One time when I was behind the desk, a passenger asked to buy Dramamine because she was seasick. I had to tell her that was unlikely—the ship had yet to leave the pier. More From Our Confessions Series: • Airline Agent • AAA Hotel Inspector • Baggage Handler • Casino Pit Boss

Motel 6 Paul Priestman, a cofounder of British design firm Priestman Goode, headed the team that created Motel 6's new look. He knows how to get the most from small spaces, having prev­iously worked on airplane and cruise-ship projects. The updated design will start appearing in new and existing hotels (of which there are 900) this fall. 1. Lighting Priestman built special wall fixtures to illuminate the room indirectly and reduce the need for a lot of overhead lights. "I wanted the light to reflect off the walls, not to blind people." 2. Seating area A table and a chair were placed in a corner to create a space for socializing—something that's currently lacking. With a table-side electric socket, and Wi-Fi available for $3 per day, the area doubles as a work space. 3. Bed Platform beds give the room a sense of openness because guests can see beneath them; the sight line isn't interrupted by a bed frame and skirt. There's also more room to store luggage. 4. Color palette Numerous color schemes are in the works: orange (as shown) and possibly green, purple, and tan. Motel 6 is deciding whether single and double rooms (or ground-floor and second-floor rooms) will get different colors. 5. Floors The carpeting is being replaced by floors made of composite wood and plastic laminate. "A lot of people feel that carpets aren't very clean," says Priestman. 6. TV unit and closet Priestman believes that furniture in small spaces should serve at least two functions. This unit contains a flat-screen TV and a multimedia panel where an iPod and an Xbox can be plugged in. Behind the unit—and accessible from the side—is a rod for hanging clothes. Microtel Students at the Savannah College of Art and Design were invited to enter a contest to create a modern room with a budget of $7,500. Bijal Patel, one of three finalists, was hired to produce the prototype. More than 30 new hotels will use the design this year; Microtel's nearly 300 existing properties will be redecorated as needed. 1. Room divider A screen separates the bed from the sitting area. "Guests especially appreciate this feature because it makes the room feel like a suite, with added privacy," Patel says. 2. Bed Rooms will have beds with a new pillow-top mattress, one extra pillow (for a total of three), and a thin comforter between two layers of sheets, instead of a bedspread. 3. Desk Guests noted on checkout comment cards that they'd like more work space, so Patel designed a workstation with enough room for two people (and with electrical outlets built into the desktop). Wi-Fi is free at most Microtel properties. 4. TV Microtel swapped out box-style TVs for 26- or 32-inch wall-mounted flat-screens after market research showed they were one of the main things people want in hotel rooms. 5. Color palette Patel's goal was to avoid the boring beige walls she sees in every hotel. She created six color schemes: cappuccino (as shown), citrus, metro, breeze, nature, and Microtel (a combination of navy blue, yellow, and amber). Properties will each have a single palette. 6. Kitchen Patel chose granite countertops and a bar and stools (instead of a table and chairs) for what the company calls the MicroKitchen. She aimed to combine the "warmth of the guest's own kitchen with a café-like setting."

For more travel news, updated daily, check our blog, This Just In. Seat Charge On some flights, US Airways is now asking $5 to $30 more for aisle or window seats. Brazil by Air JetBlue's founder and former CEO David Neeleman plans to launch a low-fare carrier, Azul, in Brazil next year. London Shuttle Dot2Dot offers rides between Heathrow or Gatwick airports and more than 600 hotels in London (dot2.com, $35). Pax Rights Passengers who are involuntarily bumped from domestic flights or international flights departing from the U.S. are eligible for up to $800 in compensation, up from $400. Bus Routes Megabus has started service between New York and seven other cities: Atlantic City, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Washington, D.C. One-way fares start as low as $1. megabus.com. Flights to Bari Italian airline Eurofly has added weekly summer flights between New York and Bari in southern Italy (euroflyusa.com). Cruise Cabanas Holland America's new ship, Eurodam, has private cabanas for rent on two decks (from $30 per day). Colonial PassOne ticket now gets you into five major historic Virginia sites (historyisfun.org, $80). Fishy Tale Sea Life Aquarium at Legoland in Carlsbad, Calif., opens July 1 (legoland.com, $19). Spin City Washington, D.C., has launched SmartBike DC, allowing people to rent bikes all over town (smartbikedc.com, $40 annual fee). Hippie Museum The new Museum at Bethel Woods, on the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival, has exhibits on '60s music (bethelwoodscenter.org, $13). Budget Resorts Sandals has opened Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts—its more affordable line—on Antigua and Jamaica (grandpineapple.com, from $252). Pensacola Party To mark its 450th birthday, the Florida city is planning 450 days of summer festivals, exhibits, and parades (celebratepensacola.com). Criminal Activity Hot Springs, Ark., where Al Capone vacationed, now has the nation's first Gangster Museum (tgmoa.com, $8). Relax in Miami Miami hosts its first Spa Month in July. More than 20 spas are participating (miamispamonth.com).