United and Continental may merge. But should they?

In 1577, many years before he defeated the Spanish Armada, the great English buccaneer and Sir Francis Drake became one of the first sailors to circumnavigate the world in a wooden galleon called the Golden Hinde. Along the way, he made what was probably the first European landfall in California, naming it Nova Albion. He also captured one of the largest hordes of treasure ever taken — paying off the English national debt in one fell swoop. On his return, the Hinde became so famous that it was put on public display on the south bank of the Thames here in London — the earliest recorded example of a ship being preserved for public posterity. And while it rotted away, a full-sized working replica has replaced it and remains harbored on the river. It, too, has circumnavigated the globe and sailed over 140,000 miles — many more than the original. The replica Golden Hinde is in a prime spot — a few minutes walk from both the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe. And unlike both of those sights it's a real hit with kids. It's possible to visit the ship anytime between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on a self-guided tour. But it's far better to come on one of the activity days. May is set to be a busy month for these, with 23 days of organised activities, from guided historical tours and full day living history days. On May 8 and 22 there are pirate fun days, when kids have the chance to dress up as pirates, participate in a series of re-enactments and generally run riot on the boat. And on May 29 the Golden Hinde will be staging one of its summer sleepovers — and overnight living history tour for children between 5 to 10 years old (accompanied by an adult), which includes an afternoon and evening of costumed activities, a Tudor dinner, and sleeping out on the gun deck amongst the cannons. A Tudor breakfast of bread and cheese is provided in the morning, followed by a snack of hot chocolate as you return to the twenty-first century. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Check out our London City page Find hotel suggestions and travel tips

On April 9, the city of Paris and Orange telecom unveiled a dozen "experimental" phone booths that offer free Internet and multimedia services. These booths are scattered throughout the city (handy map, here), with four located in areas that have a high number of visitors — the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, ChampsÉlysées, and the Marais. The promise In addition to traditional phone calls, these booths promise to let users browse the Internet and view and send emails. These two services are currently free, with log-on time limited to 10 minutes. Users can also search for local services near the booth, including restaurants, pharmacies, banks, hotels, train stations, etc. This mapping service will always be free, but there will eventually be a charge for using the Internet. The reality In theory, these booths could be a godsend for travelers who need to look up information, quickly check for an email, or locate a service. But how well do they really work? To find out, I took one of the new booths for a test drive yesterday afternoon and found the following: The Surf's Not Up. For the moment, it's not possible to visit the website of your choice. Orange promises that this will change if the booths make it past the experimental phase, but for the moment your choices are limited to a handful of pre-selected sites. The Touch Screen is Tricky. I found my email provider among the small number of available sites (Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail) and was able, after 3 or 4 tries, to successfully enter my password using the booth's touch screen keypad. Scrolling down the page, however, was almost impossible, and composing a reply using the touch screen might take far longer than the 10-minute allotted time. The Search Didn't Find. One of the prime services that these booths are advertising — the ability to locate nearby businesses — wasn't working when I tried to use it. I pressed the buttons to find "pharmacies" and "restaurants" and stood waiting without results until my session time expired. It's all in French. We are in France, so I suppose this makes sense. But offering navigation in multiple languages, as is done with ATMs, subway ticket booths, and Velib' stations, would add significant value to this service for visitors. The future These dozen new booths are being tested for a period of six months before evaluation by the Mayor of Paris. If the booths work well, JCDecaux (the advertising company that finances Velib') may implement them on a national level in 2012. Where can you find these new booths in Paris? • Eiffel Tower — Quai Branly, western pilar, 7th arrondissement • Champs Élysées — 48 avenue des Champs Élysées, 8th arrondissement • Montmartre — 16 boulevard de Clichy, 18th arrondissement • The Marais — 1 rue de Rivoli, 4th arrondissement • La Villette — 219 avenue Jean Jaurès, 19th arrondissement • Place d'Italie — 213 boulevard Vincent Auriol, 13th arrondissement • Saint-Michel — 20 boulevard Saint Michel, 6th arrondissement • Saint-Germain — 142 boulvard Saint Germain, 6th arrondissements • Near the Grands Magasins — 40 boulevard Haussmann, 9th arrondissement • Montparnasse — 77 boulevard du Montparnasse, 6th arrondissement • Bercy — 26 rue des Pirogues de Bercy, 12th arrondissement MORE Budget Travel's Affordable Paris coverage