Biltmore Estate Reopens After Helene; Anne Frank cultivation is coming to NYC

The Biltmore Estate in North Carolina will soon reopen after being forced to close by Hurricane Helene. The popular Asheville tourist destination plans to open Nov. 2 and “celebrate the joy of the holiday season.” North Carolina's largest mountain town was largely isolated by Helene as many of the main routes to Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides. According to Biltmore, the 8,000-acre property was barely affected. The 1895 property is based on a 250-room French chateau built at the direction of George Vanderbilt. It is the largest private home in the United States and attracts approximately 1.4 million visitors annually.

A full-scale replica of Anne Frank's Secret Annex will open in New York City, the Anne Frank House Museum announced. For the first time in history, visitors outside the Netherlands will have the opportunity to walk through an exact replica of the cramped room in which the war diarist and seven other people lived who escaped the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. “Anne Frank: The Exhibition” is scheduled to open on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Visitors learn more about the Jewish teenager who died in a concentration camp at the age of 15 and became known as a symbol of resilience and strength.

Travelers are confidently betting that they will see their candidate's hand on the Bible on Inauguration Day. For the week ending January 20, 2025, when either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be sworn in, they are splurging on expensive trips to Washington, DC. A majority of the city's luxury hotels appear to be completely sold from January 14th to 21st. Only a handful of them are still available – at gigantic prices. The Kimpton Hotel Monaco has rates starting at $2,800 a night, the nearby Sofitel charges more than $1,400, and the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown costs around $1,700.

Impatient passengers might be in for a rude awakening the next time they try to get in line early. American Airlines is testing a system that will flag when people try to board before their group has been called – passengers often referred to as “gate skippers.” American said if someone tries to get into the wrong group, the software will give an “audible signal” and display a message to the gate agent with the correct group. The airline has tested the technology at Albuquerque and Tucson airports and will soon expand to other locations. Delta Air Lines does not use technology to enforce boarding, but said the system switched to boarding by numbered zones this year “to bring more clarity to the process.” United Airlines said: “Our gate agents monitor the boarding process.”