| Luxury New York hotels to give 'panic buttons' to maids and Fight over reclining seat diverts flight |
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New York (CNN) -- Two luxury hotels in Manhattan will provide maids with portable emergency communications devices -- equipped with "panic buttons" -- in the wake of a pair of high-profile sexual assault cases in New York, according to a hotel union spokesman.The Pierre and the Sofitel hotels will hand out the devices, modeled after medical alert buttons for the elderly, allowing housekeeping staff to quickly alert hotel security, said John Turchiano, a spokesman for New York's Hotel & Motel Trades Council.The move comes on the heels of a recent scandal involving former Egyptian bank executive Abdel Salam Omar, who was arrested Sunday and charged with sexually abusing a housekeeper at the Pierre hotel.Nora Walsh, a spokeswoman for the Pierre, said the hotel is investigating an apparent delay in communications with authorities. [Read the full article] (BudgetTravel) -- If the idea of bunking in the barnyard gives you hives, relax. Here's everything you need to know about taking -- and enjoying -- a vacation with Mother Nature.In a word: the food. "Meals are often the best part of a farmstay experience-the ingredients are the absolute freshest you'll find anywhere," says Reid Bramblett, former Budget Travel editor and founder of trip-planning website reidsguides.com.Bramblett, who has stayed at dozens of farms throughout Europe and North America, says, "There are veggies and dairy produced right on the spot, rib-sticking dinners, and breakfast spreads that will blow you away."The opportunity to help gather those ingredients, get your hands dirty, and unplug is another big draw. "For families especially, a farmstay is like stepping back into idyllic, 1950s Beaver Cleaver time," says Scottie Jones, who owns Oregon's Leaping Lamb Farm. [Read the full article] Brendan Francis Newnam hosts a national public radio show called The Dinner Party Download produced by American Public Media. He's the author of the CNN.com travel column "The State I'm In." Follow him on Twitter @bnewnam.Big Sur, California (CNN) -- "You're not going to write about this place are you?" I've heard this more than once while traveling.People are protective of special spots, and I try to be mindful about not ruining a secret, but the truth is, thanks to the Internet, most secret spots aren't so secret. Besides, It's rare to find a truly special place.But I found one. It's the greatest bench in America. It's better than a throne. I'd venture to say it delivers the most pleasure a human can receive from simply sitting down.I was heading to Big Sur, a spectacular collision of land and ocean just below the midpoint of California. [Read the full article] 
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