Orchid shows in San Francisco and Santa Barbara

Try to catch orchid fever

Take time to smell the orchids later this month, when two shows bring an explosion of color, blossoms and fragrances to exhibition halls in San Francisco and Santa Barbara. In the Bay Area, the Pacific Orchid Show will feature more than 150,000 different orchids. The exhibition, Feb. 28 to March 2, will be at Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion. Info: (415) 665-2468, www.orchidsanfrancisco.org. Closer to home, the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show, Feb. 29 to March 2, will feature flowers from around the world, along with a photo exhibit and lectures. The show will be at Earl Warren Showgrounds Exhibition Hall, U.S. 101 and Las Positas Road. Info: (805) 687-0766, www.sborchidshow.com.

–

Broader Farecast

Farecast.com, a website that tries to predict airfares based on historic data, has expanded its forecasts to international travel. Choose the date you want to fly and the destination, and Farecast tells you whether you should book the ticket now or wait to get a better price. Its foreign predictions cover more than 200 city pairs, compared with more than 2,100 domestic city pairs, and they don’t, as yet, include Africa or Asia. Farecast, launched in 2006, has been fairly good at predicting prices, but it’s not perfect. “We’ve always said we’re not clairvoyant,” said Hugh Crean, the company’s president and chief executive.

–

Jane Engle

New lodging line

Looking to book lodging at California’s Yosemite National Park? The main phone number to do that has changed. It’s now (801) 559-5000. The new number adds recorded information on weather, directions and road conditions. You can still book online, too, at www.yosemitepark.com. The phone and website are good for lodges and hard-walled and tent cabins. Contacts to reserve Yosemite campsites haven’t changed: (877) 444-6777, www.recreation.

–

Eight years after its launch, JetBlue Airways will finally fly out of LAX. Starting May 21, the low-cost carrier, known for its leather seats and 36-channel seat-back TVs, will offer nonstop flights three times a day to New York’s JFK airport and once a day to Boston from LAX. The service is part of a Southern California expansion for JetBlue, which in May will add nonstops to San Jose, Seattle and Austin, Texas, from its Long Beach hub; and to Las Vegas and the Washington, D.C., area’s Dulles airport from Burbank. www.jetblue.com.

–

J.E.