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By staff and wires  contributor Rob Lovitt, Associated Press and Reuters Millions of Americans have taken to the skies and roads for Thanksgiving this year despite higher gas prices and costlier airfares. About 42.5 million people are expected to drive, fly or ride trains to their Thanksgiving destinations, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). That's the highest number since the start of the recession, showing that Americans are willing to  travel  to their families even while household budgets are tight. "Sacrifice to see the ones you love, that's what we do," said John Mahoney, who was driving 20 hours with his girlfriend from his home in New Hampshire to visit his mother and sister in St. Louis. "Americans will still do what Americans do. We travel the roads ." Mahoney, 44, acknowledged the economy has changed the way he travels — which is why the couple slept in the car instead of getting a motel room when a heavy, wet snow...

By Laura Tait Sometimes, when a once-spectacular hotel has lost its sparkle and a lick of paint simply won’t cut it, there are two options. Bulldoze it to the ground... or throw millions and millions of pounds at it to restore it to its former glory, and then some. Here are some hotels that took option B.  Pancras Renaissance Hotel London Widely considered an architectural gem when it opened in 1873, the railway hotel earned its reputation for crossing boundaries, with such features as water-driven lifts and… wait for it… a revolving door. To be fair, it was Britain’s first revolving door so it was impressive at the time. It needed more to stand out in modern times though - and £150 million later, the St Pancras Renaissance is jaw-dropping once more, with 245 rooms, two top restaurants, extensive meeting space and a luxury spa with swimming pool and barber’s shop. . Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund Shanghai, China Shanghai's Bund, once known as the ‘Wall St...

Expensive hotel rooms around the world By Rosalind Kent For most of us, a hotel room is an expensive luxury - even in the less salubrious establishments a room can be pretty pricey! Although most of our budgets will be more suited to the Premier Inn than the Dorchester, it doesn’t mean we can’t have a little glance at how the other half lives, and marvel in the luxuries of some of the world’s most expensive hotels. London Airport Heathrow taxis UAE As you would expect, the Arabs have done it in style, and with the extravagance of cities like Dubai, it is no surprise that they sport some pretty ostentatious prices. One of the most iconic images of opulence is the Burj Al Arab, shaped like a sail in imitation of an Arabian vessel called a 'dhow'. For years now it has topped the charts as one of the world’s most luxurious hotels with its (self-proclaimed) 7*’s. A Deluxe 2 bed-roomed suite can be booked for AED 11,976.00 (around £2,000), but that’s a bit of a barg...

  British Exports Hit A Record High Symbol Price Change AZN.L 2,982.00 -23.00 BA.L 282.10 +0.10 BGO.HM 13.84 0.00 CIN.L 72.00 -1.50 DGEAF.PK 19.64 0.00 Follow these stocks Cliff D'Arcy , 16:31, Thursday 13 October 2011 Judging by all the doom and gloom in the papers these days, you'd think British manufacturers and exporters were in terminal decline. Actually, thanks to a weaker pound, UK exporters have done rather well recently, despite the weakening global economy. Record exports Indeed, we learnt today that UK exports hit a record high in August, helping to trim the UK's trade deficit to a mere £1.9 billion. Total monthly exports of goods and services hit £31.4 billion (up 0.5%), while imports declined by 0.7% to £33.3 billion. Of course, this is good news for the UK economy, because it shows the gap between what we sell overseas and what we import ...