The 1.5-mile stretch of Coronado Beach is set against the historic Hotel del Coronado, on an island just across San Diego Bay from the city’s downtown. It is reachable by ferry or water taxi.

“The beach is very flat, making it great for skim boarding and walking, and the sand has a silvery sheen because of the presence of mica,” Leatherman’s website said.

Coming in second on the list was Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The Dr. Beach website describes the destination as benefiting from a shallow offshore reef that protects swimmers from big waves, making it ideal for children.

The other destinations on Leatherman’s Top 10 list are: Main Beach in East Hampton, New York; St. George Island State Park on the Florida panhandle; Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii; Coast Guard Beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Waimanalo Bay Beach Park in Oahu, Hawaii; Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, Florida; Beachwalker Park in Kiawah Island, South Carolina; and Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Last year, the top destination on the list was Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida. The 2010 winner was Coopers Beach on New York’s Long Island.

Leatherman has released his list of top coastal destinations every year since 1991. His criteria for judging a good beach include the width of the beach, the color of the sand, the slope, water temperature, frequency of rain, noise factors and the presence of lifeguards.

The full list for 2012 coastal destinations is available at drbeach.org.

Art lovers are surprised to discover such a wealth of galleries on and around Potsdamer Strasse, a long artery stretching southwest from the revamped and now-glitzy Potsdamer Platz to the traditional gay stronghold of Schoeneberg.

The galleries, numbering nearly two dozen, are often tucked away in quiet courtyards or hidden in grand 19th century buildings.

“This creates the kind of intimacy art lovers appreciate. Visitors feel exclusive as if they were discovering secret places” said Sassa Truelzsch, whose eponymous gallery off Potsdamer Strasse focuses on contemporary art installations.

“I was the first one to move here (in 2006) and I felt as though I was the only gallery owner in Berlin. Visitors arrived by chance, surprised to find an art gallery in such a context while today we count almost 30 visitors daily,” she said.

Also helping to draw in both new galleries and visitors is the area’s proximity to such architectural jewels as Mies van der Rohe’s glass-and-steel New National Gallery and Hans Scharoun’s tentlike Philharmonic concert hall.

The process is typical of Berlin’s dynamism and capacity for reinvention, said Juerg Judin, a partner of the Nolan Judin gallery on Potsdamer Strasse which also has a base in New York.

“Berlin represents a unique case in the art world… The city constantly rediscovers its forgotten cheap areas, making them become in turn the main hub of the city’s art scene before disappearing again shortly after.”

WEIMAR GLAMOUR

During the Weimar Republic, when Berlin was a byword for Bohemian revelry and sophistication, the arts flourished in a neighborhood where screen idol Marlene Dietrich had grown up and which was also home at different times to filmmaker Billy Wilder and to British author Christopher Isherwood, whose novel “Goodbye to Berlin” inspired the musical “Cabaret”.

On a darker note, the area is also home to the Sportpalast (Sport Palace), often used for political rallies in the Nazi era. Joseph Goebbels made his notorious call here in 1943 for ‘total war’ as the tide of World War Two turned against Germany.

Badly damaged by allied bombs, Potsdamer Strasse suffered a further blow with the postwar partition of the city and the erection in 1961 of the Berlin Wall nearby.

David Bowie and Iggy Pop provided some light relief in the 1970s but the area mostly struggled to forge a positive new identity. After the fall of the Wall in 1991 much of the artistic talent headed to the cheap, newly trendy former communist east.

Now, with the old East Berlin a victim of its own success and no longer a cheap option, the pendulum is swinging back.

“The charm of Potsdamer Strasse is its authenticity and its being a real place,” said Dieter Funk, co-owner of the Ave Maria shop selling religious memorabilia and an adjacent restaurant dedicated to Joseph Roth, Austrian-born author of classics such as “The Radetzky March”, who also lived here in the 1920s.

The restaurant is a popular meeting place for representatives from Berlin’s art world as is also the nearby ‘Freies Museum’ (Free Museum), housed in the former headquarters of the Tagesspiegel newspaper on Potsdamer Strasse.

Truelzsch is optimistic about the area’s prospects.

“Potsdamer Strasse can really establish itself as the new Berlin pole for art having as its center the New National Gallery and the Philharmonic,” she said.

“People live here, the area is fantastic and still has much to offer and much still to be discovered.”

Not only are the twisting, metal-fenced streets of the principality narrow and lined with numerous hazardous obstacles ready to trip the unwary, but they bring with them an unexpected homeliness.

Silverstone, Suzuka and Monza all have their special characteristics, particularly the thrill of racing on such fast and demanding layouts, but nowhere are the Formula One drivers more at home than slow-speed Monaco.

Most of those on the starting grid live, have lived or will live in Monaco at some time in their careers. Some have even grown up there.

The billionaires have their floating palaces, bobbing on the not-so sparkling waters of the crowded harbour, celebrities and fashionistas can shop all day while gamblers fritter away fortunes in the imposing casino.

The racing community can meanwhile get on with something approaching normal life.

For Nico Rosberg, son of 1982 champion Keke and now a race winner in his own right, the track brings memories of the school run, either rumbling through the tunnel on the bus or in the passenger seat of his mother’s car.

“I’ve grown up here, all my friends are here and my family, I know everybody and it’s very special to race here,” said the German in a Mercedes preview for the 70th running of the sport’s glamour event.

McLaren’s 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton, a favourite for Sunday’s race, arrived only this year but has already fallen in love with a daily workout routine that involves jogging through the same tunnel.

“I love it here. To be able to wake up in your own bed and drive just down the road and be at work is a fantastic feeling,” said the 27-year-old, who found his previous residence in Switzerland too quiet for his liking.

“It’s incredible to run around your favourite circuit every day. I go through the tunnel and I just cannot believe that I’m here,” he added.

“You have to pinch yourself every day, thinking ‘Wow, I’m running through the tunnel that the greats like Michael (Schumacher) and Ayrton (Senna) used to race around and now I’m one of those drivers but also living here’.”

LOCAL LIFE

Racing drivers rarely get to spend much time at home in a packed season, with 20 races and an increasing number of long haul destinations, so every opportunity is to be treasured.

In a world of hectic PR appointments, sponsor photoshoots and travelling, Monaco allows a rare escape even on a crowded grand prix weekend.

“For sure it’s really good to be here and to race at the same time. I can sleep a little bit more as well, so it’s good,” said Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix for Williams last time out and a Monaco resident since last year.

For drivers, this is a race where the excitement can literally be seen building up as the scaffolding for grandstands is erected weeks in advance and barriers are bolted together.

There is also the camaraderie that comes with being part of any small, highly focused community.

Drivers such as McLaren’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Paul Di Resta and ex-Red Bull racer David Coulthard cycle and run together in the Mediterranean sunshine.

The locals also become part of the event.

“I have lived here for 20 years and the thing you realise is that the people who work on the race track are also the people who live and work in Monaco – the police, the pompiers,” said retired double champion Mika Hakkinen.

“In everyday life, these are the guys you see in the street and they say ‘Hi’ as you walk past. To win in Monaco is like winning in your home streets, and you recognise faces all through the weekend.”

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors map the city’s shift from one of Europe’s most progressive urban centers at the start of the 20th century to a chaotic maze of dusty boulevards and quaint neighborhoods bearing the scars of brutal communist policies.

FRIDAY

4 p.m. – From the airport, take a taxi or 783 airport bus straight to Piata Universitatii and the old medieval merchant district of Lipscani, which escaped the attentions of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who razed much of its surroundings.

The area, all but abandoned until just a few years ago, is now a dense network of cobbled streets and period buildings in various stages of refurbishment and centre of the city’s burgeoning nightlife scene.

It’s an easy area to wander at random but you shouldn’t miss the exquisite Stavropoleos Monastery, built in 1724 and an example of Brancovenesc style of Romanian architecture, a rich mix of Byzantine and baroque motifs.

Browse the cafes, bars and small textile and antique shops before having a look at Curtea Veche, the 15th century residence of Vlad Tepes – also known as “Vlad the Impaler” – a bloodthirsty ruler who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The courtyard of Hanul lui Manuc, a 19th century merchants’ inn, is an atmospheric location for an aperitif.

Keep an eye out for stray dogs, a major problem for the city but which have become an offbeat attraction for some tourists. You’re unlikely to have problems in the city centre, where dogs tend to be alone or in small groups and rarely fierce.

7 p.m. – There’s no shortage of options for dinner in Lipscani, including French, Turkish, Italian, Indian and Hungarian food. Caru cu Bere (www.carucubere.ro) is a 19th century brewery that serves traditional Romanian fare under impressive vaulted ceilings and offers sarmale, minced meat wrapped in cabbage, and mamaliga, a polenta-like dish often served with cream and cheese.

9 p.m. – Take a stroll through the elegant Pasajul Villacrosse and find a cosy place for a nightcap.

Lipscani offers an ever-growing number of clubs such as Mojo, with regular live music (www.mojomusic.ro). A string of newly opened, industrial-themed bars dot the area; Atelierul Mecanic, designed to look like a workshop, Papiota as a tailor shop and Energiea as a printing press are well worth a visit.

Or continue to Calea Victoriei, the city’s most famous street, which leads you past the monumental Beaux Arts Cercul Militar and Art Deco Telephone Palace to hip indie club Control (www.control-club.ro) and Green Hours jazz bar (www.greenhours.ro).

SATURDAY

10 a.m. – Hop on the efficient metro (two journeys for 4 Romanian lei or $1.20; 6 lei for a day pass) to Piata Romana and stroll past Amzei market to Piata Revolutiei, lined with historical buildings including the former royal palace, now the National Museum of Art, a gallery with Romanian and European art (www.mnar.arts.ro).

The square was a focal point of the 1989 revolution and facing the royal palace is the former communist headquarters, from where Ceausescu fled the crowds in a helicopter only to be caught and executed. In the middle is a monument to victims of the revolution, which some locals derisively refer to as an olive on a stick.

Don’t miss the titchy red brick Cretulescu church and pillared Athenaeum concert hall, renowned as the city’s most beautiful building and venue of the world-renowned George Enescu classical music festival, before popping into the Athenee Palace Hilton (www.hilton.co.uk/bucharest) for a drink or early lunch.

Built at the start of the 20th century, the hotel was a notorious meeting spot for spies in the 1930s. Under communism, rooms were said to be bugged and many staff on the payroll of the pervasive secret service, the Securitate.

1 p.m. – Take a walk up Calea Victoriei, passing historic churches, parks and the Cantacuzino Palace, which houses a museum dedicated to Enescu, Romania’s most famous composer.

Continue across the traffic-clogged square to the Romanian Peasant Museum (www.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro). The building is an essential example of Neo-Romanian architecture, a trend contemporary of Art Nouveau and Antoni Gaudi’s Modernism.

The friendly cafe at the back offers traditional Romanian food, including “ciorba” or sour soup and platters of cold meats and cheeses, and a big terrace.

The museum has a collection of folk art, textiles and other articles of peasant life and a shop sells craftwork. A cinema screens arthouse films and often a market with woodwork, ceramics, bric-a-brac and food and wine clusters around a small wooden church brought wholesale from the countryside.

4 p.m. – Cross a small park toward Bulevardul Aviatorilor and a tangle of leafy streets behind it, lined with spectacular modernist and Art Deco villas – many now housing embassies – that earned Bucharest the name of Paris of the East at the turn of the 20th century.

Or for something a bit different, hop on the number 1 tram, which circles the city from nearby Piata Victoriei. The journey of nearly two hours takes you through residential and commercial areas just outside the centre and over the new Pasajul Basarab bridge with views over the city.

7 p.m. – In summer, try the terrace of La Taifas, a bistro tucked off Piata Victoriei which serves Romanian specialties chalked up on a blackboard – staff can translate(www.bistrotaifas.ro). In winter its sister Ateneu, next to the Hilton, has a roaring log fire.

Head back to Lipscani if you still have energy for a night out.

SUNDAY

10 a.m. – Take a taxi to Casa Poporului or Palace of the People, the monstrous building concocted by Ceausescu in the late 1970s. Now housing parliament, it looms over Bucharest.

Don’t go by foot as you will need the energy to walk through its cavernous halls and seemingly endless corridors. Ceausescu hoped the building, made with thousands of tonnes of crystal, marble and wood, would become Romania’s “Acropolis” but it came to symbolize the destructiveness of his social policies.

Construction of the building and demolition of huge swathes of houses, churches and synagogues, to be replaced with a new “Civic Centre”, evicted thousands of residents and devoured large chunks of the state budget at a time when food and energy rationing tormented much of the population.

1 p.m. – In the back of the building, find the Contemporary Art Museum, with a cafe overlooking the city which gives a wider perspective of Ceausescu’s efforts to remodel Bucharest.

3 p.m. – Head toward the Armenian Church on Bulevardul Carol II – but only walk if you want to see the outsized and lifeless streets of the Civic Centre. Once you arrive, you can stroll through a picturesque district of French-style villas, modernist apartment blocs and tiny Neo-Romanian castles complete with vine-covered turrets.

Continue north to the Gradina Icoanei park and more villas around Bulevardul Dacia, with another cluster of embassies. Try La Calderon 80 or Gargantua (restaurantgargantua.ro) for a coffee.

Beyond here the expanse of drab apartment blocs, Bucharest’s communist legacy which are slowly being refurbished and brightened up, starts again. ($1 = 3.3338 Romanian lei)

In May 2011, a dollar bought only 0.68 euros; today it’s at 0.78 and rising. So pack your money into a suitcase and take it abroad this summer.

Here are five countries where the dollar is stretching especially well this year. Some are bargains, and there should be something to suit just about any vacation style.

1. NICARAGUA

For a beach vacation with a little more character and authenticity than your typical Caribbean all-inclusive, head to San Juan del Sur, a quaint beach town on the Southwest coast known for its laid-back beaches, brightly colored buildings and sea turtle sanctuaries. The currency has crept down more than 4 percent in the last year to about 23 cordobas to the dollar. So staying here is an even better value than usual.

Where to stay: Rent a two- to three-bedroom house on the beach for $850 or so a week, based on listings on Homeaway.com and VRBO.com. A room at a boutique resort with yoga, pools, ocean views and spa can be had for $180/night.

What to eat: A seafood platter for two with lobster, squid, octopus, clams, shrimp and sides can be had for about $25, says a representative from the Nicaragua Tourist Board. Washing it down with a local beer will only set you back another $3 or so.

What to do: A surfboard rental and lesson will cost about $35, according to Ryan Croft. Go deep-sea fishing for about $16. If you’re in relaxation mode, a one-hour massage in town costs about $40.

2. ARGENTINA

Americans have been flocking to sophisticated Buenos Aires for a few years now. But with the Argentine peso down 10 percent since last May, the values are even better.

Where to stay: Book a sleek room at a boutique hotel in the Palermo district, known for its cafés and nightlife, for no more than $200 a night. A room at 5-star hotel fit for Eva Perón can cost well under $500.

What to eat: Enjoy a parilla, which features cuts of Argentina’s famous steak with side dishes, for $30 to $35 per person, including a bottle of red from Mendoza.

What to do: Admission to a tango club with a lesson starts at less than $10 (plus drinks). Do some shopping while you’re in town. Bargain-hunters will find well-made men’s leather belts for $35 and stylish women’s leather tote bags starting at $135.

3. ICELAND

Iceland will never be a bargain destination. But financial troubles and a falling currency (down 9 percent from last year to about 126 kroner to the dollar) have turned it from a pricey splurge to a remarkable value relative to the rest of Nordic Europe.

Where to Stay: A room at one the best hotels in the center of Reykjavik will run $250 to $350, or less if you catch a sale, according to recent listings on Expedia.

What to eat: Indulge in an upscale sushi dinner (featuring local fish) or haute interpretations of indigenous ingredients like lamb for $20 to $30 an entrée. Alcohol is still pricey in restaurants, but a beer can be had for $5 to $7 in the many lively bars Reykjavik is known for. (Look for late-night happy hour specials.)

What to do: A day tour outside Reykjavik that includes a visit to Thingvellir national park and Gulfloss waterfall runs about $75. Spend the day lounging at the famous Blue Lagoon thermal baths for $45. For $65, you can get the use of a bathrobe, a drink and face mask at the Lagoon Bar.

4. POLAND

The dollar has risen against the Polish Zloty by more than 20 percent in the last year to 3.36 zloty to the dollar. You can visit a charming old-world city like Krakow and pay what could seem like wallet-friendly old-world prices.

Where to stay: Live like royalty in room at one of the city’s top hotels for about $175, according to Expedia.

What to eat: Entrees top out at about $15 (a real splurge) at restaurants known for the homemade polish specialties like roast venison with wild mushrooms. A local beer is less than $3.

What to Do: See a portion of the splendidly preserved Wawel castle for $6. Visit the Museum of Contemporary Art for $3; a guided tour is about $24.

5. LOMBOK, INDONESIA

Bargains are getting harder to find in Bali since readers of “Eat Pray Love” began flocking to it. But they still abound in Lombok, a more laid-back island with great beaches and good sightseeing and shopping. And it’s only a 25-minute flight from Bali.

Where to stay: Kick back at a 4-star resort on Senggigi beach for less than $100.

What to eat: Barbecued fish and satays at local market stalls will cost a few dollars. Look at about $25 per person for upscale drinks and dinner.

What to do: Hire a boat to take you to the Gili Islands for a day of snorkeling for about $10 per person (plus lunch). Hire a car and driver for a day of sightseeing for $45. Be sure to stop in the craft villages for handmade blankets, baskets and pottery far more unique than what you’ll see at Pier 1 and at a small fraction of the cost.

And there’s a trade-off: Automated, customer-centric processes mean travellers will need to relinquish data and do more logistics.

As well as depositing and collecting luggage at self-bag drops – something which frequent fliers in Australian hubs are becoming familiar with under a new Qantas scheme – by 2025 passengers will be expected to self-load their bags in containers, or even direct to the aeroplane.

By then airlines will know automatically if customers are delayed in traffic and, if necessary, rebook their flight, says Amadeus, author of the May 24 report “Reinventing the Airport Ecosystem”. Premium travellers won’t even need to incur the inconvenience of passing through a terminal – they will check-in off-site and pass through a virtual screening process en-route.

Promotional offers pinged onto travellers smartphones – in response to their location, or as a softener after a flight delay – are likely to increase exponentially as travel providers try to, in the words of the report, “own and engage” their customers, who are sure to demand an optional opt-out from this communication.

Personal devices are set to become far more important than mere notification receptacles; Near Field Communication technology embedded in passengers’ smartphones or travel documents will fast-track them through check-in and airport touch-points.

Again, this is already happening: fitted out with sensors, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport will become the world’s first airport to trial SIM-based NFC this summer when 50 selected passengers will trial the service on BlackBerry devices, allowing them access to car parking, the boarding area and a premium passenger lounge.

Running the programme, air transport IT specialist SITA’s lab director Renaud Irminger says NFC is an extremely secure process; will work when the device is powered off; does not require the passenger to launch an app or retrieve an SMS or an email; and is not affected by reading problems caused by dirty screens.

The benefits of technology are certainly being enjoyed by the aviation industry. The International Air Transport Association’s “Simplifying the Business” programme is, it has said, saving around $5.5 billion a year from the switch to e-ticketing, bar-coded boarding passes and self-service kiosks.

Futuristic security gates will need more of a personal touch. Already coming online in airports like the UK’s Gatwick, Heathrow and City airports, sensors which match your biometric information will be the norm everywhere by 2025, though this will include behavioural traits like gait and biodynamic heartbeat patterns. Genetic profiling may eventually be called into play to check for disease risk.

A survey of 838 global passengers which was carried out as part of tech solutions provider Amadeus’ research establishes that the majority of people are comfortable with “non-invasive solutions” like electronic tags and location-based tracking services, but most draw the line at “behavioural, biological and implant solutions.”

While frequent-flying air warriors might not need much help fighting their way through airports, occasional passengers, the elderly, or the infirm will still need human beings on the ground. Amadeus concurs, but argues that: “Technology and self-service means ground handlers are no longer wedded to desks or processes such as check-in and baggage.”

“If you look to Asia-Pacific where a lot of self-service is already in operation, you tend to see ground handlers walking around and helping less able travellers to navigate the airport.”

THE CITY-SIZED AIRPORT

In its report, Amadeus goes on to predict airports will become self-sufficient mini-city or resort-style destinations. We may see more examples like Seoul’s Incheon Airport, which is planning a $3 billion resort to attract Chinese tourists.

This may, however, be confined to Asia-Pacific and Middle-East hubs, where higher growth rates mean a greater level of investment in airports, an Amadeus spokesperson clarified to Reuters.

Some of the futuristic options listed in the report aren’t too far-fetched; the authors ask, “Imagine an airport where the retail experience is so impressive you choose to shop there without even flying”. Singapore residents use the excellent Changi as a dining and hang-out hub. In 2011 it generated $1.18 billion in retail spending.

Munich Airport hosts volleyball tournaments, mini golf and a Christmas market. Its architect is quoted in a case study as calling the facility an “actual place”.

In what a few years ago would have been considered sci-fi territory, an augmented reality app can guide passengers through Copenhagen airport, while digital cameras monitor queues at George Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby and Ellington airports in Houston. In Paris Orly, hologram “boarding agents” are in limited operation after a trial late last year.

While automated processes replace some of the need for human staff, social media is “re-introducing the human touch”, Amadeus says; 69 percent of airlines sell or plan to sell tickets through the social web by 2014.

Several airlines, like KLM, already do this, while Estonian Air facilitates video check-in via Skype. By 2015, expect social-media interaction between flight crew and passengers.

In the survey, 43 percent of travellers told Amadeus they wanted to re-establish the wonder and magic historically associated with air travel. It looks like the high-tech airport of the future may not have a human face, but a 3D interface.

Back when he was nine, James got the idea to do the dirty work of taking his neighbors’ trash cans out for pickup, for a monthly subscription of $5. (He has since raised his rate to $10.) That work led to other gigs,like pet care and picking up mail when clients are away.

Now a wizened 13, the San Jose, California, resident has already penned a book about his entrepreneurial adventures: “How To Let Your Parents Raise a Millionaire.”

He’s not quite there yet, of course. The cool million is still elusive, but older teens could learn from his example. Instead of waiting for someone else to give you a job, you’d be wise to create your own.

“Find out what your community needs, make a flyer, and go do it,” James says in an interview, before heading off to school.

Adds his proud mom, Ann Morgan James: “Parents need to teach their kids they can be business owners, not just employees.”

Indeed, the rest of Jack James’ generation may not have much choice but to follow his lead. Unemployment among teens aged 16 through 19 who were looking for work was a whopping 24.9 percent in April, according to the latest data from the U.S. Labor Department.

“You’re looking at one of the worst job markets for young people in 60 years,” says Scott Gerber, author of “Never Get a ‘Real’ Job” and founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council. “This is a global paradigm shift going on. It’s not going away, and young people are going to have to figure out how to create their own jobs.”

INVENT YOUR OWN JOB

So how can today’s teens invent their own paradigms and forge new paths to career success? Here are seven tips on making this summer both productive and profitable.

– Monetize your tech prowess. Teens catch a lot of flak from their parents for being on Facebook or Twitter all the time. But knowing all the ins and outs of social media is actually a very valuable skill.

“With that Facebook and Twitter knowledge, teens can approach local businesses about updating their online presence,” says Matthew Toren, a serial entrepreneur and co-author (with brother Adam) of the book “Kidpreneurs” (www.kidpreneurs.org). “For a relatively small investment of time and money, a teen could make $20 to $40 per hour helping with Web development projects or updating blogs.”

That is a lot better than serving fries for minimum wage.

– Market yourself to other teens. Any employer advertising an opening these days is likely to be deluged with resumes. A smarter way to burrow your way into a coveted gig: Get the current jobholders to place you next in line.

After all, graduating seniors (or your older siblings) will soon be off to college and leaving their old high-school jobs behind — anything from lifeguard to camp counselor. Cultivate your network early, and you could land a job that’s been freed up by someone else’s departure.

– Offer a simple service and throw up a website. “Take an idea that won’t require much overhead, something that can grow organically, and go to Weebly.com to build your own website or blog for free,” says Gerber. Or if that sounds too taxing, put up a free classified (monitored by your parents) at craigslist.org. If you’re offering basic neighborhood yard work, for instance, at best you’ve created an entire business for yourself and your friends; at worst, you’re out the cost of a rake.

– Get crowdfunded. If you can get one employer to give you $5,000, great. But as politicians have discovered, if you can get 1,000 people to give you $5, the end result is the same. That’s why so-called crowdfunding sites have taken off in recent years. So if your idea of a productive summer is creating a short film, say, instead of sweeping up at the local Wendy’s, then create your own fundraising campaign at a site like Indiegogo.com and start getting the word out.

– Open a virtual storefront. Not that long ago, getting into the retail business required finding a location and signing a lease. Now you can do it with a few clicks of the mouse. At sites like CafePress.com, you can sell your designs — or even just funny sayings, if you’re not much of an artist — on more than 250 different products like T-shirts and coffee mugs. It earns you commissions on every item sold, with no set-up costs. Arts-and-crafts types might prefer Etsy.com, which specializes in handmade and vintage merchandise.

– Do market research on your neighbors. Everybody knows about old teen standbys like babysitting, lawn mowing or dog walking. But some proactive research might reveal other services your neighbors desperately need, like preparing dinner for busy parents, moving their cars when the streets are being cleaned, or picking up dry cleaning. A simple checklist distributed to your neighbors will reveal exactly what they need — and how could they ever say no to an entrepreneurial kid from down the street?

– Become a tutor. Everyone is skilled at something, and there’s always someone out there who wants to learn that skill. Maybe you speak Spanish, you are great at tennis, or you are a chess whiz. So instead of watching the neighbor’s kid and getting $10 an hour (and a headache), arrange one-on-one lessons of something you love and get $20 an hour. Or put together an art or chess class, and charge $15 an hour for each of four or five kids.

If you’re getting overbooked, hire friends to take on some of the workload, and take a cut of what they are bringing in. Or take things a step further by writing a quick guidebook and publishing it yourself as a Kindle Single — generating yet another revenue stream for yourself.

When you’re starting from scratch, the idea of creating your own job might seem a little daunting. But if 13-year-old Jack James can set up his own small business and write a book about it — in between his classes and drumming and fly fishing — then you can, too.

Only six of 10 people polled by Ipsos for Europ Assistance said they were planning to go on holiday between June and September this year,the lowest level in eight years.

The estimate compares to 66 percent in 2011.

Italians were the most reluctant to travel despite their usual long holiday season, with 63 percent willing to leave compared to 78 percent last year.

Spaniards were second in the poll, with more than half saying they will remain at home.

France is the only exception to the gloomy picture, with 70 percent of respondents preparing for a summer break against 68 percent last year.

The survey polled 3,500 people, including Germany, Britain, Belgium and Austria.

An analysis by Reuters of the proxy statements from the five largest U.S. banks shows that of the 25 executives whose pay is disclosed – updated for some recent changes – only three, or 12 percent, are women. That’s down from five, or 20 percent, at the end of 2007.

At the three biggest banks – JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and Citigroup Inc (C.N) – there is now only one woman in the upper echelons: JP Morgan Chase’s asset management chief, Mary Callahan Erdoes. At the end of 2007 there were two.

Among the top 10 banks, the aggregate numbers are a little better, but the percentages are not. Five women, or 10 percent of the 50 executives identified, are in place, down from six, or 12 percent, in 2007. Only three managed to hang on through the crash and continue on in their jobs: Morgan Stanley’s (MS.N) chief financial officer, Ruth Porat; Wells Fargo’s senior executive vice president of community banking, Carrie Tolstedt; and U.S. Bancorp’s vice chairman of payment services, Pamela Joseph.

Drew’s departure followed JP Morgan Chase’s disclosure of more than $2 billion in losses at the chief investment office. She was one of the best-paid executives at the bank, earning $30 million over the past two years.

Drew is hardly the first top woman executive to take a messy and public fall since the trough of the financial crisis in 2008.

For many, a pivotal moment came when the glamorous and flashy Erin Callan, who somehow made the wonkish job of chief financial officer both hip and stylish, became the first of the Lehman Brothers executives to go in June 2008.

Callan’s departure occurred about three months before the firm came tumbling down, triggering the financial crisis.

Since then there have been a series of flameouts. Women who were once anointed as the most powerful in finance, the would-be heirs to the CEO suite, were fired or forced out.

Just three months after Callan’s exit, Sallie Krawcheck – widely lauded as the top woman in banking – learned via BlackBerry during a Citigroup retreat at the plush Phoenician resort near Phoenix that she was being stripped of her duties as Citigroup’s head of global wealth management. Her parting was so discordant it was dubbed a divorce by the press.

Krawcheck soon joined Bank of America in the same position. Two years later new Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan moved her out, even though her operation was profitable.

This, after Moynihan had overseen the departure of the bank’s other top two female executives, mortgage head Barbara Desoer and global risk chief Amy Woods Brinkley.

“We still have a long way to go to change the culture,” says Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. “But let’s not look at any one woman and say they fired her because she was a woman, because they didn’t.”

J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), U.S. Bancorp (USB.N), Capital One Bank COFCB.UL and PNC Bank PNCBKN.UL all said their corporate corridors and talent pipelines were filled with talented, high-ranking women who report directly to their CEOs. They also said that a gender breakdown of their top earners was not the best way to measure how much female talent they had.

“We have a significant number of women in top leadership positions, including nearly 40 percent of direct reports to the CEO, and others who run businesses that by themselves compare with Fortune 500 companies,” said Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri.

Wall Street is a savage place. For women and men. But the departure of top executives has raised age-old questions for women who work there, and for those who observe them.

Before the financial meltdown there was a sense that hiring was becoming more equitable. It no longer feels that way.

Some experts, such as economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, director of the Center for Talent Innovation as well as the Gender and Policy Program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, argue that women who choose to have children either opt to take, or are forced to take, off-ramps in their jobs because their prime career-building years coincide with their prime child-rearing years.

Others subscribe to the “glass cliff” theory proffered by University of Exeter Professors Michelle Ryan and Alex Haslam: Companies push women up the ranks, then promote them too fast and too far. Failure is inevitable, and the perception that women can’t do the job is thus fulfilled. A self-reinforcing, negative feedback loop ensues.

Yet women now earn 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees and are 60 percent of graduate students.

The workforce also continues to change. Women now make up more than half the managerial class. Almost 40 percent of working wives now outearn their husbands, according to Liza Mundy, author of the recent book “The Richer Sex.”

Mundy predicts that the Big Flip – the day when women will outearn men – will soon be upon us.

The recent rash of female departures on Wall Street may make it seem like progress is being erased.

Strangely, that’s not the case.

“I actually think, in an ironic way, it’s progress that women are judged on performance grounds,” says Kanter. “We are going to see some women succeed beyond belief and some women who get caught in a crisis of their own making. But stay tuned. Ina Drew won’t be the last person to lose their job from JPMorgan Chase.”

The number of international tourists arriving on flights is expected to rise between 9 and 10 percent this year from the 22.7 million in 2011, Tourism Minister Gloria Guevara told Reuters in an interview in Frankfurt.

“We are diversifying by promoting culture and gastronomy and broadening the base of nationalities who visit,” she said. “Before we were too dependent on the U.S., and sun and sand.”

She said international arrivals by air had risen 7 percent between January and March, with tourist numbers from Brazil up 70.5 percent and Russia up 63 percent, helped by easier visa application processes.

The rise in tourists from Russia is similar to that seen in Tunisia and Egypt after the Arab Spring uprisings shattered bookings from traditional markets like Britain, France and Germany, while the increased spending power of the Brazilians has made them attractive consumers.

However, the arrival figures given by the minister do not include ‘excursionists’ – those coming in via car across the U.S-Mexico border.

While the number of people flying in has increased over the last few years, arrivals from across the border have slumped from around 80 million in the early 2000s to under 60 million, according to ministry statistics.

“Yes we have an issue, but you can’t generalize,” Guevara said. “There are of course towns near the U.S. border that have problems, but does that mean the whole border area is unsafe? No.”

The minister did not give an outlook for ‘excursionist’ arrivals in 2012.

Accounting for 9 percent of gross domestic product, tourism is a vital source of income for the country. But gangland decapitations, kidnappings and extortion have tarnished the image of once glossy resorts like Acapulco.

Among recent incidents, 49 people were decapitated near the northern city of Monterrey, and nine victims were hanged from a bridge in the city of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.

Overall, more than 50,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on drug traffickers after taking office in late 2006.

Guevara said Mexico’s task was to try to educate people that Mexico was a huge country, with distances between northern troublespots and certain tourist areas equivalent to those between Madrid and Moscow.

“We have 2,500 municipalities, and of those 80 have issues,” she said.