The tallest hotel west of the Mississippi River reaches up 1,100 feet, with 73 stories. The structure contains business, conference and retail for the first 30 stories, with guest rooms and suites from the 31st to the penthouse 70th floor.

Inside are five restaurants and Spire 73, the tallest 360-view sky bar in all of the Americas. Located at 9oo Wilshire Boulevard in the city’s financial district, rooms at the InterContinental are priced from about $220 a night. www.intercontinental.com/LosAngeles/OfficialSite

According to a recent article, USA Today reports that with advanced tech, your future flight reservation prices will depend on how the airline feels about you. When booking, your name will immediately reveal your previous record with the airline.

That could include how often you fly with them, seats you reserve and other factors. If all positive, your next flight could cost less and you’ll get better seating. Although no one wants to admit it, if you’ve also flown in the cheap seats and/or had personal complaints, your fare would go higher. Sort of reminds of the Soup Nazi in the Seinfeld comedy. Imagine lining up at the desk and being scornfully dismissed by the angry agent: You always book cheap seats. No flight for you!

According to reports by UK’s Daily Telegraph, the super-fast airliners could be in regular service by 2020. Imagine flying from New York City to London in less than an hour and Los Angeles to Beijing in less than two hours.

Imagine this morning farewell message from the American traveler’s spouse: Hey, when you get to Beijing, would you bring home some take-out bird’s nest soup, Peking duck and dim sum for dinner? And when you’re in London tomorrow, be sure to visit a pub and order some toad in the hole, spotted dick and bubble and squeak for tomorrow’s lunch back home.

Anyone remember the WW2 song with lyrics: Goodbye, mama. I'm off to Yokohama for the red, white, and blue, my country and you? Nissan and DeNA plan to test an autonomous-driving taxi soon to be roaming the streets of the busy, heavily populated city.

The plan, called Easy Ride, is to have the vehicles fully functioning throughout Japan by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They’ll be booked and operated with Smartphone and other computer-hailing and ride-control systems. So, mama, if you’re inattentive while crossing the street in Yokohama, don’t become a traffic drama!