Trading stocks for trip

Want to take a Caribbean vacation, but can’t afford it because your stocks have gone even farther south? Here’s a solution: Between now and Jan. 31, Elite Island Resorts is accepting reservations for high-end resorts on six islands, payable in up to $5,000 worth of stock transactions — with the shares’ value rolled back to July 1 pre-meltdown levels. The deal is good for travel through Dec. 20, 2009.

Elite president Steven Heydt said last week the promotion aims to give jarred investors a break from the bad news on 24-hour cable channels, and to help the company get its slice of dwindling tourism to the Caribbean.

Heydt also said he’s confident the markets will rebound and the promotion will end up making money for the chain, where business has slumped about 25 percent and rooms are increasingly empty.

“The stock market, to me, represents opportunity,” Heydt said. “So we will hold the stock and we’ll wait for the market to turn around.”

Approximately 100 U.S. stocks, from Ford Motor Co. to Xerox Corp., are included in the deal, and Elite says some $10 million worth in bookings has been set aside for the promotion. The company operates all-inclusive resorts in Antigua, St. Lucia, Nevis, the Grenadines and the British Virgin Islands.

Speed through security

If you’re flying to a holiday get-together, here are some tips from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to help speed your way through airport security.

• Do not gift-wrap carryon items. Security officers are required to remove the wrapping paper. Wrapped gifts should be packed in your checked bags, according to TSA spokesman Christopher White.

• Do not bring remote-controlled toys as carry-on luggage. “Unfortunately in this world we live in, terrorists have an interest in using remote-controlled detonators,” White said. You can put them in checked bags.

• Pies (and other food, such as gingerbread, cookies and the like) are permitted as carry-on items.

• Jams and jellies are considered gels and are therefore subject to the 3-1-1 rules if brought as carry-on items: They must be in containers no bigger than 3 ounces, and they must all fit in one one-quart clear zip-top plastic bag. (Otherwise, wrap them carefully to prevent breakage, and put them with your checked bags.)

• Every airport in the country with more than one security lane now has a designated “family lane,” but you don’t need to be traveling with children to use it. These lanes are open to any travelers who don’t want to be rushed, whether due to special needs, or just wanting a few more minutes to remove shoes and coats, open up laptops and deal with other items. Travelers carrying medically necessary liquids over 3 ounces (such as diabetics) should also use the family lanes, White said.

Good news for the future: Checkpoint X-ray machines are being upgraded with advanced technology that can distinguish between liquid explosives and beverages, so “we are considering making changes some time in 2009” on the ban on liquids over 3 ounces, White said.

More information at http://www.tsa.gov.

Hanukkah happenings

The Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish organization is hosting Hanukkah celebrations around the world, including lightings of the world’s largest menorahs — both 32 feet tall — in Manhattan near Central Park at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, and in Lafayette Park in Washington D.C., at 5 p.m. today.

The organization has 3,300 outposts in 73 countries, including more than 600 places in North America. Many of them hold public Hanukkah events with candle-lighting, treats for the kids and music, searchable by location at http://www.chabad.org/ChanukahEvents.

A jump on the new year

Robbie Knievel plans to jump his motorcycle over a manmade volcano in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve.

Knievel, the 46-year-old son of the late daredevil Evel Knievel, will jump the refurbished volcano at The Mirage hotel-casino as part of a television special.

Knievel said the stunt will likely be his last in the United States.