New York City The Travel Show

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Now on BBC News it's time for The Travel Show.

Hello and welcome to the travel show, with me Christa Larwood,

coming this week from from New York City.

Beneath my feet is one of the world's most famous concert

venues - Carnegie Hall.

I'll be getting a taste of an orchestra and trying to

whistle my way on stage.

And we'll be asking what's more fun - virtual

reality roller coasters, or bumper cars.

And where in the world was

this hit online video filmed?

Find out in Trend In Travel.

The theme park - high speed thrills, big

drops, loops and wobbly knees.

But this year there's a new kind of ride

opening up.

One that uses virtual reality to deliver its thrills.

With sent Lindsey Woods to Thorpe Park

near London to find out what's new.

Better hold on.

This is one of Britain's top places for

thrill-seekers.

The thing is I'm not a thrill-seeker.

And this is not my idea of a good time.

I'll be honest, I'm kind of nervous right now.

I do not like roller costers at all, but this is the epitome of an

old school rollercoaster ride.

It's the world's first ten leaping rollercoaster.

I can literally feel my heartbeating right now!

These rides might only last a minute or so...

For me though that's more than enough.

That was terrifying!

But there are new rides that are blurring the line between what's

real and what is not.

Instead of building another roller costar,

Thorpe Park will soon be opening this.

It is a ghost train designed by Derren Brown -

an illusionist specialising in mind control.

He's using virtual reality to deliver the

ride's thrills.

It is many-layered, so there is VR, virtual reality, on

one level to it.

There's also a lot of physical involvement and all

sorts of other things.

At its heart this is a scary, thrilling, exciting

re-envisioning of the ghost train.

That is what it it is.

I would love people to come off and be trying to get their heads

around exactly what happened.

Now, because I grew up in California, I

had no idea what a ghost train was.

But here in the UK they're a fixture at almost every fairground.

This is a traditional ghost train.

A rickety ride through Hallowe'en - tricks

without the treats.

I think ghost trains just such a missed

opportunity.

They're always hokey and old-fashioned and creaky and

sort of hilarious and never scary.

So the idea of just totally starting from scratch, it felt like an

absolute no-brainer to take that and do something with it.

Hoping that people like me would still have the

same delight in the idea of a ghost train and the idea of one that was

something different and wasn't just what ghost trains embarrassingly

tend to be.

The ride is not yet open to the public, but we are able to

get in for a sneak peak of the ghost train, though I did have to sign

this to promise to keep everything behind this curtain hush-hush.

This is all we are allowed to show you -

the outside of a Victorian railway carriage, apparently

hanging in the air.

But what awaits on the other side of the door is something

different.

This is part of reason we can't show you behind that door -

the three years of work and the millions

of pounds spents developing what's inside.

When you're on board, you wear virtual reality goggles,

which take you into a dark re-imaging of the world.

This ride takes 13 minutes and you have to be 13 to go on.

So if you're younger than 13 or easily scared,

close your eyes now!

Without giving away the secrets, once you're on board, characters

talk to you.

The danger comes not from the heavens...

Real people shout at you.

They're coming. They're coming.

Creatures from nightmares creep up on you.

It comes from bowels of the earth.

Some of it's real, some of it isn't.

Meet the man in charge in making all the

mysteries come alive.

He's found it hard going.

Derren Brown really wanted to have realistic characters

that can engage with and they need to be really believable.

So we went through several different phases of

how we were going to pull that off and the truth is the technology

isn't quite there yet.

There is lots of people trying to do

different things to make this work and to solve this

problem, but I think there's a lot still to do with

the future of VR to really free up people like us to deliver

the creative vision we want to deliver.

So far the gates of the ghost train have stayed closed.

Inside the illusions are still being worked on.

The park says these queues won't fill with

visitors until the ride is 100% ready.

But if you can't wait to strap on the goggles

for a virtual reality thrill, you do have options.

At Alton Towers in England's Midlands, an old rollercoaster has

been reinvented with VR goggles.

It takes you for a spin into space, then through an alien world

on earth.

And at Six Flags in Los Angeles, another renovated

coaster puts you in the cockpit of a fighter jet.

But to get a thrill from virtual reality do you have to

spend on this scale?

This man thinks not.

Brendan Walker designs thrills for a living and from his workship

in East London devised a VR experience with a pair of goggles

and a child's swing.

When you think you're swinging only a metre in the

real world, you're actually swinging 1.2 metres

in the virtual world and

I keep amplifying that.

But there is a tipping point, where they're suddenly

looking down and realise they're swinging far too high.

So actually turning from what was quite a

pleasant ride and something that was kind of a little bit scary

and it is that point that their expressions

change from pleasure and joy to kind of fear.

Do you think VR attractions could ever replace traditional

rides?

VR will never replace rides like rollercoasters, anything that

moves our body physically in space.

We are animals, we are built to respond to physical stimulation.

VR can add a veneer of storytelling, a

veneer of different types of visual input, but very quickly we

become bored.

But that could actually be something that makes virtual reality a

better idea for theme parks.

The story doesn't always have to stay

the same.

The advantage of this is we can change up that storyline,

mix it up, add something extra, add new elements to it.

When you have got a traditional rollercoaster made

of your metal, very difficult to change that theme

or change the experience.

This one we can change that quite easily with the content we

have got.

So virtual reality might be the next big thing, but if you

ask me there's only one way to end the day at the fun fair!

Oh, look how much fun it is just to slam into

people!

Something you might not be able to do with a VR ride.

Lindsey Woods reporting there from Thorpe Park.

Next, it is time to visit one of London's grandest

hotels to taste one of Britain's grandest dishes in this week's

Global Gourmet.

My name's Oliver Boon and today I'm going to make you

one of the most famous British dishes - the Beef Wellington.

There's lots of different stories behind the Beef Wellington.

One of the stories is it is from the Duke

of Wellington, that it was made for the Duke of Wellington.

That is not true.

It is also popular in France and it has also foie gras in the

middle and it also they do it in the USA as tenderloin of beef

and pastry.

Here is Gordon, my pastry chef, who I like to think is the

best in London.

And so the first thing he is doing he has made a

standard dough and now he is going to roll it out nice and long.

What we are going to do next is just season the beef up.

Plenty of salt.

Probably more than you're used to seeing at home.

And we just put some garlic and thyme in, just because

it's delicious.

And it smells amazing.

There is all seared nicely all over.

The butter helps give it a nice even colour.

So this is the blast chiller.

The beef's going straight in, but we are just going

to leave them for ten minutes in order to stop

the cooking completely and keep the middle raw still.

Now the next stage is we are just wrap

it in cling film.

This gets wrapped nice and tightly.

What we are doing here is creating a nice shape for

the inside of Wellingtons.

So this is mushroom duxelle, which is

basically some field mushrooms sliced down,

cooked very quickly in some butter.

You want to get a nice layer.

You want it basically all the way around the beef is the aim.

Then we have got this nice set cylinder

of beef, which goes in the middle.

We take the cling-film to pick up all the layers and that will roll

the entire fillet within the mushroom and the pancake.

The first stage is just to wrap it in the

first layer of pastry.

What is very important the whole time that you're

making it that you never have too much overlapping pastry.

You will see he is always trimming the ends

and taking as much excess pastry off it as you can.

So now he has got the

lattice, it is all cut and you cover the gaps using the pastry and just

laying it on top of there beautifully.

And we are glazing it again.

That is about getting a nice shiny finish when it comes out

the oven, you want it to look beautiful, right?

Now it goes into the oven at 210 degrees.

For about 25 minutes.

That is the finished product now.

It's come out of the oven.

It's had a 10 minute rest.

As you can see the middle is nice and pink.

And you have got a nice line of mushrooms, pancake and

the pastry.

Time for a taste.

That's great.

The beef's beautiful, mushrooms tasty.

Pastry's nice and crisp.

Perfect food for somebody like the Duke

of Wellington and his men I would say.

Still to come on The Travel Show.

Carmen's clicking on the best new travel shots online and I'll be

walking in the footsteps of the greats at Carnegie Hall.

Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday.

Not a bad line up.

I'd probably pay $4 to see that!

The Travel Show, your essential guide wherever you're heading.

Hello, and welcome to Trending Travel, where we explore

what's hot online in the world of travel.

I'll be bringing you through those essential apps, videos and blogs

to take with you when you leave home.

How many countries do you think you could visit in just one day?

Well, pending official confirmation, the world record of eleven appears

to have just been braeten.

British traveller Adam Leyton made a dizzying trip around 12 European

countries in 24 hours in aid of stillbirth charity, Sands,

marking his journey on social media.

The current record at eleven has stood since 1993.

I think 13's doable.

But this was really hard to do 12.

Everything had to work on the day.

If a train or a bus was late, there wasn't a plan B.

That was just it - game over.

So I don't know, somebody could do 13 immediately or it could hopefully

be another 23 years until somebody beats it.

You can still donate to Adam's charity via his web-site.

We love staying connected with you all online and don't forget

we are on Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

And you have been sending us some great stuff this month.

Join us every Tuesday on Twitter, where we share some of the best

photos that you have sent in using the hashtag travel Tuesday.

From Keith Jenkins' Rio sunset to downtown Shanghai.

Check out our Twitter and Facebook pages for loads of exclusive

Travel Show content and top travel news stories to deep you up-to-date

and inspired for your next world class adventure.

Now let's look at the viral videos that have been clocking up

the views this month.

When three childhood friends set out to the far western corner

of Mongolia for a 12-day adventure into the wilderness,

they captured their journey in this spectacular film.

Joey explained that 12 days in the wilderness riding over high

passes loaded with gear, surviving raging white water,

drinking fermented mare's milk and battling the elements was not

an adventure they would soon forget.

And finally this month, in this drone film, Christian Grew

captured sprawling vistas of 12 countries over the course

of seven months.

These stunning images give a fresh perspective on some of the world's

most picturesque locations.

And don't forget to check out our website for all the ways

you can get in touch, or if you have seen anything online

that you think we should be looking at.

See you next time.

Just a couple of blocks south of Central Park in the heart

of Manhattan is one of the world's most famous concert

venues - Carnegie Hall.

Its list of former headliners is a who's who of musical legends.

From Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis to the Beatles and David Bowie,

among thousands of other world class performers.

And this year, the venue is celebrating its 125th anniversary.

There is an old joke that goes something like this,

how you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, practice, practice.

And there is some practice going on in there right now.

A rehearsal for tonight's performance.

And I have been granted a sneak preview.

This place is considered a kind of Mecca for musicians.

Partly because of acoustics, which allow for perfect sound

regardless of which of 2,804 seats you sit in.

Its pedigree as a concert hall was established with the opening

performance on 5th May 1891, when an evening of Tchaikovsky

was conducted by the composer himself.

Toshiyuki Shimada is the musical director

of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, whose students are rehearsing

on the stage today.

He has conducted many times at Carnegie Hall.

Just before I feel the room jitter and this is a big huge

temple and sacred place.

But once you start, you forget about it and just dive

into the music and really not thinking.

And Shimada is always conscious of the great conductors who have

come before him.

I think those spirits are all collected in this hall.

That's how I feel.

When I first stood on the podium, when I was here first time,

I kind of had a vibration, and feel like somebody

was really watching me!

Maybe it was Mahler or somebody.

You have this feeling.

And I think that is why it is a very special hall.

There are chairs from 1891.

Perhaps the man who knows most about Carnegie Hall's history

is Gino Francesconi.

He has worked at Carnegie Hall for 42 years, making his way up

from backstage attendant to being the director

of the venue's museum today.

Along the way he has met many of the biggest stars to have

had their name on the Carnegie Hall marquee.

I worked backstage, I think, about 3,500 events and there

were some people that I knew from a distance.

Sinatra.

There were some that were becoming new to me, like Ella

Fitzgerald, jazz.

And it was right there by that stage door that sometimes you could feel

the audience was right and the artist was just right

and you hadn't heard a thing yet, and yet you knew that that night

was going to be magic.

Gino, has responsibility for Carnegie Hall's vast archive,

which documents over 50,000 performances and he has brought out

some of the most prized items in his collection, including

the glasses of the first lady of song, Ella Fitzgerald.

It's wonderful, the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation called us and said,

do you want anything?

And I said...

Yes.

Yes.

And a special item bequeathed by the family of

another jazz legend.

Here we have one of the finest clarinets ever made.

It belonged to Benny Goodman.

And it was given us to by his family.

And it was the first donation for our future museum.

The good news for decidedly unmusical people like me is that

you don't have be a world class performer or belong to an Ivy League

orchestra to join in the fun.

The Carnegie Institute runs a number of events in its education wing

throughout the year, including workshops and family

concerts like this one.

Emily Egan is a musician and songwriter, but also has

the distinction of being a two-time international whistling champion.

Whistling is of course part of Emily's show,

as is crowd participation.

You just make a little tweet like...

Don't even think it as being whistling, but being like a bird.

There you can blow a little bit and it still sounds good.

I can't go up against the word champion.

But thankfully when the time came there was a large group to help

drown me out.

THEY ALL WHISTLE

There are nerves both backstage and in the audience tonight as proud

families file into the famous theatre to watch the young musicians

perform.

This is super exciting, because when all is said and done,

Carnegie Hall is all about the performance.

Tonight the orchestra's playing a number of modern compositions

and finishes up with a more traditional crowd favourite.

MUSIC: Land of Hope and Glory.

By running community programmes, Carnegie Hall has become

more than just a venue.

It is teaching a new generation to appreciate performance,

which might just help this much-loved institution last

another 125 years.

Who would have thought my whistling would be heard at Carnegie Hall?

Well, that's all we have got time for on this week's programme.

Coming up next week: We have got the first of two special

programmes from China.

We explore some of the country's little-known natural treasures.

When it comes down to it, all I can say is this

a mind-boggling extravaganza of geological history and formation

and life all put together and it's just incredible to believe that no

one really knew about it.

So do join us if you can, and in the meantime don't forget

you can keep up with us while you're on the road -

all you need to do

is sign up to our social media feeds, the details of

which are on the screen now.

But for now from me, Christa Larwood, and the rest

of the Travel Show team here in New York City, it's goodbye.

Hello.

Yet again on Friday some of us were dealing

with intense, thundery downpours.

Here are couple of pictures taken by our weather watchers on Friday.

Through this weekend there will be further heavy showers.

Wet at times this weekend.

Not all the time - there'll be drier moments,