in a US magazine this month.

The article comes as the American media reports a trip to Europe costs 13 percent more than it did a year ago because of the weak dollar. One report said the pound has risen above $2.

Americans reading the glossy article may be persuaded to get a taste of Britain in Bermuda instead, where the dollar is on par with local currency.

Bermuda "truly seems to relish its ties with the mother country'', wrote Mr.

David Houser in this month's edition of Delta Air Lines' Sky magazine.

Visitors can take in a "well-rehearsed reenactment of a 17th Century day in the life of the second-oldest town in the New World'', he wrote.

Or go shopping on Front Street, which he described as "Bond Street sans rain and fog'', for "quality imported goods often at savings compared to US prices''.

Town Crier Mr. Bob Burns is quoted as saying, "Most Americans visitors are surprised to learn that Bermuda was first settled, quite accidentally, by a group of English colonists bound for Jamestown.'' "To this day,'' wrote Mr. Houser, "Bermuda remains steadfastly and irrevocably British'' -- though he pointed out the Island is "bound geographically and commercially to the United States (60 percent of all imports and 86 percent of the Island's half million tourists annually hail from the US)''.

"Most members of the once-sprawling empire have reeled down the Union Jack in favour of independence. But Bermuda resolutely maintains its self-governing colonial status and truly seems to relish its ties to the mother country.

"If anything, Bermuda is even more stalwartly British than olde England herself in terms of manner, custom and style.

"Such becomes apparent right away to the first-time American visitor, and not only because your taxi takes off down the wrong side of the road. Nor because of the Island's winding lanes, impeccable gardens and all-pervading cleanliness so typical of the English countryside. None of these elements are so apt to strike home the overt anglicism of Bermuda as the omnipresence of propriety, especially in terms of dress.'' Mr. Houser told of a notice in his Southampton Princess Hotel room which reads: "The style of dress in Bermuda is one of British reserve and dignified informality...It is actually a civil offence to ride a cycle without a shirt.'' Mr. Houser said given the Island more or less inherited its British mannerisms "both haughty and endearing'', and has been influenced with aid and assistance from "the homeland'', it has nonetheless carved "an enviably cozy niche''.

"Clearly it is not your typical vacation island dotted here and there with glitzy resorts,'' he wrote. "To the contrary, Bermuda is pristine, affluent, orderly, sophisticated, and resplendently scenic at every turn. It has a right to be proud and a bit uppity in its efforts to enjoy and preserve what it has accomplished. Quite simply, it has made itself a model for island nations everywhere.'' Bermuda's new National Gallery was given a favourable plug in another US magazine.

In the Logbook section of the September/October edition of Islands, which reaches more than 150,000 people, it is explained how the gallery came about under the heading `Bermuda's Artful Addition'.

Author Mr. Norman Keyes tells of the famous paintings -- "including works by Gainsborough'' -- in the Watlington room. And he said the gallery is "equipped to draw major touring exhibitions from abroad'' and is the "dawn of a new era in the cultural life of Bermuda''.

BOOST -- Part of the Sky article on Bermuda.