The first thought may be that one feature of a budget IKEA hotel will require guests to put together their own beds from an IKEA do-it-yourself kit. Not make UP the beds, but literally make a bed, as we do when we buy IKEA furniture. Just joking, because IKEA management has emphatically stated that the new hotels in Europe will have no IKEA furnishings.

The rooms at the IKEA hotels, which expect to start accepting guests within two years, won’t be quite as luxurious as a royal suite. However, according to official information, they will offer attractive furnishings, budget room prices, bargain restaurants and all the modern trimmings.

Completed in 1512 after four grueling years working while on the flat of his back, artist Michelangelo created his masterpiece. The enormous painting is still as brilliantly creative, vibrant and exciting today as it was centuries ago. Visitors to the Sistine Chapel can only stand in awe of the enormous panorama above them depicting the creation of mankind and other familiar stories of the Bible.

To rediscover the epic Hollywood version of the history of Michelangelo’s amazing project, get the DVD of the 1965 movie, “The Agony and the Ecstacy”, starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison.  

For more information and/or you plan to visit the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, go to mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

Most frequent flier programs offer only free airline trips, hanging out in posh airport lounges and a few other goodies. Now, Virgin Airlines offers one its lucky frequent fliers a free trip into outer space.

Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic planners have been working on putting commercial flights into space for the past decade. The future seems to be getting closer, and they hope within the next few years to schedule space tours through Earth's atmosphere and beyond.

Until August 7, 2013, Virgin offers its top frequent flier the chance to upgrade to Galactic status. Whoever accumulates the most points by that date will win a free passage aboard the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo space vehicle, a $200,000 value. Some 500 eager passengers, including celebrities, have already bought tickets.

The second-place winner of the contest will get a free zero-gravity floating fun flight in a passenger jet. For more information, go to virgingalactic.com

Other than what Congress does with our tax dollars, is the Washington DC area ready for gambling? It’s still very early in the approval stage, but MGM has proposed a casino resort development in the Maryland town of National Harbor. It’s just eight miles and across the Potomac River from the White House.

The Beltway location is very popular, and a year or so ago, Disney seriously proposed a theme park there. Although it never happened, the urge to develop the riverside area is still alive, and this MGM project is just as ambitious.

We thought and thought about it, and now suggest some not-too-sane ideas for appropriate features for that proposed gambling mecca facing Washington DC:

Capitol City One-Armed-Bandits: You bet U.S. Treasury money with Congress and never see it again.

Plush Pentagon Resort: Here you get to play with drones. Not the flying kind. You’ll frolic with real drones, the Pentagon’s armchair generals and admirals.

Smithsonian Casino: Visitors will see now extinct objects, such as an honest politician, vintage gas pump showing the price of $1.50 a gallon and an ancient airline ticket without the 50% add ons. The exhibit would include Barack Obama’s actual birth certificate, and Mitt Romney’s Book of Mormon. The one he carried door-to-door to convert heathens and independent voters.

Hillary’s Pillory: If you gamble against the Secretary of State running for President in 2016, you could end up in stocks. Not the wooden torture kind. Much worse, you’re forced to buy Wall Street stocks from Bernie Madoff.

Finally, visit the Clinton Oval Office and Bingo Palace on Halloween night. Write your own disturbing description for Bill’s trick or treat surprise.