Do It Yourself

Headed somewhere on an extended-stay business trip? Then you might like to get out of the hotel and into somewhere more real. Tell the local office to book you into one of these:

St. Petersburg: The Lodging in St. Petersburg agency, tel: (7-812) 272 2742, leases 40 apartments, including a five-room, $300-a-night property near the Winter Palace. Other flats on the main shopping drag, Nevsky Prospekt, start from $100 a night.

Sydney: The Apartment Service, tel: (61-2) 9953 7288, offers locations from Sydney's famous beaches to the city center. A one-bedroom flat in Leichhardt, the...