BOOK YOUR VACATION
Trying to book a romantic weekend from photos on a website often can be frustrating at best, impossible at worst. Is that a fireplace in the background or a gaping hole in the corner of that fuzzy room? While a book like “Weekends for Two in the Southwest: 50 Romantic Getaways” ($18.95, Chronicle Books) initially seems a bit impractical – really, how often are you likely to use this? – anyone who spends significant time in Arizona, New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado will immediately appreciate the clear pictures, the suggestions for the most romantic rooms in each spot and simply the ideas for some places you may never have heard of for getting away. Not to mention that these are some of the most beautiful areas to get away to, and author Bill Gleeson includes a couple of recommendations for each location of tried-and-true diversions (such as the Santa Fe Opera and the Kit Carson Home and Museum) and restaurants (Santa Fe’s Geronimo and Ken and Sue’s Place in Durango). Gleeson also wisely keeps the book as up-to-date as possible by mentioning price ranges rather than exact rates, and he makes it clear that he was not paid to include the lodgings.
YOU MUST BE DREAMING
Everyone is doing the safari thing these days, and the Jeep experience is old-hat. The new way to go – talk about saving gas! – is on the back of an elephant, the way they do it at Camp Jabulani near Hoedspruit and Kruger National Park in South Africa. Owner Lente Roode, who also runs the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, started the experience five years ago when he rescued a baby elephant stuck in a silt dam, and since then has adopted 12 more rescued elephants and trained them to carry guests through the jungle. Camp Jabulani features six suites, each with a private deck, plunge pool, fireplace, air conditioning and bath, along with a private butler. Meals include champagne breakfasts and bush dinners served on china. On safari, guests sit behind the trainer in a saddle, and other experiences can include clay pigeon shooting, bird watching and bush walks. Rates are $935 per person per night and include the safari, accommodations, meals, liquor, laundry and transfers from Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport. Call +27 (0) 12 460 5605 or visit www.campjabulani.com.
GEARING UP
Hey, all you Geo Quiz fanatics: Here’s a way to try to get your kids just as hooked on it as you are. The Global Puzzle is an educational tool that comes in cool colors, 600 pieces in all, with each country in its own shape as an individual piece. As you put the puzzle together, you learn – so says its company, A Broader View, which claims that after completing the puzzle one time, participants who could identify only 18 of the world’s 193 nations (the number the average American is able to locate, according to the company) are able to identify 103. A Broader View also runs The Geography Zone, home to the world’s largest ongoing geography contest, which boasts 1.4 million participants from 192 nations, and makes Continent Puzzles too. We had a couple of kids put the puzzle together, and after the initial whining about how it looked like it was going to be just like homework was overruled, the verdict was: “More fun than it looked. The snacks helped.” A trip to the mall may or may not have been used as incentive, but subsequent quizzing revealed that they had indeed learned something. |$16.95, geographyzone.com
WEBSITE
Raise your hand if on your last flight, you sat next to a pompous, flatulent jerk who spent the whole time in the air complaining about his bunions. Hey, that was me! Next time, don’t hog the armrest so much. And if on your next jaunt you want to sit next to someone more interesting and attractive, or even someone you would like to take out for a drink when you land, check out AirTroductions, sort of like 7-minute-dating-meets-Match.com, only here you get to torture the person for an entire flight; they can’t go anywhere but the loo. The idea is that you buy your ticket and then go to the website to find your flight and type in a profile, with requests for the kind of person you would like to sit next to. You can add a photo, too (of you, not of, say, Brad Pitt, the ideal person you want to sit next to). Then the program searches to see if anyone matching your needs or your info pops up. If it does and you both want to switch seats, that will cost $5 per person. If not, it’s free to keep trying. Hope springs eternal.
TRAVEL BY NUMBERS | Top 20 Trails in North America
Trails.com, an online planning resource for self-guided outdoor and adventure travel in North America, has released its annual list of Top Trails for 2005. The Top Trails of 2005 were selected based on the analysis of more than 10 million “votes” by subscribers and visitors to the Trails.com website of more than 30,000 guidebook trail descriptions.
1. Breakneck Ridge Trail (Beacon, N.Y.; hiking)
2. Cohutta Wilderness Area Trails (Ellijay, Ga.; hiking)
3. Glacier Gorge (Estes Park; hiking)
4. Harriman State Park (Bear Mountain, N.Y.; walking)
5. Mount Whitney (Lone Pine, Calf.; hiking)
6. Appalachian Trail: The Pinnacle (Hamburg, Pa.; hiking)
7. Appalachian Trail: Springer Mountain to Hightower Gap (Suches, Ga.; hiking)
8. Appalachian National Scenic Trail – Pennsylvania Section (Rouzerville, Pa.; hiking)
9. Conundrum Hot Springs (Aspen; hot springs)
10. American River Confluence to Lake Clementine (Auburn, Calif.; hiking)
View the entire list of 100 at trails.com/toptrails-2005.asp
GEOQUIZ | Where are these places?
1. Which country is not located on the Arabian Sea – Oman, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia?
2. Which country is not crossed by the Tropic of Capricorn – Chile, Namibia or Mali?
3. Which country does not have a coastal capital city – Ghana, Liberia or Namibia?
4. Which country is not located near the Caucasus Mountains – Armenia, Georgia or Yemen?
5. Which country was not a British colony – Cambodia, Myanmar or Malaysia?
6. Which country is not part of the Balkan Peninsula – Slovakia, Albania or Croatia?
7. Which country does not have any savanna – Tanzania, Kenya or Libya?
8. Which country is not a major producer of oil – Iraq, Uganda or Venezuela?
9. Which country does not include part of the Kalahari Desert – Mozambique, Namibia or Botswana?
10. Which country is not located on the Bay of Bengal – India, Bhutan or Bangladesh?
ANSWERS: 1. Saudi Arabia 2. Mali 3. Namibia 4. Yemen 5. Cambodia 6. Slovakia 7. Libya 8. Uganda 9. Mozambique 10. Bhutan
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
