YOU MUST BE DREAMING
Interest in the Galápagos Islands is at an all-time high, and Globus has added two cruise tours to the area. One is a 15-day tour that includes Peru, staring in Quito, Ecuador, where travelers visit historic religious sites, then move on to Cotopaxi National Park on the Chiva Express train. A flight to Baltra Island puts everyone in place for a four-night cruise of the Galápagos (see the Galápagos tortoises, left, accompanied by an expert naturalist), followed by a visit to Peru, including stops in Cuzco and Lima and a tour of Machu Picchu. The other journey to the Galápagos is a 10-day trip that revolves around Ecuador, including guided tours of the Legislative Palace and the 16th-century San Francisco Monastery, a four-night cruise around the Charles Darwin Research Station and extended time in Quito to explore and relax. The price for the Peru trip is $5,039 per person (including land, cruise and intra-tour flights, but not airfare to Quito), while the Ecuador trip is $3,539 per person, same inclusions. Call 877-245-6287 or visit
globusfamily.com.
GEARING UP
What traveler doesn’t like an object that makes another one multipurpose? The Firefly is an accessory that converts bottles into lanterns, an LED light tucked into a wide-mouth bottle top and a compact way to illuminate your surroundings without stuffing a one-use-wonder flashlight in your bag. We found the tiny Phillips-head screws guarding the battery compartment a nuisance, but once three AAAs were in place, we slipped the cord over the neck of a 32-ounce blue Nalgene bottle, screwed on the Firefly, pressed the orange button – and we had light. Should it be too strong, you can dim the light by holding down the button. (Be warned: Dimming and increasing the light has a trippy, mesmerizing effect.) Upside down, the Firefly’d bottle stood steady as a lamp on a flat surface. In a tent, you can hang it from the ceiling off the short cord for a lantern effect. Sure, the Firefly is aimed at outdoors types – but when our bathroom light bulb recently failed on us, we fumbled blindly for our water bottle, hit the tiny button and within seconds were bathed in beautiful blue light. | $21.95, guyotdesigns.com and retail stores such as REI and Eastern Mountain Sports
– The Washington Post
BOOK YOUR VACATION
Every guidebook needs a gimmick, especially considering how many of them are out there. For the “Wallpaper City Guides” ($8.95, Phaidon) – not surprisingly, brought to you by the design publisher – it’s the fact that the sections are indexed with tabs like an address book, which makes them infinitely user-friendly, as quick to reference as a well-thumbed dictionary. Even better, the tabs refer to such important tidbits as “landmarks,” “hotels,” “urban life” and “shopping,” so that with the flick of a finger, restaurants, bars and nightclubs are at the ready, complete with large, slick photographs (remember, this is from a design publisher) and just enough titillating information to make you think you might be hip enough to want to go there. Art galleries and architectural stops get a lot of play here too. The front covers fold out to show an aerial photo of the city – right now that includes 20 of the majors, including New York, Paris, London and Tokyo, with 40 more expected by the end of 2007 – with arrows pointing out maybe a dozen important things to see, such as museums or neighborhoods. The back cover holds a small street map and locator map.
REAL DEALS
The week’s best travel bargains around the globe, by land, sea and air.
Carnival has sale fares on four- and five-night cruises next spring from New York to Canada. Four-night cruise departing June 12 starts at $329 per person double plus $48 taxes (five-night cruise departing June 16 starts at $469, plus $55 taxes); usual fare for both starts at $899. Info: 1-888-CARNIVAL, (1-888-227-64825) carnival.com.
Crystal has two-for-one fares on several Caribbean sailings aboard the Crystal Serenity this winter. Price on the seven-night Dec. 15 cruise, for example, starts at $1,965 per person double (plus taxes and fuel surcharges of about $178). Info: 866-446-6625, crystalcruises.com.
– The Washington Post
whichbudget.com
Headed to Europe and looking to hook up with one of those budget airlines you’ve heard so much about, such as Ryanair and easyJet? This is the site to hit first, a catch-all for 118 airlines flying through 114 countries. You have a couple of ways to go here: You can click on where you are flying from, where you are flying to, or pan down to one of the locations and bang around the various destinations to see what looks good, especially fun if you have some flexibility. This is no-frills flying, remember, and so it’s easy to get all excited when you see the fares, which can be as ridiculously low as $49 round-trip between countries. Once you have chosen a destination, the site starts throwing around ideas for lodging and car rentals, also no-frills and cheap, and even pops up with tips, such as a guide on how to choose a hostel. In addition, the site is set up to tell you all of your options: for instance, all the different places you can fly to from Christchurch, New Zealand, and what airlines fly from there. Also, you’ll be amazed at how cheap and easy it is to fly from country to country in Europe and wonder why sometimes it costs $400 to fly from Denver to Phoenix when you could drive there in less time.
TRAVEL BY NUMBERS | Best Golf Resorts
Travel + Leisure Golf magazine’s September issue named the top 10 U.S. golf resorts and the top international courses and resorts.
The 10 Best U.S. Golf Resorts
1. Kiawah Island Golf Resort, S.C.
2. Pebble Beach Resorts, Calif.
3. Pinehurst Resort, N.C.
4. Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Ore.
5. Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, Hawaii
6. The American Club, Kohler, Wis.
7. The Boulders Resort & Gold- en Door Spa, Ariz.
8. Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North, Ariz.
9. Princeville Resort, Hawaii
10. Sea Island Resorts, Ga.
Best International Courses and Resorts
Best Course, Scotland: St. Andrews (Old)
Best Course, Ireland + Northern Ireland: Ballybunion Golf Club (Old)
Best Course, England + Wales: Royal St. Georges
BestGolfResort,Canada: Fairmont Banff Springs, Alberta
Best Golf Resort, Mexico + Latin America: Westin Resort & Spa Los Cabos, Mexico
Best Golf Resort, Bermuda, Bahamas, the Caribbean: Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Re- sort, Jamaica
