REAL DEALS
The week’s best travel bargains, by land, sea and air.
Italy rail passes have been discounted by at least 20 percent for travel this winter. The “Trenitalia Winter Promo” for travel Nov. 1-March 31 offers second-class passes good for three days of travel within two months; prices start at $128 per person ($161 for first class) for groups of two to five traveling together. Discounted passes are also available for longer travel periods and for children and youths. Buy by Dec. 31. Info: 1-888-538-7245, italiarail.com.
Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin has savings of $500 per person on four- or five-night stays and $1,000 on six-, seven- or 10-night stays. Four-night packages start at $1,690 per person double (plus 6 percent taxes and 18 percent gratuities). Book by Oct. 31 and complete stay by Jan. 31. Info: 800-847-5637, lakeaustin.com.
Auberge La Lucarne aux Chouettes, an inn in the Burgundy region of France owned by actress Leslie Caron and her son, has a 20 percent discount off room rates for travel through mid-March. A room for two starts at about $146 per night. Info: 011-33-3-86-87-18-26, lesliecaron-auberge.com.
Save $350 per person on a Mekong River cruise through Vietnam and Cambodia departing Nov. 7. Price on the Value World Tours trip starts at $2,149 per person double plus $98 port charges. The tour includes three nights’ stay in Ho Chi Minh City; three nights’ stay in Siem Reap; most meals; seven-night cruise; sightseeing tours; shore excursions; and guide. A Dec. 19 departure has been discounted by $250. Info: 800-795-1633, val uecruises.net.
Viking River Cruises has $299 round-trip airfare from Washington to China on select “China’s Cultural Delights” itineraries. The offer applies to June-August departures and must be booked and paid in full by Dec. 18; price for the cruise starts at $3,179 per person double. The 15-night trip includes three nights’ hotel in Beijing, one night in Xian, two nights in Shanghai and a nine-night Yangtze River cruise from Chongqing to Nanjing. Mention code 01P to get discounted air. Details: 877-668-4546, vikingrivercruises.com.
– The Washington Post
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TRAVEL BY NUMBERS
Top Ski Resorts
The top 10 ski resorts for 2006-07, according to Ski magazine.
1. Vail
2. Deer Valley, Utah
3. Snowmass
4. Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia
5. Park City, Utah
6. Breckenridge
7. Aspen
8. Beaver Creek
9. Steamboat Springs
10. Sun Valley, Idaho
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BOOK YOUR VACATION
Plenty of adventure travelers out there imagine that they could survive in the wild – or at least for as long as it took to hike in their new Patagonia boots from the front door of Safeway all the way out to the end of the parking lot and their Eddie Bauer Ford Explorers. But how many could, when confronted with the possibility that the precious jewels they have purchased while traveling might be stolen, then bury the jewels under their own skin after making a gash and allowing the flesh “to grow over them as it would over a bullet”? That’s but one of the many suggestions offered in “The Art of Rough Travel: From the Peculiar to the Practical, Advice From a 19th-Century Explorer” ($15.95, The Mountaineers Books). Written by Sir Francis Galton, the book is 174 pages of pure delight, from what to do if you have to pull cattle out of a hole to what to do if someone in the group you are traveling with dies, which is in the section titled “Miscellany” and comes just after “Passing through a hostile country” but before the three most important knots everyone should know how to tie. This little green hardback would make an ideal gift for the serious outdoors person or the most ridiculous wannabe.
GEO QUIZ | Where are these places?
1. In late 2003, a team of explorers hauled kayaks through the southern part of the Altiplano region, one of the driest places on Earth. The team paddled through several salt lakes in the Potosí department of which country?
2. Researchers studying chimpanzees in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park have discovered that chimps use a variety of tools to extract termites from their nests. This park is located near the borders of Cameroon and Central African Republic in which country?
3. Scientists recently uncovered the 9,500-year- old remains of what could be the oldest known pet cat. The discovery was made in which island country 60 miles west of Syria?
4. Dozens of well-preserved Inca mummies were recently recovered on the outskirts of a capital city located on the Río Rímac. These mummies were discovered in which country?
5. Researchers are using Crittercam, a camera worn by wild animals, to find ways that lions can co-exist with livestock on ranches on the Laikipia Plateau in which country east of Uganda?
6. Paleontologists discovered a fossil of a small dinosaur that they believe died while sleeping about 130 million years ago. This fossil was found in the present-day Liaoning Province in which Asian country?
7. Archaeologists working at Blombos Cave uncovered 75,000-year-old shells that they believe may be the oldest jewelry ever discovered. This cave is located near Mossel Bay in the Western Cape province of which country?
8. Archaeologists uncovered a large Maya stone panel carved with images and hieroglyphics at a site in the Petén department in which Central American country?
9. A meteorologist studying elephant communication found that elephants in Etosha National Park communicated more often on cooler nights when sound travels farthest. Etosha National Park is located east of the Kaokoveld mountains in which African country?
10. Intricately carved and painted puppets, used in an ancient Southeast Asian form of shadow play, may be seen in religious ceremonies on an island in the Lesser Sundas that is predominantly Hindu. Name this island, where Denpasar is the provincial capital.
ANSWERS: 1. Bolivia 2. Congo 3. Cyprus 4. Peru 5. Kenya 6. China 7. South Africa 8. Guatemala 9. Namibia 10. Bali
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
