Travel briefs

Smoking will be banned as of June 1 at all 22 Disney World hotels and time-share resorts in Florida.

The ban permits smoking at designated outdoor areas. The transition to becoming smoke-free will allow Disney to better accommodate the increasing number of guests requesting nonsmoking hotel rooms, the theme park’s spokesman Jacob DiPietre said.

The ban follows a 2000 measure that restricted smoking throughout Disney’s theme and water parks, limiting smoking to designated areas, DiPietre said.

“We’re focused on responding to what our guests are asking for and our guests are overwhelmingly asking for smoke-free rooms,” DiPietre said. “The number of guests requesting smoking rooms has declined dramatically in recent years.”

Guests caught smoking after the ban could face cleaning surcharges as high as $500, DiPietre said.

Take a family sabbatical: Book tells you how

Ever dream of chucking the daily routine and moving with your family to a foreign country?

Elisa Bernick and her husband did just that, with their two children, moving from St. Paul, Minn., to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for 18 months. Bernick has written a book about the experience that’s part memoir and part advice, called “The Family Sabbatical Handbook: The Budget Guide to Living Abroad with Your Family.”

Bernick and her husband decided to make the move in part to escape “the corrosive effects of the hectic lives we all seemed to lead.”

Traveling, she added, creates a bond in families like no other. “Not only do you spend more time together and learn to rely on each other in a different way, you also go through fun, unusual and occasionally frightening experiences together.”

Bernick and her husband spent three years saving up for the trip, in part by giving up small luxuries at home like eating out, and they got rental income from their home while they were away. Their expenses for 18 months, including private school and day care for their children in Mexico, and mortgage and home insurance on their property back in the states, totaled about $53,000. They both quit their jobs and used their time abroad to work on novels and other projects.

The $15.95 book is published by a Branford, Conn., company, The Intrepid Traveler, www.intrepidtraveler.com.

Europe too expensive? Try ‘Destination America’

If the weak dollar has put travel to Europe out of your reach, stay closer to home and plan a trip around “Destination America,” as showcased in Smithsonian Magazine.

The magazine recommends cultural destinations including Louisiana’s Cajun country, where you’ll find good food and music; the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, with literary and artistic connections to figures like Herman Melville and Norman Rockwell; Alcatraz, the former federal prison and National Park site on an island off San Francisco; Galena, Ill., the “outdoor museum of the Victorian Midwest,” where historic architecture includes Ulysses S. Grant’s post-Civil War mansion; and the sailing community of Annapolis, Md.

The magazine also lists festivals and diversions. Details and some online-only features are available at www.smithsonianmagazine.com.

Another craggy face draws N.H. visitors

Four years after the demise of the Old Man of the Mountain, another of New Hampshire’s rocky profiles is getting a little more attention.

At about 98 feet long, the Indian Head on the side of Mount Pemigewassett is nearly 60 feet longer than the Old Man of the Mountain was, but it never attracted much attention in part because the Old Man profile was more distinct and easily visible from the highway.

Stew Weldon of the Indian Head Resort told the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper that interest in the Indian Head has surged since the Old Man crumbled.

To view the Indian Head rock profile, head north on I-93, take exit 33 (look for signs for “Indian Head Viewing”), then bear right onto U.S. Route 3. Exit right into the Indian Head Resort parking lot and look to the left to see the Indian Head rock profile.

Hikers can take the Mount Pemigewassett trail or the Indian Head trail to the top, about 3.8 miles round-trip.

Pemigewassett is near the Flume Visitor Center in the southern end of Franconia Notch State Park, in the White Mountain National Forest. A link to a downloadable map can be found at the bottom of the home page at www.franconianotchstatepark.com.

Wild West World opens near Wichita

A new amusement park themed on Kansas’ cowboy history has opened just north of Wichita off Interstate 135.

Wild West World cost $30 million to build and offers 24 rides, a mock frontier-town boardwalk, gazebos for live entertainment, arcade games, food stands and restaurants, and different types of rides grouped in three sections, divided around a Chisholm Trail theme.

Tickets are $25.50 for adults, $20.50 for children under 48 inches tall, free for 2 and under. Season passes are $50.

Details: www.wildwestworld.net.

Travel deals

Book a night at Glacier Bay Lodge, the only lodging in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park, and get the second night free. The Twice as Nice package, good May 24 through June 17, is $164 (including $14 taxes) for two nights single or double occupancy. The 56-room lodge on the shores of Bartlett Cove has kayaking, hiking, whale-watching and fishing. Info: 888-229-8687, www.visitglacierbay.com.

A five-night kayaking trip from Port Hardy on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island has been discounted by $100 per person. Sea Kayak Adventures Inc. has the deal for trips departing June 25 and July 9 and 16. Price starts at $1,650 per person double and includes lodging at God’s Pocket Resort, meals, kayaks, guides and boat transport from Port Hardy to the resort. All experience levels welcome; instruction is provided. Taxes are 6 percent, but half is rebatable. Book by May 20. Info: 800-616-1943, www.seakayakadventures.com.

Travel classes, seminars

Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door hosts free travel classes from 10 to 11:30 a.m. most Saturdays at the Edmonds Theater, 415 Main St., Edmonds.