Sail into Lewis and Clark territory on a river trip from Portland, Ore., into Idaho.
The Dec. 28 seven-night cruise is aboard the 235-passenger paddlewheel steamboat Empress of the North. It will travel the Columbia, Willamette and Snake rivers following parts of the route taken by Lewis and Clark.
“When you get to Hell’s Canyon you feel like you could have been there with Lewis and Clark,” said Don Eslinger of Historic Tours &Cruises. “It’s just pristine.”
Cost: $1,631.40 per person, double occupancy ($816 single surcharge), including first-class stateroom, meals, entertainment and history talks. Transportation to Portland, port fees and fuel surcharges are not included.
Contact: Historic Tours &Cruises, Huntington Beach, Calif.; 714-536-3434.
Culture on the Nile
See the jewels of the Nile on a 15-night fall trip to Egypt led by a San Diego State University professor.
The Nov. 10 cultural tour studies the influence successive civilizations – from Greek to Arab-Islamic – had on the region. Philosophy professor Leon Rosenstein will lecture on the history, religion, art and literature of these cultures.
The group will visit Cairo, the pyramids at Giza and the cities of Sakkara, Memphis, Alexandria and Luxor and will cruise the Nile to Edfu. After touring Cairo’s museums and visiting the Cheops Pyramid and the Sphinx, the group will fly to Luxor and embark on a five-day cruise on the Nile.
The tour is sponsored by the nonprofit Classical Alliance of the Western States.
Cost: $3,973, per person, double occupancy ($767 single surcharge), including international air fare from Los Angeles, internal air fare, ground transportation and cruise, hotels, meals, guides, transfers and entrance fees.
Contact: Leon Rosenstein, San Diego State University; 619-594-6586; or R Voyages, Valencia; 800-862-2476, Ext. 12, www.rvoyages.com.
England’s a stage
Celebrate the theater and the New Year on a tour of London with actor Stan Mazin.
The eight-night tour, which begins Dec. 26, includes tickets to three new West End theater productions and a New Year’s Eve party. The group will take a backstage tour of the London Coliseum Theatre, home to the English National Opera and the English National Ballet.
Cost: $2,650 per person, double occupancy ($575 single surcharge), including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotel, some meals, theater tickets and airport transfers. Admission and entrance fees to museums and additional shows are not included.
Contact: Stan Mazin Travels, Sherman Oaks, Calif.; 818-786-6845.
Top haunted attractions
Forget ketchup blood and tape-recorded “oohs” in a run-down barn.
Today’s haunted attractions have gone high-tech, with Hollywood-style special effects, set designers and some truly terrifying performances by actors portraying ghouls and madmen.
You can search for a haunted attraction near you on the Web site for the International Association of Haunted Attractions – hauntedhouseassociation.org.
The organization also has put together a list of eight of the spookiest haunted houses around the country.
They are the Netherworld Haunted House, Atlanta; Darkness Haunted House, St. Louis; Erebus Haunted Attraction, Detroit; Headless Horseman Hayrides, Kingston, N.Y.; Bates Motel and Hayride, Philadelphia; Eastern State Penitentiary’s Terror Behind the Walls, Philadelphia; the Haunted Castle, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Niles Haunted House and Screampark, in Niles, Mich., where the association is based.
Be part of the TV crowd
Some visitors to New York want to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge or see the Statue of Liberty. Others splurge on tickets to a Broadway show.
But some yearn to be one of those screaming fans holding a poster outside a Manhattan TV studio.
For them, the Flatotel on 135 W. 52nd Street has created a package with a poster and a list of where and when to go.
The Flatotel’s list includes NBC’s Today Show, whose fans congregate outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 7 to 10 a.m.; ABC’s Good Morning America, at 7 Times Square, where visitors gather 7 to 9 a.m.; and CBS’ The Early Show, 524 W. 57th St., which attracts crowds 7 to 9 a.m.
The hotel’s “Family TV Fun” deal, good through Dec. 15, starts at $389 a night, for which you get breakfast in a bag to take with you as you stake out your spot on the sidewalk for the early shows; a poster board and markers so you can make your own sign; and a suite big enough for four.
The suites have king-size beds and fold-out sofas, plus a kitchenette with a stove, refrigerator and sink so you can even save a little money by making some of your meals in the hotel instead of eating out three times a day. Details at www.flatotel.com or 800-352-8683.
Halloween in Las Vegas
Where do grown-ups go trick or treating?
Las Vegas, of course.
In Sin City, use your imagination to dress up for the Fetish and Fantasy Halloween Ball, Oct. 28 at the Stardust Hotel &Casino; www.halloweenball.com.
For a slightly less racy Halloween experience, the Haunted Vegas Tour will take you to more than a dozen “haunted” locations around town, looking for the ghosts of Elvis, Liberace, Bugsy Siegels and many other well-known characters. Tickets are $46.25; details at 866-807-4697.
Also in Vegas, a music festival called Vegoose will feature concerts at Sam Boyd Stadium, Oct. 27-30, with acts like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Killers, Widespread Panic, the Black Crowes and Fiona Apple; details at www.vegoose.com. In addition to the musical acts, the festival will offer various Halloween-themed attractions. Last year’s Vegoose included an Impersonators Cafe and the Great Evil Pumpkin.
Finger Lakes autumn
The hills turn red and gold in the Finger Lakes region of western New York each fall, and there are many ways to enjoy the season there.
The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning is hosting a Glass Pumpkin Show, and visitors can even try blowing their own glass pumpkins; www.cmog.org. A Chestnut Festival takes place in Romulus on Oct. 28; details at www.goosewatch.com.
The region is dotted with wineries and country inns. There are three area Wine Trails, around Seneca, Cayuga and Keuka Lakes.
For more information, visit www.fingerlakeswinecountry.com or call 800-813-2958.
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.
* Packing Light and Right with Joan Robinson, 10 a.m. Oct. 14.
* Sicily and Southern Italy with Julie Coen, 10 a.m. Oct. 21.
* London with Lisa Friend, 10 a.m. Oct. 28.
Reservations are recommended. Call 425-771-8303, ext. 298, or visit www.ricksteves.com/seattle.
The Savvy Traveler offers travel seminars at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. most Saturdays at 112 Fifth Ave. S., Edmonds.
* German for travelers, 6 p.m. Thursdays, Oct. 19 through Nov. 23.
* Explore Northern Italy, 10 a.m. Oct. 21.
* Southern Italy and Sicily, 1 p.m. Oct. 21.
* Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic, 10 a.m. Nov. 4.
* Slovenia and Croatia: Jewels of the Adriatic, 1 p.m. Nov. 4.
Classes are free, reservations recommended. Call 425-744-6076, 877-225-1994, or visit www.savvytraveleredmonds.com.
The Herald is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with cruise lines, travel agents or tour operators.
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