Kansas.com: Travel

Joshua Tree National Park Is An Often-Overlooked Treasure

TOM UHLENBROCK — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:40 CST

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. —Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon get the publicity, and the visitors. But there are plenty of lesser-known national parks that offer gorgeous vistas and pristine back country, far from the maddening crowds.

Joshua Tree, Big Bend, Capitol Reef, Isle Royale, Kenai Fjords and Theodore Roosevelt are national parks that may never be the stars of a Ken Burns documentary. But each offers its own charm, and you won't find a traffic jam at any of them. In fact, Kenai Fjords in Alaska and Isle Royale in Lake Superior have no traffic at all; you explore them by boat or by sea plane.

When I visited Theodore Roosevelt in remote western North Dakota and asked the ranger whether he was busy with visitors that day, he replied, "You're No. 2."

Warm To New Zealand's Charming Rotorua Region

MARK MELNICOE — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:41 CST

ROTORUA, New Zealand — Nothing is unassuming about this scenic playground of New Zealand's North Island.

The first thing you notice about Rotorua is the smell. Oh, that smell.

Many liken it to rotten eggs. It's literally the Earth letting out gas — hydrogen sulfide. It permeates the small city and surrounding geothermal areas.

A Visit To Hobbiton? So Precious It'll Make You Feel 3 Feet Tall

MARK MELNICOE — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:39 CST

From the world of hot springs and Maori culture, it's only a short side trip to the land of hobbits.

Drive about an hour northwest from Rotorua to the small town of Matamata and catch a tour of an actual outdoor set from the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, shot in New Zealand by director Peter Jackson.

You will be taken in a van to a 1,200-acre sheep ranch a few miles out of town, and there you will see Hobbiton, the 10-acre shire where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and all the other hobbits lived. The shire has been returned mostly to its natural condition, but 17 hobbit houses remain from the original 37, including Bag End — Bilbo's house —the only one you can go inside.

Desert Resort Is A Vintage Hideaway For The Hollywood Crowd

TOM UHLENBROCK — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:34 CST

LA QUINTA, CALIF. —The swishing of lawn sprinklers and scratching of a gardener's rake were the only sounds as I sat with my morning coffee on the private porch of my casita at La Quinta Resort & Club. I imagined a gorgeous blonde sitting next to me.

"I vant to be alone," she said with a flick of her cigarette holder.

Yep, the reclusive Greta Garbo was among the movie stars who sought seclusion at the Spanish hacienda-style retreat that Walter H. Morgan opened in 1926. It's at the base of the Santa Rosa Mountains in the Southern California desert near today's Joshua Tree National Park. The early guest list included names like Bogart, Bacall, Gable and Dietrich.

Family Travel: Start A New Chapter In Your Travels

LYNN O'ROURKE HAYES — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:34 CST

Reading can motivate young and old to explore new places and expand the imagination. Celebrate National Young Reader's Week (Nov. 9-13) by making books and the places that inspire them a part of your week.

1. Hannibal, Mo.

In "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," Tom and his friend Becky Thatcher get lost in a cave. Read aloud the first two pages of Chapter 29 in this famed novel in conjunction with a visit to Missouri's first show cave. Take a 55-minute tour of the cave depicted in the novel, and learn about the history of the dark spaces, the creatures who live there and how Samuel Clemens, who used the pen name Mark Twain, came to tell the story.

Camera Case Is Picture-Perfect

ROSS WERLAND — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:35 CST

Name: Golla Digi Bag

What it is: A polyester carrying bag for compact digital cameras. I tried the Field model in dark gray with white flowers. It's not so feminine that a guy would feel uncomfortable hooking the carabiner clip to his belt loop.

How it works: Not a lot to explain. You slide your compact digital camera into the padded pouch, tuck an extra battery and another memory stick into the interior pocket and zip it up.

Smart Ideas For Making The Most Of A Visit To Cambridge, Mass.

CHRIS VOGNAR — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:34 CST

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —There are college towns. And then there is Cambridge.
Off Massachusetts Avenue, just a short walk from Boston's famed Newbury Street shopping district, sits the massive brain power of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Stroll down the road a bit through Central Square and you'll find a modest institution called Harvard, its brick-and-mortar design motif suggesting an academic kingdom.

Do The Math Before Cashing In Miles, Points

TOM PARSONS — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:34 CST

When you decide to redeem miles or points for your next vacation, do some checking before you cash them in. When prices are high for your trip, it can be well worth using miles or points, but if you can get a cheap trip, save your miles and points for another time.
I recently booked a trip to South America, flying into Buenos Aires and returning from Santiago, and the prices for the flights were so outrageous that I decided to cash in miles. Coach-class fares would have cost $1,040, and business-first class was $7,091. Usually, I will pay for a ticket and use my miles to upgrade, but the prices were too high to make that worthwhile, because I would have had to use 50,000 air miles plus pay $700 round trip to upgrade from discounted coach class.
I have air miles on several carriers, so I like to see if there are any promotions to lower the amount of miles I need to use. I found a mile-redemption deal on American that allows me to fly first class, with a free U.S. stopover; so it cost me 112,000 miles instead of 150,000 miles to fly in first class on the way there and business on the way back.

Make Tracks In Europe: Hop Aboard The Continent's High-Speed Intercity Trains

ELLEN CREAGER — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:34 CST

LUXEMBOURG — "Where is the fast train to Paris?" I ask the man with the suitcase.
"Right here," he says, pointing to the nondescript train on the track.
I have no time to lose. I hurry to the right coach. Lift my suitcase overhead to a shelf. Sit down at 9:53 a.m. in assigned seat No. 43.

The Frugal Traveler: Stress-Busting Survival Tips For Holiday Travel

Sharon Harvey Rosenberg and Myscha Theriault — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:34 CST

Holiday luggage can be overstuffed with gifts, tension and family expectations. That emotional baggage gains weight when travelers face international or domestic flights, custom agents or missed connections.
Seasonal travel can trip you up whether you are navigating through a domestic bus terminal during Thanksgiving, Cairo's baggage claim at the start of haj (the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca), or the crowded streets of Jerusalem's old city during the holiday season. Remain steady on your travel feet with these survival strategies.
Packages: Don't let painstaking gift-wrapping efforts go to waste at security checkpoints. Wrap presents at your destination. Better yet, avoid the airport present hassle altogether by shipping gifts ahead of time. Once the presents arrive, turn gift- wrapping tasks into a holiday activity. Consider shopping on location for easy-to-find gifts.

Ask Airfare Watchdog: Frequent Flyer Miles

GEORGE HOBICA — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:36 CST

Q: I carefully gathered enough frequent flyer miles to fly my family of five to Asia the summer of my son's senior year in high school. Surprisingly to me, Delta had no availability of flights at the lowest redemption levels even when called 10 months in advance. Is there a magic time to call, or are there so few seats available at this level that is almost impossible to use miles in this way? I have given up my Delta American Express card in frustration.
A: It really is frustrating to earn miles on a credit card and then discover you can't use them. But don't give up on American Express, because it's really not their fault. Cancel your Delta American Express Card and trade it in for an American Express Blue Cash Card instead. This is probably the best cash back card available. There's no annual fee (unlike the pricey Delta card). Plus, you get 5 percent unlimited cash back at supermarkets, drugstores, and gas stations, and 1.25 percent on everything else. So let's compare: over the years, you might have spent $50,000 on your Delta card and discovered that the 50,000 points you earned can't be spent. But let's say you spent $25,000 of that on 5 percent cash back purchases (for $1250 in cash back) and the rest on other things at 1.25 percent cash back (for $312 in cash back). That's $1562 that you'd have to spend. It looks like you've earned far more than 50,000 miles, however, if you have enough to fly five people to Asia, so you'd probably have earned even more cash using Blue Cash. In any event, cash is cash — no airline is going to tell you that your money is no good here, but as you've seen they often do tell you that your miles are no good. Keep in mind, too, that Delta may open up frequent flyer seats later in the year, so keep trying. We've heard that it sometimes helps speaking to a supervisor at Delta's frequent flyer department but that may be an urban myth.

Travel QA: Thanksgiving In Belgium

CAROL PUCCI — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:36 CST

Q: Any recommendations or unique experiences for Brussels or Bruges over Thanksgiving?
A: I'm going to recommend Bruges because I think it's the perfect spot for a cozy winter holiday focused on food and giving thanks.
Eating and drinking played a big part in Bruges' history, so much so that the tourist office has designed a self-guided walking tour around the theme. Start out with a beer and a platter of cheese at a cafe such as the De Garre down an alley off Market Square. With its heavy wooden tables and 300 kinds of beers, it feels more like a wine bar than a tavern. Belgians take their beer seriously, and the cafes are where friends gather to talk or play cards.

Planning essential on Caribbean cruises

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:40 CST

From the high top deck of one of those massive Caribbean cruise ships as it sits at the dock of a tropical island, you usually look down on shopping run amok. Anchored to a pier at Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas, or in a seaside Jamaican port, or in countless other former ocean villages, the view is one of large, shabby warehouses converted into shopping malls, and featuring the goods of Calvin Klein, Eileen Fisher and Victoria's Secret.
No wonder many passengers never leave the ship. They prefer curling up with a mystery novel to being fleeced at these frantic markets. Or they doze on the deck rather than engage in another round of repetitious, familiar shopping.
That's why it's vital to do advance planning for a Caribbean cruise. The islands you visit have experienced centuries of momentous history, they have a culture and an educated, English-speaking population, and they possess extraordinary natural attractions or unique farming activities or crafts manufactured in small factories. The point is to seek out those unusually interesting places, people or attractions, as my daughter, Pauline, did by advance planning for a recent weeklong Caribbean cruise.

Flight itinerary was too complicated

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Q: I need your help untangling a flight problem that involves Hotwire, US Airways, United Airlines and Frontier Airlines. A few months ago, we were supposed to fly from Los Angeles to Dallas on US Airways and Frontier. Our first outbound flight was a codeshare flight operated by United.
We checked in at the US Airways counter with plenty of time before our flight left. After waiting in line, a representative sent us to the United Airlines check-in area, across the airport. It didn't matter; our flight to Las Vegas was canceled because of severe weather. At that point, a United representative told us our flight had been rescheduled for the next day.
My family and I live three hours away from LAX. We arrived at the airport using a rental car. We had to pay another $130 for a hotel room that night. The next day, when we tried to check in, the system couldn't find our tickets.

Tax Haven Vacation: Little Luxembourg And Other Offshore Banking Spots Need Your Help

Ellen Creager — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:44 CST

LUXEMBOURG — Sadly, being a world tax haven isn't what it used to be. All those nasty new disclosure laws. Uncle Sam snooping into private bank vaults. Euro powers whining about tax evaders. Suddenly, the party's over in offshore banking glamour spots like Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Not to worry. I'm here to help.
Not with my millions — with my tourist dollars.

The Wall Came Down 20 Years Ago, But Nostalgia For Communism Lingers In Berlin

Gary A. Warner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:22 CST

Twenty years ago, I was a bearded little Dorothy going through a "Wizard of Oz" moment, only in reverse.
In October 1989, I passed through Checkpoint Charlie and stepped from the Technicolor world of West Berlin, with all its blue neon theater signs, bright shop windows and teens with spiky blue hair, into East Berlin.
After running the gantlet in the East German border station where my copy of Newsweek was confiscated, I walked into a world that seemed to have suddenly gone black and white.

Forget Marching: Let's Eat, Drink Through New Orleans

Chris Macias — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:29 CST

NEW ORLEANS — I've awakened to my first morning here, just a few hours after getting my mind — and hearing — blown by the Soul Rebels Brass Band at uptown's Le Bon Temps Roule.
It's time to treat myself to the cultural banquet that is the Big Easy, a city that celebrates cuisine and considers music essential to everyday life. Hurricane Katrina's specter haunts the abandoned houses and boarded-up businesses, but if you love food and music, there's no going wrong in this Southern city, sticky air and all.
"We're a tale of two cities," says Mary Beth Romig, communications director for New Orleans' Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We still have a lot of recovery to go in some neighborhoods. But parts of the city are very much alive and thriving, like the French Quarter and uptown. The attractions are back, and we have more restaurants than ever in the city's history."

When In New Orleans, Eat Like The Locals Do

Bill Daley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:44 CST

NEW ORLEANS — The Crescent City is known as much for its cuisine as for its carousing. It's easy to pay too much for both, such as $83 for a simple pasta lunch at the far edge of the French Quarter.
Mitigate the pain by following this strategy: Eat like the locals.
New Orleans is dotted with favored must-dos, ranging from old-fashioned fancy to the latest experiment from high-profile chefs.

A Journey Across Time Aboard The Queen Mary

Pam Becker — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:34 CST

LONG BEACH, Calif. —As my husband, our nephew and I made our approach to the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach, it occurred to me what an odd setting this was for a luxury hotel. We were passing through a hard-core industrial area that was none too fragrant.
Then again, when you book a stateroom on a giant former ocean liner that calls itself "one of the most haunted locations on the West Coast," you can expect something a little out of the ordinary.
Once we had parked in the lot next to the ship and taken the elevator to the A deck to check in, though, the ship's neighbors faded away. From that moment — when we heard the sound of jazz singer Billie Holiday singing "These Foolish Things" over the sound system — until we checked out 20 hours later, we basked in a palpable sense of the past. As we checked in and then made our way toward our stateroom, Holiday's haunting voice followed us.

'Twilight' Phenomenon Both Blessing, Curse For Washington Town

Mark Rahner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:34 CST

FORKS, Wash. —For some reason, Randy Lato's "Vampire Voyages" boat trips just haven't brought in the big tourist bucks yet. He hasn't quite worked out a plausible connection between fishing and the fictional "Twilight" series author Stephenie Meyer set in this little Olympic Peninsula town.
Hey, look: "I've only read two books in my entire life," he said. And "Twilight" wasn't one of them. (Although it's his understanding that heroine Bella's dad was a pretty good fisherman.)
So when people ask what fishing has to do with vampires, Lato says, "We're going to float down the damn river looking for vampires climbin' up the trees just like in the movies."