Quick, before global warming has the waters of the high Arctic bubbling, well-established 28-year old Peregrine Adventures offers 10-day trips to the island of Spitsbergen (Norway), way north (690 nautical miles) of the Arctic Circle aboard their former sonar research vessel, The Voyager. Their ever-adaptable Zodiacs then thread through Svalbard, a pristine, awesome archipelago so that their highly skilled professional guides can get as close as they dare to polar bear, walrus, and those cute bearded seals. As you might imagine, departures are in summer only. www.peregrineadventures.com/
Instant Incas
No longer a week’s trek or four hours by chugging train, Inkaterra, top Peruvian eco-tourism company, now offers helicopter service direct from Cuzco to Machu Picchu, the extraordinary pre-Columbian fortress city of the ancient Incas. Half-an-hour on their five-passenger, non-polluting French-built Allouette bestows the gift of extra time (and strength) to explore the spectacular, sacred, enigmatic sites in the high Andes mountains.
Their Heliexplorer trip is an incredible opportunity to spend 2 or 3 nights in Inkaterra’s eco-friendly, charming Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, a little village of whitewashed cottages with excellent, authentic food and a unique Andean-style sauna that sit prettily amongst the orchids in the Machu Picchu Cloud Forest.
This incomparable hotel becomes home base for side trips to rarely-visited Choquequirao, the recently uncovered ancient Incan ceremonial site, similar in purpose and grandeur to Machu Picchu.
Click on www.inkaterra.com and then on “Inkaterra Heliexplorer.”
Peach
For over 21 years, Bill Peach Journeys has specialized in luxurious innovative tours in Australia and New Zealand. The company is well-known for their unique aircruise sightseeing (via 36-seater Dash 8’s) over the outback, to which they have now adding railcruising by private train.
Relaxed, comfortable and luxurious, and for those traveling solo — good news – - many of his trips do not levy a single supplement. This means an ideal combination of privacy and companionship, and in awesome adventurous environments. Dine under the stars, sail in a hot air balloon, photograph wild critters, sleep in luxury, meet real human beings.
Coming this April, for instance, is his aircruise called "Isles of the Southern Straits" which floats over Tasmania, King and Kangaroo Islands.
Click on www.billpeachjourneys.com.au/.