You’ll Never Walk Alone…

Travel fantasy:  be guided  gently, step by step, through the heart of a city, town or village, along intriguing paths, in special places all over the world.  Follow well-crafted itineraries, hang out with top local guides, sleep in premium, locally-owned accommodations, and scarf down fine food and wine… the best and most reflective of the local scene.

How?

Cited as stellar in all the top travel magazines  (how about “World’s Best”  list of Travel + Leisure), multi-award winning Country Walkers is offering  a seductive discount to enthusiastic walkers who might be traveling solo:  they’re knocking off the nasty old single supplement fees on 14 of their most popular Guided Walking Adventures. The offer is two free single supplements per trip– a total of 54 rich experiences- very well-priced, throughout 2014.

Adventurous walking will place you in the midst of like-minded souls – the perfect format for those travelling solo.

Click on 14 for 2014 Solo Savings to reveal a vast array of wonderful walking adventures.

Turn your high beams onto the most exotic trip: Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia. This welcoming terrain is combined with a mega-dose of the heady Khmer, French Colonial and Chinese cultural mix.  Walk into local towns, villages and partially obliterated temples, passing silent monks in saffron robes.  3-5 miles a day.

 
For the macho among us, check out Europe’s apex alpine, one of Country Walker’s most challenging: The Mont Blanc Circuit requires 6-7 trekking hours a day through France, Italy and Switzerland on paths that will lead close to heaven on earth.

 

 

And for deep rooted traditional charm, the hills and dales of Dingle Bay in Ireland delivers a walk along the wildly dramatic North Atlantic beaches bordered by dense forests. Explore early Christian and UNESCO World Heritage sites, castles, half-ruined abbeys and forts… Easy and amazing at 3-6 miles a day.

 

Down By the Riverside… Waaay Down

Cruise the Mighty Mekong River

Got a yen to see China, Tibet, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam the old fashioned way?  Go with the flow and cruise the mighty Mekong River, the heart, soul and breadbasket of Southeast Asia, on a handsome traditional-style riverboat. Almost 3,000 miles long, the Mekong is second only to the Amazon in its amazing abundance of plant and animal life, including the awesome, stellar stingray with 14-ft wingspans.

Down By the Riverside… waaay down

Cruising the Mekong is a smooth and cool way to see, hear, feel and enjoy the vibrant river markets, tribal life, ancient temples. The multi-award winning Uniworld Boutique River Cruises now has two beautiful and small 30-cabin ships, the River Saigon and the River Orchid, handcrafted in the colonial style with French balconies that open onto a spacious promenade. They now offer over 100 departures on 8 itineraries from 10 to 24 days.

Click: http://www.uniworld.com or call them in LA at 800-733-7820.

And hey, if you happen to be in the market for some real snake oil wine, you’ll be in the right neighborhood to shop around.

Other Mekong choices

The 2-cabin Dragon Eyes, a traditional slim riverboat, can slip in and out of the skinny side canals.  5 in crew.  Bikes on board.  And a talented chef who offers cooking lessons en route. Surf to: http://www.mekongeyes.com/en/home

FLASH: Pandaw River Expeditions has 10 luxury ships set to sail in 2012, all styled after colonial river steamers, some dedicated to explore Cambodia and Vietnam on the Mekong and others in newly-opening-to-the-world Burma on the Irrawaddy and Chindwin Rivers.  Click: https://www.pandaw.com/index.php of in the U.S. call 800-798 4223.

Choo Choo Overview

Train travel all over the world is almost limitless, and there is something mysteriously alluring with a whiff of romance (or at least foreign intrigue) in the puff of a train. Some are expensive and luxurious, like rolling, well-appointed 5-star hotels with exceptional staffs and food, but many are basic and good choices for the budget-minded. In addition to saving the cost of hotels, overnight trains deliver the thrill of waking up in a new city or even a new country.

Ideas:

Colossally fascinating and endlessly-intriguing, www.seat61.com is the cryptic name for the website for train travel throughout the world. Get schedules, costs, connections, and every inch of train travel in Europe including such off-the-beaten tracks as those in Macedonia, Cyprus, Andorra, and Belarus AND onward into Iran, Cambodia, and even Cuba (the Ferrocarriles de Cuba. which offers no official website and no toilet paper.)  Tap into this site and run the risk of getting lost in it!

The Good Web Guide UK says www.seat61.com “…has all the mystery of  a Le Carre epic. Who is this mysterious man who always books Seat 61 on the Eurostar and why has he set up a site devoted entirely to world rail travel? His name’s Mark Smith and he is passionate about long-distance rail travel….”

Alaska: For mesmerizing, non-stop beauty, check out the award-winning upper-deck domed window cars of the Denali Star during the 12-hour trip between Fairbanks and Anchorage. www.alaskarailroad.com

The Alps: Rocky Mountains Highs

In Switzerland, the Rhaetian Railway offers the highest rails in the Alps: the Albula and Bernina lines which are stellar examples of technical, architectural and environmental brilliance. In the northwest, the Albula pass wends through 42 tunnels and over 144 viaducts and bridges. The Bernina train “sails” through 13 tunnels and over 52 viaducts and bridges. And the gorgeous (usually snowy) area between Thusis, rich in forests, rivers, glaciers and gorges, and the tiny town of Tirano in northern Italy has been named a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Click: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1276

P.S. Don’t forget the train trip between Switzerland’s two top ski resorts, St. Moritz and Zermatt, is simply a glorious 7-hour whiteout ride on the Glacier Express. Click: http://www.glacierexpress.ch/

From Adelaide to Alice Springs to Darwin, the Ghan crosses the spectacular transcontinental heart of Australia, north to south, in a 48-hour one-way ride with two nights on board. www.gsr.com.au

Although many trains stop running during their freezing winters, others chug along splendidly through great drifts, mounds and mountains of ice and snow.

Out west, the award-winning Rocky Mountaineer toot-toots through the Canadian Rockies on a variety of wintry routes. Phone 877-460-3200. www.winterrailvacations.com.

In Eastern Canada, look into the Agawa Canyon Snow Train which starts in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario – for a 4-hour, 114-mile rail cruise through rugged snowscapes and “diamonds of ice,” wildly colorful fall foliage as per season; chug 500 feet down over 10 miles to the floor of the billion-year old Agawa Canyon. To know more, phone 800-242-9287 or www.agawacanyontourtrain.com.

VIA Rail operates about 480 trains per week over a vast 9,000-mile network that spans and links all of Canada. This is huge. Excellent website makes it easy to navigate their fascinating network. http://www.viarail.ca/trains/en_trai_tous.html

India anyone?  The royally luxurious Deccan Odyssey departs from Mumbai and visits towns and villages all along the gorgeous coastline of the Arabian Sea for 8 days, including hottest beach spot on the subcontinent, the intensely sensual sandy city of Goa. http://www.deccan-odyssey-india.com.

…and stay tuned for more…