The Beatles – Shakespeare – Henry VIII – Cotswold Towns
A suggestion for your first and best new year’s resolution: learn something! Consider a vacation this summer at England’s legendary Oxford University, surely the oldest (almost a thousand years,) most prestigious and eternally elegant in the English-speaking world.
The vast and varied menu of more than 60 summer courses, called “The Oxford Experience,” is an intellectual smorgasbord – - heavy and light, serious and amusing, indoors and out, across a variety of disciplines, and open to everyone. No requirements, no exams and no papers. All classes are taught by friendly tutors and usually limited to 12 students:
Charles Dickens • Paradise in an English Garden • From Rasputin to Putin • Cathedrals of Britain • The Victorian and Edwardian Home • The Gothic Novel • Alice’s Adventures in Oxford • The Operas of Verdi • The Indian Empire • Political Philosophy • 20th-Century Poetry • Spies in British Fiction… and more.
Live and study at Christ Church, one of the most prestigious and beautiful of the 40 Oxford colleges. Dine in the ultra-aristocratic Hall which attained celebrity stardom in the Harry Potter films. Sleep well in good dorms.
Most courses also offer excursions to stately homes, cathedrals, museums, tours of Christ Church and the city of Oxford. In the evenings: a pub crawl, a special lecture, wine and croquet in the Master’s Garden, the vetty British “Morris Dancers,” or Evensong in the college chapel which is the Oxford Cathedral. All enjoy the college gardens, riverside walks in Christ Church Meadow and boating on the Thames (known as the “Isis” in Oxford).
Summer students range in age from 25 to 85, though the average is about 60 and the mix is cosmopolitan: Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Asians and lots of Americans and Canadians. Some sign up for two or three weeks and many have been returning for 10-or-more years.
A one-week course costs approximately $1,885 (extras for excursions and rooms with private bath.) Tuition, accommodations and all meals (a full English breakfast, buffet lunch and a served three-course dinner) are included. Everyone dines together in the legendary Hall and on one night during the week each participant is invited to wine and dine at High Table. The last night, everyone dresses up and gathers for champagne in the flowering Cathedral Garden and a celebratory farewell dinner.
Their very popular summer session runs from June 30 to August 10, 2013, Sundays to Saturdays. Registration deadline is May 1, but early application is urged as courses fill quickly. Please use the following site for information and registration forms: www.conted.ox.ac.uk/oxfordexperience, or send a snail with mail to The Oxford Experience, OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JA, U.K.
Chef David Bouley, James Beard Award-winner, is offering a rather scrumptious way for you to see Japan. It’s an exclusive adventure to see, taste, smell and feel the country focusing on its unique cuisine. Award-winning 
As the first to bring non-scientific explorers to the Galapagos in 1967, Linblad Expeditions, the venerable 50-year old adventure outfitter, has amassed over 40 years’ experience there and they are keenly focused on the preservation of this remote and unique site. Together with National Geographic they have raised and donated more than $5.5 million for vitally important local protective projects in the Galapagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Foundation.
An isolated archipelago, the Galapagos are set in the Pacific Ocean more than 500 miles west of Ecuador. Over the course of many millennia, great numbers of large birds, reptiles, insects, and plants drifted or flew in to create its fragile and unique flora and fauna. Their remote, pristine beauty beckons to us as it did to the British geologist and naturalist, Charles Darwin, who first arrived on the HMS Beagle in 1831. He landed, camped there, left and returned, studied, researched and conceived his earth-shaking theory of evolution, On the Origin of Species, in 1859.
Today the Galapagos are a designated UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. Who’s home? A great variety of unusually tame animals in big numbers such as the amazingly curious and seemingly fear-free (so far) gigantic turtles, huge iguanas, penguins, dolphins, sharks, colossal manta ray, fat sea lions and the rock-star locals: blue and red footed boobies (seabirds).
Cruise with them in the 56-cabinEndeavor -like a small, comfortable, mobile hi-tech beach town. In addition to seeing and barely believing the animals so up- close, anEndeavor expedition offers long and short hikes, coastal explorations by kayaks or Zodiacs, swimming, snorkeling, or floating in a glass bottom boat for amazing undersea viewing. The Endeavor also offers a good library, a wellness spa and massages on a floating platform. In addition to staff naturalists, National Geographic Certified Photo Instructors are always aboard and available to photo enthusiasts at every skill level, ready to help capture fantastic images and document bragging rights.
The minute tickets to Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival go on sale, the mad scramble for one of their “randomly assigned timeslots” begins. So if you’ve always had a yen to hang out in the snow with stars, the well-positioned events company, ”Goviva,“ is your best shot at getting into all the right screenings and parties. Go it alone and you may be trampled under snowboot stilettoes, but go with Goviva, and be part of the fun, not sobbing on the sidelines.
“Goviva” is all about access and personalization. They specialize in experience and events. In the midst of the paparazzi, the lounge lizards, the star wannabes, the fakirs, the skiers, they’ll create a hassle-free zone for you to see the films, screenings and attend the parties of your choice . The basic package of $2,140 pp double and $3,070 per single includes an ace hotel, Sundance credentials, shuttle service, big breakfasts, tips and taxes, AND your own invaluable Goviva guru-manager to personally assist before, during and after.
Section 1: Vienna to Istanbul – From the Alps into Balkan Peninsula, approx. 1,600 miles. 21 days from April 6 – 26, 2013. Austria – Slovenia – Croatia – Montenegro – Albania – Macedonia – Bulgaria – Turkey
After all considerations, mechanical and otherwise, the top car is the muscular Land Rover Discovery with its 16V engine – best in class for overland expeditions into remote regions and extensively tried and tested for safety and dependability. Very smooth automatic transmission. These tough-ies are loaded to the max with 4-wheel anti-lock braking systems, dual front air bags – all bells and whistles down to cup holders, map lights, and fog lamps.
Although the Chuya and Bashkaus Rivers in southern Siberia may not yet have made it onto your bucket list, if you are a rafting enthusiast with moderate skills here is a top Class II-IV whitewater adventure.
Here’s the drill: Warm up to the biggy by doing some practice runs on the Chuya River. Build up to raft down the Bashkaus which splits into two: the Lower Bashkaus – definitely one of the most difficult whitewater trips in Siberia – narrow, high-reaching, slick canyon walls and Class VI rapids. The good news is that on this trip, ECHO adventurers will be sticking to the Upper Bashkaus to enjoy all the adrenaline-pumping fun of riding a glorious and more manageable river section in this pristine wilderness. Pack horses for gear; tents for sleeping. Visit two villages, Saratan and Ust’-Ulagan, and become acquainted with their age-old nomadic, independent forest life. Highlights: clean up in an all-enveloping Russian banya (sauna) and see the petroglyphs of mysterious little antelopes in the Chuya Trakt.
Shortest and cheapest way to fly is viaBeijing to meet in Novosibirsk – surprisingly, one of the largest cities in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg. One awesome trip is scheduled for next summer: July 17-Aug. 1, 2013. The price of $4,495 a person includes most everything and most especially the expert services of Vladimir Gavrilov, their top Russian-born guide, former physicist and current U.S. teacher and author of Rivers of an Unknown Land, the ultimate guidebook to rafting in Russia.
In the exotic and often tempestuous neighborhood that makes up the Middle East,Israel is the stellar stronghold of extraordinary biblical landmarks, hi-tech international industries, tip-top cuisine, very creative arts, gold-standard hoomus, a vibrant and rich cultural scene, and home to red hot, buzz-buzz, 24/7 Tel Aviv.
National Geographic Expeditions has just announced a series of in-depth Israel tours. Plunge into the politics, present day realities, the problems, as well as many of the satisfying pleasures of this exciting and complex country led by cultural educator Aziz Abu Sarah. A young man dedicated to building deeper understanding and lasting friendships between Israelis and Palestinians, he has been named as one of Nat Geo’s “Emerging Explorers.” His startup company, Medji, is an innovative concept offering “dual narrative” peace-building tours.
And while in the vicinity, sign on for National Geographic’s quickie over- the-border into Jordan for 4 more remarkable days. In Petra, walk the Siq, the wind-carved sandstone canyon; see the now-iconic Treasury carved into red-rose cliffs; walk about in the spectacular Roman ruins of Jerash and Wadi Rum where
Shrouded in decades of secrecy and isolation, suffused with mystery, the Burma travel window has been flung open to reveal one of the most exciting travel destinations on the planet. A spectacularly beautiful cultural/aesthetic intermix of China and India, Myanmar (as Burma is now named) has shaken itself free of military shackles. As you travel into this thrilling country, time unwinds and the clock, amazingly, almost stops.
R. Crusoe & Son is just such an outfitter and not parenthetically, publishers of the most romantic brochure in the industry. Their next exclusive hosted 11-day tour will be next November 14-25, 2013 but they specialize in private, custom-made itineraries. 
Highlights: Yangon (formerly Rangoon) the capital and nose around the golden, gleaming, gigantic Shwedagon Pagoda. See and meet with some of the Intha natives of Inle Lake who live among its handful of cities and villages, visit the floating markets, watch the unique skill of leg rowing locals, meet canoe makers, silk and lotus weavers and traditional cheroot-rollers. A cruise aboard the gorgeous Road To Mandalay riverboat (best on the Irrawaddy River), will be the experiential heart and soul of the trip: Sagaing, southwest of Mandalay, is an important religious and monastic center heavily dotted with Buddhist monasteries and pagodas in the hills along river, and then arrive at the UNESCO World Heritage Site — awesome, breath-taking Bagan. Thrilling at sunrise and mysterious even in the bright sun, a dusty plain of many thousands of scattered, ancient sacred Buddhist shrines and temples. (Anyone for a hot air balloon floatover?)
Explore two of the world’s most pristine and wild landscapes on horseback: the Torres del Paine National Park and the Atacama Desert (highest and driest) in Chile. Stay for five days and four nights in either of the world-class resorts, the 
The private stables in these resorts house the stellar Chilean Criollos (horses with ancient Iberian blood) and purebred Arabians – both trained for experienced riders. Each group is accompanied by a genuine gaucho.
Four luxury-lodge nights at explora Patagonia start from $2,780 US, or at explora Atacama from $2,640 (per person, double occ.
Are you an “Island Ticker?”
Cut through the icy waters to Heard andMcDonald Islands, terra incognita. Deep in the South Indian Ocean, these two protected World Heritage sites, a mere 1,010 sea miles north of Antarctica, are rarely visited, and not at all for the past decade. Travel trophy of a lifetime.
Who’s onboard? In addition to other daring “island tickers,” Rodney Russ, owner- founder of New Zealand-based Heritage Expeditions with 25 years of experience under his windbreaker. Lively professional staff, hands-on photographers, two Australian Geographic lecturers and some top birders. Lectures. Library.