Travel books to plan your trips for 2009

Travel books to plan your trips for 2009

NEW YORK (AP) ” Looking for some inspiration to plan your trips for the new year? Here are some books to guide you. And if you can't afford to take the trip of your dreams in this economy, any one of these publications will give you the right to proclaim yourself an expert armchair traveler.

Travel + Leisure recently came out with the 2009 edition of its "100 Greatest Trips" ($34.95), with mini-guides to each destination, maps, resource listings and trips in 10 categories: adventure, arts and culture, beaches, cities, countryside, drives, family, food and wine, nightlife and shopping. Among the destinations profiled are Provincetown, Mass.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Portland, Ore.; Kauai, Hawaii; Oaxaca, Mexico; Liverpool, England; Sicily, Italy; Tunis, Tunisia; Kiev, Ukraine; Nagano, Japan; and Tasmania, Australia.

Rough Guides has put out "Ultimate Adventures: A Rough Guide to Adventure Travel" ($25) with sections on "Feats of A Lifetime," like rafting the Upper Zambezi River in Africa and diving Australia's Great Barrier Reef; "Family-Friendly Adventures" like wildlife-watching in Costa Rica and rock climbing in California's Joshua Tree National Park; "Photo Ops," such as those found walking across England from coast to coast; "Energy and Endurance," with undertakings like hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim; and "Mental Toughness," which includes an expedition to the North Pole.

And from Lonely Planet comes "Best in Travel 2009: 850 Trends, Destinations, Journeys & Experiences For the Year Ahead." The guidebook publisher's top 10 countries for the new year are Algeria, Bangladesh, Canada, Georgia, Greenland, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Peru, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, while its top 10 cities are Antwerp, Belgium; Beirut, Lebanon; Chicago; Glasgow, Scotland; Lisbon, Portugal; Mexico City; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai; Warsaw, Poland; and Zurich, Switzerland. The quirky book also offers fun lists such as "Top 10 Places to Steal a Kiss," including Hershey, Pa., and Kissimmee, Fla.; top 10 places to see weird plants, like the squirting cucumber in Greece; and best places to have a mid-life crisis, from Dubai to Vegas to Route 66.

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St. Martin gets new $80 million resort

MARIGOT, St. Martin (AP) ” Carlson Hotels Worldwide has opened a new $80 million resort in the French Caribbean dependency of St. Martin.

The Minneapolis-based company's VP for communications, Tom Polski, says the 252-room Radisson St. Martin Resort is the 1,000th hotel in Carlson's worldwide portfolio.

Polski said that the financial meltdown is making times tough for the global hospitality industry. But he predicted that the new resort "will be serving customers for many years to come."

The oceanfront resort, which features a spa and a marina, opened in December and is managed by Radisson Hotels & Resorts.

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New restaurant guidebooks: "Where The Locals Eat"

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP) ” An updated look at Nashville's restaurant scene is just out from "Where the Locals Eat," a series of dining guides.

The second edition of the series' Nashville guide is one of a dozen city dining books from "Where the Locals Eat," published by Magellan Press, which is based in Brentwood, Tenn. The others are guidebooks to New York City; Memphis; Buffalo, N.Y.; Charlotte, S.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Louisville, Ky.; Pittsburgh; Minneapolis; and Raleigh/Durham, N.C.

You can also get recommendations for many other top U.S. metro areas at the http://www.WhereTheLocalsEat.com or in the series' national guide, published in 2007, "Where the Locals Eat: The 100 Best Restaurants in the Top 50 Cities." An iPhone application is available as well, called LocalEats, for 99 cents.

The books look at restaurants by neighborhood, price range and category, which, depending on the city, ranges to everything from Asian Fusion to American Traditional to Brunch, Cafe, Diner, Dumplings, Steak House, Tex-Mex, Wine Bar and even Food Cart. The listings are based on ratings from readers whom the publisher calls "certified foodies," and supplemented by input from the series' writers and researchers.

Some of the recommendations include: Meals by Genet, 1053 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles (Ethiopian food); Jack's Bar-B-Que, 416 Broadway in downtown Nashville; and for dessert in Manhattan, Payard Patisserie at 1032 Lexington Ave. between 73rd and 74th streets.

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Outside magazine recommends best lodges for winter adventures

NEW YORK (AP) ” Time to go outside and play in the snow. Even if you're a grown-up!

Outside magazine's January issue lists lodges for winter adventures around the country. They include:

-Flagstaff Lake Hut in Maine's Carrabassett Valley, with a frozen lake, miles of ski trails and a lodge that the magazine says is more like a "swanky retreat than a backwoods shack."

-Norway Basin Camp, in Oregon's Wallowa Mountains, which offers backcountry skiing, no crowds, a new double-decker yurt and good food.

-Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, with lake and mountain views, easily accessible by the three-hour Whistler Mountaineer train from Vancouver.

-Lumiere in Telluride, Colo., a new luxury hotel at 9,500 feet that offers ski valets to "carry your gear off the slopes at the end of the day for overnight tuning."

-Sportsman's Lodge on Minnesota's Lake of the Woods, where you can go ice-fishing for walleye.

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Favorite independent bookstores in the Midwest

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ” Visiting a good bookstore is a great way to connect with local vibe and culture.

Midwest Living magazine's February issue lists five independent bookstores around the region with cozy corners, author events and good selections.

They are Prairie Lights in Iowa City, Iowa, http://www.prairielights.com, Town House Books in St. Charles, Ill., http://www.townhousebooks.com, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Milwaukee, http://www.schwartzbooks.com, Common Good Books in St. Paul, Minn., http://www.commongoodbooks.com, and Watermark Books and Cafe in Wichita, Kan., http://www.watermarkbooks.com.

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Napa Valley Mustard Festival, Jan. 31-March 28

NAPA, Calif. (AP) ” When the wild mustard blooms in Napa Valley, it's festival time.

The Napa Valley Mustard Festival, entering its 16th season, takes place Jan. 31-March 28 in the region about an hour north of San Francisco. Events celebrate Napa Valley's culinary and agricultural bounties and range from art shows to tastings and demonstrations to high-end dinners and of course, mustard and mustard recipe contests.

The festival kicks off Jan. 31 with Mustard Magic at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. The evening will include a visual art competition, silent auction, teaching kitchen and performance art in which famous European paintings will come to life.

Later in the season, The Marketplace will be held March 14-15 at the Robert Mondavi Winery. The schedule includes a juried art show, live music, radio broadcasts, and celebrity chef cooking demonstrations.

Details and ticket information for these and other events at http://www.mustardfestival.org.

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Looking ahead to summer trips to national parks: Reservations, Web sites, guidebook

NEW YORK (AP) ” If you're thinking about a trip to a national park next summer, you may want to start researching your itinerary now. Campsites and cabins can be secured up to six months in advance at http://www.recreation.gov and the National Park Service has a wealth of free information online for individual parks.

If you're looking for a guidebook, Fodor's has just published its 13th edition of "The Official Guide to America's National Parks" ($18.95), with listings for 391 national parks, including scenic trails, battlefields and other historic sites. The book is organized by state, but also includes sections on U.S. territories in American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where the San Juan National Historic Site preserves Spanish colonial fortifications dating to the 16th century.

The book also includes listings by category to help you find parks related to special interests. For example, a list of African-American history sites includes the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Kansas, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Georgia, the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri, Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park in Louisiana, the Tuskeegee Institute National Historic Site in Alabama and the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington D.C. There are also listings for sites related to archaeology and paleontology, battlefields, Civil War, Hispanic heritage, women's history, presidential history sites and volcanoes, caves and hot springs.

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New AdventureMaps for Baja from National Geographic

WASHINGTON (AP) ” Two new maps for the Baja region of Mexico are out from National Geographic, one on Baja North and one on Baja South, offering information for adventurous travelers who need details on terrain, local routes, ferry routes and even locations for gas and diesel stations.

They are part of National Geographic's AdventureMaps series, which also include maps on Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama. A new map for the Yucatan will be released in early 2009.

The Baja maps, which are printed on waterproof and tear-resistant material, together cover the entire Baja peninsula and include detailed insets of Mexicali, Ensenada, Tijuana, La Paz, San Jose Del Cabo, Cabo San Lucas and the Cabo Resort Corridor. They can be viewed online at http://www.natgeomaps.com/bajanorth.html and http://www.natgeomaps.com/bajasouth.html and run $11.95 each or $19.95 for the pair.

The maps also show government facilities, UNESCO World Heritage sites, parks and nature reserves, and locations for surfing, diving fishing and sailing.

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Trains between NYC and Atlantic City to begin Feb. 6

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) ” On weekends starting Feb. 6, you can take the train from New York City to Atlantic City.

The Atlantic City Express Service, or ACES, will offer round-trip train service from New York's Penn Station with a stop in Newark along the way.

The ticket includes shuttle service to Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Caesars Atlantic City and Harrah's Resort.

One-way fares for the two-hour trip are $50 for coach and $75 for first-class.

Two-level NJ Transit cars will be outfitted with leather seats, a private lounge, and food and beverage kiosks for the route. First-class passengers will receive food and beverage service.

Previous rail service, Amtrak's "Gamblers Express," ran for about six years and failed to turn a profit.

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Advice on African safaris: Where to go, what you'll see, trends and price range

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) ” For most Americans who take an African safari, it's a once-in-a-lifetime adventure planned well in advance. If a safari is on your dream list, whether you hope to go in six months or two years down the road, here are some things to consider from Mark Nolting of the Africa Adventure Co.

Nolting says two of the top countries for wildlife safaris in Africa are Botswana in Southern Africa and Tanzania in Eastern Africa, "but the experiences are completely different in the two areas." In Botswana, where he said most safari camps and lodges are operated by private concessions, "you've got tremendous wildlife, such as huge herds of elephants, but you may be in an area of 50,000 acres that only allows 42 people in at one time. You're able to go out in the bush and explore it the way people did a couple hundred years ago with nobody else around."

In contrast, in Tanzania, "national parks can be crowded," but the scenery is spectacular, including Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti plains, and the Ngorongoro Crater, which is populated by wildebeests, zebras, and many other animals.

Safaris are available in many other African countries as well, from Kenya to Namibia, but the emphasis is different depending on location. In Rwanda and Uganda, for example, trips center around gorilla-trekking, Nolting said.

Safari trends for 2009 include voluntourism and ecotourism. More customers are looking to spend part of their trip volunteering in a school or village, or "sometimes they want to go in and see a project, then they come home and donate towards it," Nolting said. In addition, "we're seeing a greater interest in community-based eco-lodges. This has really taken off all over the continent. A lot of people want to go to properties where the community benefits from tourism and where there is a very small ecological footprint" because of efforts to use solar power and other renewable resources.

Nolting noted that not all safaris are luxury trips. He said safaris can range from under $300 per person, per night, including accommodations at a tent camp, fees, and game drives, right up to a five-star experience of $1,700 per person per night, "where the most work you do is lift up your hand for another gin and tonic."

The Africa Adventure Web site http://www.AfricanAdventure.com offers a chart showing the best months to go on safari to the top 30 or so parks in Africa and what wildlife is found there. Rainy season is best avoided in some countries, such as April and May in East Africa, but in others the weather is fine year-round, Nolting said.

Nolting, whose company's U.S. offices are in Florida, is just out with the seventh edition of his book, "Africa's Top Wildlife Countries" ($29.95).