Rudy's Stocking
Rudy gets an assortment of holiday gifts from the Savvy Traveler staff.
Q&A I -- Where You'll Be for New Year 2000
Rudy talks with callers about their plans for the New Year leading into the next millennium.
Biking the Himalayas
This is a time of year when many of us travel to re-connect with family or a place where we grew up and once called home. Earlier this year reporter Samita Paul returned to India, her family's homeland, and biked along a road that's been called the most dramatic alpine route in the world, running from Lay to Mahnallee in the Indian Himalayas. This is the story of her journey.
Deal of the Week
Remember youth fares? If you do, you're almost as old as I am. More than 20 years ago, airlines let passengers in their late teens and early twenties travel on a stand-by basis for next-to-nothing.
Well, AirTran the airline that used to be ValueJet is bringing back the past, at least for a limited time. AirTran calls it an X-fares promotion. Through the end of February, travelers between the ages of 18 and 24 can fly stand by on any non-stop flight for $35 each way. That means if there are any seats available after full-fare passengers board, you're on. Just show up at the counter at least an hour before departure with a government-issued, photo ID. AirTran serves a lot of major cities, including Atlanta, Orlando, Washington, Chicago, and Dallas, so this is a Major Deal.
Now, there are still SOME special youth fares around. Fly during non-peak travel hours on the shuttles between New York and either Washington or Boston, for example, and if you're under 25, you'll pay $89 one way. Grown up fare: $202. But as far as I know, AirTran is the only one offering such low fares on a stand-by basis on all their non-stop flights.
Cheap travel for people a lot younger than I am on AirTran that's my Deal of the Week.
Q&A II
Rudy takes general caller questions, and mentions:
Planning vacations for senior citizens:
AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) 800-424-3410
WorldWide Travel, Senior Tours to Europe: 919-469-5300
Canal BargeTours:
Kemwel's Premier Selections: 800-234-4000
Le Boat Inc.: 800-922-0291
The British Tourist Authority: 800-462-2748
Home Tours International: 800-367-4668
To send a car from the US to Britain:
--Jamar Liner Agencies: 44-1392-214-116; http://www.Jamar.co.uk/services.htm
--Havas Packing and Shipping: 44-1342-825541; e-mail: freight@havas.co.uk
Christmas in England
For this holiday season, the Savvy Traveler's Karen Brown decided to flee the hectic life of Philadelphia for a Christmas in the English countryside. Searching for a rustic getaway, she and her husband headed north to the county of Yorkshire, just a few hours from Scotland. As we hear in this postcard, she stumbled on a scene from the last century and learned that some old world traditions are alive and well.
Next Week on the Savvy Traveler
We face the challenge of keeping Yosemite visitors well-fed -- sometimes it means coming to terms with the more permanent residents,
"That's a real thrill, if you ever want to let a bear out of a dumpster. No need for coffee that day."
The thrills of cooking at Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel and we hear about what might be the oddest tourist attraction in America,
"A thousand nuclear blasts went off there... a hundred of them in the open air. It's the most bombed place on the planet."
A tour of the Nevada test site in next week's edition of the Savvy Traveler. We'll do a little time travel back to the age of the cocktail, and hear your travel resolutions for 1998 in the New Year's edition of the Savvy Traveler.
If you want your very own copy of The Savvy Traveler, order an audio cassette. It's easy. Just call 303-823-8000. The price is $15. As Rudy says, it's a steal.
