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| What's on the
Travel News Menu for YOU Today? |
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![]() Ronda LaRue and Matt Clements are your expert guides for this Montana wellness adventure. |
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| Montana's Centennial Valley, nestled in one of the last undeveloped wilderness areas left in America, is the ideal natural setting for a thoughtful visioning retreat in August 2010 hosted by international author and wellness guide, Ronda LaRue. While staying in a fully-restored ghost town and former ranch dating from the late 1800s, Ronda will take participants through two themes, "Remembering Who You Really Are" and "The Art of Living Your Destiny". For this inspiring retreat, she will be joined by her partner, Matt Clements, a Life Asset Planning Strategist and VisionQuest Co-Guide. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This exceptional six-day/seven-night week retreat is designed for men and women at a life crossroad or for those seeking to rediscover and reaffirm their own unique visionary genius and spirited life direction. The visioning retreat is non-denominational and deeply spiritual in nature with elements of meditation, movement, silence, vision quest communion with nature, the expressive arts, insight exercises, self healing, and mastery in the art of transition, transformation, and visioning dreams into being. |
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| The International Center for Earth Concerns facilities are located in Montana's Centennial Valley. |
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| This retreat at the world-class International Center for Earth Concerns, is held in a modern facility with Western-motif furnishings along with original Victorian antiques. There is a deep sense of American West history complete with renovated homesteader's log cabins and historic stage hotel, where early visitors to Yellowstone National Park stopped for the night. |
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![]() A cozy log cabin-style is one type of guest accommodation. |
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| For complete information about Ronda and Matt's August 21 to 28, 2010 visioning retreat, visit the website. About 20 participants will be accepted. Ronda's dedication to engaged self healing, inner guidance, and reclaimed wholeness has earned her Ojai SoulArts Center in California a growing reputation as one of the top 10 spiritual retreats in the world for this simple, fast, and lasting self-integration. Ronda is author of two books and numerous articles, and she is the founder and owner of The Center for Soul Arts, http://ojaisoularts.com and the SoulArts Process of Activated Awakening, www.rondalarue.com. Meet her in Montana! |
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| I have just come across a remarkable new collection of 20 tips for international subway travel by Journeywoman editor, Evelyn Hannon. I say "remarkable" because these tips are not only insightful and easily followed, but they also give plenty of cultural insight into subway travel possibilities in the major cities of a variety of countries worldwide. |
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Globetrotting women's travel guru and proud grandmother, Evelyn Hannon, is an avid fan of subway travel. "Taxis are generally far too insular for me," she says, "and they make too much of a dent in my pocketbook. Riding the subway I'm quickly immersed in the city I'm visiting and it provides me with the purest form of people watching. I find a great sense of satisfaction in being able to get from Point A to Point B without getting lost." Did you know that Tokyo and Mexico City have had designated subway cars for women for awhile now, and Rio de Janiero just announced this new service on its subway too? Did you know that Toronto has a designated waiting area where women can wait for the train? |
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| An additional insider tip from a New York woman really caught my attention, "As your train pulls into the subway station, and is slowing down, if you notice any empty or near-empty cars in an otherwise packed train, don't get into them. It means something's amiss. Tourists will pile in only to regret it during the ride, but natives know better. In the summertime, a near-empty car means the air conditioning is not working. In the winter time, (unfortunately) it's base camp for street people; other times, maybe you'll encounter unsavory characters or an unrelenting wheel squeal. Ladies, if a subway car is empty, make the counterintuitive move and join the throngs in the next car." Who'd have guessed? |
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US-based tour operator, Far Horizons Archaeological and Cultural Trips, www.farhorizons.com, has announced a unique 17-day "Path of the Crusades" overland journey from September 1 to 17, 2010. |
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| Beginning in Istanbul, participants will walk along the city walls built to secure the city from a land invasion but breached by the army of the Fourth Crusade. Travel south to Antakya, ancient Antioch, captured in the First Crusade. Cross the border into Syria and view many spectacular castles -- Krak des Chevaliers, Qal'at Saladin, Masyaf Castle, Chastel Blanc -- and places of worship created by the Crusaders. In Jordan, walk through Ajlun, the only purely Arabic citadel and the base for the forces of Saladin. And in Israel, see incredible remains of the crusader city of Akko, uncovered during recent exca-vations, and the many crusader-era sites in Jerusalem. |
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![]() Krak des Chaveliers, built by Crusaders in what is now Syria, is one of the most important preserved medieval military castles in the world. Far Horizons |
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![]() In 1204, Crusaders plundered the Byzantine Empire's greatest Christian church, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Turkish Culture and Tourism Office |
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| Tour leader for the trip is Professor Jonathan Phillips, a renowned specialist on the Crusades and author of a number of books on the Crusades. His articles have appeared in a number of British publications including BBC History, History Today, and The Independent. He is regularly consulted on radio and television programs as a leading expert on crusades history, and is a frequent guest on England's Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. In addition, he has contributed to several television programs for the BBC, The History Channel USA, and PBS. You may see much of the History Channel's The Crusades: Crescent and Cross on YouTube - with Dr. Phillips featured as one of the scholars. |
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| The full itinerary for this special adventure is on Far Horizons' award winning website. The price of US$9,995 (per person, double occupancy) includes round trip international airfare from New York to Istanbul and from Tel Aviv to New York, or clients who wish to fly independently will receive a discount of US$800 off the tour price. This tour is limited to 17 participants. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() The 13th century remains of the Damascus Citadel date from when it was used to defend Damascus against both Crusaders and Mongols. Far Horizons |
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| Since its inception in 1982, all Far Horizons itineraries have an archaeological, historical, and/or cultural focus. Reflecting on the Far Horizons philosophy of travel, owner Mary Dell Lucas comments, "As I've grown older, I've learned to appreciate luxury (as have the Far Horizons travelers who have repeatedly taken our journeys during many years) but I refuse to give up the sense of adventure. As our frequent travelers know, our trips reflect this winning combination which always includes a specialist who reveals the secrets and solves the mysteries of the sites we explore." |
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TripAdvisor Readers Share Their Top 10 Cities for Pickpocketing |
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| Pickpockets are a fact of life even in the friendliest of cities, and the people most favored for this annoying practice are usually tourists. Easily accessible handbags and wallets in obvious pockets make easy pickings, providing a compelling argument for wearing a money belt under your clothes to protect the majority of your cash and certainly your plastic cards and passport. It is best to keep only the day's mad money in your wallet or pocket at all times. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TripAdvisor recently announced its readers choice of the 10 most common pickpocket cities and places within cities, based on their vast travel experience. Consider yourself warned that you should take extra precautions when next you visit: |
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| 1. Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain |
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| Too large to serve as a traveling guidebook but perfect for coffee table browsing, a couple of the world's top travel publishers have produced two hardback keepers that are sure to educate, inspire, and generate conversation with guests. |
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| Off the Tourist Trail: 1,000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (ISBN: 978-0-7566-5399-6) is an elegant DK Eyewitness Travel book distilling the most captivating places to visit on every continent, from ancient and historical sites, festivals and architectural marvels to natural wonders, art, beaches and vibrant cities. |
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| If you liked Petra in Jordan, you'll love the amazing rock-hewn churches at Lalibela in Ethiopia. If World Music has appeal and you're looking for something different, try Essaouira's Gnawa and World Music Festival in Morocco. Diving at Australia's Christmas Island makes a great alternative to the better-known and busier Great Barrier Reef, and breathtaking Borobudur in Java certainly gives touristy Angkor Wat a run for its money. These are the type of "travel alternatives" you may expect to find in this one-of-kind book. As globetrotter, Bill Bryson, sums up in his Forward to Off the Tourist Trail, "Thanks to this estimable tome, I have discovered that there are even more eye-popping, life-enhancing sights and experiences out there than I had ever dreamed existed .... that is why this book is more valuable to the serious traveler than any book I have seen in a long time." |
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| With great writing from the best of Rough Guides' stable of authors, Earthbound: A Rough Guide to the World in Pictures (ISBN: 978-1-84836-194-2) captures the essence of travel: why we do it, what we get out of it, and the sheer richness and pleasure of the world at large. Rough Guides' photographers have traveled to every corner of the globe .... their mission to capture the spirit of a place, its people, its sights and monuments, its heart and soul. Mission accomplished! |
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| Earthbound is a visioning book, not a nuts and bolts volume, designed to make you smile, exclaim and even laugh out loud, peppered with mini-stories by the photographers and writers who encourage viewing the world with different eyeglasses. Here's a "snapshot" from Lydia Evans, photographer for The Rough Guide to Paris: "I started the morning in Oscar Wilde's bedroom, lying on the bed, trying to find an angle to shoot the gorgeous peacock wallpaper without too much reflection. Next, I popped by to see Mona Lisa. Tired of the endless tourists, she barely smiled. My brief was to turn the camera on the snappers! There were some puzzled expressions and a few huffs and puffs, but I stood my ground in a prime position up against the rope until I got my shot." |
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