1. Caribbean cruise
2. Cancún, Mexico
3. Riviera Maya, Mexico
4. Mediterranean cruise
5. Rome
6. Mexico cruise
7. Montego Bay, Jamaica
8. Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos, Mexico
9. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
10. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
SOURCE: Travel Leaders' 2008 Fall Travel Trends Survey
Travel Reading
France: A Traveler's Literary Companion
256-page paperback,
$14.95, Whereabouts Press
Most guidebooks give basic information on where to stay and eat and what to do with a smattering of history. This book, part of a series of Traveler's Literary Companions, is different. It uses 21 stories, many fiction, to explore France. It starts in Paris, goes to the suburbs and then into the countryside, ending with the Tour de France and a lottery player's dream of owning houses scattered across the French landscape. The collection contains stories by a number of renowned writers that include tales about dogs, vestiges of war and a mystery taking place on barges on the Seine. Some are funny and others are sad. Most of the stories are translated into English for the first time.
Travel Gear
Swiss Army's new EvoGrip knife comes in yellow
Swiss Army knives are usually red, but the new EvoGrip 18 offers consumers a bright yellow rubber grip inlay. The $60.95 knife has 11 implements, including a 2.5-inch blade, double-cut wood saw and self-sharpening serrated scissors that combine to offer 15 functions. It's a good thing to pack in check-in luggage or bring along on an extended car trip.
On the Web
New platform for short-term rentals
Roomorama.com, is a new peer-to-peer online platform for short-term rentals. Launched only in New York City at the present time with Boston, Chicago and Toronto coming soon, the site offers alternatives to cookie-cutter hotels, with a range of apartment and room rental options at different price points. It includes a chance for people to rent out their own properties; accessible host profiles; and a community review system where users can rate each other and vouch for friends.
Booze Travel
Magazine lists top brewery tours
The latest issue of Draft magazine offers some suggestions for the nation's best brewery tours. It lists the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee as the most family-friendly because it offers a fish fry and polka dance on Fridays in addition to its excellent tour. For details, visit www.lakefrontbrewery.com. The publication lists the Stone World Bistro and Gardens in San Diego (www.stonebrew.com) as most romantic. The setting of the brewery provides the romance with the Stone restaurant and beer garden next to the brewery. The best guys' tour is at the Capital Brewery in Middleton, Wis. (www.capital-brewery.com), which offers six to eight 3-ounce samples of one of the brewery's 15 brews. The "best beer for your buck" tour is at the Newport Storm in Middletown, R.I. (www.newportstorm.com), where one of the founders gives the 45-minute tour. Free samples are offered to anyone who takes the tour. The magazine rates Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis (www.anheuser-busch.com) as the best mass-production tour.
Currency chart
What your dollar buys
Rates paid domestically for each dollar changed. These figures are intended only as a guide. Rates may be more favorable abroad. (As of Sept. 24)
Argentina (peso) 3.1
Australia (dollar) 1.2
Brazil (real) 1.8
Canada (dollar) 1.0
Chile (peso) 542
China (yuan) ... 6.8
Denmark (krone) 5.1
Egypt (pound) 5.5
European (euro) 0.68
(Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain)
Great Britain (pound) 0.54
Hong Kong (dollar) 7.8
India (rupee) 46
Indonesia (rupiah) 9,333
Israel (shekel) 3.4
Japan (yen) 106
Mexico (peso) 10.8
New Zealand (dollar) 1.5
Norway (krone) 5.6
Philippines (peso) 46
Poland (zloty) 2.3
Russia (ruble) 24.9
Singapore (dollar) 1.4
South Africa (rand) 8.2
South Korea (won) 1,153
Sweden (krona) 6.6
Switzerland (franc) 1.1
Taiwan (dollar) 32
Thailand (baht) 34
Venezuela (bolivar) 2,147.5
Source: Yahoo! Finance
