Road trips are always fun, but sometimes it’s also fun to incorporate less traditional means of transportation into your travels. Road Scholar, which specializes in educational adventures created by Elderhostel, has a batch of trips that explore locations in the U.S. with such transportation as vintage and modern trains, horses and paddle-wheel boats. The Best of Colorado’s Historic Railroads, for instance, is a nine-day/eight-night package that includes riding the Georgetown Loop Narrow Gauge Railroad, the cog railway to Pikes Peak, the Royal Gorge Railroad, the Cumbres and Toltec Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. There also are field trips to railroad museums. The trip is priced from $2,599 per person double occupancy. Covered are eight nights’ lodging, most meals, one expert-led lecture and 16 field trips. Read the details on all of the trips at http://tinyurl.com/p6y863k.
Rail trips the world over
If the idea of train travel sounds interesting, Vacations by Rail has a wide offering of trips around the world, and they’ve put together a Rail Travel Outlook that focuses on winter trips, including tips on preparing and packing for a winter train trip. There also are looks at new rail and rail/cruise packages being offered in 2016. A Cuba by Rail and Cruise package travels on Amtrak from New York to Miami, where you board a ship for a cruise around Cuba. There’s also a 14-day trip using Amtrak to check out five national parks: Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Arches and Canyonlands. And there’s a discussion of new rail routes in Europe. Read all about it at http://tinyurl.com/z55mlp5.
The ‘bests’ of 2015
The end of one year and start of the new one is always a popular time for “best-of” lists to surface, either recapping or predicting notable destinations and travel providers. Travel Weekly recently unveiled its Readers Choice Awards 2015. Among airlines, Delta was tapped as best domestic carrier, with Virgin Atlantic garnering the international honors. In the cruise line category, Princess was the winner for both domestic and Alaska cruising, while Royal Caribbean International was named best overall. Fairmont Chateau Whistler was named best ski resort, and Whistler also was named as best ski destination. Among tour operators, Tauck was named best for domestic escorted tours, and Globus was best for international as well as best escorted overall. Abercrombie & Kent was picked as best for Africa and also in the luxury category. Compare your favorites to theirs at http://tinyurl.com/p98ljlu.
Phil Marty is a freelance reporter.
