“Guided walks in London, Rome, Paris, Dublin, New York and San Francisco are now available on increasingly popular iPods, but a live tour can provide a much richer experience…

Or so says Paul Bennett, owner of the highly acclaimed Context Tours, who maintains that “there’s no substitute for the impromptu interaction with a knowledgeable and personable guide — best of all, one with a Ph.D. in the topic! Socrates had it right…

When you can ask questions and engage in a real dialogue, learning happens.”…

On a guided walking tour, travelers are not only listening, but also seeing, hearing and feeling….
Most guides are constantly researching and thinking of clever ways to explain historical background and current happenings in a city.
If a new building is going up, they know about it. If a place has just been renovated, they will tell you why and how.

Unlike the voice on the iPod, live guides live right in the city and know the enchanting alleys and shortcuts. After the overview a guided walk provides, it’s much easier to return to places along the way. And walkers learn a lot while they are strolling along.

The tours themselves also provide entertainment. On a route through Dickens’ London, a guide, fully costumed in a long dress and bonnet, will act out scenes from novels like “Oliver Twist.”

On a tour of Rome’s Forum and Coliseum, you may go to a special panoramic location with a knockout view of the ancient city’s temples, palaces, courtyards and government houses.

On the French Revolution Walk in Paris you may stop in front of Le Procope, the café where Voltaire, Robespierre, Marat, Ben Franklin and others often met, and be treated to rich, anecdotal history. ” (via msnbc.msn ) by Emilie Harting (FORBES TRAVELER)

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“Actor Robert Wagner, who appears occasionally on CBS’ Two and a Half Men, chronicles his six decades in show business in his bestselling memoir Pieces of My Heart, which will be released in paperback on Sept. 15…

He spent part of the 1960s living in Italy and France but now resides in Aspen., Colo., with actress Jill St. John, his wife of 19 years…

Q: Where have you been recently that you liked or were surprised by?
A: I was in Beaune (in the Burgundy region). I had driven through there before but this time was a tremendous experience. I was really taken by it. I love the French country.

I was able to appreciate it and accept it more this time. Some friends of ours asked us to go with them and this one man is very much into wine. He was able to open some doors for me at cellars that were incredible. I hadn’t been aware of those wines in that part of the world. I stayed at L’Hôtel de Beaune. It was just wonderful. I’m not very good at those long dinners. I’m more of a bistro and country cooking (man).

That’s what I like — simplicity… and this time was such a simple travel experience for me and that always makes it better.

Q: What’s the best place you’ve ever visited?
A: I lived in Saint Paul de Vence, France, for a year in the 1960s. What did I do? I lived. I drank it all in. I took it into my soul. I did a movie. I had given up my apartment in Rome. Oh, it was a wonderful time. I lived at La Colombe d’Or and I never thought that would happen to me.

David Niven had introduced me to the hotel and I had heard about it. I got to know the people who ran it, the Roux family. I just loved it there. I felt so at home and they were so warm to me and nice. It was a great privilege to be able to stay there for that length of time. I’ve been back several times. It’s very romantic.

I was back there with my (second) wife (Marion Marshall), who is the mother of my daughter Katie. I was back there with Natalie (he married actress Natalie Wood twice) and with Jill. That whole valley is so captivating and the warmth and feeling of the people and the feeling of life is there. I had no obligations then.

Natalie and I had divorced and I was kind of on my own. And then Marion and I went there. Timing is it. It just worked for me and I was able to take it in, thank God.
Now all of these places have changed so much because of the people who have found them and go there. It’s just become overpowering. The thing about traveling for me is the culture and being able to engage yourself in it. You find that the basic needs and wants and caring are all the same, particularly when you see people with children and young people.” ( via usatoday.com) by Kelly Carter

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The prize is to be awarded to five  separate entrants and consists of round-trip airfare to Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, Paris or Shanghai…

and three nights hotel stay  in the selected destination…

Each winner will be allowed to choose a single destination from the five cities listed above.

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to enter to win a trip to to Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, Paris or Shanghai

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN/ ends 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 0 8/31/09

From Continental Airlines and advocate.com

“Paris museums house some of the best collections in the world, but they aren’t cheap dates. Entry to the Musée d’Orsay costs 8€ ($11.50), the great Louvre is 9€ ($12), and the Centre Pompidou is 12€ ($16). These admission fees can add up if you’re planning to visit more than one museum, and especially if you’re paying for a whole family.

But there’s good news: About 22 museums offer free entry every day. And the French government also subsidizes free days and nights at an even longer list of attractions. A complete rundown of these cultural freebies can be found at the Parisinfo website, and some of my favorites are listed below.

Free Every Day: Entry to see the permanent collection of these museums is always free. There may be a small charge for temporary exhibitions.” (via current.newsweek.com ) by Meg Zimbeck

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From The Cheeses of France

Round trip airfare for 2

5 day/4 night hotel stay in Paris

A wine and cheese tasting dinner at a Paris restaurant

$500 in spending money

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BREAKING NEWS!

France, Spain, and Italy
New York – Barcelona    $149*
New York – Madrid        $149*
New York – Nice            $149*
New York – Paris           $149*
New York – Milan          $149*
New York – Rome         $149*
New York – Pisa            $169*
New York – Venice        $169*
New York – Malaga       $181*
New York – Catania      $219*

Other Countries
New York – Brussels       $149*
New York – Zurich          $149*
New York – Frankfurt      $149*
New York – Munich         $149*
Philadephia – Frankfurt   $149*
Houston – London          $149*
New York – Copenhagen $149*
New York – Edinburgh    $149*
New York – London        $149*
New York – Manchester  $149*
Houston – Amsterdam    $149*

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All fares displayed are one-way based on a round-trip purchase and include the fuel-surcharge.
Fares are valid for departures through May 15, 2009.
You must book by March 11, 2009.
You are allowed one free stopover in Paris in each direction, which means that if you fly elswhere than Paris, you can take your connecting flight several days later at no extra charge.

If you want to know about

-The Secret Hotels of Tuscany,
-How to Eat in London and Gain Pounds,
-Paris at a Price That’s Right,
-Greece – Online Trip Coach,
-Eat Like a Local in Barcelona

or many,many other topics from Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel Online
click red link below

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“So you’re avoiding a whole continent because the dollar has been reduced to the value of Monopoly money? Rather than miss out on Athens’s Parthenon, Paris’s Eiffel Tower, or London’s rainfall, why not approach a European vacation as a budgeting challenge? Stretching those dollars requires an open mind, a dash of adventure, and, in some cases, the flexing of long-forgotten travel muscles. Rediscovering that adventurous travel spirit—rather than coasting from one luxury hotel to another—can bring you much closer to what makes a destination special.

Get cultural, go to concerts, use funky new urban transit, and learn to laugh at the five-star experience (do you really want to fly 4,000 miles to watch a flat-screen TV in your room?) Eat the freshest local food at some of the world’s best markets, and hit beaches that don’t make it into gossip magazines (on this side of the Atlantic, anyway).

It helps, of course, to stay clear of London and Paris, which have become staggeringly expensive even without the miserable exchange rate. But if you can’t stay away, we’ve got tips for those dollar-devouring shark pools, too … ” ( Via www.msnbc.msn.com and Concierge.com ) by Ralph Martin

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“AS strong euros and pounds continue to push the price of European vacations higher for Americans, the best strategy to keep travel costs down may be to hedge.
Like portfolio managers who carefully balance out their riskiest investments with safe bets to minimize their exposure to swings in the market, Americans planning trips to Europe this summer can minimize the cost of their vacations, should the dollar drop further, through careful planning now.

One of the most common ways is to buy an all-inclusive vacation like a cruise or packaged tour. Prices of such trips are typically set as much as 18 months in advance so they can be printed in brochures. Travelers who buy these trips lock in the price of their vacations, essentially shielding themselves from any price increases caused by currency fluctuations.

For example, Collette Vacations is offering an eight-day London and Paris package in July for $1,999, or $3,044 with airfare from New York. The dollar has dropped about 15 percent against the euro since the company set those rates more than a year ago. As a result, those customers received a built-in discount.

European cruises similarly stretch the dollar, and you can also pay for onboard purchases like spa treatments and shore excursions in dollars.

“If anything, the decline of the dollar has strengthened the attractiveness of an all-inclusive cruise product such as ours,” Ana Figueroa, director of business development for Amadeus Waterways, wrote in an e-mail message. Already, she added, the company’s summer river cruises in Europe are full.

It’s possible to hedge without going the all-inclusive route, simply by prepaying as much as you can — for things like hotel rooms, airfare and car rentals — before leaving the United States.
“The more you can buy in advance, the better,” said Assen Vassilev, co-founder of Lessno.com, an online travel agency that specializes in discount trips to Europe. By prepaying in dollars, he said, “you’re not exposed to fluctuations in the euro” and travelers can also “avoid international fees from credit cards or having to pay exchange fees.” By Michelle Higgnes ( via www.nytimes.com)

Pointswizard.com Spin: to read more click here

Win an exciting, entertaining and unforgettable five-night trip to Paris from NWA WorldVacations!

With a vacation package to Paris from WorldVacations, you may find yourself surveying the view from atop the Eiffel Tower, strolling the Champs Elysees or perusing the Louvre.

Simply register below from April 1-30, 2008, for a chance to win this fantastic vacation!

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• Roundtrip coach-class airfare via Northwest Airlines® to
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You may not know it, but Hampton is proud to be the Official Hotel sponsor of USA Cycling. So proud in fact, Hampton and VERSUS want to sponsor you and a loved one on the cycling trip of a lifetime: Book a room online by 05/15/07 and you could win a trip for 2 to Paris to watch the finale of the Tour in person this July.

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
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