Travel: Departures
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THE tag 'Flights of Fantasy' that Goodwood Travel (0227 763336) uses to advertise its trips on Concorde achieves a certain reality with the release of the company's new brochure this week. It advertises the chance to 'fly' a Concorde simulator for two hours for pounds 675.
If you are prepared to let someone else pilot the real thing for you, the company offers Christmas shopping trips to Paris for pounds 635 (travelling both ways on Concorde) and New York for pounds 2,125 (one way on Concorde, returning by 747).
Shop in the US
A CUT-PRICE shopping trip to America is available from Flightbookers (071-757 2000). The Mall of America is the biggest shopping centre in the US and is only 10 minutes from Minneapolis-St Paul airport. In November, shoppers can fly in from Gatwick for a two-night stay for pounds 235, including accommodation.
The ultimate shopping expedition, however, has been organised by Belper Travel Centre (0773 832252). For pounds 699, you can travel to Bangkok (three nights), Hong Kong (two nights) and Manila (two nights). The price includes hotel accommodation and an hour on the ground in Dubai to take advantage of the duty-free bargains there.
Over from Dover
DOVER offers more exotic prospects than the short hops to Calais and Zeebrugge. Strand Cruise and Travel (071-836 6363) is selling space on Horn Line cargo ships that are bound for Martinique, Guadeloupe and Costa Rica. A return ticket costs pounds 2,300.
The company is promoting this route after Geest Line sold its passenger-carrying ships.
Auto America
A TOURIST in California without a hire car is regarded as a strange visitor indeed. For the many travellers who pick up rental cars on arrival at San Francisco or Los Angeles, Thomas Cook is bringing out On The Road Around California, a guide to motoring in the Golden State. The guide covers all the obvious tourist attractions, lists restaurants and wineries, and also deals with the procedures for anyone who wants to dip a toe into Mexico. The guide, price pounds 10.95, is on sale in Thomas Cook agencies and many bookshops.
Visitors who are changing planes en route to LA and have a choice of arrival airports should opt for Orange County (close to Disneyland) or Ontario for the ease of collecting the hire car. No bus transfers are involved, unlike the long transfer required by those collecting a car at Los Angeles International Airport.
Funway (081-466 0222) offers nine pre-planned fly-drive holidays around the US, including San Francisco to LA (11 days, pounds 598) and a 'Southern Music Trail' taking in Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans (15 days, pounds 649). These prices are for winter departures and increase from March onwards. Vehicle rental and hotel accommodation is included.
Music fans who prefer to fly everywhere can take advantage of an excellent fare from STA Travel (071-937 9962). Until 14 December, you can fly from Gatwick to Nashville and on to New Orleans for pounds 235 return.
Double Dutch
THOMAS COOK is offering a 'two for the price of one' scheme on KLM flights to Amsterdam. People buying pounds 100- worth of Dutch currency qualify for a voucher giving two flights to Amsterdam for the price of one. The offer is available for flights on the airline from Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Heathrow and Manchester. For further details, call Thomas Cook on 0733 335511.
Netherlands railways has closed its London office, but Dutch train tickets can now be obtained from Holland Rail (0962 773646), which is a private company.
French connections
AIR FRANCE will take you to Beijing and back for pounds 462, or Hong Kong (return) for just pounds 2 more. You have to book through Trailfinders (071-938 3366), travel from London via Paris, and come back by the end of the year. Two useful features of these tickets are that there is no minimum-stay requirement, and the date of the return journey remains flexible.
Travel bookshelf
THE Travellers' Bookshop, 25 Cecil Court, London WC2, recommends the following 10 books for armchair adventurers:
1. The Lost Heart of Asia by Colin Thubron (Heinemann, pounds 16.99).
2. Unsuitable for Ladies: an Antholgy of Women Travellers, selected by Jane Robinson (Oxford University Press, pounds 17.95).
3. Younghusband: the Last Great Imperial Adventurer by Patrick French (HarperCollins, pounds 17.50).
4. Thesiger by Michael Asher (Viking, pounds 20).
5. Travels in a Strange State: Cycling Across the USA by Josie Dew (Little, Brown & Co, pounds 15.99).
6. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard (Picador, pounds 9.99).
7. A Thousand Miles up the Nile by Amelia Edwards (Parkway Publishing, pounds 9.99).
8. The Dragon Kingdom: Journeys Through Bhutan by Lt-Gen Vas (Lancer International, pounds 10.95).
9. Old Calabria by Norman Douglas (Marlborough Press, pounds 10.99).
10. The Myth of the Explorer by Beau Riffenburgh (Oxford University Press, pounds 7.99).
Late availability
Metak Holidays (071-935 6961) 22 October, Gatwick-Northern Cyprus, seven nights, pounds 354.
Siesta Travel Europe (0642 227711): 22 October, 10-day/
seven-night trip by coach from the UK to Estartit (Costa Brava), pounds 99 based on four sharing a self-
catering apartment.
Jetset (071-436 6757): 24 October, Heathrow-Singapore and Penang, nine nights pounds 709.
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