F2 WHAT’S THEDEAL?
The week’s best travel bargains around the globe
LAND l Kalaloch Lodge, in Washington state’s Olympic National Park, and Lake Quinault Lodge, in the Olympic National Forest, are offering the End 2010With $20.10 promotion. Stay for two consecutive nights by Dec. 31 and pay $99 for the first night and $20.10 for the second night; package, with taxes, totals about $137 for two nights. Rate for one night at Kalaloch Lodge typically starts at $148 inmid-December, including taxes; rate at Lake Quinault Lodge usually starts at $114, including taxes. Book by Nov. 30. Blackout dates are Nov. 23-26 and Dec. 22-26. Info: 866-297-7367, www.
olympicnationalparks.com. l Pay for two nights at the Sands at Grace Bay in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, and receive a third night free. The promo runs through Dec. 21, except Dec. 4-9. Rates, and corresponding savings, range from$185 per night for a courtyard studio to $830 for a three-bedroomdeluxe oceanfront suite. Taxes of 11 percent and a 10 percent resort fee are extra. Info: 877-777-2637,
www.thesandsresort.com.
SEA
l Book a South Pacific cruise aboard theMS Paul Gauguin by Nov. 30 and receive shipboard credits of $250 or $500 per person. The $500 credit applies to the 14-night Marquesas, Tuamotus & Society Islands cruise, which travels round trip from Papeete, Tahiti. For the deal, depart Jan. 15 or April 16. Rates start at $5,797 per person
EZ EE
KLMNO
double, plus $28 taxes. The $250 credit applies to all other departures of the 332- passenger ship fromJanuary through June, including the seven-night Tahiti & Society Islands cruise, with eight departures. Rate starts at $3,997 per person double, plus $14 taxes. The credits can be used for shore excursions, spa services, onboard shopping, etc. Info: 800-848-6172,
www.pgcruises.com. l Reserve a Nile River cruise and Cairo hotel package with Lindblad Expeditions by Dec. 15 and save $700 per person. The deal is valid on six December-through-March departures of the 10-day Exploring Egypt itinerary. Price for 2010 sailings starts at $4,000 per person double after discount; in 2011, price starts at $4,490. The trip includes two nights at the Four Seasons, private air transfers fromCairo to Abu Simbel and fromAbu Simbel to Aswan, four nights aboard the Salacia, private air transfers fromLuxor to Cairo, two nights at theMena House Oberoi, 18meals, daily escorted sightseeing and taxes. Info: 800-397-3348, www.
expeditions.com.
AIR
l Cayman Airways will resume nonstop flights between Washington Dulles and Grand Cayman beginning Dec. 18. The seasonal service will run Wednesdays and Saturdays through April 30. Round-trip fare starts at $367, including taxes. A 14-day advance purchase is required; holiday blackout dates apply. For connecting flights, fare on other airlines starts at about $400. Info: 800-422-9626,
www.caymanairways.com. l Virgin America is offering discounted fares for flights
through Feb. 15. Sale fare from Washington Dulles to San Francisco or Los Angeles starts at $109 one way, plus $11 taxes, or $240 round trip. Other airlines arematching to L.A.; for San Francisco, fare starts at about $140 each way, including taxes. Cheapest fares apply to Tuesday andWednesday travel, and holiday blackout dates apply. Seven-day advance purchase required. Book by Nov. 15 at
www.virginamerica. com, or pay $15more by calling 877-359-8474.
PACKAGE
l The ultra-luxe Turtle Island Resort in Fiji is offering a free night’s stay, worth $2,499 per couple, and one free airfare fromLos Angeles to Nadi, a value of about $1,000 (air taxes of about $360 are extra). Rates at the all-inclusive private island resort start at $2,499 per couple per night.Minimum seven-night stay required; holiday blackout dates apply. Deal applies to stays through 2011; book byMarch 31. The island, where themovie “Blue Lagoon” was filmed, accommodates 14 couples in private beachfront villas. The package includesmeals, drinks, activities and taxes. Transport fromNadi, which costs $200 round trip per couple by boat or $999 via seaplane, is extra. Info: 800-255-4347,
www.turtlefiji.com.
— Carol Sottili
Submit travel deals to
whatsthedeal@washpost.com. Please include your phone number and e-mail address. Prices were verified Thursday afternoon when the Travel section went to press, but deals sell out and availability is not guaranteed. Restrictions such as blackout dates and advance purchase may apply.*
TRAVEL
Editor: Joe Yonan • Deputy Editor: Zofia Smardz • Art Directors: Marty Barrick, Alla Dreyvitser • Staff Writers: Andrea Sachs, Nancy Trejos • Editorial Assistant: Becky Krystal • Travel
Advertising: Joseph E. Teipe Jr., 202-334-6250 • To respond to one of our articles: E-mail
travel@washpost.com, call 202-334-7750 or write us: Washington Post Travel section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Manuscripts: Because of the volume of mail we receive, the Travel section cannot return or acknowledge unsolicited manuscripts, article proposals or photographs.
BEDCHECK Peaceful sleeping in Manhattan BY ZOFIA SMARDZ Here’s a hotel with the perfect
name: theDesmond Tutu Center. Come again, you ask? What’s
so perfect about that? Well, South African bishop
Desmond Tutu is all about peace (Nobel Peace Prize winner, you’ll recall). And so is the New York hotel and conference center that bears his name. Of course, in the hotel’s case, I
don’t mean peace as in the absence of hostilities and war. I mean peace as in serenity and stillness and a respite from the clamor and chaos that New York is all about. Peace is the last thing you expect to find in the city that never sleeps. Yet here on the grounds of the
General Theological Seminary, an 1817 Episcopal divinity school of gorgeous neo-Gothic brown- stones on the edge of Chelsea (across the street from the High Line! a block from Chelsea Mar- ket!), it’s all safe and restful peace, peace, peace. Fromthemoment you step off
10th Avenue into the minuscule but pristine lobby of the 60-room hotel, in a building on the west- ern end of the block-long cam- pus, a hushed cocoon of quietude enfolds you. Must be those thick old walls, or the power of a place devoted to prayer and reflection, but the noises ofGothamcease at the threshold and hardly disturb you again — even in our ground- floor room (how often does that happen in New York?). Said room was the Class of
1954 Room (a gift from the Rt. Rev.G.P.Mellick Belshawand his classmates, according to a plaque on the door, making me wonder: Was it once the right reverend’s dormroom?). It was a complimentary upgrade that put me in a goodmoodwith the hotel right fromthe start. Huge, especially by New York
hotel standards, at 275 square feet, it was dressed in the decor du jour for hip upscale proper- ties in the Big Apple and else- where: sleek, modern black fur- niture and all-white, all-cotton bedding capped by a fluffy duvet. I searched in vain for the “Afri- can accents” described on the Web site (that red throw pillow on the brown easy chair, per-
haps?). But themedieval accents — an arrow-slit window with stained glass detail beside an arched Gothic window with ro- sette — were on inescapable display in the spacious, light- filled and lovelywhite-tiled bath- room, which also sported beauti- ful porcelain fixtures. Way to make a 100-plus-year-old space look modern and up-to-the-min- ute. Up-to-the-minuteness,
it
seems, was much on the hote- liers’ minds. Besides free (strong!) WiFi and the requisite flat-screen TV, we were also equipped with a new-fangled double-spouted coffeemaker (it taxed our brains a bit in the morning, tillwe read the instruc- tions, duh), energy-efficient bulbs and vegetable-based, “cru- elty-free” soaps and toiletries in biodegradable containers. I was especially taken with the “waste- reducing” bath soap, which my friend Emily dubbed “soap with a doughnut hole.” An oval miss- ing its middle, it was “designed to eliminate the unused center of traditional soap bars,” according to the box. “I don’t know,” said Emily doubtfully. “I use my soap till it’s a tiny sliver that floats
DETAILS
The Desmond Tutu Center 180 10th Ave., New York 877-488-8869
www.tutucenter.org Rooms from $159, although rates vary widely depending on the date and day of the week.
down the drain.” Ditto. But efficient design is
the rage, after all. The hotel also boasts about heating and cooling the 260,000-square-foot build- ing with a geothermal system that reduces its carbon footprint by 1,400 tons a year. Wow. So virtuous. So green. But the greenness Imost cared
about was outdoors, in the semi- nary’s tree-shaded courtyard. Be- fore heading out to dinner (no food at the hotel, alas, but you’re in Chelsea, so no prob), we stepped out for a quick amble around the grounds,which cover a city block. The late-afternoon sun dappled thewalks and lawns with coins of light as we looked for the chapel that the desk clerk had saidwe could pop into. After a couple of false tries, we stuck our heads into what appeared to be the seminary library and asked a young man at the desk where to go. He hopped up from his chair
and led us a short way down the quad. “I’d say look for the build- ing that looks like a church,” he said, smiling, “but they all look like churches here.” So true. I gazed around the
leafy grounds, surrounded by the imposing but graceful brown edifices with their mullioned windows and arching entryways. It looked like something on an Oxbridge postcard. Nothing modern or up-to-the-minute about it. And hardly a scene you’d expect to find in themiddle of New York. So quiet. So still. So peaceful.
smardzz@washpost.com
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010
ACC-TUTUCONFERENCECENTER.COM The Desmond Tutu Center is on the grounds of aN.Y. seminary.
COMING&GOING
O’Hare at Thanksgiving? Pass theWild Turkey
Airports: No holiday Stressful travel is one of the
Thanksgiving traditions we observe each year. And the best way to handle the stress is to be prepared. You wouldn’t buy a turkey without knowing the head count for dinner, would you? The Air Transport
Association estimates that 24 million travelers will fly domestically in the last two weeks ofNovember, a 3.5 percent rise from 2009. That translates into insanely crowded airports— some more than others. A new report warns us which ones. Orbitz’s Insider Index ranked
Start a new holiday tradition by enjoying some very old ones.
THEHOLIDAYSTORIES PACKAGE 3 days/2 nights from$499* per couple includes Nightly accommodations at theWilliamsburg Lodge Daily breakfast
Historic Area passes for length of stay
Christmas DecorationsWalking Tour Tickets** $1oo shopping card†
SIXTH ANNUAL Comebe part of the story. Plan your stay at
colonialwilliamsburg.com
Indoor Snow • Festive Décor • Free Musical Light Show Overnight Stay • Happy Holidays Revue Show Tickets Breakfast at Starbucks®
Be part of the story.
*Starting rateper room is based on double occupancy and two~night stay with Sunday–Wednesday arrival at theWilliamsburg Lodge in asuperior guest room (one queen bed). Includes breakfast in hotel restaurant; continental breakfast at Woodlands. Pricing varies with room type. Package rateis higher forThursday–Saturday arrivals. Offer validNovember 27–December 31, 2o1o. Limited availability.Reservations are required.Taxes not included. Ratesare not applicable for groups or on negotiated group rates.
**Subject to availability.Reservations required. †The shopping card (a ColonialWilliamsburg gift card) is good at ColonialWilliamsburg shops, restaurants, spa, and recreation facilities but may not be applied to reducethe nightlyroom rate. One card per room.
1-800-THE TROP | TROPICANA.NET
So handy. So reliable. Home delivery. You, too,could have home delivery.
1-800-753-POST 1-800-753-POST SF SF
BRIGHTON & THE BOARDWALK, ATLANTIC CITY, NJ 08401 Certain restrictions apply.*Roomvalid Sunday-Thursdayonselect dates
November8–December 16, 2010.Excludes holidays.Rates arebased on availability and double occupancy and do not include taxes, occupancy and resort fees.
ALL FOR JUST $ 82!
Call 1-800-345-8767 and use the THOL10 code to book! For daily motorcoach service fromyour area call 1-888-275-1212.
Reporting: Andrea Sachs. Help feed CoGo. Send travel news to:
cogo@washpost.com. Bymail: CoGo, Washington Post Travel Section, 1150 15th St. NW,Washington, D.C. 20071.
CRUISE.COM
703-359-8888
OmegaTravel.com
The Internet’s Largest Cruise Specialist 877-535-2225
Open 7Days
Bahamas Cruise Celebrity Mercury • 9 nights
$449 p/p
Dec 11, 2010 • R/T from Baltimore Incl. port charges, cruise only. Govt taxes $64
the 10 busiest airports between Nov. 23-29, based on flight data from the top 100U.S. airports. Chicago O’Hare takes the ingloriousNo. 1 spot, followed by Los Angeles, Boston,NewYork’s LaGuardia, San Francisco,
Denver,NewYork’s JFK,Newark, Atlanta and, lastly, Reagan National. TheD.C. airport is a newcomer this year, bumping Seattle-Tacoma. Other changes: Boston is busier, Atlanta slower. Conversely, travelers flying in
and out of Akron, Ohio, or Nashville will find fewer crowds. Same deal at airports in Oakland, Orange County and San Jose, Calif.;Madison, Wis.; Chicago Midway; Providence, R.I.; Palm Beach, Fla., andHartford, Conn. The lesson CoGo learned:
When possible, fly to second-tier or alternate airports (Midway instead of O’Hare, for instance, Providence for Boston) or find newrelatives.
Germs can fly At airports, it’s so easy to pick
up someone else’s belongings— specifically, their germs. Ick, but also preventable. “Airports have a high volume
of people,” said Peter Sheldon, vice president of operations at CoverallHealth-Based Cleaning System, “and a lot peoplewho
are sick travel anyway.” Sheldon finds the highest
germ counts on food court surfaces, escalator handrails, elevator buttons and security bins, as well as in the concourse waiting area. To eradicate the unloved
microbes, he suggests, travelers should maintain their own sanitation department, including frequent handwashing (with soap), employing disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer, and keeping your hands away from your face and mouth. As a last resort, call in the mittens.
Travel ticker FromNov. 20 to Jan. 2,
passengers flying domestic on AirTran, Delta or Virgin America can access the in-flight Internet service for free. You can address your thank-you cards toGoogle. Info:
www.freeholidaywifi. com. . . . Humane Society International now offers travelers an inside look at its animal rescue programs with Humane Travels. The inaugural trip is to SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa, with one trip each in January and February. Info:
hsi.org/south africatrip. . . . In response to the recent terrorist threat involving cargo packages, passengers can no longer fly with toner and ink cartridges weighing more than 16 ounces. The ban applies to carry-on and checked bags on domestic flights and international flights into the United States.
©2o1oThe ColonialWilliamsburg Foundation
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