June 10, 2004 -- Time and again we remind our readers that travel does not require taking a second mortgage out on your house. With a few tips and tricks, one can always find an affordable vacation destination. Case in point, it's nearly winter across South America -- thus off-season and even more affordable.
Friendly Planet lives up to its name by providing a travel-friendly package to Rio and Buenos Aires all the way through April 2005. Although their July departure is already sold out, they have room on one to two trips per month from now til next spring, with costs starting from a low $899 for departures out of Miami per person if you book by August 31. (They were nice enough to extend the deadline from June 15 for you when we asked nicely.) Departures from New York City involve a $75 add-on.
For this, you get a ten-day/seven-night journey that takes you first to Buenos Aires, where you stay four nights, then to Rio for three. Included are flights on Varig from Miami, lodging in first-class hotels with private bath, daily "lavish" buffet breakfast, all transfers, and an "orientation drive" in both cities. Your hotel in BA is the downtown De Las Americas, in Rio the Luxor Regente, overlooking Copacabana Beach.
The Galapagos & The Incas
This fall and winter and next spring (ours, not South America's), Friendly Planet has a 15-day adventure to Peru, Ecuador & The Galapagos that starts from $2,799, or about $187 a day, that includes airfare and much more. They say you can save up to $800 per couple if you book this trip before August 16 for travel from October, 2004 through May, 2005. The trip includes Lima, Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Quito as part of its itinerary and includes the following: your roundtrip airfare (from Miami on LAN Peru/LAN Ecuador), intra-South American flights, lodging at first class hotels with private bath, a three-night Galapagos cruise, and 25 meals (13 full buffet breakfast, five lunches and seven dinners), as well as sightseeing and shore excursions. From New York City, add another $150 to the price.
Contact Friendly Planet at www.friendlyplanet.com or by phoning 800/555-5765 or 215/572-9594.
The Galapagos Islands are not yet full up with tourists, though it may seem that way to some visitors. The annual limit is 90,000 persons, but Ecoventura, which has been operating small-boat cruises there since 1990, says only 60,000 now visit each year. (That comes to just under 165 persons a day.) In any event, they want you to help swell those numbers by booking a cruise with them. You'll have to pay your own way to Quito, then purchase airfare from the Ecuadorian capital to the Galapagos, where you board the cabin cruisers Eric, Flamingo or Letty on eight-day/seven-night or six-day/five-night journeys through the islands. They can help you with the Aerogal reservations for your domestic transfers in South America.
Since we are now entering one of the High Seasons for fares, you might want to consider also the Low Season charges. The high season for Ecoventura is mid-June through August 29,from October 18 to 27, and again from mid December through May 1, 2005. Eight-day charges start from $2,195, six-day trips from $1,725. All prices are per person, double occupancy. The low season prices for eight days start at $1,865, for six days from $1,475. The rates include the cabin, all meals and snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, water, welcome and farewell cocktail party, guide service, shore excursions, use of wet suits, snorkeling equipment and sea kayaks, and transfers in the islands between the airport and boat. You also have to pay a $100 National Park entrance fee. No kids under seven allowed unless special arrangements are made. Contact them at www.ecoventura.com.