If part of the fun for you is planning your trip, or if just like to dream about crazy and unusual vacations that you might not even take, then you should definitely be reading the Specialty Travel Index, a directory of special interest travel. It costs just $10 a year for two issues (Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter).Here, you'll find listings of tour operators who provide almost every kind of travel experience you could want or imagine. Offerings run the gamut from A to Z--literally--with apartment rentals to zoology trips from the Amazon to Zimbabwe. Trips also cover the expenditure spectrum, from budget to tres luxe. If you're into food and wine, you might want to take a canal barge and culinary tour called La Belle Vie from Le Boat (www.leboat.com), a gourmet's tour of Tuscany (La Dolce Vita from Campioni Italiani di Veneto, www.campioni-italiani.com) or explore the intricate palate of Japan (A Taste of Elegance from Absolute Asia, www.absoluteasia.com.)Domestic travel is currently (and understandably) more popular then ever, so you might want to look into the following examples:
- Relics of the Revolution, a Colonial Tour of New England, from Americana Tours, www.americanatours.com
- Wagons Ho in Wyoming, Following in the Footsteps of America's Pioneers (in a covered wagon), from Wagons West, www.wagonswestwyo.com
- Land of the Ancients, Hiking the Historic Southwest, from Backroads, www.backroads.com
- Strike it Rich, Touring Alaska's Gold Rush Haunts (on bicycles), from Sockeye Cycle, www.cyclealaska.com