American Express Travel services and Princess Cruises are teaming up with an unbelievable offer for Alaska travel.  The package includes a $100 land excursion credit and a $75 onboard credit on select sailings.  The journey features a 5-night land package (pre- or post-cruise) incorporating a Denali tour, a tour director, and 11 meals.  Contact me at Wanderful Cruises for more information.

Stranahan House Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is more than just the old homestead of the city’s founding family.  Built in 1901 by Frank Stranahan, the oldest surviving structure in Broward County also served as a trading post, post office, and town hall.  Named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the museum located at the New River is the eastern anchor of River Walk downtown.  Tours are given daily at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. with an admission price of $12 for adults, $11 for seniors, and $7 for students and children.  If these walls could talk, what tales they would tell.

Under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s recently adopted consumer rule that enhances protections for air travelers, carriers and ticket agents have been required to include all government taxes and fees in every advertised fare since 26 January.  The airline price advertising rules apply  to both U.S. and foreign carriers as well as ticket agents.  Agents must ensure that airfares quoted to customers include all applicable taxes and fees, including transaction fees, when first communicating the price of the desired itinerary.  The following mandates apply directly to airlines:

1. Baggage allowances/fees that apply at beginning of customers’ itineraries must apply throughout their entire journey.
2. Airlines must allow reservations to be held at the quoted fare without payment or cancelled after purchase without penalty for at least 24 hours after the reservations are made.
3. Once full payments are made, airlines are not allowed to increase mandatory fees (baggage, fuel surcharge, etc.).
4. On all e-ticket confirmations, one of the following must be included:  (i)standard free baggage allowances and/or fees for carry-on, first and second checked bags, along with a note stating that additional discounts may apply depending on flyer-specific factors (e.g., frequent flyer status, military, credit card used, etc.); or (ii) a direct link to the applicable airline’s baggage allowance and fee information.

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Britain’s beloved author Charles Dickens.  To mark the event, a wreath laying ceremony will take place in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, at 11 a.m.  Dickens is buried in the South Transept of the Abbey.  The ceremony will include readings from his novels and his other writings by actor and director Ralph Fiennes, author Claire Tomalin and two of Dickens’ descendants.  Events will take place throughout the year.  Don’t miss the re-opening of the Charles Dickens Museum, based at his only surviving London home.  The Museum of London is also hosting an exhibition, complete with the desk and chair where Dickens wrote some of his greatest works.  The best of times await you.

Education, preservation and restoration are the goals at the Fargo Air Museum in North Dakota.  Their flyable aircraft exhibits include the F4-U Corsair, L 39 Jet, TBM Avenger, P 51 Mustang, Bell Helicopter and Duggy DC 3.  Plans are underway to build a second wing to house restoration projects complete with rivet stations, audio WWII vignettes, welding and aviation basics.   To raise funds for the new wing, the museum is raffling a 1964 Cessna Skylane.  Tickets are available for $50 each, and no more than 2,500 tickets will be sold.  The winner will be drawn on 30 June 2012.  Things will definitely be looking up for one lucky flyer.  Buy your ticket today.

What do you get when you combine a sailing yacht with a luxe liner?  Answer:  Windstar Cruises.  How does 2-for-1 cruising to BVI, Barbados, St. Maarten, St. Lucia or the Grenadines (to name a few) sound?  You must book before 24 February.  Contact me for more information at Wanderful Cruises for this and other travel deals by land or by sea.

The iconic Fabergé egg is the highlight of this year’s fine arts fair in Palm Beach, Florida.  Now in its 16th year,  the American International Fine Art Fair is the premier art, antique and jewelry fair in the United States, returning to the Palm Beach County Convention Center from 4 to 12 February.   Fabergé will present a special exhibition and lecture series – Faberge: The Rebirth of an Icon-by Geza von Habsburg.  Paying homage to the legendary Imperial eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé for the Romanov family, Fabergé has designed a collection of one-of-a-kind egg pendants, Les Fameux de Fabergé.  Each design illustrates a traditional Russian proverb.  Now if that doesn’t egg you on to attend, nothing will.

The Festival of Imbolc is an ancient Celtic tradition celebrated with fire, commemorating the holy day of Brigid, the goddess of fire, healing and fertility.  The fire symbolizes the increasing power of the light over the darkened winter months.  Other world festivals likewise celebrate the coming of the change in seasons (albeit a bit later), like Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain.  It’s a time of purification–so think about that spring cleaning!

Since the 1880s the folks in Lerwick, Shetland have celebrated Up Helly Aa, Europe’s largest fire festival.  Taking place on the last Tuesday in January each year, the event involves a series of marches and visitations, culminating in a torch-lit procession, the burning of a galley and dancing in various halls throughout Lerwick.  At least 11 halls will host revelers until the wee hours of Wednesday morning, a public holiday.  Thank goodness.

Amongst the hustle and bustle of cruise ships negotiating exotic ports of call in Tanzania, it’s easy to forget that its largest city, Dar es Salaam, means “haven of peace.”  You’ll likely experience that in the city centre at the botanical gardens.  Or perhaps during a stroll through the adjacent National Museum, home to antique tribal artefacts and World War One memorabilia.  And what better time to go than January and February, the short dry season.  Your haven is waiting.