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10 Top Head Trips

By Christo= pher=20 Reynolds
January 11, = 1998

Sure, you could go lie by the beach for a few days somewhere on = your=20 next vacation. But this year is also your chance to see = Siberia with a=20 scientist, Chichen Itza with a museum curator, baseball with the=20 Smithsonian, Petra via private jet.

Those are a sampling from the hundreds of tours offered to the = thinking=20 traveler by museums, other cultural institutions and for-profit = tour=20 operators. Having recognized educational and cultural travel as a = growth=20 field, those organizations have been steadily adding alternatives = to=20 the marketplace.

For the last four years, this section has run a January roundup = of 10=20 top tours sponsored by museums. This year, we=E2=80=99re relying on = the same expert=20 for our top 10 trip picks=E2=80=93Ann H. = Waigand, publisher=20 of The Educated Traveler newsletter=E2=80=93but we=E2=80=99ve = broadened the field=20 to include all thinking trips, no matter the sponsor.

Tours are in chronological order. Prices listed here are = per person,=20 presuming double occupancy, and are subject to change. Some prices = include=20 many meals and excursions, some don=E2=80=99t. Also bear in = mind that tour=20 operators generally reserve the right to cancel=20 or change itineraries.

(Every year, Waigand lists hundreds of thinking trips in = a Directory of=20 Museum-sponsored Tours and a separate Directory of Special Interest = Travel.=20 The directories come with the cost of a subscription to The = Educated=20 Traveler, P.O. Box 220822, Chantilly, VA 20153; telephone [800] 648-5168. Cost is $48 = yearly=20 for six issues.)

Insights to the Ancient Maya

March 13 to 24. Sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania = Museum of=20 Archaeology and Anthropology. Price: $3,150 excluding air fare = to and from=20 Merida, Mexico. Most meals included. For more information, contact = Far=20 Horizons Archaeological and Cultural Trips at (800) 552-4575) = or the Tours=20 at the Women=E2=80=99s Committee, University of Pennsylvania = Museum of Archaeology=20 and Anthropology at (215) 898-9202).

Dr. Robert J. Sharer, director of the = University=20 of Pennsylvania=E2=80=99s excavations at Copan in Honduras (and = curator of the=20 museum=E2=80=99s American section), will lead this tour and take = participants into=20 the newly dug tunnels at Copan, which are currently closed to the = public.=20 Tours of Chichen Itza and Labna will be led by the directors of=20 the excavations there.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Carolina-Style

June 18 to 21. Sponsored by Smithsonian Study Tours. = Price: $725,=20 excluding air fare to Durham, N.C. Includes = meals.=20 Itinerary is basically a Thursday to Sunday long weekend, with = three games,=20 ending after the Sunday afternoon game. For more information, = contact=20 Smithsonian Study Tours; tel. (202) 357-4700; or check Web=20 page: http://www.si.edu/tsa/sst.

The topic of this domestic study tour is a change of pace = for the=20 Smithsonian: minor league baseball in America. Travelers go to the = ballpark=20 made famous in the film =E2=80=9CBull Durham=E2=80=9D and = attend presentations by experts=20 including Miles Wolff, the minor-league entrepreneur who bought the = Durham=20 Bulls (later sold) in 1980; and the real = =E2=80=9CCrash=E2=80=9D Davis, role model for the=20 part played by Kevin Costner in =E2=80=9CBull Durham.=E2=80=9D

Bali and Beyond

June 18 to July 4. Journeys of the Mind, a tour operator based = in Oak=20 Park, Ill. Price: $3,400, including round-trip air fare from = Los Angeles on=20 Singapore Airlines. Most meals included. For more = information, contact the=20 tour operator at (708) 383-8739.

You don=E2=80=99t often see a lot of private access in Bali, but this = tour is=20 chock full of it, as well as visits that highlight Balinese = arts and crafts=20 (including stone carvings, woodcarving, silver and gold, textiles, = music,=20 dance and even a stay at a hotel where a shaman is in residence). = There is=20 a lecture by the vice director of the Indonesian Academy of = Performing=20 Arts; and at the Krambitan Palace, travelers will get a private = nine-course=20 dinner and dance. Village dancers will perform the Tektekan Barong, = a=20 trance dance, accompanied by gamelan orchestra. Also includes four = nights=20 on the island of Sulawesi.

Island Hopping in the Cyclades: a Family Trip

July 2 to 18. Hellenic Adventures, a tour operator based in = Minneapolis.=20 Price: $3,995 to $4,385, excluding air fare to and from Athens. = Most meals=20 included. For more information, contact the tour operator at (800) = 851-6349=20 or (612) 827-0937.

This is a family tour in every sense: The leaders are Hellenic=20 Adventures owner Leftheris Papageorgiou, his wife, Jane, and = their son,=20 Alexandros (age 12). There=E2=80=99s a good mix of activities on = this tour=20 (essential when traveling with children), such as holding a = footrace at the=20 original Olympic site; visiting the oracle at Delphi; sailing on a = 70-foot=20 motor-sailer (children might enjoy watching, or helping with, the = sails);=20 snorkeling, swimming, fishing, walking in and around on an island = itinerary=20 that includes Kea (a.k.a. Keos), Syros, Tinos, Mykonos, Delos, = Paros, Ios=20 and Santorini. There are five days of cruising in all.

The Wallace Line: Where East Meets West

July 25 to Aug. 18. Sponsored by the Museum of Cultural & Natural History, Harvard University. = Price: $7,980,=20 including air fares between LAX and = Singapore.=20 Meals included. For more information, contact Aslan Adventures at = (800)=20 325-0010 or the Museum of Cultural &=20 Natural History at (617) 495-2463.

I=E2=80=99m quoting directly from the tour description because the = concept is=20 expressed so intriguingly: =E2=80=9CAn exploration of the Malay = Archipelago by=20 Buganese Schooner retracing the imaginary line Alfred Russel = Wallace drew=20 along the transition zone between the characteristic fauna and = flora of=20 Asia and that of Australia.=E2=80=9D Alfred Alcorn, manager of = the museum=E2=80=99s travel=20 program, worked out the itinerary with a tour operator after it was = proposed by two post-doctoral researchers. The schooner is = 35 meters long=20 and includes 13 cabins.

Lake Baikal and the Great Siberian Taiga

Aug. 9 to 23. Sponsored by the California Academy of = Sciences. Price:=20 $3,295, plus $1,399 air fare from San Francisco to = Khabarovsk, Siberia, and=20 return flight from Irkutsk (=E2=80=9Cthe Paris of Siberia=E2=80=9D). = Meals included. For=20 more information, contact Bonnie Frey, California Academy = of Sciences in=20 San Francisco at (415) 750-7348.

Led by Pat Kociolek, Interim Executive Director of = the California=20 Academy of Sciences, and two scientists working at Lake = Baikal, Russia,=20 this tour is unique for the amount of time it spends on Lake Baikal = (which=20 is considered to be the =E2=80=9CRussian Galapagos Islands=E2=80=9D) = and the in-depth=20 nature of the educational program. Much of the travel, covering = about 250=20 miles, is aboard the Russian vessel M.V. = Zaisan, a=20 41-meter-long ship with modest accommodations for 20 = participants. Three=20 days are also spent on the Trans-Siberian Express railroad. = In addition to=20 the tour leaders, scientists and other experts in = geology, ichthyology and=20 Baikal seals also will be on board.

Tagging Whales: Mingan Island Cetacean Study

Aug. 10 to 17. Sponsored by the Science Museum of = Minnesota. Price:=20 $2,045, excluding air fare to and from Montreal. Includes most = meals. For=20 more information, contact Bill Allen, manager of adult = education and travel=20 programs at Science Museum of Minnesota; tel. (612) 221-4513.

Participants will observe and contribute to the study of = blue, finback=20 and humpback whales on Quebec=E2=80=99s Mingan Islands archipelago in = the Gulf of=20 the St. Lawrence River, an area considered to be a feeding place = for many=20 cetaceans (including whales and dolphins) of the North Atlantic. = Travelers=20 will help biologist Richard Sears photograph whales, collect skin = samples=20 (from whales, not travelers), and place VHF=20 or satellite tags. Particular attention will be paid to blue = whales,=20 a protected species that also is the largest species of cetacean. = Lodgings=20 are in a motel next to a field station near Labrador; fieldwork is=20 actually water work, spent in the gulf on 24-foot inflatable boats, = weather permitting.

Spain: Cradle ofthe Conquistadors

Sept. 17 to Oct. 1. Sponsored by Denver Museum of = Natural History.=20 Price: $6,395, including air fare to Madrid from Denver. Most meals = included. For more information, contact the museum=E2=80=99s = Voyages and=20 International Tours department at (800) 753-8272 or = (603) 445-2273.

Dr. Jane Day, Curator of Archaeology at the Denver Museum = of Natural=20 History, is a much loved and respected study tour leader. This tour = has a=20 wealth of intriguing visits. Among the stops: the = 25,000-year-old cave=20 paintings at Cuevas de la Pileta; Italica, birthplace of = emperors Hadrian=20 and Trajan and of poet Silius Italicus; La Rabida, the Franciscan = monastery=20 where Christopher Columbus took refuge after Ferdinand and Isabela=20 initially refused to finance his explorations; Medellin, birthplace = of=20 Hernan Cortes, conqueror of Mexico; as well as a stay in the = 16th-century=20 fortified palace that was home to Emperor Carlos V = for a year.

Bhutan

Oct. 9 to 25. Sponsored by The Textile Museum in = Washington, D.C. Price: $4,990, which includes meals, but = excludes air=20 fare to Bangkok, where itinerary begins and ends. More information=20 available from Geographic Expeditions in San Francisco at=20 (800) 777-8183.

Some people tack a few days in Bhutan onto a tour combining = Tibet and=20 Nepal. The Textile Museum devoted an entire tour to Bhutan in = 1995, a=20 natural choice of destination for the museum considering = that textiles are=20 considered Bhutan=E2=80=99s most distinctive art form. This tour is = a repeat of=20 that successful program with tour leader and Himalayan expert Bill = Jones,=20 joined by Textile Museum Research Associate = Mattiebelle Gittinger.

Journey to History=E2=80=99s Lost Cities by Private Jet

Oct. 27 to Nov. 20. American Museum of Natural History. Price: = $27,950,=20 including meals, excluding air fare to and from London. The private = jet is=20 a chartered 88-passenger Boeing 757 (an aircraft that commercial = airlines=20 usually configure with 283 seats.) The trip is sold out, but there = is a=20 waiting list, and travelers often have a good chance of getting in. = For=20 more information, contact Discovery Tours, the educational travel=20 department of the American Museum of Natural History in New York at = (800) 462-8687.

The American Museum of Natural History has long been known for = creating=20 truly innovative itineraries and this trip is definitely in that = tradition.=20 (It=E2=80=99s also the priciest of about 60 different itineraries = offered by the=20 institution this year, at prices beginning at $2,500 per person.) = This is a=20 rare chance for a single tour to include so many =E2=80=9Csecluded sanctuaries of ancient = civilizations.=E2=80=9D Among=20 them: Petra, Jordan; Sanaa, Yemen; Muscat, Oman; Angkor, Cambodia;=20 Vientiane, Laos; Katmandu and Tiger Tops Game Lodge, Nepal; Lhasa, = Tibet;=20 Beijing, China; Ulan Bator, Mongolia; and Samarkand, Uzbekistan. = Leaders=20 cover a spectrum of topics and include an expert on the evolution = of=20 mammals (senior vice president and museum provost Michael Novacek), = two=20 scholars of Asian art and archeology, and an expert in geopolitical = issues=20 and diplomatic history.

Save/Share: =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20

Heart=20 & Crafts Jan 11, 1998=20
Field=20 Trips for Fertile Minds Jan 09, 2000=20
10 Top=20 Tours for 2001 Jan 14, 2001=20
Tourism=20 With a Message Feb 15, 1998=20
Where = to=20 Set Your Easel, Whether Dabbler or Devotee Jan = 09,=20 2000

More=20 articles by Christopher Reynolds

More = articles from=20 the Travel section

California and = the world. Get=20 the Times from $1.35 a week

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