Site provides guidance on spiritual retreats
If you like to start a new year with a spiritual retreat, check out a site sponsored by the Roman Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, www.osb.org/retreats. It includes a directory of retreats in Benedictine monasteries in the U.S., Canada, France, Italy and Great Britain.
It is not necessary to be a Catholic to stay at these retreats, which are located in Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, California, New York , Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Vermont and many other states. There are five in England, and one each in France and Italy. Click on the specific link to find out more about the location that interests you.
Belmont Abbey in Hereford, England is one retreat site that welcomes both individuals or groups. Travelers making a private retreat stay in the abbey's guesthouse, Hedley Lodge, and are invited to take part in a round of monastic prayer in the abbey's church. Personal spiritual guidance can also be arranged.
Click on the time of year you want to go to find out what special retreats are being offered at that time; examples include an Easter retreat.
If you want to take advantage of the cheap fares of newer, international budget airlines but wonder about safety, go to the Aviation Safety Network's site, www.aviation-safety.net, which gives statistics on accidents by region and airline. Click on the date or title of a recent accident to learn all about it.
Or go to www.airsafe.com, which offers everything from a list of fatal events by airline, fatal events by aircraft, and airlines without fatal events. For something a bit less grim, there is also a Top 10 Safety Tips section.
Another good site for air safety is hosted by the International Aviation Safety Assessments Program of the FAA, www.faa.gov/safety/programs_initiatives/oversight/iasa. It offers accident and incident reports by aircraft, on-time reports and causes of delays, and even "unruly passenger" statistics.
In print
"Make the Most of Your Time on Earth: A Rough Guide" is compiled by the editors of Rough Guides and published at $29.95. This paperback of more than 600 pages covers 1,000 special travel experiences, any one of which could be the trip of a lifetime.
Ranging worldwide, the editors advise experiences such as turtle watching in Costa Rica, enjoying the Queen's Day Festival in Amsterdam, hiking in Corsica, walking on hot coals in Greece and walking on castle walls in Wales. It also covers great, unusual places to stay, from an ice hotel in Sweden to a yurt in Inner Mongolia.
The book is organized by regions of the world, so you can plan a general itinerary of each area. At the back of the book there is a handy listing of activities by country, in case you remember the activity but not the location. Each item is also referenced by number, with details on where to find more information.
The photos are wonderful, and make it hard to choose what adventure to take next.