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Visitors can view a few of Peru’s Nazca Lines from an observation tower, the Mirador, located along the Pan American Highway 20 kilometers north of the city of Nazca. The steel tower is 13 meters (39 feet) tall, and from the viewing platform at the top of the steps, the “hands,” “tree” and (a bit of a) “reptile” geoglyphs can be seen.
Maria Reicher used the tower during archaeological work in 1976 and donated it to the state for tourism use. Access is free.
In the UK, you can operate or ride construction machinery to dig for “treasure” or get hoisted in the Spindizzy at four Diggerland (phone 0871 22 77 007) adventure parks — located in Strood, Kent; Langley Park, Co. Durham; Cullompton, Devon, and near Castleford, West Yorkshire. (Some rides have height requirements.)
You can donate frequent-flyer miles to the Hero Miles program so that wounded, injured or ill military men and women who are undergoing treatment and need transport to a military or VA medical center, and their family members, can get free round-trip airfare.
A guided tour of the real-life locations in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest”) is available in Stockholm.
The 2-hour tour departs from the home of the main (fictional) character, Mikael Blomkvist, at Bellmansgatan 1, and ends at the Stockholm City Museum.
The two longest flight routes in the world — nonstops on A340-500 planes from Newark, New Jersey, to Singapore (9,500 miles in 18 hours) and from Los Angeles to Singapore (8,000 miles but 18½ hours due to headwinds) — will cease being flown by Singapore Airlines in 2013, as they are unprofitable. The airline still will fly New York-Singapore via Frankfurt and Los Angeles-Singapore via Tokyo on A380s.
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The UK’s first designated City of Culture is Derry, Northern Ireland, with more than 266 events scheduled in 2013, including sports, dance, theater, art, film, storytelling and historical reenactments. Most are free.
For example, the city will host the Highland Dance Festival in April. In August, the Derry Regatta will hold a month-long rally of traditional sailing yachts, and the Fleadh Cheoil na h’Éireann, the world’s largest festival of Irish music, will be held.
One of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art, the Longmen Grottoes Scenic Area in Henan province, in central NE China, houses more than 100,000 Buddhist statues, about 2,500 stelae and inscriptions and more than 60 Buddhist pagodas within man-made caves dating back as far as AD 493.
This UNESCO World Heritage Site is now open later in the day (7:30 a.m.-6:50 p.m., November-February, and until 7:50 p.m., March-October), allowing visits in the cool of the evening.
Lanzarote, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, is located 80 miles west of Morocco’s southern border with West Sahara. For planning an island visit, the website www.lanzaroteguidebook.com includes maps plus info on transportation, accommodations, finding a guide, dining, events, museums, attractions, festivals and climate. Download the info as a 51-page booklet for free.
