Travel Briefs

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ 16-day “From Travemuende to Tromsoe” cruise, aboard the 164-passenger MS Bremen, June 29-July 15, 2009, sails up the Norwegian coast and circumnavigates Spitsbergen, home to polar bears.

Shore excursions (for an extra charge) include a water-plane ride in Bergen over fjords and a glacier, a cog railway train trip into the mountains to Flöyfjellet and a kayak trip in Geirangerfjord.

Prices run $6,930-$14,700 per person, double occupancy. Contact Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (Commack, NY; 877/445-7447, www.hl-cruises.com).

Adventure Life Voyages (Missoula, MT; 800/344-6118, www.alvoyages.com), an eco-based adventure travel company, is offering 11-day/10-night Antarctic expedition cruises aboard the Antarctic Dream through February 2009. The 78-passenger vessel provides passengers hands-on access to wildlife, glaciers and icebergs typically unreachable by larger ships.

Embarking and debarking in Us­huaia, passengers will visit the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. Pricing starts at $6,450 per person, double, plus a fuel surcharge of $400 per person.

The 352-passenger Spirit of Adventure will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth with cruises to Central and South America in 2009, among them the 18-night “High Andes & Galápagos Adventure,” Feb. 21-March 10, 2009.

Following Darwin’s path, passengers will sail from Valparaiso, Chile, to Peru and Ecuador before joining a 3-night cruise aboard MV Galapagos Explorer II in the Galápagos Islands. From £4,354 (near $8,693) per person.

Norway’s heritage will be the focus of a year-long program entitled “Year of Cultural Heritage in 2009.” It will include exhibitions, cultural tours, monument collections and school projects. The website www.kulturminneaaret2009.no/english will pre­sent a cultural monument of the week and an article of the month.

A nearly 1½-hour audiovisual presentation on a 40-foot screen, “Paris Story,” tells the history of Paris from its beginnings as a Roman settlement to a modern, world-class city. Headphones allow listening in English. The center includes a 3-D, interactive model of the city plus plasma screens on special topics.

Open every day of the year; showtimes hourly, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.  €10 ($13.50) adult, €6 child (6-18). Paris Story (11 Bis rue Scribe, 70009 Paris, France; phone 33 1 42 66 62 06, fax 66 62 16, www.paris-story.com), behind the Opera.

It’s In The Bag (888/261-8211, www.tagsforbags.com) sells a luggage strap that can be permanently attached to soft-sided luggage. You have it sewn into a seam.

The 2-inch straps come in red, yellow or black and fit any piece of luggage, from carry-ons to 30-inch Pullmans. You can have the straps printed with your name or a message or get one that has “Not Yours…Wrong One…Mine” embroidered on it.

The strap costs $19.99 for a plain color or $29.99, printed, with a shipping fee of $7.50 for up to three straps.

The Zen Class Nirvana Organizer unzips flat to mount onto a seat-back tray table on any plane or train. It has multiple mesh and zippered storage compartments, a cup holder, pen holders and a key chain clip to keep on-board essentials at arm’s reach.

Weighing 17½ ounces, it zips closed into a compact carry-on measuring about 8"x12", with a padded shoulder strap or two handles for carrying.

Priced at $39.99, it is available online at www.zenclasstravel.com (see the demo video) or phone 800/818-0381 for more info.

In Queensland, Australia’s, Carnarvon National Park, the Art Gallery is an area of sandstone overhangs with aboriginal art thousands of years old. Hundreds of handprints large and small, ochre and ash stencils, freehand paintings and engravings that depict aspects of indigenous life can be found off a 5.4-kilometer footpath through Carnarvon Gorge.

The park is home to platypuses, whiptail wallabies, yellow-bellied gliders and over 173 species of birds.

Visitors to Kyoto now can stay in any of eight restored machiya, the traditional townhouses built for citizens to live in.

They have been restored in the period style, with complex beams, plaster walls, courtyards and hanging scrolls. Modern amenities, such as kitchen appliances and modern bathrooms, have been added.

A stay at the 2-person Ishifudono-cho house costs ¥25,000-¥40,000 (near $237-$380) per night, depending on the day.

“Fandex Family Field Guides: Africa” by Alex Karis (Workman Publishing. ISBN 0761139788 — 50 die-cut cards, $9.95).