Along with adventure trips, one of the fastest-growing segments of travel is the study trip, where the emphasis on learning-learning archeology, architecture, music, geology, zoology and just about everything in between.
Working with Travelearn, a company that specializes in study tours, Oakton Community College in Des Plaines offers several possibilities, among them a safari to Kenya in January and a January trip to Egypt, which includes a Nile cruise and tour of the pyramids.
Trips are accompanied by faculty members who, along with local specialists, lecture along the way.
For more information, contact First Class Adventures, Oakton Community College, 1600 E. Golf Rd., Des Plaines, Ill. 60016-1268; 708-635-1672.
NEW ZEALAND PASS One way to save money on bus travel throughout New Zealand is the Kiwi Coach Pass.
Passes start with one at $213 that allows seven days of travel in 11 days. Others are for 10 days of travel in 16 days, $247; 15 in 23 days, $227; 25 in 35 days, $407; and 33 in 45 days, $454.
The Kiwi Coach Pass includes a flight across Cook Strait, which separates the country`s two main islands.
Contact Mt. Cook Line, 9th Floor, 1960 E. Grand Ave., El Segundo, Calif. 90245; 800-468-2665 or 213-640-1200.
HOME EXCHANGES Interested in exchanging your home with someone in England? Get in touch with Home Base Holidays, a home-exchange agency.
It costs $50 a year to join the program and get your home listed in a brochure that is circulated among other members.
Membership also includes four Vacation Homes Unlimited booklets, which list British and European exchange offers.
For more information, contact Home Base Holidays, c/o Annlin Publications, Box 1562, Santa Clarita, Calif. 91386; 805-251-1238.
ROYAL TRAIN RIDE Here`s an elegant way to spend the Christmas holidays and ring in the new year-a trip aboard the Royal Scotsman train as it travels through England and Scotland.
The journey is divided into two trips: The first five-day trip, an English tour, begins Dec. 21 in London and includes destinations such as Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon and Yorkshire. The second five-day trip departs Birmingham, England, on Dec. 27, bound for Scotland, stopping at Stirling, Perth and Edinburgh, among other places.
Each five-day tour is $5,650 a person and includes accommodations on the train, meals on the train and at manor houses along the route and side trips to historic sites.
For more information, contact Abercrombie & Kent, 800-323-7308.
SAN FRAN HOTLINE Lodging San Francisco is a reservations service that represents a variety of accommodations in the Bay area. The list includes luxury hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns.
In addition to booking lodging, the company will book car rentals, restaurant reservations and sightseeing trips to the Napa and Sonoma wine country.
For reservations or more information, call 800-356-7567.
FREE FOR THE WRITING For a copy of the Lodging and Dining Guide to Galena and Jo Daviess County, call 800-747-9377. . . . For information about cross-country ski trips from Tripping Lightly Adventure Trips, contact Tripping Lightly Inc., Box 17163, Milwaukee, Wis. 53217; 414-449-1600. . . . For information about holiday events in Cincinnati, contact the Greater Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau, 300 W. 6th St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202; 800-344-3445. . . . For a copy of a vacation planner for the High Country of North Carolina, contact High Country Host, 701 Blowing Rock Rd., Boone, N.C. 28607;
704-264-1299.
