Most travelers have heard of the famed Simplon Orient Express, a train on the London-to-Venice run which has set the standard for elegant rail travel in Europe. TCS Expeditions of Seattle wants to bring some of that elegance to the United States by sponsoring transcontinental rail tours aboard the American Orient Express.
The American Orient Express is the only privately owned-and-operated transcontinental train in the United States. It’s an 11-car train whose 1940s and 1950s carriages, most of which were built by the Pullman-Standard Co. in Chicago, were completely rebuilt and refurbished in 1989. It’s in this Pullman luxury that TCS Expeditions is offering two tours in the spring and fall of 1996: the Great Transcontinental Journey, and the National Parks of the West.
The nine-day 3,800-mile Great Transcontinental Journey begins either in Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles, with stops in Charlottesville, Va.; New Orleans; San Antonio; Santa Fe; and the Grand Canyon.
Tour members will visit Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello, take a Mississippi River cruise on an authentic sternwheel riverboat, tour the Alamo and take in a rodeo at a private Texas ranch, explore ancient pueblos and view the Grand Canyon from the South Rim.
The Great Transcontinental Journey costs $4,990 per person double occupancy for a deluxe sleeper, $5,990 for a single sleeper, $6,990 per person double occupancy (single supplement $5,592) for a parlor suite, and $7,450 per person double occupancy (single supplement $5,960) for a presidential suite.
Tour dates for 1996 from Washington are March 23-31, April 6-14, April 20-28, Oct. 5-13 and Oct. 19-27; from Los Angeles, tours are March 30-April 7, April 13-21, April 27-May 5, Oct. 12-20 and Oct. 26-Nov. 3.
The National Parks of the West tour begins in Santa Fe, N.M., with a walking tour of the old city and includes visits to the pueblos of the Sinagua and Anasazi Indians, the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, the Front Range of the Rockies, and Golden Spike National Historic Site, where in 1869 the transcontinental railway was completed. The itinerary also operates in reverse from Denver.
The National Parks of the West costs $3,990 per person double occupancy for a deluxe sleeper, $4,990 for a single sleeper, $5,990 per person double occupancy (single supplement $4,792) for a parlor suite, and $6,450 per person double occupancy (single supplement $5,160) for a presidential suite.
Tour dates for 1996 from Santa Fe are May 4-12, Sept. 7-15 and Sept. 21-29; from Denver, tours are May 11-19, Sept. 14-22 and Sept. 28-Oct. 6.
The prices include one night in the Stouffer Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., and one night in Los Angeles at the Century Plaza for the Transcontinental Journey, and one night’s stay in Santa Fe and one night in Denver for the National Parks of the West.
Also included are welcome and farewell receptions, most meals, all excursions and grand transportation. Accommodations and service on the train are First-Class, to say the least. Gourmet menus designed to feature the best of regional cuisine are served on fine china, crystal, silver and linens. All compartments have private bathrooms with sink and toilet, and there is a shower compartment in each sleeping carriage. Call 206-727-7300.
Bali-bound
As the first bite of winter hits Chicago in November, you can be on your way to Bali for a tropical vacation that will make you forget the impending frozen grief. Four Winds Adventure Co. is offering a Nov. 4-13 tour to the legendary Indonesian getaway. You’ll stay four nights in Sanur and three in Candi Dasa with day trips to Besakih to see the “mother” temple of Bali, Ubud for arts and crafts, and Tenganan, one of the few remaining pre-Hindu villages in Bali. At Candi Dasa, you’ll be staying on Bali’s exotic east coast away from the main beach resorts.
The tour costs $1,699 per person double occupancy (single supplement $199). The price includes accommodations, round-trip air fare from Los Angeles (Chicago-L.A. add-on, $175), daily breakfasts, welcome and farewell dinners, and excursions. An optional Bali-Java overland adventure Nov. 13-18 is $399 per person (single supplement $129). Call 800-875-0305.
Forest men
Their name means “old man of the forest,” but we know them better as orangutans. Natural Habitat Adventures is leading small groups of travelers into Borneo to see this endangered species in their tropical homes. The Oct. 21-Nov. 3 tour visits Kota Kinabalu and Borneo to see not only orangutans but such exotic fauna as elephants, rhinoceroses, flying lemurs, tapirs, clouded leopards and hundreds of species of birds in excursions to Turtle Island, Kinabalu Park and up the Kinabatangan River.
The trip’s highlight is a visit to the Sepilok Orangutan Center, where orphaned orangutans are rehabilitated for return to the wild. The great orange primates are near the top of the endangered species list with only an estimated 20,000 left surviving in the wild. The tour costs $3,995 per person double occupancy (single supplement $400) from Los Angeles and includes all accommodations, many meals, all transportation in Malaysia, park entrance fees and guides. The tour is limited to 15 participants. Call 800-543-8917.
New passes
Regular users of the Eurailpass now have a less expensive, if somewhat slower, alternative to travel in Europe. Eurobus is a new motorcoach service that links 19 cities in nine European nations with a pass system. Eurobus, which began service March 15, originally intended to operate from March through October in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland. But the unexpectedly high demand has the carrier expanding to year-round operations and adding two Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Calais starting Nov. 1.
Company officials also say they expect to include free crossing of the English Channel in the price of the pass. The Eurobus unlimited-travel passes for two weeks cost $139 for people 26 and under, $189 for those 27 and older; one-month passes cost $199 and $260, respectively; two-month passes, $250 and $325; and three-month passes, $325 and $400. Call 800-517-7778.
