Here’s where to direct all that energy from your next hot flash: a trip with Menopausal Tours of San Leandro, Calif., for women in their 40s and beyond. No men and no kids allowed, except on the upcoming “Wwhhhiiinnnee Tour” of California’s Napa Valley (May 9-13), a mother-daughter getaway for Mother’s Day. (Daughters need not be menopausal, just 21 or older.) The tour includes four nights at a resort with daily breakfasts, an afternoon tea, a Friday-night wine tasting and a one-day wine tour with tasting and lunch, plus a spa treatment, for $2,200 for two. (510-346-AWAY; or at www.menopausaltours.com)
HOT WEEKEND
Valentine’s Day is over, but you can still book a “Country Romance Weekend” amidst Iceland’s fiery volcanoes, boiling mud pools and steaming glaciers. The package covers a Friday night flight on Icelandair to Reykjavik from New York, Boston or Baltimore; two nights in the rural Hotel Fludir; daily breakfast; rental car (manual transmission) with unlimited mileage; and a return Icelandair flight on Monday. Good April 1-May 15, this deal costs $549. Airport taxes and auto rental fees are extra. (800-223-5500; or at www.Icelandair.com)
HOG HEAVEN
There are two ways to go: hard or harder. You could vacation by Ducati, BMW or Honda on a tour of the castles of France, for example (Sept. 16-25; $5,320/rider, $4,235/passenger). That’s the hard way. Or, harder, you could head out on dirt or dual-sport cycles to places like Madagascar (May 22-June 4; $4,375/rider, $3,775/passenger) or Mongolia (Aug. 11-24; $4,045/rider, $3,175/passenger). Chicago-based Lotus Tours provides the motorcycles, hotels, breakfasts, dinners, support vehicles and guides. Air fare, lunches and fuel are extra. One caveat: Whether vacations or excursions, the trips are tough. Participants have an average of six years experience riding 2,000 miles a year. (312-951-0031; or at www.lotustours.com)
PRETTY WOMEN
The University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute and Center for Middle Eastern Studies is sponsoring “Aphrodite, Cleopatra and Other Mediterranean Beauties” a tour of the southern coast of Turkey and northern Cyprus May 18-June 3. Historian Richard L. Chambers will accompany the group to unravel mysteries of the Roman, Greek, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Crusader, Seljuk and Ottoman sites along the route, which takes in Istanbul, Bodrum, Kalkan, Antalya, Alanya, Salamis and other locations. $4,875 covers round-trip air Chicago-Istanbul, hotels, most meals, boat trips, sightseeing tours, entrance fees and lecture programs. Air taxes are extra. Tour operator is the World of Oz in Virginia Beach, Va. (773-702-9513; or at www.oi.uchicago.edu)
FREE STUFF
If winter gets you California dreamin’, peruse the San Luis Obispo County Destination Guide, with ideas for touring missions and wineries or just sitting on the beach. (800-634-1414; www.sanluisobispocounty.com)
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Prices generally are per person double and are good only on a space-available basis.
