Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: JohnnyJet.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win Alaska and Seat­tle Tour­saver books and a $50 Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies gift certificate.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: CiaoBambino.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a Napa Val­ley Get­away with a one-night stay at the Westin Verasa and a gourmet lunch for two aboard the Napa Val­ley Wine Train.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: The Tran­quilo Trav­eler. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a copy of Moon Belize accom­pa­nied by per­sonal travel advice from the author about your trip.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Today’s stop on the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van is: NovelDestinations.com. Visit the blog and com­ment on today’s post for a chance to win a lit­er­ary prize pack, includ­ing a tote bag, the book Novel Des­ti­na­tions, Bliss travel kit, note­cards, tea, book­marks, and a key chain.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Is the Lingo 16-Language Trans­la­tor (avail­able from Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies) on your hol­i­day wish list? If so, read this entire post to find out how to enter and win a trans­la­tor for yourself!

I’m thrilled to announce the first (and, hope­fully, annual) Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van. Start­ing today, I invite you to fol­low 15 top travel blog­gers for a chance to win prizes in cel­e­bra­tion of the season.

Prizes range from hotel gift cards and overnight stays to dig­i­tal cam­eras and noise-cancelling head­phones to lug­gage and cam­era bags to travel guide­books and DVDs. Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies has signed on as a spon­sor of this event. If you’ve got a trav­eler on your hol­i­day shop­ping list, check out the unique gifts avail­able at Magellan’s web­site.

Each day, between Decem­ber 2–15, a dif­fer­ent travel expert’s blog will be fea­tured in this round robin event. You’ll have a chance to win one of over a dozen prizes by read­ing and com­ment­ing on the daily blog post.

The Car­a­van starts tomor­row! Sim­ply visit the Lux­ury Cruise Bible blog each morn­ing to learn about the fea­tured Car­a­van “stop-of-the-day” between Decem­ber 2 and 15, and then enter to win.

LuxurySafariExperts.com will be fea­tured on Decem­ber 15, 2009. Mark your cal­en­dar and be sure to com­ment on my post that day in order to be entered in the giveaway.

Com­plete Travel Car­a­van Schedule

Decem­ber 2: LuxuryCruiseBible.com (Andrea M. Rotondo)
$100 Mar­riott gift card

Decem­ber 3: DreamofItaly.com (Kathy McCabe)
One-year online sub­scrip­tion to Dream of Italy newslet­ter & DVD ($79 value)

Decem­ber 4: NovelDestinations.com (Shan­non McKenna Schmidt & Joni Ren­don)
Lit­er­ary Travel Prize Pack
(A tote bag, Novel Des­ti­na­tions book, travel kit, note cards, tea, book­marks, and a keychain.)

Decem­ber 5: TheBrooklynNomad.com (Andrew Hickey)
Imag­ine: A Vagabond Story by Grant Lin­gel and $50 Magellan’s gift certificate

Decem­ber 6: The Tran­quilo Trav­eler (Joshua Berman)
A copy of Moon Belize, accom­pa­nied with per­sonal travel advice from the author about your trip

Decem­ber 7: CiaoBambino.com (Amie O’Shaughnessy and Kristi Mar­celle)
Napa Val­ley Get­away
(One-night stay at the Westin Verasa in Napa, Cal­i­for­nia,
plus gourmet lunch for two on the Napa Val­ley Wine Train)

Decem­ber 8: JohnnyJet.com (John DiS­cala)
Alaska and Seat­tle Tour­saver books ($198 value) and $50 Magellan’s gift certificate

Decem­ber 9: What a Trip (Nancy D. Brown)
Two Otter­box cell phone cases ($50 value each)
and
One Briggs and Riley Base­line 20” Carry-On Expand­able Wide-Body Upright ($369 value)

Decem­ber 10: JtheTravelAuthority.com (Jea­nine Barone)
Moun­tain­smith Tour FX Cam­era Bag ($99 value)

Decem­ber 11: CruiseDiva.com (Linda Coff­man)
Fodor’s The Com­plete Guide to Caribbean Cruises and a World Ground­ing Set (cour­tesy of Magellan’s)

Decem­ber 12: EllenBarone.com (Ellen Barone)
Day pack from First Ascent, a new extreme adven­ture line of gear and cloth­ing
by Eddie Bauer and part­ners ($79 value)

Decem­ber 13: MyItchyTravelFeet.com (Donna L. Hull)
“Library Edi­tion” of the most recent sea­son of “Rudy Maxa’s World”,
includ­ing six DVDs con­tain­ing 13 shows on des­ti­na­tions in India, Turkey, Japan, Thai­land, St. Peters­burg, Esto­nia, and Argentina ($112 value)

Decem­ber 14: EuropeUpClose.com (Terri Fog­a­rty)
Fuji­film FinePix J28 10MP dig­i­tal cam­era with 3x opti­cal zoom

Decem­ber 15: LuxurySafariExperts.com (Andrea M. Rotondo)
Fold­ing noise-cancelling head­phones cour­tesy of Magellan’s Travel Supplies

If you love explor­ing new des­ti­na­tions and revis­it­ing old favorites, you won’t want to miss the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van & Give­away! You just may dis­cover a few new favorite travel blogs to bookmark.

Win a Lingo 16-Language Translator

Help us kick off the Car­a­van right now! Fol­low @luxcruisebible and then tweet about the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van between Decem­ber 1 and 15. Include a link to this blog post and the #car­a­van hash­tag and you’ll be entered to win the Lingo 16-Language Trans­la­tor, cour­tesy of Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies. Entrants must have a U.S. mail­ing address. Entries must be received between Decem­ber 1–15, 2009. One win­ner will be ran­domly cho­sen from eli­gi­ble entries on Decem­ber 21, 2009. Win­ner will be noti­fied via Twit­ter DM (direct message).

Just log onto Twit­ter and tweet some­thing like this:
Check out the Travel Blog­gers’ Car­a­van. 15 travel blog­gers and tons of cool prizes to win. http://bit.ly/6zfZEr #caravan

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

I really like what Aber­crom­bie & Kent is doing with its orga­ni­za­tion, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. The tour pack­ager that’s known for high-end expe­di­tions to the far cor­ners of the globe is now offer­ing indi­vid­u­als the chance to be part of the solu­tion to a local prob­lem in a far-off location.

As the hol­i­day sea­son approaches, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is remindng every­one that dona­tions make fan­tas­tic gifts for friends and fam­ily who have everything.

“This year the focus is on what money can­not buy—shared expe­ri­ences and trea­sured mem­o­ries,” says Aber­crom­bie & Kent Vice Chair­man Jorie But­ler Kent, who guides Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. “Our guests are look­ing for more mean­ing­ful ways to cel­e­brate with their fam­i­lies and asked us to cre­ate a Gift Pro­gram that makes it easy to donate to projects mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in places they have visited.”

With the help of A&K’s 62 world­wide offices, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy has iden­ti­fied grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions, spear­headed by ded­i­cated local experts in con­ser­va­tion, edu­ca­tion, com­mu­nity devel­op­ment, and pub­lic health.

These are inspir­ing gifts designed to honor a friend or fam­ily mem­ber.  Dona­tions range from $10 for a sim­ple HIV test to help pre­vent the trans­mis­sion of AIDS to an unborn child to $500 for a field trip for Maa­sai chil­dren who have never been on safari.

Here are three pro­grams being offered right now. Visit Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy to read about all dona­tion pro­grams through­out the world.

HIV Test­ing in Uganda
Uganda Bwindi Com­mu­nity Hospital
—$10 helps assess the HIV sta­tus of a local res­i­dent with a sim­ple field test.

Restore a Nat­ural Land­mark 
in Morocco
Morocco—Protection of the Palmeraie—
$50 plants a tree to help restore the del­i­cate ecosys­tem in this thousand-year-old date palm grove, a Mar­rakech landmark.

A Safari Field Trip
Kenya — Friends of Conservation—
$500 gives 20 Maa­sai chil­dren the chance to dis­cover their nat­ural her­itage and learn the value of pro­tect­ing wildlife with a field trip to the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Dona­tions can be made online through Aber­crom­bie & Kent Philanthropy’s secure web­site www.akphilanthropy.org with 100 per­cent of all dona­tions going directly to the project selected.  Gift cer­tifi­cates will be deliv­ered to the recipient(s) elec­tron­i­cally or printed and mailed.

To make a dona­tion as a family—or in honor of a loved one—go to www.akphilanthropy.org. One hun­dred per­cent of your char­i­ta­ble gift to Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy goes directly to sup­port local projects world­wide. Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is estab­lished in the United States as a 501©(3) not-for-profit orga­ni­za­tion. Your char­i­ta­ble gift is tax deductible as pro­vided by law.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Four Sea­sons Explorer

This past Sep­tem­ber, the 128-foot Four Sea­sons Explorer 11-cabin, three-deck cata­ma­ran was refur­bished for three-, four-, and seven-night excur­sions around the Mal­dives in the Indian Ocean. While the ves­sel usu­ally draws those inter­ested in div­ing and snor­kel­ing, even those who aren’t nat­ural water babies enjoy see­ing the Mal­dives from this inti­mate ship that caters to just 22 passengers.

Accom­mo­da­tions are what you’d expect at any land-based Four Sea­son resort and fea­ture 10 state­rooms and one Explorer Suite. The suite includes a king bed, a daybed, an indoor din­ing area, couch, writ­ing desk, bar, DVD/CD player, tele­phone, and in-cabin safe. The bath­room fea­tures a full bath tub, and sep­a­rate shower. Reg­u­lar state­rooms can be out­fit­ted with either a king bed or two twins. State­rooms also fea­ture a sofa, desk, DVD/CD player, bar, phone, and safe. These bath­rooms have a tub/shower combo.

The cata­ma­ran pro­motes a casual atmos­phere and shorts and sun­dresses are accept­able attire, even dur­ing din­ner. The casual vibe doesn’t skimp on ser­vice though…the entire boat is air-conditioned and you’ll find an onboard masseuse and a PADI dive cen­ter with Nitrox. Laun­dry ser­vice is also available.

As of the first of Octo­ber 2009, Four Sea­sons Explorer began weekly itin­er­aries. The first part explores the north­ern atolls of Baa and Raa and includes a stopover at the Four Sea­sons Lan­daa Giraavaru. The sec­ond part of the cruise expolores the south­ern regions, which may include Ras­d­hoo, North Ari, South and North Male atolls.

Dur­ing the cruise, you’ll enjoy water activ­i­ties like div­ing, snor­kel­ing, wind­surf­ing, kayak­ing, water­ski­ing, and fish­ing. Other activ­i­ties include vis­its to local vil­lages and other island excursions.

Four Sea­sons Explorer video footage:

Four Sea­sons Explorer sails until Decem­ber 20, 2009 and then she goes into dry-dock. She’ll be back on the water as of June 8, 2010.

For more infor­ma­tion, talk with your travel agent or con­tact Four Sea­sons Resort Mal­dives at Kuda Huraa or Four Sea­sons Resort Mal­dives at Lan­daa Giraavaru.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Four Seasons

Okay, British Air­ways won’t take you to Africa for free, but with a new pro­mo­tion they’ve announced with part­ner credit card Chase Visa, they will give you 100,000 bonus miles that can be used to travel to many amaz­ing African  gate­ways, including:

Egypt (Cairo, Hurghada, and Sharm el Sheikh)
Kenya (Nairobi)
Mau­ri­tius
Morocco (Mar­rakech)
Namibia (Wind­hoek)
South Africa (Cape Town, Dur­ban, Johan­nes­burg, Port Eliz­a­beth)
Tan­za­nia (Dar Es Salaam)
Uganda (Entebbe)
Zam­bia (Liv­ing­stone, Lusaka)
Zim­babwe (Harare)

So how do you get this prac­ti­cally free trip to Africa? By sign­ing up for an unprece­dented bonus mile deal: earn 100,000 miles with a new British Air­ways Visa Sig­na­ture Card from Chase.

Card Ben­e­fits

• receive 50,000 miles after your first purchase
• spend $2,000 within three months of open­ing your card and receive an addi­tional 50,000 miles
• earn 1.25 miles for each $1 spent
• earn 2.5 miles for money spent on BA purchases
• spend $30,000 in a cal­en­dar year and you’ll receive a 2-for-1 com­pan­ion award certificate
• $50 off a British Air­ways flight if booked before Decem­ber 31, 2009 (for travel before the end of 2010)

This promo is espe­cially entic­ing since British Air­ways offers what they call “House­hold Accounts.” This means you can com­bine miles with any­one liv­ing at the same address. That makes man­ag­ing miles SO much eas­ier! You’ll retain your own Exec­u­tive Club mem­ber­ship but your mileage bal­ances will be combined.

You may use British Air­ways miles on any OneWorld air­line, including:

Amer­i­can Air­lines
Cathay Pacific
Finnair
Iberia
Japan Air­lines
LAN
Malev
Quan­tas
Royal Jordanian

Other British Air­ways part­ners also include:

Aer Lin­gus
Alaskan Air­lines
Brus­sels Air­lines
Caribbean Air­lines
Mexicana

This British Airways/Chase Visa promo is def­i­nitely some­thing to look into, espe­cially if you’ll be trav­el­ing to Africa in the com­ing years. I know that’s how I’ll spend my miles! Apply for the card now.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Four Sea­sons Resort Mau­ri­tius at Anahita has added a perk to lure those who love to golf: com­pli­men­tary unlim­ited play, includ­ing a cart fit­ted with GPS. And, this is indeed a bonus since the Four Sea­sons Golf Club Mau­ri­tius is the only golf course in the Indian Ocean built to USGA (United States Golf Asso­ci­a­tion) stan­dards. (Unlim­ited golf priv­i­leges kicked in on Octo­ber 1, 2009.)

“We want every guest to have the oppor­tu­nity to play the course at Four Sea­sons Mau­ri­tius,” says Andrew Har­ri­son, gen­eral man­ager of the Resort. “Ernie Els has cre­ated a cham­pi­onship course that is a chal­lenge for expe­ri­enced golfers, but also encour­ages play at all lev­els, so fam­i­lies can golf together.”

“Intri­cately woven into the scenery, the course is designed with a close eye on pre­serv­ing the coastline’s nat­ural beauty,” says Ernie Els. “The way we have routed the course means it moves in and out of the trees, along the water and back, giv­ing play­ers great variety—including spec­tac­u­lar rocky out­crops, large native trees and jaw-dropping views of the moun­tains and Indian Ocean.”

On July 26, 2009, Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa on the Mal­dives greeted its first guest. This is not only Shangri-La Hotels first resort in the Mal­dives, it’s also the first inter­na­tional lux­ury resort on the southern-most tip of Addu Atoll in the South­ern Mal­dives Archipelago.

The 142 stand­alone vil­las range from ocean­front to tree top, with tree house vil­las perched 10 feet off the ground—a first for accom­mo­da­tions in this region. Enjoy the dra­matic ele­vated infin­ity pool offer­ing panoramic views of the Indian Ocean or lounge on the white sand beach.

Spa enthu­si­asts will spend plenty of time at CHI, The Spa. Chi­nese, Himalayan, and Asian treat­ments are offered along with Kandu Boli expe­ri­ences and unusual indige­nous treat­ments incor­po­rat­ing the tiger cowrie shell and other native elements.

Divers come here to explore the British Loy­alty ship­wreck and to dive with giant manta rays with wingspans of more than 13 feet. Surf­ing, scuba, and snor­kel­ing are also pop­u­lar in the area.

The three-dining-room Khaz­a­anaage Restau­rant serves eclec­tic menus based on the regional cuisines of the Indian Ocean, South China Sea, and Ara­bian Gulf.

From now until Octo­ber 31, 2009, the hotel is offer­ing a “stay seven nights and pay for five” pack­age. Ben­e­fits include trans­fer flights from Male to Gan, daily half-board, and a CHI spa expe­ri­ence for two.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit Shangri-La’s web­site or call the resort at (960) 689‑7888.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com