Travel Trails By Martin B. Deutsch for 1968

September 1: TAIWAN: A RARE REMNANT OF OLD CHINA
The closest I've ever gotten to the mainland of China is Hong Kong, with a glimpse of Red patrols across the border. Hong Kong is a fascinating place, but it's too sophisticated to fully satisfy deep-seated yearnings for the real product. Recently, however, I spent ten days in Taiwan, a place that is the closest thing to China for Westerners.

August 1: VISIT THE LONDON BRIDGE--THE ONE IN ARIZONA
You no longer have to go to London to see the London Bridge. Why not? Because it's being moved to Arizona, that's why. Now, look, I'm not pulling your leg! There has been a bridge known as London Bridge across the River Thames since the first century A.D. Now, after all this time, London Bridge is migrating to a sunny new home in Lake Havasu City. I find the whole think hard to picture.

July 1: SWITZERLAND, WORLD'S OLDEST DEMOCRACY
It is the the Alps, Europe's most distinctive topographical feature, that has enabled this small, landlocked republic to successfully pursue its policy of military neutrality in modern times. By keeping out (and out of) wars, Switzerland has also managed to keep in and sustain an all-pervasive aura of calm, quiet, security, peace. Geographically placed near the heart of the continent, Switzerland's neighbors include Italy, France, Germany and Austria. Her cities are less than an hour by jet from London, Paris or Rome. Her mountain passes and tunnels carry excellent highways from all directions.

June 1: EAST AFRICA SAFARI, PART TWO
In last month's Argosy, we covered the early days of our tour, including Amboseli Reserve and Tsavo Tented Camp, both in Kenya. Before we return to the game-park circuit, we ought to point out that East Africa has some other tourist attractions such as a string of superb resorts.

May 1: EAST AFRICAN CAMERA SAFARI
Mention safari or East Africa to people, and they generally come up with some stereotyped reactions. Safari invariably conjures up hunting expeditions, long lines of native porters and hostile tribes. Actually, we went on a camera safari, and we took shots of animals (with a Pentax), rather than at them. In addition, you'll be interested to learn that more than ninety-nine percent of all visitors to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda come as tourists, less than one percent to hunt. And there's no doubt that camera safaris are coming more and more within the province of the average tourist, rather than just the wealthy sportsman-hunter. In the last ten years, the age bracket of the North American visitor to East Africa has dropped from the mid-fifties to the mid-forties. And both air fares and tour costs are coming down.

April 1: TEXAS HEMISFAIR 68
Every time you turn around these days, seems there's another world's fair on the horizon. Some are official, such as the Expo 67 affair in Montreal; others fake it, such as the recent two-year disappointment in New York City. I'm not criticizing this sudden rash of international expositions; I think that each one should be judged on its own merits. HemisFair 68, the Texas World's Fair, will open on April sixth and stay on the scene for six months until October sixth. And we'll see what we shall see.

March 1: OLÉ FOR THE OLYMPICS
The sky-high Mexican capital will play host to the athletes of the Olympic Games, as well as tens of thousands of tourists. Here are some pointers you might find useful if you're planning to be one of the estimated 50,000 visitors expected in and around Mexico City every day during the two-week period.

February 1: THE ADIRONDACK NORTHWAY
Its full name is the Adirondack Northway, and it is a toll-free expressway which stretches 175.8 miles from its beginning on the New York State Thruway, just west of Albany, to the Canadian border just above Champlain, New York. A four-lane job, divided by a broad aisle of green grass and shrubbery, the Adirondack Northway also bears the designation of Interstate 87, which makes it an integral part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. It also means that Uncle Sam paid ninety percent of the $208,000,000 cost and New York State paid the rest.

January 1: SAN FRANCISCO: EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE
San Francisco is probably the most singularly attractive, all-around city in this hemisphere. William Saroyan once said, "If you're alive, you can't be bored in San Francisco." But the excitement, the versatility and the pace are all of a relaxed, almost lazy nature: You can do something, or not, without feeling guilty or afraid that you've somehow missed out.

Copyright © 1962-2010 by Martin B. Deutsch. All rights reserved.