Travel

During this gift-giving time of year, travelers have one special way to bring comfort and happiness to others: They can donate frequent-flier miles and hotel points for charitable use. "The easiest way to donate miles is directly through a frequent-flier program," said Randy Petersen, editor of InsideFlyer magazine and a frequent-flier guru.

The water of Lake Pend Oreille seemed quiet and peaceful as we drove across the Long Bridge on Highway 95 into Sandpoint. The bridge cuts across Lake Pend Oreille near the mouth of the river by the same name. This is the fourth bridge to be built here. The first one, just 200 feet short of two miles, was completed in 1910 and promoted as the "longest wooden bridge in the world."

Q. My husband and I are in good health and don't qualify for a flu vaccine. Given past problems with norovirus, etc., on cruise ships, what, if anything, are cruise lines doing to address obvious concerns for flu outbreaks? A. Cruise ships, with their captive audience, can become a perfect place to transmit contagious diseases. But norovirus and flu are spread quite differently.

JERUSALEM – For the first Christmas season in five years, Israel and the Palestinians are cooperating to encourage Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land during the holiday. The Israeli and Palestinian tourism ministers announced in a meeting last month – their first since fighting broke out in 2000 – that they intended to guarantee easy access for visitors traveling between Jerusalem and nearby Bethlehem, simplifying security checks.

BAGHDAD, Iraq – She had never flown before and she was scared, Luma, 28, had confessed before her first-ever trip outside her home country. Don't be silly, I told my Iraqi translator. You are one of the bravest people I know.

Reward yourself with frequent-flier miles as you cross off entries on your holiday gift list. Many of the offers that follow require online registration or click-throughs from the travel vendor's Web site.

THE SHORES OF JORDAN RIVER, Israel – A pastor called white-robed Christian pilgrims to descend toward the water under a canopy of eucalyptus trees. One by one, the believers vowed to renew their faith before they immersed themselves in the gentle flow. The Yardenit baptismal site on the Jordan River in northern Israel had been deserted for much of the past four years due to fighting with the Palestinians. Foreigners put off plans for trips to the region, frightened by TV scenes of bombed buses and Israeli tanks rumbling through West Bank towns. But in recent months, during a relative lull in the fighting, tourists from around the world have begun returning to the Holy Land, many of them on religious pilgrimages. As visitors to Israel have always done, they wander the alleys of Jerusalem's Old City, home to some of the holiest sites of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Many also visit Masada, the desert fortress where hundreds of Jewish rebels committed suicide rather than face defeat at the hands of the Romans.

Western Montana is known as "glacier country," and it comes to life this time of year. For snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, Glacier National Park is a winter wonderland – minus the crowds of summer.

Remember when flying was fun? Neither do we. With delayed and canceled flights, understaffed ticket counters, long lines, intrusive security procedures, lost luggage, no meals, surly passengers, stressed-out flight attendants and the specter of terrorism, chances are your next trip won't be a lot of laughs.

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. – Three miles and halfway into our hike, we stopped for lunch and watched as the winter wind drove cloud shadows across the far walls of the Grand Canyon – an interplay of light and texture that lingered with us even on the grueling return trip back up the trail. Just 20 minutes later, my boyfriend and I were cursing those same clouds as they dumped hard, kernelly snow on us for a few brief, yet miserable, uphill minutes.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Each day, thousands of people visit the USS Arizona Memorial to pay tribute to the victims of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941, killed 2,388 Americans, shattered the U.S. Pacific Fleet and propelled the United States into World War II. A gleaming white memorial straddles the sunken battleship where many of the 1,177 sailors killed that day are still entombed. For many visitors, paying their respects at the Arizona Memorial is a prelude to touring the Battleship Missouri Memorial. The USS Missouri served in World War II, the Korean War and the Gulf War, and the ship has been turned into a museum about daily life aboard a 20th century war vessel.

December brings bushels of holiday hotel packages: The $129 Martinis & Mistletoe Package at Portland's 5th Avenue Suites Hotel (888-207-2201; www.5thavenuesuites.com) includes martini tasting and mistletoe on your pillow.

Looking for a recommendation on the best place to ski or mountain bike? Men's Journal asked readers to pick their favorite destinations for various activities, and the results are in the magazine's December issue.

When Che Carsner wanted to find discount airline tickets for his parents from the Miami area to New York, he knew where to look. The Manhattan real estate agent logged onto Kayak.com, a new online travel aggregator, and typed in some dates. Within seconds, dozens of options appeared. Among them: a $140 round-trip fare from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to LaGuardia airport on US Airways, which he booked.

A dozen U.S. airlines have agreed to improve their water testing and disinfection protocols. The deals come two months after random tests by the Environmental Protection Agency found coliform bacteria in the drinking water of one of every eight planes, domestic and international.

If you're looking for budget Europe when the euro is at an all-time high against the U.S. dollar, consider Ireland. For starters, Aer Lingus (800-474-7424; www.aerlingus.com) has lowered economy-class fares by up to 30 percent. Travelers may be able to find low-fare flights to the airline's gateways, which include Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

I'll always remember the day I fell in love. It was in May 1999, somewhere between Juneau, Alaska, and Vancouver, B.C. I was on vacation with the family, my first time on a cruise ship. The experience had been all right so far, although the other travelers seemed quite a bit older, and the entertainment a little, well, staid.