Regarding "Poetry in Motion," by Peter Mandel [Nov. 30]: I had to smile at the line from the reader who wrote about, "the tension … between the experience of traveling and the longing for home."

Toward the end of a wonderful 4,500-mile West Coast/southern Canada road trip, I experienced for the first time the redundancy built into the word "sightseeing." It had become something of an "eyesore."

I didn't want to "see" another thing that kept me from a straight line home: pedal to the metal!

Don Salper

Northridge

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Years ago, when one of my daughters made a trip to Europe, I sent her, before she left, the poem below. From "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," using only the last line of a verse dealing with death, I fashioned a thought in poetry that I have always held about the difficulty in explaining one's experience on any given trip.

Of those who have traveled the world through / Not one returns and is able to tell us true / Of the sights, sounds, people and view / For which to discover...

INDIA

Workshop

Hostelling International will conduct a workshop on how to travel inexpensively and safely in India.

When, where: 7 p.m. Tuesday at the REI store in Santa Monica, 402 Santa Monica Blvd.

Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (310) 393-9913, Ext. 3104.

CHINA

Workshop

Hostelling International will conduct a workshop on how to travel inexpensively and safely throughout China.

When, where: 7 p.m Thursday at the REI store in Tustin, 2962 El Camino Real.

Admission, info: Free. RSVP (310) 393-9913, Ext. 3104.

Please email announcements at least three weeks before the event to travel@latimes.com.

If you plan to visit Easter Island, a great first step is hiring Marcus Edensky as your guide. Though Marcus is originally from Sweden, he has made it his business to learn everything he can about the island and the Rapa Nui culture. We spent four amazing days with Marcus and visited all the major moai installations as well as a few hidden gems. Marcus speaks Rapa Nui, knows the stories and songs of the people and is extremely knowledgeable about the history of this fascinating place.

Marcus Edensky, Easter Island Traveling, www.easterislandtraveling.com

Lee Rubinstein

Sherman Oaks

They're doing a happy dance on the ski slopes this week, from Mt. Rose above Lake Tahoe to Mammoth Mountain in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

Ski resorts in the eastern Sierra Nevada received more than a foot of snow -- and 2 feet at higher elevations -- as storms blew through from Tuesday through Thursday.

The snow dump left resorts busily planning to open additional terrain and lifts this weekend. And there was more good news: Another storm may move in late next week.

"Thanks to Mother Nature and Tahoe’s highest base elevation, Mt. Rose has seen nothing but snow all week," Michael Price, marketing director of Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe, said in a statement. "This storm has been the good old-fashioned Sierra storm we’ve been waiting for."

The resort, about a half an hour's drive from Reno, received 17 to 21 inches of snow between Tuesday and Thursday. It opened 40% of its terrain, including a top-to-bottom run, with a base depth of 15 to 27 inches at 8,260 feet.

Mt. Rose plans to open its Slide Bowl...

The Canadian Rockies get tons of snow every winter, which makes for amazing scenery in the town of Banff and powdery thrills at its neighboring ski and snowboard resorts.

This video gives you the flavor of this season’s early days in Banff and on the slopes of the Sunshine Village and Lake Louise resorts. (Can you spot the 1.5-second glimpse of the guy smoking while snowboarding? Apparently just hurtling down a mountain isn't risky enough for him.)

Anyway, think of this as a warm-up for our package of winter sports travel stories and photos -- coming soon to this space, with a host of tips on getting the best of Banff.

By the way, the town and resorts are all part of Banff National Park. To get there, fly to Calgary, then drive 75 miles west.

 “A Minute Away” is a video series in which nothing much happens -- except you see the world, and hear it, and get a minute’s respite from workaday life. (Actually, some are as long as 1:40.) These are quiet, casual moments -- mostly just natural...

The film "Wild," which opened Wednesday, tells the raw personal journey of Cheryl Strayed, who took off on a 1,000-plus-mile trek presumably to find herself. Where she chose to go, the remote and challenging Pacific Crest Trail, is a thrilling back-country destination little known to most travelers -- until now.

Reese Witherspoon portrays Strayed in the movie version of the book. For those who want to re-create some of Strayed's route, the Pacific Crest Trail Assn. has posted an online guide to hikes featured in the film and the book.

" 'Wild" is the largest media event ever for the PCT," spokesman Jack Haskel says, using the nickname for the hiking route from Mexico to Canada. "The trail has never received this level of attention."

But it should have.

The 2,650-mile dirt trail passes through the most stunning parts of the West, including the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains and a slew of national parks and wilderness areas. It comes close to L.A. too, threading its way through the...