Singapore has the bait out for tourists...

Singapore has the bait out for tourists in a new campaign that incudes a room for one night (choice of 34 first-class and deluxe hotels) for $20/$30. This figures out to about 75% below the regular posted prices. The promotion is being handled by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). The idea is to encourage travelers to put Changi Airport on their itineraries. Discount vouchers for hotels, shopping, sightseeing are included in the “Changi Connection.” To obtain vouchers, passengers are asked to show their airline tickets at the airport’s departure/transit lounge. Shopping discounts are available at stores both at the airport and in the city. Hotels offering the special rates include the Regency Singapore, Mandarin Singapore, Sheraton Towers, New Otani and the Raffles.

Winter Olympics

Hotel rooms will be hard to come by at the Winter Olympics next February in Canada’s host city of Calgary. Most hotels are already sold out, but don’t despair. The Olympic Housing Bureau represents roughly 1,500 rooms in private homes. You’ll pay about $50 a night, single or double. Other accommodations are available in towns outside Calgary, but you’d best hurry.

For information on hotels/private homes, get in touch with the Olympic Housing Bureau, 237 8th Ave. S.E., Calgary, Alberta, T2G OK8, Canada. Telephone (403) 262-6630. Visitors planning to take in the games are advised that the opening and closing ceremonies are already sold out, as are certain events during the games. To obtain order forms for tickets, contact your American Automobile Assn. office or write to Olympic Tickets, P.O. Box 1988, Station M, Calgary, Alberta T2P 4E7, Canada. Telephone (403) 270-6088.

Currency Guide

A pocket-size foreign currency guide is offered free by a company in Washington, D.C. Conversion rates for 24 countries. Besides currency figures, the guide also provides details on import/export restrictions, tipping, temperatures, measurements. For a copy, send a stamped, self-addressed business-size envelope to Foreign Currency Guide, c/o Ruesch International, 1140 19th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. This same company handles credit card-size foreign exchange calculators, lightweight money belts. For details, telephone toll-free (800) 424-2923.

Medical Kit

You can obtain a vacation medical kit free by writing to the Communications Dept., McNeil Consumer Products Co., Camp Hill Road, Fort Washington, Pa. 19034. The list was developed by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Contains a checklist for medical/first-aid items, plus a form for recording allergies/ailments. Lists medications needed while traveling. There’s also a consent form that permits doctors to treat children in an emergency when a parent isn’t available. Often in haste to hit the road, the traveler leaves home without prescriptions, health insurance information, etc. This kit is a handy reminder.

Canadian Guide

British Columbia has produced a slick, magazine-size guidebook (40 pages) called the “Traveling Companion.” Describes the B.C. ferry system. Tells about river rafting, heli-skiing, fishing. Discusses nine areas of B.C., including Vancouver Island, southwestern B.C., Cariboo-Chilcotin, Okanagan-Similkameen, the B.C. Rockies, Kootenay country, the Peace River. Other information on shopping/dining/entertainment in Vancouver, houseboating, stern-wheeler cruises, the B.C. parks, hot springs, explorer trails, recommended trips. For a free copy write to Tourism British Columbia, 3400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 34, Los Angeles 90010, or telephone (213) 380-9171.

A Letter From London

Michael Moran writes: “I derive enjoyment delivering visitors on excursions along roads free of traffic--the motoring complemented with the appropriate classical music (Handel never fails to dispel care while we travel through rural England). To raise a glass of fine Burgundy before an English Palladian villa in a landscaped garden ablaze with rhododendrons, or to sit down to a picnic featuring quail eggs, game pie, salmon with dill and strawberry profiteroles spread in a grassy meadow are pleasures given to few.” Moran speaks of visiting Hever Castle, “the home of the wild, volatile Anne Boleyn, where Henry was struck by the dart of love” and Montacute House in Somerset, “the best-preserved and most exquisite Elizabethan house in England.”

Says Moran: “I always have felt that to visit such superb places in a bus was singularly inappropriate, and so I invariably pressed into service the family Rolls for touring my guests, which unfailingly gives one a feeling that is far more in character with the high artistic and stylistic achievements of the historical period under consideration, a sense of ‘royal progress’ through the countryside, a deeper understanding of such an age of splendor.”

Moran describes marvelous relais and chateaux as well as fine restaurants, and you just know that all this elegance is going to cost a pretty pound. Still, if you can afford the luxury of such a guide, contact Moran, 26 Wheatley St., St. Marylebone, London W1, England. His fee for a day, including a “cultural lecture, a gourmet picnic or relais luncheon and a journey of 120 miles of carefully researched routes on unfrequented roads comes to 350 (about $535 U.S.) per person (maximum three guests) and a day that lasts as long as the light holds out.”

Spanish Language School

A new Spanish language school is welcoming students in Ensenada. Weekend or five-day courses. Mexican instructors. Rates are $50 for a weekend or $100 for the five days. Accommodations and meals with a Mexican family figure out to $15/$20 a day. Write to the International Institute of Language, P.O. Box 1407, West Covina, Calif. 91793. Telephone (818) 962-2218.

There’s also a new local office for the Centro de Idiomas that provides information on Spanish study in Mazatlan. Enrollment costs $90 a week for four classroom hours daily or $65 for two hours. Accommodations with a local family along with three meals daily is $90/$125 extra. Contact Centro de Idiomas, P.O. Box 1860, Los Angeles 90078, or telephone (213) 851-3403.

Reader Recommendations

St. Barthelemy--Janet Crane, Arcadia:”A delightful place for dinner in the Caribbean. Maya’s restaurant at the Anse de Public, right outside the main town of Gustavia. Chicken, fish, lamb all skillfully prepared by Maya. Delicious chocolate cake and other wonderful desserts. Lovely bay-front surroundings. Good service. Dinners run about $50 per person.”

Louisiana--Judie and Dick Kappes, Northridge: “Beautiful restored home filled with antiques, built in 1880. Guests greeted with wine or high tea and snacks. Delicious plantation breakfast. Owners Peggy and Charles Moseley. Ti Frere’s House, 1905 Verot School Road, Lafayette, La., in heart of Cajun country. Rates $55 double, $45 single.”

California--Cindy Doster, Oxnard: “Camelot Resort, P.O. Box 467 (4th at Mill Street), Guerneville, Calif. 95446. Phone (707) 869-2538. Cabins oriented around a sunny, heated pool. Grounds and rooms immaculate and charming. Our cabin was spacious, newly renovated with fireplace, color TV, equipped kitchen. Thick towels and lovely bed linens. A great place. $350 per week.”

New Zealand--Roger and Carolyn Plumley, La Crescenta: Recommend “That Other Tour” operated by Lesley Wilkins, “who uses an eight-passenger, air-conditioned mini-bus to show her guests the many attractions of her native Auckland. We were served tea with sandwiches in the morning and a delightful, unforgettable family style lunch at a farm home. The all-inclusive cost for the eight-hour tour was $50 U.S. per person. Write to Lesley Wilkins, That Other Tour, P.O. Box 56-306, Old Dominion Road, Auckland, New Zealand.”

Reader Recommendations should be brief (typewritten or printed). Cannot be used without prices and addresses. Please, no brochures.