Dorms Offer Best Summer Prices

If you don’t mind giving up a few creature comforts for a better break on prices, American Youth Hostels (AYH) may have the summer tour for you.

The tours are for active, young and “young at heart” travelers.

Various departure dates are offered for adult (18 and older), open (mixed ages), youth (14 to 18), special youth (12 and 13) and travelers more than 50.

Costs are kept down by using dormitory youth hostels, outdoor camping and budget hotels. Groups average nine participants plus guide.

This year it is offering 39 North American and foreign programs focusing on cycling, hiking, adventure, and, for the first time, “Interpretive Trips.”

The most popular of the cycling programs is a 14-day, $650 U.S. Cape Cod adventure. The two-week tour circles out from Boston and includes island hopping to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

Adult, open, youth and special youth departures will be available between June 16 and Aug. 25.

Hikers can experience day hikes and overnight backpacking expeditions in the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, by joining the 16-day Anasazi Trail trip.

The group makes Las Vegas its hub and is transported by van between key sites. There will be both adult and open departures during June for the $695 U.S. tour.

Would-be sailors can get some first-hand deck experiences and will be able to snorkel in the world-famous John Pennecamp Underwater State Park on 10-day sailing tours of the Florida Keys.

The trips circle from Miami and cost $495 U.S. There are adult, open and youth departures June through August.

The four new “Interpretive Trips” will incorporate local naturalists, historians, folklorists and crafts people and cover New Mexico, the natural wonders of Alaska’s parks, historic Civil War country and Chesapeake Bay.

Tour prices include lodgings (plus tents, cooking utensils and stoves when camping), group-prepared meals, transportation from the start of the tour to the end, the services of a guide and a group activities budget. You’ll need a youth hostel membership and a sheet-sleeping sack.

More details of programs are covered in the free brochure, “World Adventure Guide.” Copies are available from American Youth Hostels, Department 860, P.O. Box 37613, Washington, D.C. 20013-7613, telephone (202) 783-6161.

Bermuda is making a special effort to welcome student visitors this month.

Until March 31 and April 7-14, Bermuda’s Department of Tourism is playing host to a series of free parties and activities, limited to visiting students.

To participate you need a College Week courtesy card, which is available free after you arrive, upon presentation of a valid student identification.

Bermuda is a cluster of about 150 islands, 575 miles off North Carolina. The largest island, Grand Bermuda, is 13 miles long and two miles wide, with 38 pink-sand beaches.

In the early 1980s, Grand Bermuda’s railroad track was converted into an 18-mile walking, jogging and cycling path on which mopeds and cars are banned. Grand Bermuda is linked to other main islands by bridges and causeways.

Every Monday during the 1990 Bermuda College Weeks students are invited to a free barbecue luncheon, beach games and entertainment at Elbow Beach. Tuesdays a free lunch and entertainment are available on Darrell’s Island.

Wednesdays you can join a free cruise with lunch, from Albouy’s Point, if you have picked up an invitation at one of the events earlier in the week.

Every Friday a Limbo Festival, with complimentary lunch and entertainment, is held at Horseshoe Bay Beach.

For more information about Bermuda, contact the Bermuda Department of Tourism, or call toll-free (800) Bermuda.