Everyone I know who has been to...

Everyone I know who has been to Hong Kong wants to return. Arrivals are hooked from the moment their jet descends at Kai Tak Airport, windows framing freighters, junks, sampans. Later, while the Star Ferry moves across the bay, the city comes alive with neon. It’s a scene. And although the lease held by the British expires in less than eight years, Hong Kong remains ever exotic--one of the Orient’s many-splendored gems. Among the best travel bets currently is a one-week package ($999) offered by Cathay Pacific Holidays that includes round-trip transportation via Cathay Pacific Airways. Six nights’ hotel accommodations, full American breakfasts daily. Departures from LAX Tuesdays/Thursdays through March. In April/May, Cathay Pacific will hike the price to $1,099. Vacationers are put up at the Excelsior, the Park Lane Hong Kong, the Omni Marco Polo, the Omni Prince. I’m packed. Just waiting for the signal to go.

Cathay Pacific Holidays: (800) 762-8181.

Books/Maps: Dick Lewis of Long Beach writes: “My wife and I have struck out in our attempts to find any travel guidebooks or maps on Costa Rica. Have looked in bookstores without success. Any suggestions?”

Call Book Passage at (800) 321-9785 for a copy of its free catalogue. Lists loads of travel publications, including Costa Rica titles. Book Passage stocks more than 10,000 guides, maps, books, language tapes. Operates a mail-order department. Free gift wraps/gift certificates. As a sign of the times, catalogue coordinator Marguerita Castanera tells us that customers are concentrating on the United States, Central/South America, the Orient/Pacific. Calls for Europe publications are on the decline.

Another source: Geographia, 4000 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake 91505, (818) 848-1414. Shelves of travel/recreational guidebooks, maps, language tapes, phrase books, atlases, aeronautical/nautical charts. Accessories ranging from garment steamers and hair dryers/irons to voltage adapters/converters, pocket-size money exchangers, folding alarm clocks, money belts, sewing kits, rain gear, luggage carriers, pocket dictionaries/translators and other items. Geographia does gift wrapping/shipping.

Meanwhile, for a directory ($2) containing the addresses of nearly 200 retailers worldwide (books/maps/accessories), write to International Map Dealers, P.O. Box 1789, Kankakee, Ill. 60901.

Offbeat Hideaways: Mike Thiel operates a travel club that specializes in hideaways from Massachusetts to Mustique, Anguilla to Antigua. Publishes a guide that tips readers on condos, cottages, villas, inns, mountain cabins, yachts. A network of privately listed properties in Europe, the South Seas, the Caribbean, the United States, the Bahamas, Mexico. Thiel’s Hideaways International numbers 11,000 members. Besides the guide, members receive quarterly newsletters, airline/car-rental discounts, trip planning assistance from Thiel’s in-house travel agency. The 128-page “Hideaways Guide” pictures French chateaux, Italian villas, cottages in Key West, homes in Hawaii. Among the offerings:

--In Greece, cottages overlooking the Aegean on the island of Santorin: $115 a day.

--A four-bedroom villa with swimming pool in Jamaica (accommodates four couples): $1,800/$2,200 a week, depending on the season.

--A bungalow on the beach in Cancun: $125 a day per couple.

--In Hawaii, a private home (sleeps eight guests): $250/$350 a day. Another at Haleiwa on Oahu sleeps four: $1,400 per week.

--A three-bedroom adobe in Scottsdale, Ariz.: $650 a week.

--In Vail, Colo., a townhouse (10 minutes from the ski slopes) sleeps 14 persons: $1,420/$1,890 a week, depending on the season.

--In Rockport, Mass., a home with an ocean view (sleeps 10): $1,000 a week in summer.

--A cottage in Kennebunkport, Me. (President Bush’s personal hideaway) sleeps 10: $1,500 a week in the high season, $1,000 in the off season.

--On the French Riviera at Antibes, a condo for two couples: $650 a week.

Details from Hideaways International, P.O. Box 1270, Littleton, Mass. 01460, (800) 843-4433. Membership: $79 per year. Single copies of the “Hideaways Guide” sell for $14.95.

Phoenix: Visitors to Phoenix are discovering a pleasant dose of serenity only three miles from Sky Harbor Airport. Westcourt in the Buttes rises on a hillside with a smashing view of the city. The lobby is built into the mountainside. Waterfalls, desert terrain, a swimming pool cradled in the rocks. Tennis, spas, a fitness center. Golf nearby. Conference space/secretarial services for businessmen. The resort’s Top of the Rock Restaurant provides a stunning view of Phoenix at night.

Westcourt in the Buttes, 2000 Westcourt Way, Tempe, Ariz. 85282, (602) 225-9000. Rates from $165 single/$175 double. After May 20, rates will start at $79 single/$89 double.

Eclipse: Travelers are having difficulty booking accommodations in Baja for the July 11 eclipse. (Baja is rated tops for the eclipse due to its clear skies, lack of haze/smog.) For those still searching, Baja Expeditions in San Diego is booking the following trips:

--A four-night hotel package ($1,295) in La Paz or five nights in Cabo San Lucas ($1,595) that includes the flight from LAX/San Diego.

--Catered Camping, July 10-14 near Buena Vista ($1,050) for tent/meals. Guests will travel by bus from San Diego, fly from Tijuana.

--On the Sea of Cortez, eclipse crowds will be accommodated aboard an 80-foot motor vessel and a 72-foot sailing ship, July 7-13. Scuba diving/snorkeling, meals, round-trip air fare from LAX/San Diego: $2,495.

Details from Glenn Neumann, Baja Expeditions, 2625 Garnet Ave., San Diego 92109, (800) 843-6967.

While most Cabo hotels have been sold out for the eclipse for more than a year, Gina Cord of International Marketing/Promotions Associates tells us that IMPA has condos available. Call (800) 522-1516 (California).

New England: Vermont will be turning back the clock June 25--the start-up date for an 18-day bicentennial journey by horseback/carriage through the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains. Nearly 150 wagons, 1,500 horses. Groups will travel back roads, early stage routes, visiting 36 towns/villages. Horses for rent by outfitters. Non-riders will travel by covered wagon. Celebrations planned in dozens of villages. Picnics, parades, song/dance entertainment. Sign on for the entire journey or choose a two-day minimum.

The Vermont Bicentennial Heritage Journey, P.O. Box 266, Bridge St., Richmond, Vt. 05477, (802) 434-5117.

Catalina: Fourteen Catalina Island hotels are offering vacation packages in cooperation with Catalina Express, operator of a cross-channel fleet. Rates from $55/$190. Island tours, round-trip transportation, accommodations. Prices based on double occupancy. Choices both in Avalon and the village of Two Harbors. (Most packages good through June.) Banning House Lodge in Two Harbors is a B&B; dating from the early 1900s. Prices: $75/$123, including a continental breakfast. At Avalon, the new Hotel Metropole features king-sized beds, mini-bars, robes, color TV ($119). The Catalina Canyon Hotel ($87.50) is a full-service resort that rises in the foothills. Features a swimming pool/Jacuzzi.

Details on the 14 participating hotels from Catalina Express: (213) 519-1212.

Reader Recommendations

Ireland--Michael Goodrich, Seal Beach: “Island Heights B&B;, Killarney Road, Castleisland, County Kerry. A half-hour drive from Killarney and the Ring of Kerry. Proprietress served hot apple crisp with ice cream and the best Irish coffee I have ever tasted. All this for about $19 per person.”

New Mexico--Barbara Widmer, Arcadia: “La Posada de Taos, a wonderful B&B;, P.O. Box 1118B, Taos, N.M. 87571. Rates: $60/$90.”