California Vacation Packages Available

Three more tour and package-plan vacations are being offered through the American Assn. of Retired Persons since American Express took over its programs this year.

These AARP Travel Experience trips feature a compact rental car with unlimited mileage, prepaid overnight reservations for the length of the tour and a suggested day-by-day detailed itinerary of attractions and points of interest along the route.

Two of the three are in California, picking up the car in San Francisco. The third is an 11-day New England fly/drive starting from New York City.

The six-day California Wine Country trip includes overnights in San Francisco, Napa Valley and Santa Rosa, then on to Monterey and Carmel before returning to San Francisco. Bookings are at Holiday Inns, Best Westerns and other motels. The cost is $367 per person, based on two people sharing a twin-bed room. Air fare is extra.

The California Wanderer is a nine-day fly/drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The meandering route includes the wine country, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite (staying at the Yosemite Best Western at Oakhurst), Monterey, San Simeon, Solvang and Santa Barbara.

It’s priced at $447 per person, double, plus the air fare to San Francisco. Rates do not include admissions to attractions such as the Hearst Castle, but thorough details on how to make such reservations are provided.

New England’s 11-day fly/drive starts with a day and overnight in New York, then a swing through New England with overnights at Mystic, Conn.; Hyannis and Boston, Mass.; Portland, Me.; Lincoln, N.H.; Rutland, Vt.; Springfield, Mass., and back to New York with another overnight in Manhattan (Days Inn).

This one is priced at $1,168 per person, double, and does include round-trip air from Los Angeles.

The fly/drive trips are in effect through Oct. 31.

For more information, see your travel agent or any American Express agent. Or you can call for a free brochure at (800) 927-0111 (Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

The Royal Waikoloan on the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii has been added to the “50 Plus” discount program of Outrigger Hotels Hawaii. Mature traveler rates after the 20% discount start at $76 per night, single or double.

Amtrak is offering travelers 60 and over a 15% discount on one-way coach fares from Chicago and Kansas City to New Orleans.

The discount is good for reserved coach travel on the “City of New Orleans” and the “River Cities” through Sept. 30. The 15% is not in addition to Amtrak’s regular senior discount of 25% for those age 65 and over. The regular 25% discount is only off Amtrak’s regular full-coach fares.

Also, the 15% discount is not applicable to Amtrak’s Great American Vacation package plans that cover this part of the country.

For more information, call Amtrak at (800) USA-RAIL.