Your Guide to Going Places, Our Most Asked-For Travel Tips

Dear Readers,

Spring is upon us, summer approaches. This is the season when we start to think about how to spend our vacation, those precious few days when we have a chance to escape our daily routine. At last, some leisure time to spend with family, friends or maybe just ourselves. This is our chance to renew ourselves, get fresh perspective, see the world, learn about other people, have fun, relax.

But where to go? What can I afford? Where can we take the kids? Who’s a good travel agent? How do I get a passport? Would I like a cruise? We have two ways to get you started.

First, this special issue contains the useful information most requested by the readers of our Sunday Travel section. We have compiled it in one handy place so you can keep this section all year and refer to it when you need, say, an airline telephone number, a state or foreign government tourist office location, a list of companies that offer cheap courier flights.

Second, this section offers readers a guide to the upcoming Los Angeles Times Travel Show, open to the public Saturday and Sunday, April 5 and 6, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

As in the past, hundreds of travel exhibitors will be on hand to offer information on dozens of destinations.

But we have added something new to the Travel Show this year. The editors and writers of the Sunday Travel section have put together editorial panels featuring travel experts from around the country to help you become become smarter, savvier travelers. These professionals will talk about how to get the best deals, how to keep from getting ripped off, how to decide whether a destination is right for you.

And, most of all, how to get the maximum enjoyment out of those precious vacation days.