ENSURING A BON VOYAGE.Byline: Eric Noland Travel Editor Already, three pencil points have given their all for those few pesky souls on your holiday gift list. It's not that these people have everything, they're just particularly hard to buy for. But wait. They take frequent journeys, whether to locales exotic or familiar, for business or pleasure. Here's the solution: travel-related gifts. There is an abundance on the market this year, with a few new items to pique curiosity. They can be found at any number of travel stores, from one of the Rand McNally Rand McNally & Company is the preeminent American publisher of maps, atlases, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data. Map & Travel outlets in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, to such bold independents as California Map & Travel Center in Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. and Distant Lands Travel Bookstore & Outfitters in Old Pasadena. Don't forget the catalogs, either - Magellan's and TravelSmith are two of the best. Or the electronic indulgences at the Sharper Image. Or the expedition provisions at Sport Chalet Sport Chalet is a retailer of sporting equipment, apparel, shoes, and accessories in the United States. It operates approximately 40 company owned stores in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, with new stores opening soon in Utah, with the first at Jordan Landing. . On this, the official kickoff weekend of the Christmas buying season, here is a rundown on several gift ideas. The target price range was $35 to $75, but a few items stray - or soar - over that ceiling, while several others nestle into the $25-and-under category. Make a list. No need to check it more than once. Gizmos and gadgetry gadg·et·ry n. 1. Gadgets considered as a group. 2. The design or construction of gadgets. Noun 1. gadgetry - appliances collectively; "laborsaving gadgetry" Oh, to own stock in AA batteries or lithium cells. The market is glutted yet again with products for people who simply can't get along without the latest in electronic wizardry wiz·ard·ry n. pl. wiz·ard·ries 1. The art, skill, or practice of a wizard; sorcery. 2. a. A power or effect that appears magical by its capacity to transform: . Various hand-held devices will translate Arabic into English, convert rupees to dollars, guide your wilderness hike using Global Positioning System Global Positioning System: see navigation satellite. Global Positioning System (GPS) Precise satellite-based navigation and location system originally developed for U.S. military use. satellites and lull you to sleep with the digitized sound of a babbling babbling Neurology Quasi-random vocalizations in infants that precede language acquisition. See Lalling stage. brook. Lingo's European Translator ($69.95), smaller than an eyeglass eye·glass n. 1. eyeglasses Glasses for the eyes. 2. A single lens in a pair of glasses; a monocle. 3. See eyepiece. 4. See eyecup. case, features a tiny keyboard, a flip-up screen and gobs of memory. Stored inside are 56,000 words and 17,000 phrases in 14 languages. As with published phrase books, everything is categorized by situations. Unlike most published phrase books, however, a phonetic version of a given phrase is not provided, so you're on your own for pronunciation. Punch up ``Please refund me'' in Hungarian, for example, and the screen will spit out Verb 1. spit out - spit up in an explosive manner splutter, sputter cough out, cough up, expectorate, spit up, spit out - discharge (phlegm or sputum) from the lungs and out of the mouth 2. : ``Kerem fizesse az arat vissza.'' Good luck. At the very least, you could hold the device up to a store clerk and point to the readout (1) A small display device that typically shows only a few digits or a couple of lines of data. (2) Any display screen or panel. . For foreign-currency conversions, Travel Essentials makes a credit-card-sized device ($14.95) that can remove the headache from the mental math. Just punch in the conversion rate when you cross the border. ``They're very easy to use,'' said Suzanne Snyder Suzanne Snyder (born in 1962, Park Ridge, Illinois, U.S.) is an American actress, best known for two small roles in the popular sitcom Seinfeld. She now lives in California. , manager of the Rand McNally store in the Century City Shopping Center. ``If you're a shopper going to Italy, you want to know exactly what 10,000 lira LIRA. The name of a foreign coin. In all computations at the custom house, the lira of Sardinia shall be estimated at eighteen cents and six mills. Act of March 22, 1846. The lira of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, and the lira of Tuscany, at sixteen cents. Act of March 22, 1846. is, so you don't have to be surprised when you get your credit-card bill: `Oh, no! I thought it was $50; it was $500!' '' Have difficulty sleeping in hotels in noisy urban areas? At the Sharper Image, you'll find the Travel Soother ($59), yet another breast pocket-sized, battery-powered item that will emit comforting bedside sounds in four categories: seaside, summer night (complete with crickets), brook and rain. If cost is no object, another popular product is the Palm V Connected Organizer ($399), which, if combined with a modem ($169), enables a traveler to exchange e-mails from anywhere on the globe. For people who like to trek across uncharted expanses (or for those who get turned around going out for a newspaper), there are Global Positioning System receivers on the market for $99 and up, according to Rob Gandel of the California Map & Travel Center. One of the store's gift options for higher-end shoppers is the Garmin GPS III Plus ($428), which has a built-in base map that includes cities, towns, major highways, lakes, rivers and, in the U.S., information on gas, lodging and food options near exits of the interstate highway system. If plugged into a personal computer, other cartographic car·tog·ra·phy n. The art or technique of making maps or charts. [French cartographie : carte, map (from Old French, from Latin charta, carta, paper made from papyrus data can be downloaded into it from a CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). . For those traveling to countries where the tap water is a bit risky to drink, there are several water purifiers available. At Sport Chalet, the Guardian Plus Purifier ($69.99) is only 9 inches tall and weighs just 14 ounces, but it combines a .2-micron filter to remove bacteria, iodinated resin to knock down viruses, and a carbon filter to kill the taste of the iodine and other odors. With this system, however, you have to fuss with hoses and a pumping mechanism. A simpler purifier, made by Exstream and featured in Magellan's catalog ($39.85), has the appearance of a sport water bottle but has an elaborate internal filter and promises to be just as vigilant in fighting off the microscopic bad guys. Magellan's also carries a device that might appeal to those of us who seem to come down with a cold within a day of stepping off a transcontinental flight. Air Supply ($99) - no relation to the helium-voiced singing group - is a black box the size of a cigarette pack and is worn on a strap around the neck. By employing a corona discharge chamber, it pledges to clean up the air between you and that guy having a sneezing To verbally tell somebody about a new and interesting Web site. See viral marketing. fit in 12C. ``In that chamber,'' said Magellan's Jack Kotowski, ``air is bombarded with more than 70 trillion ions per second. It causes electron impact decomposition. By various methods, it destroys bacteria, viruses, even pollen. And you just wear it as a pendant around your neck. A gadget that doesn't feature liquid-crystal displays, lithium cells or micron filters is no less indispensable for a frequent traveler - and is a comparative bargain. It is the Victorinox Swiss Card ($30) - basically a Swiss army knife broken into its component parts and tucked into a holder the size of a credit card. It's all there: scissors scissors Cutting instrument or tool consisting of a pair of opposed metal blades that meet and cut when the handles at their ends are brought together. Modern scissors are of two types: the more usual pivoted blades have a rivet or screw connection between the cutting ends , tweezers tweezers An instrument with pincers used to grasp or extract. See Optical tweezers. , screwdriver, blade, pin, pen, ruler, nail file. Also guaranteed to set off airport metal detectors. The incidental tourist For someone who has a trip abroad planned for 2000, consider something from the shelf: a guide book, a coffee-table picture book, a journal for the trip, an atlas, perhaps a travel-themed photo album or memory book. Rand McNally's five area stores are featuring the widely acclaimed Eyewitness Travel Guides bound in leather ($40). The guides are to four major cities - London, Paris, Rome and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of - that are as well-known for their sights as they are for their pickpockets. One of the advantages of having a leather-bound guide book is that when you carry it tucked under your arm, you're not flashing a neon sign that says: ``Tourist. Not sure where to turn at the next corner. Carrying a lot of that confusing money. Will take a long time to consult the lingo Lingo - An animation scripting language. [MacroMind Director V3.0 Interactivity Manual, MacroMind 1991]. translator keyboard for the appropriate word for, `Police ' '' Several books have been released to coincide with the holidays - and, of course, with the dawn of 2000. DK Publishing has produced a dazzling ``Millennium World Atlas'' ($125) that includes a CD-ROM and a folding world map. Lonely Planet has just released ``Sacred India'' ($29.95), a photo-essay book. For the ship-bound set, DK also has a new book out titled ``Voyages: The Romance of Cruising'' ($40), which boasts pictures and information on ``the world's 100 most exciting ports of call.'' Closer to home, nostalgic road warriors might be intrigued by a revision of a popular work on Route 66, ``The Illustrated Guidebook to the Mother Road'' (Roadbook International; $19.95), which is exhaustively detailed (including odometer odometer (ōdŏm`ĭtər), instrument provided in an automotive vehicle to indicate the total number of miles that have been traveled. readings and exit numbers from the interstate), and examines the storied highway that once stretched from Santa Monica to Chicago. While perusing the shelves, don't forget travel videos (Rick Steves is masterful with Europe; Lonely Planet does good work with adventure trips) and computer software, including Rand McNally's TripMaker and StreetFinder ($49.95 each). Baggage checks Most seasoned fliers have come to the conclusion that for any given flight, there are only two kinds of luggage: carry-on and lost. But the airlines are cracking down on the limit of two carry-ons per passenger, which creates a quandary for a business traveler hauling a garment bag, a rolling bag and a briefcase. Tumi offers a solution: the Business Carryon car·ry·on adj. Small or compact enough to be carried aboard and stowed on an airplane, train, or bus by a passenger: carryon luggage. n. A carryon bag, suitcase, or other item. ($595), a wheeled bag that is two-thirds suitcase, one-third briefcase. The latter compartment includes a heavily padded pocket for a laptop computer and the requisite array of zippered zip·pered adj. 1. Having or equipped with zippers or a zipper: a coat with zippered pockets. 2. Closed or fastened with or as if with a zipper. pockets and compartments. To maximize space in that or any other bag, a number of organizing products are available, including Eagle Creek packing bags ($12 to $32 at Rand McNally) and hanging toiletry kits ($19 and $22 from TravelSmith, $39 and $49 from Magellan's). Travelers who have been reluctant to trade in their perfectly good suitcases for the new generation of wheeled luggage might appreciate the dTube ($49.95). It's a stylized styl·ize tr.v. styl·ized, styl·iz·ing, styl·iz·es 1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style. 2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. , collapsible cart with ``the world's worst name,'' said Distant Lands owner Adrian Kalvinskas as he folded it down to the size of a flashlight. Travel togs Nothing is more annoying on a trip than having packed insufficiently - whether for an unseasonable un·sea·son·a·ble adj. 1. Not suitable to or appropriate for the season. 2. Not characteristic of the time of year: unseasonable weather. 3. Poorly timed; inopportune. cold snap or a sign at the restaurant that reads ``Business Attire Recommended.'' The appropriate gift can spare a traveler distress on both fronts. Go-anywhere fabrics continue to dominate the pages of holiday travel catalogs. TravelSmith is draped drape v. draped, drap·ing, drapes v.tr. 1. To cover, dress, or hang with or as if with cloth in loose folds: draped the coffin with a flag; a robe that draped her figure. in layers of microfleece - cardigans, pullovers, vests and shirts for men; turtlenecks, V-neck tunics and pants for women. This stuff requires half the space of wool and cotton in your suitcase but still provides a quick-drying layer of insulation against the cold. (Men's garments range from $40 to $70, women's from $42 to $60). In every catalog, you'll also find the simple black traveling dress, which seems to be universally priced at about $80. Made of low-wrinkle synthetic fibers, it's designed to pack and travel well. ``It's our No. 1 product,'' TravelSmith spokesman Caleb Edell said of a garment that the company none-too-subtly markets as ``The Indispensable Black Travel Dress.'' ``Dress it up with pearls, dress it down with flats,'' Edell added, ``you can scrunch it in your suitcase for a week, and it's still wrinkle-free and ready to go.'' Kids' stuff A while back, Jay Leno took a microphone and a ``Tonight Show'' camera crew to a college graduation ceremony and asked several grads in robes and mortarboards to name any one of the seven continents. It was appalling how many came up completely blank. (One simpleton sim·ple·ton n. A person who is felt to be deficient in judgment, good sense, or intelligence; a fool. [simple + -ton (as in surnames such as Chesterton, Singleton). could only offer weakly, ``Our own?'') Do a child a favor - give the gift of geographic curiosity. Most travel stores carry puzzle maps and other games. The California Map & Travel Center also carries an item that meets the current requirement for all things interactive. It is the Geo Safari talking globe ($49.95 for the portable model). It asks kids geography quiz questions and gives them multiple-choice options for response. Best of all, wrong answers can be looked up on the globe immediately. It's a constructive way to occupy youngsters on a driving trip or during an airport delay. Other games that fall into the category are Travel Scrabble ($24.95), which features square plastic slots for the letter tiles, and Magnetic Travel Backgammon backgammon (băk`găm'ən, băk'găm`ən), game of chance and skill played by two persons upon a specially marked board divided by a space, called the bar, into two tables (inner table and outer table), each of which has 12 ($40), both carried by Rand McNally. And, for the tykes, Magellan's has the Children's Pack Rat pack rat, rodent of the genus Neotoma, of North and Central America, noted for its habit of collecting bright, shiny objects and leaving other objects, such as nuts or pebbles, in their place; also called trade rat or wood rat. Kit ($19.85), a treasure trove TREASURE TROVE. Found treasure. 2. This name is given to such money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, which having been hidden or concealed in the earth or other private place, so long that its owner is unknown, has been discovered by accident. of crayons, paper, scissors, alphabet stencils and a tic-tac-toe game all packed into a compact nylon pouch. A world of options Even if you're buying for someone who has no immediate travel plans, it's hard to go wrong with a globe, whether it's a simple desk model (generally $50 and up) or a floor model ($130 and up). When one is displayed in a prominent place in the home, it's difficult to walk by without stopping to survey some far-flung corner of the world. Globes are popular gift items at this time of year, several store proprietors said. In fact, owner Sheldon Mars of the California Map & Travel Center routinely converts a denlike sitting area into a ``globe room'' over the holidays. If none of the foregoing items struck your fancy, travel stores can nonetheless be interesting places to browse for gifts - something unexpected is bound catch your eye. Distant Lands in Old Pasadena, for example, has travel candles, 16 different travel alarm clocks and books that focus on the literature of a region (``Agatha Christie's England,'' for example). The store also has a seemingly boundless supply of guide books - 18 on Cuba alone. ``People have a fascination with Cuba,'' said Kalvinskas. ``Only 90 miles from the U.S - that forbidden-fruit syndrome.'' Browsing through a travel store, even while searching for a gift for someone else, can have an ancillary benefit: Even if you don't Even If You Don't is a single released by the band Ween in 2000 on Mushroom Records. Formats Enhanced CD single Includes the quicktime video of "Even If You Don't" directed by Matt Stone & Trey Parker of "South Park". have plans for an immediate journey, such a shopping excursion can provide ample fodder for dreams of a distant one. SHOPPING SPREE Numerous stores in Southern California stock travel-related gift items. Most telephone Yellow Pages list them under ``Travel Accessories.'' The retail outlets and catalog companies mentioned in the accompanying story are listed here: California Map & Travel Center: 3312 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. (310) 396-6277. www.mapper.com. Distant Lands Travel Bookstore & Outfitters: 56 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. (626) 449-3220. www.distantlands.com. Magellan's: Catalog retailer. (800) 962-4943. www.magellans.com. Rand McNally Map & Travel Stores: Six stores in Southern California; for locations, call (800) 234-0679. www.randmcnally.com. The Rand McNally store in the Century City Shopping Center (10250 Santa Monica Blvd.) can be reached at (310) 556-2202. The Sharper Image: Eight stores in Southern California; for locations, call (800) 344-4444. www.sharperimage.com. Sport Chalet: Twenty-two stores in Southern California, including an outlet store in Montclair; for locations, call (888) 924-2538. www.sportchalet.com. TravelSmith: Catalog retailer. (800) 950-1600. www.travelsmith.com. CAPTION(S): 4 photos, box PHOTO (1-- color) no caption (photo of globe with drawing of Santa in sleigh sleigh: see sled. with reindeer) Photo by David Sprague/Staff Photographer Illustration by Bradford Mar/Staff Artist (2 -- color) Sheldon Mars' globe room is an annual holiday tradition at the California Map & Travel Center in Santa Monica, and the colorful orbs are always popular among gift-givers. David Sprague/Staff Photographer (3) Hand-held navigational devices on the market include Magellan's ColorTrak GPS receiver, which even has a built-in altimeter altimeter (ăltĭm`ĭtər, ăl`tĭmē'tər), device for measuring altitude. The most common type is an aneroid barometer calibrated to show the drop in atmospheric pressure in terms of linear elevation as an airplane, . (4) Rand McNally's TripMaker software provides the traveler with optimal routes and information on points of interest along the way. BOX: Shopping spree (see text) |
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