WORTH A TRIP: "Three days. Two nights. Five New Yorkers who had never slept outdoors." In the April Backpacker, Steve Friedman proves that life-shifting travel needn't be pricy or exotic -- though you may rock a few friendships along the way. Lugging a Duraflame log, squished peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the wrong map and plenty of chocolate for bribing whiners, Friedman leads his gang of Woody Allen-esque pals (armed with contraband Blackberries and cell phones) on a camping trip just 40 miles from Manhattan. Despite rain, cold, lack of outhouses and "three large vultures circling" the camp, he receives the ultimate kudo: "You made my life larger."
WORTH A FLIP: They had us from the puppy bling on the cover, but Fido Friendly ("The Travel Magazine For You & Your Dog") just gets better, including a New York City bus tour you can take with your canine pal, plus destination spas where "you and your pooch can enjoy jet-lag relieving neck massages" and Fidos get a "pet cabana," "fluffy spa robes" and "doggie turn-down service."
Feeling like a geezer? Smithsonian suggests a visit to Pennekamp State Park in Florida, the nation's first coral-reef sanctuary, where the reef is "an organism between 5,000 and 7,000 years old." Imagine the candles on its birthday cake . . . Blimey! Prague is fast becoming the stag party capital of Europe, British mag The Sunday Times Travel reports. Yet the city has survived "Jesuits, Nazis, Communist secret policemen and Soviet tank crews with its spirit intact." The prospect of "40,000 beery blokes in comedy wigs and matching T-shirts" staggering into town every year is not going to break it. Let's hope . . . Can you say "bioluminescent dinoflagellates?" You're soaking in them, Islands says, but that's a bright idea, because swimming with these light-emitting plankton is like being "enveloped by millions of tiny lights." Find 'em off Vieques, an island near the coast of Puerto Rico.
Conde Nast Traveler picks the "Next 7 Wonders of the World," including the Rem Koolhaas-designed Seattle Public Library and a glass-covered building in London dubbed "The Gherkin" . . . If your tastes run to historic food-shaped buildings, Scottish Life finds architectural follies, like a cunningly carved 45-foot stone pineapple tower built in 1761. That rumor that Koolhaas is putting up a giant pina colada next door? Completely untrue.
If this column is missing next month, we've joined the "Meanderthal Generations," defined by Trailer Life as folks who've left their "stick house" behind to roam in RVs. Some volunteer in fish hatcheries; others trace genealogy. "The fear of mowing grass" keeps them from turning into "land-bound people" again . . . Find your "inner cowgirl," travelgirl says, at ranches with women wranglers, cowgirl singers and female "horse whisperers." But "forget about funky bunkhouses" -- there are spas, organic meals and "luxury casitas" at the end of the cattle drive . . . Or, relax and get in touch with your inner miser. There's a spa glut, Smart Money claims, with U.S. spas quadrupling since 2000. And that means deals. Check out their geeky-good grid that compares cost per minute for massages at various spas . . .
Get your wake-up call from Sponge-Bob, have breakfast with Jimmy Neutron and frolic at "the world's grooviest-looking water park," Travel + Leisure Family suggests, when Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn opens next month in Orlando. Perfect for your Rugrats . . . Art does Dallas, Town & Country Travel says. The Dallas Museum of Art was "once a laughingstock," but has suddenly "come together" -- perhaps spurred by the new Renzo Piano-designed Nasher Sculpture Center.
WORTH A CLIP: Budget Travel lists Web sites where you'll find discounted Broadway theater tickets, bookable in advance. Even to -- gasp! -- "The Producers."
WORTH A GAWK: The $120 hamburger has arrived -- in New York, of course. It's the Double Truffle burger at DB Bistro Moderne, Travel + Life reports. Too steep? The Royale (hello, John Travolta!) will only set you back $69 . . . . . . Forget back rubs -- now Virgin is plotting to send you into space, Robb Report Vacation Homes notes. With plans to launch in 2007, Virgin Galactic will get you 62 miles high. Beat that, Amsterdam hoteliers!
-- Gayle Keck
