Eager tourists who would like to visit Santa Claus! The Santa Claus Air Plains to Rovaniemi, Lapland, in Soumi - Finland, has become a big business. Norwegian media report about heavy traffic in the air across Norway. 90 % of the tourists who across Norway on their way to Rovaniemi are British.

Hwo are the best national parks in USA and Canada? How are the famous national parks rated as Denali National Park & Preserve, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Redwood National and State Parks, Rocky Mountains National park and Grand Canyon National Park? As National Geographic writes on it`s website: If you visit a national park, you'll often spend plenty of time just outside the park, too—eating, sleeping, parking, shopping, sightseeing—in the town or region that geographers call the gateway. A park and its gateway are really a single destination, with similar history, scenery, and climate. The way park and gateway interact can make all the difference in the quality of your trip and in the sustainability of the destination. Read about the rating at National Geographic Traveller`s scoreboard! The winner is.....

India is one of the largest and most populated countries in the world. There are numerous of places for unique adventures in wild and various landscapes as the Himalayas, Auli, Gir, Ladakh, Manali, Shimla, Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, Rishikesh, Uttranchal, Sikkim, Kangra Valley, Kumaon, Gulmarg, Jim Corbett National Park, Andaman, North East India - The Seven Sisters States of India' , Ranthambore, Periyar,Kovalam, Lakshadweep, Himachal and Darjeeling.

In Iceland Santa Claus has several nicknames. In addition to Santa - Santas, he or they are called Yulemen, Yule Lads or Christmas Boys. Nobody knows exactly the origin of these names, but anyway the Christmas celebration in Iceland goes on. In the middle of May 2002 I was lucky to the get a glimpse of some Santas at the Blue Lagoon. I thought the Icelandic Santas were seasonal too, but here I could observe him and she enjoyed themselves in the hot pool in the summertime. The Blue Lagoon looks "frosty blue", but it's really hot. The temperature is about 40 Celsius (104F), and the soothing, mineral-rich water is believed to have curative powers. It seemed to me that the Santas really got their extra power from the magic water, and it will make them in better shape for their hard work in Christmas!

The bartender just brought me a huge whisky (November 2005). I am at '10 Downing Street', a pub on the second floor of a shopping mall in Pune, Maharashtra - India, the happening university city to the east of Bombay.

It's popular world wide for children to tell Santa what they would like for Christmas, but where do he live? Shall your wishlist be sent to the North Pole, the South Pole, Rovaniemi in Finland - Soumi, or to Savalen or Drobak, Drøbak in Norway, or somewhere else?

Travelling back in Biblican time was really great. The Middle East is so enriched with big wonders. Some of them I and my wife Marna experienced were The Western Wall, Tel Aviv, Jerash, massive Roman ruins, Jerusalem, and Shel Zahav. We were closed to the bomb explosion in Amman. Further more we explored the ancient city Petra, the Nabateans`culture and wonders. Spielberg liked the city enough to film the third Indiana Jones movie here, especially the Treasury. We also took our time to admire the sacred Biblical shrine of Mount Nebo, the Dead Sea and more.

Are the ancient wonders made of the Incans messages for the future? Cuzco, the capital of the Incan Empire, was built out of stone and adorned with gold. Both in the city and in the environment around, there are great wonders as Qorikancha - Coricancha - the famous sun temple of Qosqo, San Blas Church, La Companía Church - once Inca Huayna Capac's palace, The Cathedral - was built over the ruins of the palace of the Inca Viracocha, the huge stone structure Sacsayhuaman, Q'enqo - Kenko - a temple dedicated to Mother Earth, Puca Pukara - the Fortress Watchtower, Tambomachay - the Inca Baths, Laqo, Lanlakuyoq and Kusilluchayoq - old observatories and ceremonial sites, the lost city Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley - Valle Sagrado. What is so special with these monuments, and how are they connected?

In a remote canyon known as Range Creek in USA, it has lived a mysterious people. The vast majority of archaeological traces in the site are associated with the Fremont Indians, one of the early Americans. It dates between about A.D. 500 and A.D. 1350. So, what became of them? The Range Creek site was unveiled in 2004 and now archaeologists explore the area. Compared with their neighbours Anasazi in the south, the ruins are not so spectacular, but anyway the constructions and petroglyphs are real impressing...

Long, dusty and winding trails to the ancient city Petra in Jordan, go through deserts, rocks, deep valleys and narrow passages. It`s not so far from the city Wadi Musa. Outside Petra there are small caravan places which people used in the past for staying overnight and resting. Bedouin nomads use some of these places today sometimes. In the past Petra`s wealth grew as the Nabateans kept control of caravan trade routes through the region.

I was in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, city of 1000-year-old temples adorned with all the erotic positions of the Kama Sutra. The temples were rediscovered by a British explorer in the early 19th century after languishing forgotten in the jungle for centuries, and now tourists flock here.

It's made by the Norwegian adventurer Stein Morten Lund based on his adventurous journey in July 2005. The movie tells a story about the Bedouins life and culture in the middle of the desert. Nomads have been travelling in these southern Jordanian deserts since prehistoric times. Their way to survive in such harsh environment is impressing. So it's their hospitality, lifestyle, culture and traditional music. The movie covers also the fabulous Nabataean City of Petra, where breath-taking architecture is carved into rose-colored sandstone cliffs. The wonderful and mysterious building, called the Treasure in Petra, was used as background for the filming of the final scene of the movie Indian Jones and the Last Crusader. The most dramatic scenes in Stein Morten`s movie is about Lawrence of Arabia, and takes place in the amazing moon landscape Wadi Rum.

Readers of Wanderlust, Britain's leading magazine for real travellers, have updated the millennia-old list for the 21st century. Overall, 3,569 travellers' votes were counted in the largest survey of its kind ever. The results reveal what today's travellers view to be the most extraordinary sights on the planet.The clear voters' favourite is the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru, which received 52% more votes than its nearest rival, the vast temple complex of Angkor, Cambodia. The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only one of the 7 Wonders of the World still standing, has been relegated to eighth place in the definitive updated list.

From 17th - 28th February next year you can enjoy hundreds of entertainment opportunities at the traditional Venice Carnival. It's a party with no barriers or borders, and it's arranged in one of the most amazing and famous historic city in the world. For more than 200 years, Venice has been a wonderful place for fancy-dress parties, jokes and sneers. And for over 20 years, Venice has been welcoming masqueraders, visitors and tourists who want to join the carnival and have fun in the late winter.

Venice has sinked 24 inches deeper into the lagoon over a period of 300 years, the Discovery Channel reports. C. C. I. - 18th / 28th of February 2006. CARNIVAL of VENICE

If you want to see the masks, come to Venice and enjoy yourself, but if you want to enter in the real atmosphere of the Carnival and its unique enchantment of the timeless feeling, get a costume and take part of : THE OFFICIAL PROGRAMME of GALA DINNER, BALLS, COCKTAILS http://www.meetingeurope.com/carnival/carnival_progr2001.htm