New Orleans or Chicago, anyone?
OK, so it will be a little too late for Mardi Gras or to catch the season opener at Wrigley, but JetBlue will offer one daily nonstop from Logan to O'Hare, as well as to New Orleans, beginning on May 1. Introductory fares will start at $89 for Chi-town and $99 for The Easy. Decisions, decisions.
PAUL MAKISHIMA
In the real world
National Geographic Student Expeditions (in cooperation with Vermont-based Putney Student Travel) takes groups of high school students with hankerings for archeology, geology, photography, writing, filmmaking, or marine biology on three-week tours of facinating places with National Geographic experts to guide them in a cool project related to their destination. Projects could include writing short stories, creating a photography portfolio, participating in an archeological dig, or making a documentary film. Destinations for 2008 include Peru, Ecuador and the Galápagos, Costa Rica, Belize, Mali, Tanzania, China, India, Ireland, Spain, and Iceland. Trips, which include meals, lodging, and activities (but not international airfare), cost $5,990 to $7,390. Call 877-8759.
CHRIS MURPHY
Retire in the sun
Why would anyone wish to go to Georgetown, Texas? Because in “Retirement Places Rated: What You Need to Know to Plan the Retirement You Deserve” (Wiley, 302 pp., $24.99, paperback), David Savageau has done all the necessary legwork to get Georgetown to No. 1 (followed by St. George-Zion, Utah; Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.; Charleston, S.C., tied with Henderson, Nev.; Kalispell-Flathead Valley, Mont., et al.). Savageau has canvassed the States since 1982 looking for places that attract older adults. He packs this book with all sorts of data about 200 places that meet these criteria: they are growing, attractive to older adults, relatively safe, affordable, and with natural endowments. (Hanover, N.H., makes the top 30, and Burlington, Vt., Brunswick, Maine, and southern Berkshire County in Massachusetts make the top 100).
JULIE DALTON
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