Why spend the Christmas holidays huddled up with a bunch of familiar faces in the comfort of your own living room, when you could be burning straw in a pig's mouth somewhere in Romania? Or munching on a warm Weihnachtsbäckerei in Vienna? This season sees its usual increase in packages and deals from various travel agents, as well as some new ones. Thomas Cook now offers a seven-day-six-night trip to Bucharest, Romania, where Christmas traditions include parading through the streets carrying homemade paper stars, and ‘Ignatius' – a festival honoring the saint of the same name, in which a pig is stuffed with straw, burned, and devoured. The package includes return tickets and six nights at the Ibis Parliament Hotel (three stars) with bed and breakfast, for LE3745 per person. Also on offer is a package for seven days and six nights in Vienna, Austria at the Kummer Hotel, a four-star establishment located on a main shopping street, ideal for those who still have a few items to cross out on their Christmas list. Return economy-class tickets on Austrian Airlines are included in the package, available for LE3595 per person. If Europe isn't your destination of choice for the season, Thomas Cook also offers a round-trip package to Kenya for LE10,515 per person. The trip includes three nights on safari in Nairobi's Amboseli National Park, followed by three nights in Mombasa at the White Sands Hotel (four stars). Or for those who want to stay in Egypt but need to escape the city, there are many options, not least among which could be a Nile cruise. The ‘Endless Wonders' package, offered by Ten Tours, includes four nights in Cairo as well as three nights on the Nile Zeinah, a cruise ship traveling from Aswan to Luxor, all for approximately US$880 per person sharing a double room. Meanwhile the more extravagant ‘Spirit of the Nile' package includes four nights in Cairo followed by a three-night cruise on Lake Nasser, ending with another three-night Aswan-Luxor Nile cruise. ‘The Golden Sun' is a similar package, substituting the Lake Nasser cruise with three nights' half-board stay at the Minas Aquafun Resort in Hurghada (three stars). The two offers are priced, respectively, at approximately US$1,300 and US$900, depending on available tickets. For those on a limited budget, a more affordable option is the similarly-themed 'Sun Goddess' Nile cruise, offered by Into Egypt Travel, which lasts for five days and four nights, at a cost of LE1890 per person. The same agency has several other packages on offer, including a four-day-three-night stay at the Royal Savoy Sharm el-Sheikh for LE825 per person. Please note: prices listed above do NOT include taxes. For more information, kindly contact: Thomas Cook Egypt +202 26962139/40 www.thomascookegypt.com Ten Tours +202 22675377 www.tentours.com Into Egypt +202 2690 4727 +202 2690 8199 www.intoegypt.com
