17 PEDAL ACROSS VIETNAM & RAISE CASH FOR OXFAM 18 Cycle through Vietnam to Cambodia, safe in the knowledge that you are not really having a holiday - you’re working for charity. Click on classictours.co.uk and charitychallenge. com and you’ll find a wide variety of challenges where you can combine exotic foreign travel with raising money for UK charities. But be prepared: you’ll cycle at least 80km a day. Other sponsored adventures for 2005 include a hike in Egypt for Scope and a ‘very challenging’ fourday, 100km run along the Great Wall of China for a charity of your choice. Expect to pay a non-refundable registration fee of at least £200, after which you’ll have to raise a minimum of around £2,500 in sponsorship. Alternatively, give your friends a break and pay the full holiday cost yourself. TAKE AN ICEBREAKER TO THE NORTH POLED So what did you do with your life? Well, I did make it to the North Pole ... Take the icebreaker Yamal in July, voyaging north from Murmansk through the Barents Sea to reach 90° North six days later. This is one of the few vessels in the world powerful enough to plough through five-metrethick ice to reach the top of the world. A 16-day cruise starting in Helsinki costs from £8,462 through Quark Expeditions (00 1 203 656 0499; quarkexpeditions.com). For something more spiritual, head down to Antarctica with its virgin landscapes and unsullied wildlife. Peregrine Adventures (01635 872300; www.peregrineadventures. co.uk) offers excellent trips from the Argentinian port of Ushaia aboard the 110-passenger Akademik Ioffe. Departures for this year continue until March - call for late availability or start saving for next winter. A 10-night cruise costs from £2,500 excluding airfares and land accommodation. 19 CAST AWAY ON CRUSOE’S ISLAND The Islas Juan Fernandez, 450 miles off Chile’s Pacific Coast, was where Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, was abandoned in 1704 and eked out a precarious living for four years. It’s now somewhat easier to reach and leave, though few Westerners get to this remote spot. The three islands are now officially named Robinson Crusoe, Alejandro Selkirk and Santa Clara, and in 1977 the whole archipelago of Juan Fernandez was declared a Biosphere Reserve, protecting it from further development. Only 500 people live here, mainly fishermen; but they welcome visitors and will show them the hero’s legendary cave and take them trekking up to El Yunque, the island’s highest (915m) peak where Selkirk lit his signal fires. Trips Worldwide (0117 311 4405; tripsworldwide. co.uk) offers the islands on a 14-night tailor-made holiday to Chile which includes Santiago, the Atacama Desert and the Lake District for £2,155 for all flights, transfers, accommodation and some meals and tours. The additional five-night break to the Islas Juan Fernandez costs £599. 20 FREAK OUT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA You could do Glastonbury again ... but ‘Gone to Papua New Guinea’ will sound so much more impressive on the answering machine. The Goroka Cultural Show is a ritual gathering where over 100 fabulously feathered tribes come in from the highlands. It’s a window on an entirely different, practically stone-age, world and may put your quest for the latest iPod into perspective. This year it’s on 17-19 September, and a fully escorted 10-day tour with Reef and Rainforest (01803 866965; reefandrainforest.co.uk) costs from £4,295 per person including flights, transfers and most meals, with the rest of the trip spent touring remote mountain and jungle lodges and sailing on the Sepik river. Other life-changing dates for your diary could be the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (4 February-6 March; mardigras. com.au), Elvis Tribute Week in Memphis (8-16 August; memphistravel.com) and the Burning Man Festival in Nevada (29 August-5 September; www.burningman.com). For a calendar of outlandish festivals, tribal celebrations, religious gatherings and carnivals see the festivals section of pilotguides.com.
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