Travel Notes
MESSRS. Coos are running a series of excursions to Switzerland which they amusingly call " initiation parties" for people on their first visit to winter sports centres. • The date of departure for these parties from London will be on December 17th and January 18th to Lenk (in the upper part of the Simmental) ; December 21st and January 11th to Les Basses (in the Jura) ; and DeceMber 22atcl and January 14th to Gurnigel (near Bern), all for a period of three weeks. To these parties will be attached, for those who need tuition, both men and women instructors having complete practical knowledge of all manner of ice and snow sports. Messrs. Cook add that these parties offer the opportunity of congenial companionship. They are right. There is something in the air of Switzerland that makes for that ; and it is a well-known fact that one can dance all night and ski all day without any ill effects. The only thing which can mar a holiday in Switzerland is the weather and that is an incalculable factor—if not the world over, at any rate in all the best places on earth.
.* * * * The P. & 0. Pocket Book (A. C. Black, 5s.) is, we presume, an advertisement. If so, it is a model of what such publications should be, compounded, as it is, of " faith and service," and full of sound and interesting information by expert writers on the various countries touched by the vessels of the P. & 0. Sir Frank Fox writes on Australia, Mrs. F. A. Steele on India, Sir H. H. Johnston on East Africa, &c. The volume is of convenient size, with sixteen colour illustrations and thirty- six maps. We wish all travel organizations would cast their material into such an attractive and serviceable and enduring form. The waste-paper baskets of the world must be full of fine-art " travel pamphlets deserving a better fate, but no one who geti-theP. "& 0. Pocket Book *ill Want to throw . w_ ant away : *Mild adorn any library:
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Undoubtedly the Caisse system of tipping has come to stay : I have alluded to it before in these notes, and now mention it again as.I have recently learnt how the 10 per cent. to 20 per cent. which is added to the visitor's bill for gratuities is distributed amongst the hotel staff. One-third of the total sum' goes for room service and the unseen subordinate attendants ; another 33 per cent. goes to the head- waiter, who divides it among his staff ; and the final third is distri- buted by the cashier. The system saves the traveller some money and a great deal of worry ; it should certainly be adopted in the British Isles.
* * * * The advantages of India as a winter resort have never been sufficiently emphasized to the travelling public. For a girl, especially, whO 'wants to complete her education by seeing the world, a tour of the winter capitals of the. Great Dependency will be a continual round of delight, with dancing, riding, shooting and an enlargement of horizon and broad view of Imperial problems which it is safe to say travel in no other country can give. Egypt and Palestine could be taken on the outward journey. From December to March . is .$est-. for the plains in India, and the spring is probably -the most beautiful season in which to pursue the journey to the Far East. In May you may travel smoothly westward across the Pacific ; the Rocky Mountains are then at their loveliest, and from Vancouver to Montreal the great resonrees of the Canadian Pacific Railway will take care of the traveller. We in this country should take several leaves out of the C.P.R. book if we Want to attract more visitors to Britain.
* * * * For_ travellers who do not contemplate far horizons and sew adventures„,the South of France will always remain one of the most popular' places in the world. There has been a big extension of golf courses in recent years on the Orleans and Midi railway system. Biarritz, Hendaye, St. Jean-de- Luz, Pau and Bordeaux have eighteen-hole courses all the year round and excellent hotels. Toulouse, at the threshold of the Pyrenees, is a great centre for excursions. From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean motor-coaches traverse a succession of passes and valleys with all the views of the peaks of the chain, most of them over ten thousand feet high.
* * * * An excellen, and popular English health' resort in the Pyrenees Orientates is Verret-les-Bains, whose surrounding mountains shelter it from winter winds while affording visitors both easy excursions and stiff climbs. There are excellent hotels here, and the altitude (two thousand feet above sea-level) renders the climate bracing without being over-stimulating. * * * * From the South of France it is but a step to Port Vendres, whence Algiers may be reached in twenty-two hours and Oran in twenty-eight. From Oran one may make an interesting twenty hours' journey by wagon-lit to the oasis of Figuig, which stands within a circle of jagged rose-coloured mountains flooded in sempiternal sunshine. Another good desert trip is from Algiers to Laghouat. One 'oasis is much the same as another, but Laghouat has a particular distinction in that the ancient sport of falconry may be enjoyed there.
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There is so much to do and see in Switzerland that it Is impossible to deal with that Country ' fully even in the article we publish by General Wroughton, the well-known Winter Sports expert. It would seem invidious to mention one place rather than another, but Maloja in the Engadine, where a new hotel has been built, should be recommended to those in doubt where to go. In winter this is probably the best ski-ing centre in the Engadine, while the road down to Italy from the pass is said to provide those who enjoy bobsleighing with all the thrills they can possibly desire.
* * * * The Travel Editor will be glad to answer any enquiries regarding holiday resorts, whether mentioned in this 'Travel Section or not. Address : The Travel Editor, Spectator, 13 York Street, W.C. 2.
THE TRAVEL EDITOR.
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