Travel 101

After a banner year for travel to traditional destinations, experts anticipate a yearning for more exotic locales.

OK, we know not everyone is a compulsive list maker, but trip details have a way of spinning out of control.

Learn a foreign tongue via CD or a group class and it’ll be smoother sailing when you arrive.

Here is a selected list of events for 2006. (For an expanded list, go to latimes.com/worldevents.)

This list of visitor offices was provided largely by the California Division of Tourism in Sacramento.

Exchange services, banks, ATM cards have varying fees. Compare before you go.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses as well as those of your camera will make for sharper vacation photographs.

Each week in Readers Recommend, the Travel section shares tips on hidden gems in the U.S. and abroad.

Ace Rent A Car (800) 243-3443 www.acerentacar.com Advantage Rent-A-Car (800) 777-5500 www.arac.com Alamo (800) 462-5266 www.alamo.com Auto Europe (800) 223-5555 www.autoeurope.com Avis (800) 331-1212 (800) 331-1084 international www.avis.com Budget (800) 527-0700 www.budget.com Dollar Rent A Car (800) 800-4000 (800) 800-6000 international www.dollar.com Enterprise Rent-A-Car (800) 325-8007 www.enterprise.com Europcar (877) 940-6900 www.europcaramericas.com Europe by Car (800) 223-1516 www.europebycar.com Fox Rent A Car (800) 225-4369 foxrentacar.com Hertz (800) 654-3131 (800) 654-3001 international www.hertz.com Kemwel International (800) 678-0678 www.kemwel.com National (800) 328-4567 (800) 227-3876 international www.nationalcar.com Payless Car Rental (800) 729-5377 www.paylesscarrental.com Renault Eurodrive (888) 532-1221 www.renaultusa.com Rent-a-Wreck (800) 944-7501 www.rentawreck.com Sixt (888) 749-8227 www.sixtusa.com Thrifty (800) 847-4389 www.thrifty.com

Here is a selected list of events for 2006.

When gas prices soar, RV sales often tumble; 2005 was no exception.

Whoever said there’s nothing new under the sun wasn’t hawking travel gear.

WHETHER he’s strolling along a quay in Paris or mountain biking through rural China, Thomas Donahue likes seeing the world — and he wants to see more of it every year.

IN the last 20 years, I’ve taken more road trips than Lewis and Clark. And stayed in worse places.

Find out about historic and scenic sites as well as programs, fees and directions to California’s national parks, monuments and recreation areas: Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Ft.

Welcome to the Travel section’s Sourcebook, a compendium of articles, tips and resources designed to take the angst out of travel.

AS we head further down the road in 2006, our heads throbbing from $400-per-night room tabs, we can look forward to a little rate relief, more luxuries and some snazzy new lodgings.

“My wife, Pamela, found this splendid B&B when she was planning our trip to New Zealand.

Packing for winter travel with an L.A. wardrobe is easy. The solution is multilayered.

For tourist information on selected foreign destinations, contact the government offices below.

Watching my well-used backpack tumble down the baggage-claim conveyor belt in Philadelphia last fall, it hit me: I hadn’t packed a single pair of socks.

States and many U.S. territories have tourism offices to help visitors.

GETTING images out of your camera and into your computer is the first step in organizing your vacation record.

DO travelers need a passport? Ask a simple question, get a complex answer.

She went abroad prepared for mishaps, but a pickpocket stole some of her confidence.

THOUGH fiercely buffeted by political crosswinds in 2005, Amtrak apparently has survived the political pressure that culminated with the firing of the company’s president.

Skip the hotels and swap your beach condo for an Italian villa to live the life of a native.