Such savings are not to be sniffed at in a resort with the dubious reputation for selling North America's most expensive lift passes.If your preference is for sleepy, restful snow villages where apres ski revolves around a fireside game of Scrabble, give Aspen a miss. If Aspen is your goal, another draw might be to spot famous faces on the ski slopes and in the apres ski bars. This chic, century-old silver- mining town in Colorado's White River National Forest still attracts scores of stars, tycoons and wacky characters from across the world. Last month, the resort became the focus of world media attention following the death of Michael Kennedy. Until that accident, the Kennedy family had been ski-ing every day on this mountain, virtually unnoticed as just more famous faces in the crowd. Aspen is still very much a place to see and to be seen, but it is also a great family destination. With four mountains to choose from, it has pistes to please skiers and snowboarders of all abilities.This season it is a lot easier to get there. Aspen airport is just 15 minutes from the slopes and this winter there are several scheduled one- stop connections each day from London, eliminating lengthy transfer times.
Twice-weekly charters to Denver have also cut the prices of inclusive holidays and there are some good late availability deals to be had.With Easter falling so late in the season this year, there are some exceptional packages being offered, including cut-price lift passes. Visitors will see where they escaped, where they crossed the river and where they hid in a haystack. The town of Malmesbury is set to become a pilgrimage centre, with animal-lovers the world over flocking to pay homage to their porcine heroes. Isn't it amazing what people will do in the name of tourism.. WITH temperatures soaring in western Europe this week, the ski season is threatened by an early meltdown Not so in the USA, where conditions have never been better. Light snowfalls last week, followed by some brilliant sunshine, created some excellent skiing conditions. Heavier snowfalls are forecast as the El Nino rainstorms battering California cross the Rocky Mountains and turn to powder All of which might be a good reason for skiers to head west.
They have just been granted the ultimate accolade of a heritage trail - a tourist walk following the route of their defiant bid for freedom. I would have called it a rather up-market, specialist tour with an archeological slant. And it goes without saying that I would prefer to think of Mr Phil Haines and his intrepid little band of holidaymakers as heroes of our time.TALKING of heroes, the Tamworth Two are not only alive, but their name now promises to live forever. Could it be, in fact, that Mr Haines had a little bit of the Saddam about him?His tour company was described as offering "bargain package holidays" in Iraq, conjuring up ideas of happy families being seduced away from Tenerife and Lanzarote by the low prices, and unpacking their buckets and spades in the shadow of Cruise missiles under the supervision of evil Mr Haines, a part of whose profits no doubt were being siphoned off for the production of poison gas canisters.Except that I would not have described pounds 1,350 for a week as a "bargain package holiday". The implication seemed to be that taking a holiday in Iraq was a case of siding with the enemy. The Foreign Office merely re-issued their regular travel advisory warning people against going there, an advisory which has been in place since the last Gulf War).The Daily Mirror meanwhile, under the entertaining headline of "Sun, Sea and Saddam", ran a shock-horror story about the "Tour firm slammed for mad hols in Iraq", with photo-album mock-ups of cruise missiles swooping over Baghdad ("Fancy a cruise?") and demonstrators burning American flags ("Local customs").
