Incredible Shrinking Trips
Americans take just nine vacation days a year, according to travel planner expedia.com, and the average trip is a mere four days. So how do you cram big fun into a teeny getaway? The travel biz has plenty of innovative activities for short-timers.
One more push, and we reach the base before sunset. Our tents have already been set up, and I collapse in one, wondering just how much energy I need to survive the climb. Luckily, Nat replenishes my stores: He's whipped up a gourmet meal of couscous, Alaskan salmon, and veggies--prepacked in zip-lock bags and cooked with hot water.
We awake at 2:30 for the big day--the summit. By the light of our headlamps, we put on crampons (metal spikes that attach to our waterproof boots and allow us to walk on ice and snow), helmets (to guard against falling rocks or ice), and harnesses (to attach to safety lines set up for climbers). At 4 a.m., we start trudging up a steep ridge of stone and snow that leads up the west summit. The wind is howling. I am 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weigh 110 pounds; I wonder if it could blow me off the mountain.
At about 13,200 feet, we stop to rope up for the "technical pitches"--the last 500 or so feet of steep climbing, which is more like traditional rock or ice climbing. I need to squeeze some chocolate energy gel into my mouth and marvel that I am eating chocolate not out of greed but need. The last 100 feet, Nat has forewarned me, are always the hardest. I inch up the last chimney, using a newly learned technique called "stemming"--wedging my body up the crack in the rock. "Fifty feet to go!" he yells down. "Ten more! You can do it!" With the last strength it seems I can muster, I pull myself up the final few feet. It is 9 a.m.
At the summit, clouds race by, occasionally allowing a glimpse of the sea of mountain peaks below. We are at 13,770 feet, above what seems like the rest of the world. This is the best mountain for a beginner, says Nat, because it is doable yet just hard enough to push even those people who are accustomed to challenges. As I raise my arms for a victory picture, I know exactly what he means. - Bay Fang
A three-day package puts you and your camera at the legendary Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru, on a new photo safari led by the grandson of the man who took the first professional photographs of the area after its rediscovery in 1911. (Just think of the 10-hour flight from Miami as part of your relaxation time.) Guests stay at the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel in cottages built into the lush hillside (rooms are $469, double occupancy). The all-day safari ($335 a person, details at virtuoso.com) takes in the massive ruins of fortresses constructed of stones so carefully fitted that even today it's impossible to slip a piece of paper between the mortar-free blocks. - Michelle Andrews
It is the ultimate treasure hunt. It takes place in a day. And it will give you great stories to recount upon your return home from a mini-getaway.
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