“Great Fishing Lodges of North America: Fly Fishing’s Finest Destinations”

Rizzoli/Orvis Co., $50

In “A River Runs through It,” author Norman Maclean considered fly fishing almost as a religion. It’s not for everyone, but those who do practice the method are passionate about it. In this book, Paul Fersen offers portraits of nearly 50 fly-fishing lodges that have been endorsed by Orvis, the sporting-goods mail-order and retail firm that began in the 1850s as a fly-fishing company. Organized into six broad geographical regions, Fersen chooses lodges that are unique in character and ambiance. He begins in Alaska and ends in New Brunswick. Each entry is accompanied by a map and the species of fish in the area. Some of the lodges, such as the Essex in Vermont, double as culinary resorts and spas while others, such as Weatherby’s in Maine, are a bit more rustic. The area of Montana that Maclean wrote about, the Blackfoot River, also is represented here. The color photography often is magnificent, much like the landscapes themselves: Spectacular photographs of the Madison River Valley in Montana or the Grand Tetons in Wyoming are breathtaking in their beauty.

“Art + Travel Europe: A Curated Guide to Your Obsessions”

Museyon Guides, $17.95

This richly illustrated guidebook discusses five artists and their cities: Van Gogh and Arles, France; Vermeer and Delft, Netherlands; Goya and Madrid; Caravaggio and Rome; and Munch and Oslo. Each section offers a biographical portrait of the artist, features a timeline and comments on the significance of place on the work. In addition, sidebars examine the artist’s imprint on pop culture and literature: how Van Gogh, for example, is depicted in movies (”Lust for Life,” “Vincent & Theo”) and documentaries. It also includes suggested Web sites and books, a calendar of events in each city and surrounding area, maps, walking tours and suggestions on where to eat and sleep. Each chapter concludes with thumbnail reproductions of the artist’s masterpieces accompanied by a brief commentary. Art enthusiasts will adore this book.

” Hawaii Day by Day”

Frommer’s/Wiley, $27.99

Although there is a lot to mull over here, the essential message is clear: Relax. That means, resist the urge to try to see everything. Instead, author Jeanette Foster suggests that visitors just revel in the experience. Foster offers best-of itineraries. There are chapters on historic Waikiki, wartime Honolulu, Oahu beaches and much more. It also is full of fun sidebars such as tips on getting married in Hawaii and special sections on surfing, volcanoes, the outrigger canoe, the lei and a brief history of Hawaii’s plantations. Each island has information on the best beaches, best hiking and camping, best golf courses, best restaurants, best nightlife and entertainment, best things to do with kids, best shopping and best hotels. The guide concludes with an informative chapter on Hawaiian history, a historic timeline, Hawaiian flora and fauna, Hawaii in high and popular culture, local culinary specialties and a brief glossary of useful Hawaiian language terms. It also includes a full-size foldout map in a plastic envelope.

“How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad”

Hudson Street Press, $25.95

Kathleen Peddicord has moved from Baltimore to Waterford, Ireland; Waterford to Paris; Paris to Panama. Along the way she has learned important lessons. Among the biggest challenges to starting over in another country, especially for retirees, she says, is to “make sure you’re moving for your own reasons.” Above all, she says, you have to be honest with yourself and your significant other. The reasons for making such a move are many, as are the rewards and the challenges. She lists 10 steps everyone must consider. They include knowing yourself: Ask yourself how important are such crucial issues as cost of living and housing, climate, health care, infrastructure, accessibility to the United States, language, culture and safety? She discusses the countries where retirees can live cheaply (Ecuador, Thailand, Nicaragua) or even enjoy luxury living on a budget (Paris, Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur) as well as the countries with the best health care (France, Panama, Malaysia). For anyone considering retiring overseas, this book is a must.

“100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go”

Travelers’ Tales, $5.99

Nowadays travel books come in all formats. James O’Reilly, publisher of the California-based Travelers’ Tales, recently announced the release of the company’s first iPhone apps, making available Susan Van Allen’s 2009 travel guide, “100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go,” for $5.99 as an iPhone app. Van Allen’s book was chosen, O’Reilly said, as one of the company’s first iPhone apps because it is “uniquely suited for mobile use.” Of course, it is also available in the old-fashioned print version too. For more information, see travelerstales.com.

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

NEW ORLEANS – Mardi Gras falls on a Sunday this year.

The city of the Saints is filling up with ex-New Orleanians and others ahead of the Super Bowl, many looking to cast off a legacy of football futility and natural disaster — others just looking to party down in one of the world’s greatest party towns.

“We’re gearing up for Sunday just like Mardi Gras day,” said Earl Bernhardt, a bar owner in the French Quarter. “We’re staffing just like we do for Mardi Gras, and if the Saints win, we won’t close at all. We’ll stay open as long as people are standing.”

After 43 years in existence, the Saints will make their Super Bowl debut in Miami on Sunday, facing the favored Indianapolis Colts.

Fans from most cities would be headed to South Florida about now. But for ex-pat New Orleanians, the game is triggering a pilgrimage home. And for everybody back in town, the party’s already started.

A few are taking the week off in the countdown to game day. Others are punching the clock, but not getting much done. Saints jerseys, “Who Dat?” T-shirts and black and gold beads are the uniform everywhere you go.

The French Quarter’s narrow streets also are awash in the team colors. As revelers cruise down its streets, strangers give each other high-fives

“It’s been all Saints all the time,” said Steve Sabrier, an oil field worker who marched from the Superdome to the French Quarter after the NFC championship. “I pity anybody who needs something done in New Orleans these days. We can’t concentrate on anything but the game.”

Sister Mary Rose, a Dominican nun who attends every Saints game and teaches at a Catholic school in the Quarter, said the feeling of sheer excitement in the city is almost tangible. “I think ‘exuberant joy’ is the word,” the nun said. “And it has brought such a unity to us, such a bond between all the people here it’s just amazing.”

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, New Orleans transplant Belinda Hernandez vowed to be in Miami if the Saints made the big game.

“But seeing the fever pitch in New Orleans and knowing how we party, I changed my mind,” Hernandez said.

“Who wants to be on Miami Beach when they can be in the French Quarter with the Who Dats for the game?”

So Hernandez turned down some friends in South Florida, who offered to get her tickets.

Besides being Super Bowl weekend, this is the start of carnival season that ends Feb. 16 on the real Mardi Gras. There are four parades scheduled in New Orleans on Saturday and two on Sunday — but they’re rolling early to avoid conflicting with the game.

All eyes on the game, starting Sunday at 5:25 p.m. local time.

Mary Beth Romig of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau says there’s no question the Saints have created something special — this time for the city’s tourist trade.

“This is turning into a very big weekend for the hotels in downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter,” said Romig. “We did a survey and hotels are running about 90 percent full late in the week, and that jumps to 95 percent on Sunday. People are definitely coming to New Orleans for Super Bowl.”

Sorry, Colts fans, but it’s a different story up north.

Kimberly Harms, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, said there was no noticeable jump in hotel occupancy there for the weekend. She noted, however that one hotel had set aside 44 rooms at the special rate of $144 in honor of the 44th Super Bowl. If Indianapolis wins, she said, the rooms will be free for those staying in them.

Of the 13 million vacationers who sailed last year, more than one in 10 were of the Twitter-me generation, 18 or younger, according to the Cruise Line International Association marketing group.

The likely reason? There’s so much to do.

For example, Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s latest sports extravaganza and the world’s biggest cruise vessel, delivers thrills every minute with the first zip line ever afloat. But that’s just the start; it also has rock-climbing walls, wave-surfing pools, a boxing ring, an ice-skating rink, miniature golf and a basketball court.

Carnival’s recently launched 130,000-ton Dream adds more to the briny with the largest splish-and-splash water park on the oceans as well as with an expansive roster of activities at Camp Carnival, geared to teens, tweens and toddlers.

And for 2011, Disney’s recently announced 128,000-ton Dream will have kids zipping down a see-through acrylic AquaDuck water slide that daringly twists and turns over the sides of the vessel 150 feet above the water for the length of three football fields.

This, of course, is terrific for kids. But what about older adults or childless couples or couples of any age who want nothing more than calm seas on a traditional cruise with plenty of pampering and peace as well as adult entertainment?

The first rule of thumb for anyone who prefers not being around kids, said Jean Mallory of White Travel in West Hartford, Conn., is “not to travel in February and April or during the summer or holiday vacations.” At these times, she added, “kids can be found sailing every week and on every ship.”

Children and couples can coexist, however, on a vessel filled to overflowing with pools and playgrounds and happy children as well as with serene spaces, sumptuous spas and adult sanctuaries.

When Barbara and Tony Lesniak, of Orlando, Fla., who have no children, want to get away, they go where a lot of kids go — on a Disney Cruise, the line that practically defines family vacation. And they have done it not just once or twice but 70 times.

A Disney fan for most of her 45 years, Barbara Lesniak wants the best of both worlds — Disney’s imaginative entertainment, attentive service and a vacation alongside her favorite Disney characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, as well as kids-free areas where she and her husband can veg out by themselves or spend time with other adults.

Indeed, many lines do the smart thing: They invisibly partition the vessel into adult-only safe havens and kid-only play areas.

“Nobody does a better job of keeping kids and adults separate,” Barbara Lesniak said.

On Disney’s vessels, for instance, the line has reserved several areas for adults wishing to escape the hordes of happy children romping along the decks, typically two-fifths of the passengers.

Palo, the adult-only specialty restaurant with 270-degree views of the ocean, also offers brunch service and high tea during at-sea days.

Quiet Cove Pool is a peaceful oasis, exclusively for guests 18 and older, while the line’s adults-only Vista Spa & Salon offers a posh sanctuary.

Disney also provides an adults-only nighttime entertainment district — three unique lounges spanning a traditional pub, dance club and piano bar.

There also is an adults-only beach on the far end of Disney’s private Bahamian island, Castaway Cay, though you may encounter some of the older set acting like children, donning Mickey and Minnie ears and floating past you in the azure-blue waters.

Disney, of course, is not alone in this strategy.

Princess Cruises practically invented the adults-only Eden-at-sea concept with its Sanctuary, where “far above the noisy darlings,” as White’s Mallory said, “you can tune out the world in Sanctuary’s stunning open-air, spalike area with palm trees and shaded white-linen tents.”

The Sanctuary also pampers adults with a host of amenities, featuring light meals, massages and a staff of Serenity Stewards who provide chilled face towels, Evian atomizers and healthful beverages.

ShipCritic blogger Anne Campbell raves about Carnival Dreams’ twin-deck adults-only retreat featuring Jacuzzis, lounges and dreamy hammocks. “Parents who want to ditch their kids for a few hours,” she observed, “will love Serenity with oversized lounge chairs screaming for you to sun in.”

Pleasant as adult sanctuaries are, providing retreats for couples who want to avoid the madding crowd, they are, after all, only half of the equation. Keeping kids occupied is the other.

The four lines that carry the most Tweeters — Carnival, Disney, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian — are no slouches in this regard.

The Lesniaks “prefer Disney cruises,” Barbara Lesniak said, “because Disney does a better job of keeping kids separate.” It’s win-win for both, she added. “Often times, kids won’t leave a program even to come to dinner.”

Many ships offer baby-sitting services. Disney and Carnival, of course, do it. But so does Norwegian, a line renowned more for its restaurants than its children’s programs.

So if even parents taking kids aboard can find peace, all others, young and old should have no fear.

ctc-travel@tribune.com