Get Outta Here!

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Nov 21, 1999

Grand display

See the world's tallest indoor Christmas tree, covered with 100,000 twinkling white lights and 3,000 colored ball ornaments, surrounded by more ice skaters than you'll find at Rockefeller Center.

Where? Dallas, oddly enough. Or see Santa perform his "Missile Toes" show, where fireworks shoot from his ice skates. This Texas- sized spectacular welcomes shoppers to the Dallas Galleria - just the place to spend a day Christmas shopping if you happen to be going to Texas anyway. There are more than 200 shops. Shoppers can ask for a Shopping Passport with discount coupons for many of the stores, if they stay at certain hotels. For information, call (972) 702-7100.

Win cool stuff

Yahoo! Travel users now can enter to win travel-related prizes through a new program called Yahoo! Travel Sweepstakes. Every month, Yahoo! Travel users can enter a new giveaway to win travel prizes valued at $10,000 or more. The sweepstakes, which each run for two weeks, can be found by clicking on the "Enter Yahoo! Travel Sweepstakes" button on the front page of Yahoo! Travel (http:// travel.yahoo.com).

Pre-Olympic deals

Next year's Sydney 2000 Olympics will spur travel to the Land Down Under, but for now airlines that fly there are trying to generate immediate interest by offering discounted fare before the Olympics. Qantas is promoting its Millennium Madness fares between Los Angeles/San Francisco and Sydney for $799, or $699 to Auckland, New Zealand. Trips must be booked by Nov. 30 for travel April 17 to June 14. The Olympics are Sept. 15 to Oct. 1. Other deals are available to Fiji and for air travel within Australia and New Zealand. For details, call Qantas at (800) 227-4500; Web site is www.qantas.com. Competing airlines often offer deals; other airlines that travel the route include Air New Zealand, (800) 262-1234, Web site www.airnz.com; and United Airlines, (800) 241-6522, Web site www.ual.com.

Be a Breck girl ...

... or boy, and head to Breckenridge for some good pre-season deals on lodging. There's not much snow yet. But the shopping is good, and you'll find some fine restaurants for a relaxing weekend getaway. Some lodging packages include third-night-free options and free ski-lift tickets with some rooms. Packages, excluding Thanksgiving weekend, are good through Dec. 17. Call (800) 221-1091 to inquire.

- Submit items for this column by writing to: Linda DuVal, travel editor, The Gazette, P.O. Box 1779, Colorado Springs 80901. Fax number is 636-0202. E-mail is duval@gazette.com. Deadline is two weeks in advance of publication.