- Karla Bonoff, singer-songwriter, Friday March 30 at the Temple for Performing Arts.

- Patty Larkin, guitarist-singer, Sat. April 14,  at the Temple for Performing Arts , joined by two other “gender bending string” guitarists (i.e. very talented women who play the guitar). We were impressed when we saw her a  few years ago and we liked the CD of music by innovative women guitarists that we bought at the show. We’ll hope to hear more of that at the upcoming concert.

- Billy Elliot, the Musical comes in June to the DM Civic Center. Loved the movie, heard good things about the musical.

- Royal Winnipeg Ballet performing Moulin Rouge: The Ballet on Sat. March 31 – I’d like to support the Civic Center’s 3-part dance series and this is the one that interests me most. Another option is Parsons Dance on Thursday April 19. Wish I could see some of my favorites here like Hubbard Street or the Joffrey or ABT or NYC Ballet or Alvin Ailey.

• For the 5 p.m. bus out of Chicago, bring something to eat for dinner  (you’ll stop once in Iowa City – where nearest cafe is closed by late eve (sometimes the driver makes another stop near Iowa City on I-80 so people can get McDonald’s or convenience store/gas station food.)  On Wed morn, you might want to pick up a sandwich   to take on your midday bus ride home, although the Iowa City cafe near the bus stop should be open mid-afternoon
• Also bring a bottle of water – one time I didn’t and I was dying of thirst. I practically begged a woman who later boarded in Iowa City, carrying a six-pack of bottled water (and she kindly gave me one.)
• Bring a sweater (this is more relevant in the summer, when the bus can be chilly from air-conditioning)
• WiFi may or may not work. Or it may work some of the time. Don’t count on it.
• Bathroom on board has been fine, in my limited experience.
• Sit closer to front of bus near driver and in bottom of doubledecker (if you have a doubledecker)
• The bus is often filled leaving Chicago but emptier after Iowa City drop off (although some students do get on in Iowa City…)
• Boarding the bus in downtown Chicago can be a bit chaotic, with clumps of people waiting on the street for buses going to a variety of places.  If it’s cold, have whomever  is driving you  stick around a bit so you can wait  in the warm comfort of a car (because there’s no warm indoor place to wait for the bus, last I saw). The stop is one block south of Union Station on east side of street. Not hard to find. Probably best to get there about 10 minutes early. (Unless you’re dad – then maybe 1/2 hour.)
• Luggage – There is limited space to store it by your seat but I’ve always given mine to the driver to put in the boot (or whatever it’s called) and haven’t had any problems. Might slow you down a bit.
• Bus stop in Des Moines is mellow. It’s right downtown by the DM Civic Center.

Other amazing  new rules:

- A traveler can now change or cancel a reservation within 24 hours and receive a full refund without penalty. (This applies only to reservations made at least a week in advance of departure.)

- Airfare ads have to clearly indicate the full price of a tix (including various taxes and fees) and baggage handling fees!

- Airlines must “promptly” notify travelers of a pending flight delay of over 30 minutes, plus cancellations and diversions

#1 was Panama including Panama City and Bocas del Toro. Lower down the list was  Las Terrenas, a village on the Samaná Peninsula, Dominican Republic (although no mention of the cool, low-key place where we stayed in 1990 or thereabouts: “The Hotel Tropic Banana” in Las Terrenas, which I gather from my googling is still there – although place seems more built up than when we visited.) 

Below are the details.

1. Panama
Go for the canal. Stay for everything else.

Among the notable development projects is the Panama Canal itself, which is in the early stages of a multibillion-dollar expansion. The project will widen and deepen the existing canal and add two locks, doubling the canal’s cargo capacity. For those who want to see the waterway as it was originally designed, now is the time. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2014, the canal’s 100-year anniversary.

Other high-profile projects include the construction of three firsts: The Panamera, the first Waldorf Astoria hotel in Latin America (set to open in June 2012); the Trump Ocean Club, the region’s tallest building, which opened last summer; and Frank Gehry’s first Latin American design, the BioMuseo, a natural history museum scheduled to open in early 2013. Even Panama City’s famously dilapidated historic quarter, Casco Viejo, has been transformed. The neighborhood, a tangle of narrow streets, centuries-old houses and neo-colonial government buildings, was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1997 and is now a trendy arts district with galleries, coffeehouses, street musicians and some of the city’s most stylish restaurants and boutique hotels.

Across the isthmus, on Panama’s Caribbean coast, the Bocas del Toro archipelago has become a popular stop on the backpacker circuit, with snorkeling and zip lining by day and raucous night life after dark. FREDA MOON

2) Samaná Peninsula, Dominican Republic (although no mention of the cool, low-key place where we stayed in 1990 or thereabouts: “The Hotel Tropic Banana” in Las Terrenas.)

Unspoiled beaches, but not for long.

For years, the Samaná Peninsula on the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic was one of the Caribbean’s remaining natural holdouts, largely untouched because of its remote location. But an international airport, El Catey, built near the peninsula’s base a few years ago and, more recently, a highway that shortened the drive from Santo Domingo to two hours from five, are bringing new development.

Balcones del Atláantico, a RockResort that opened last May in the village of Las Terrenas, is the newest luxury resort on the peninsula. Its 86 two- and three-bedroom villas start at $500 a night, supplying a cushy base from which to explore ecotourism. The Peninsula House, a plantation-style estate with just six suites from $580 a night, was named a 2011 Grand Award winner by Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report. And Auberge Resort’s’ Casa Tropicalia , with 44 beachfront suites and an open-air spa on Samaná Bay, is to open in 2014.

There are plenty of off-resort attractions, too. Just last month, Bravaro Runners, an adventure tour operator, opened a new zip-line tour consisting of 20 platforms and 10 zip-lines.

Go now, before the crowds arrive. MICHELLE HIGGINS

Yet again, it’s a place I know little about so I’m starting to collect some string – including these bits  culled from VBT’s catalog of walking and biking tours:

- Itinerary: Fly to cusco/transfer to Sacred Valley/Oilantaytambo – Pisac Ruins/Moray Terrarces/Maras/Cuyuni Community/trek Machu Picchu, Cusco, Tambomachay/Puka Pukara/Sacsayhuaman…

- Machu Picchu view from the sun gate. stay at Inkaterra, trek Inca trail or ride Vistadome narrow gauge rail.

- Urubamba Valley

- Sacred Valley/Oilantaytambo (stay at Casa Andina PC Valle sagrado)

- Pisac

- Inca Trail

- Cusco – stay at Casa andina Private Collection Cuso

-Cuyuni market; Colonia Cusco, a UNESCO world Heritage Site, sampling chica (native corn beer) and Andean weaving.

- Lima – Ramada costa Del Sol Lima (day room)

1) During the first two nights at a farm B&B with a very loud rooster

2) During our second two nights at another rural B&B with tree frogs – and an occasionally beeping smoke detector

3) During our stay in Honolulu where we were 16 floors above what apparently was the garage pick up – so we heard all kinds of noises from the loud beeps of a truck in reverse to the huge bangs of dumpsters being dropped back to earth.

Even our dog doesn’t want to go outside. That’s how cold it is (Technically, the temp is 9 degrees). At midday when I usually take Ernie for a walk, I tried to wimp out, like I do in the morning, and just open the door for her to escort herself out and back in unaccompanied. But she could hardly be roused from her warm comfy pillow in our somewhat drafty living room. When I finally got her up, after beckoning her to the front door with my falsely gay dog-beckoning voice (Come on Ernie! Time to get up Ernie Let’s go potty Ernie! Be a good girl Ernie!) she sauntered unenthusiastically to the stoop, stretched out her two front legs, moaned apprehensively, and seemed to shudder with the sheer thought of stepping outside. She wouldn’t budge. So now I must do the inevitable: Dress up in “Big Yellow” (the yellow ankle-length down coat that I bought 21 years ago when we moved to Iowa) and take her on a walk.  It will be a brief one.