WORLD DEPARTURES

Timid travellers may be put off by some of the small print in the new Explore Worldwide brochure: "Before you agree to undertake a holiday in a wild or remote area, you should clearly understand that besides discomfort it may involve you in personal risk." If you are undeterred, then Explore (01252 319448) can offer trips to Albania (15 days, pounds 920), Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (12 days, pounds 1,190) and Borneo (16 days, pounds 1,295). Those of an untidy disposition are warned that "Some countries refuse admission to travellers not meeting their accepted standards of dress/appearance."

The Imaginative Traveller (0181-742 8612) warns: "Think twice before booking with us" in its new Middle East brochure, which includes a trip visiting Gallipoli around the time of Anzac Day (eight days, pounds 265, excluding flights to Istanbul).

Should you want to spend Christmas in South Africa, or join England's cricketers there, seats are still available. Bridge The World (0171-911 0900) has flights to Johannesburg each Monday via Dar es Salaam; you fly to the Tanzanian capital on Alliance, then transfer to South African Airways. A return tickets costs pounds 663, including tax.

Travellers using the new series of charter flights to Las Vegas will need all the financial help they can get once they arrive. So the Quality Inn (377 East Flamingo Road, 00 1 702 733 7777) is offering a special "European visitor rate" of $29 per room per night.