In accommodation terms it often meant being exposed to so-called creature comforts of a couple of hundred years ago which translated into nights of sheer discomfort and breaking the fast with something far, far removed from my accustomed morning fare.

Now the Japanese have refined the B&B concept to ensure cultures do not clash.  Japanese ryokans (inns) have been on the go for four centuries as travellers' accommodation and today's versions are a most desirable accommodation medium for visitors anxious to sample ``real Japan'' and their heady reputation for personal service. You still have paper shoji walls and screens, tatami straw mats and futons but, for this traveller at least, the piece de resistance is the communal onsen - hot spring baths with acknowledged therapeutic and relaxation properties.

Personal service remains a high priority and fine dining, prepared by resident chefs (with degustation menus to ensure you sample everything) contribute to the memory of a successful holiday.  This does not cost the earth with per night prices from as little as $116, mostly with meals included.

The specialists at Travel Japan by HIS can deliver ryokan accommodation in Kyoto, Hakone, Nagano,Takayama, Hokkaido and Tokyo.  They have a saying in Japan (try it phonetically): “Go ni itte wa go ni shitagae”. It means, near enough, “When in a village, do as the villagers do” or rounded off in English: “When in Rome …”

Give TJHIS a call at 9267 3333.

Hard to resist

Christmas in Austria's snow-clad mountains …or Yuletide feasting in a 600 year-old Italian castle on the site of a 2000-year-old Roman fortress together make the prospect of a European winter holiday compelling stuff.

Accommodation for the Austrian bit is actually an 800-year-old coaching inn which, thankfully, has had a bit of work done.

They are elements of Global European Travel's Christmas Break programs which comprise eight days travelling in some of this part of Europe's most scenic locations.

The German Christmas tour leaves on December 21 heading through Heidelberg, Stuttgart and Waldau with accommodation most meals, Christmas lunch and comprehensive sightseeing included in the price of $2289..

 Other programs cover Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Germany and Italy.

Call 9437 4911 or visit www.globaleuropeantravel.com.au.

COOOOOOEEEEEE … Get Over Here!

Held each year on the October long weekend, the Gilgandra Coo-ee Festival of exhibitions, shows, celebrations and performances is well worth a visit.  The festival commemorates the historic Cooee March of 1915 when 35 of Gilgandra's finest set off on a march to Sydney calling out “cooee” at every town en route encouraging other men to enlist in the army.  By the time they reached Sydney they had 263 men ready to go to war.

The Cooee Festival began in 1989 with an emotive re-enactment of that march.  Today's festival program includes a street parade incorporating light horsemen, the WWI Living History Group, the Re-enactment Marchers, an Army band, floats and displays.  You can test your vocal chords in the State Cooee Calling Championships, watch the thrills and spills of the main street rodeo, spend up on market day or relax at the country music talent quest.

For the latest information on this year's event, call the organisers on 02 6847 2045 or visit www.gilgandra.nsw.gov.au

Look out of the window

Believe it or not, those odd sticky-up winglets on the end of your aircraft wings serve more than a quirky design function.

I am grateful to Tony Harrington at Hawaiian Airlines for filling me in with the intelligence the ‘blended winglets’ they will install on their Boeing 767-300 extended range are part of a fuel costs reduction program.  They don't look like it, but the winglets are over three metres high and reduce drag caused by the traditional wingtip design.

Hawaiian expects to save up to five percent in fuel consumption, or more than 300,000 gallons of jet fuel per aircraft.  They also increase the aircraft's carrying capacity and range, reduce maintenance costs, improve take-off capabilities and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  So there: And you thought they only had cosmetic value!