text:
2000, BLUE, 53,000 miles
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Book a Test Drive
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Value your Part Ex
Reserve it now for just £250
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17.10 mpg
MPG (Combined)
0 per year
Road Tax / VED
~ g/km
CO2 Emissions
Tax Band
For more information about financing your vehicle purchase, please contact us.
At Imperial Motor Company, nothing gives us greater pleasure than seeing a happy customer returning for their next car. Some of our customers have bought from us for nearly twenty years and that's something we're proud off.
We offer competitive finance packages and fair part exchange prices but what sets us apart from the rest is our aftercare service. Should anything go wrong, you have the peace of mind of knowing that all of our vehicles come with a comprehensive warranty underwritten by ourselves meaning that should you need to make a claim then you are able to deal with us directly.
All our vehicles come with new MOTs, HPI checks, VOSA mileage checks and a vigorous pre delivery inspection. We can offer finance with zero deposits, assist with negative equity situations and we can also supply various lease purchase finance packages for business users.
Paula Lockstone
Lisa and Adrian Whitehead
Julian Okonocha
Katy Templeman
Rob Warburton
Tony Pilkington
Paul Beerling
Peter Davey
Stacey James
Mr and Mrs Mills
Miss Woodford
Jeff Allen
Mr Berry
Mike and Nicola Timbury
Jenny Dunn
Mr Tamba
Miss Bradshaw
Nick Redshaw
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Mr & Mrs Scarrott
Jeremy Irving
Will Marshal
Philip Angol
Jen and Dan
John Chambers
Jeremy Hockley
Nicole Morgans
Mr Michael Langan
We also can arrange nationwide delivery at very reasonable rates and in some cases overseas shipping.
There is an online deposit system which allows you to safely secure your next car via paypal or alternatively this can be taken over the phone using your Credit/debit card. Of course we still sell a huge majority of our cars face to face and much prefer meeting our customers to discuss their requirements but we also appreciate this is not always possible for the long distance buyer.
If you wish to discuss this method of purchase then please give a call we would be glad to hear from you.
When viewing a car you like, simply click on the "Add to Shortlist" button, and it'll be saved here so you can access it later.
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text:
|Project name
|Extra fee
|Sea Turtles Conservation XI
|Rincon de Guayabitos
|20/11/2019 / 02/12/2019
|+ 18
|€ 310 euros
Vive Mexico has been organizing this project regularly in Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit since 2014. The main achievement of the project is to protect the sea turtles with the help of volunteers who will be cooperating with a team of biologists. Up to now, the project has been quite successful and has reached extraordinary results. There are two types of sea turtles in la Peñita de Jaltemba which are the oluve ridley and the black turtle. The size of the turtles can vary from 1 meter to 1.5 meters and they weigh from 40 to 100 kilograms. Each turtle leaves around 150 eggs. Participating in sea turtle conservation is a great opportunity to discover the rather charming life of sea turtles.
The volunteers will be working at night from 20:00 to 08:00, four days per week with an average of thirty hours. Depending the number of turtles that come ashore, two teams might be formed among the volunteers. In this way, each group will be taking turns, working one night and taking the next night off for recovery. In addition, the weekends are also spared for resting. Some of the activities to be performed are: 1. Finding adult turtles and collect their eggs. 2. Moving the eggs to a protected place called Vivero. 3. Releasing newborn baby turtles into the sea. 4. Patrolling the beaches at night. 5. Making some reconstruction in the most important turtle camps of the region. If you love nature, want to have a great time by the beautiful beaches, at the same time enjoying all the amenities of a hotel and witnessing the magical spectacle of natural miracles that has been reoccurring since millions of years... then this project is for you!
Volunteers will be hosted in a hotel in a shared room with all facilities at their disposal namely, private bathroom, hot water, swimming pool, WIFI, and air conditioning.
Northern Bus Station (Mexico City)
Tlaquepaque Bus Station (Guadalajara)
Puerto Vallarta International Airport
Mexico City International Airport
Guadalajara International Airport
Riviera Nayarit is emerging as one of the most attractive and magic destinations of Mexico. The area extends approximately 300 kilometers along the coast, integrated by mountainous jungle and facing coastal islands. For those seeking a more rural and rustic experience with magic beach towns in Mexico, the Riviera has a massive open space for everyone along the Nayarit coast, also, for those who want to relax there are also quiet beaches and there are other beaches with heavy waves for surfers.
CAMP LANGUAGE: English (Spanish is appreciated but not mandatory!)
VEGETERIAN FOOD AVAILABLE: Yes
OPEN FOR FAMILIES: No
OPEN FOR DISABLED VOLUNTEERS: No
The Inscription fee for this project is: € 310 euros
INCLUDES (only during the project days)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We all know Dave Kennedy as the owner of Reno's Pizzeria and have heard of everything he does for the town. But in the spring and summer he is Coach Kennedy, teaching the 12-under CT Crushers baseball players how to be winners, but more importantly, good sportsmanship and how to have fun.
As most Orange residents know, playing at Cooperstown Dreams Park has been an annual tradition for 12 year old baseball players in Orange for many years. Every August, elite players from the Town of Orange make the annual pilgrimage in hopes of winning a national title. This cultural and life enriching experience for team and family members will create memories to last a lifetime.
During the trip, players and coaches will visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame, share hometown stories, trade pins, and compete with players on over 100 teams from around the United States for a weekly national title. Team records and photographs will be displayed in the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. This once in a lifetime experience comes at a cost of $850 per player and coach. In addition, the team will need to bring enough pins to trade with fellow players. Other costs involved are for sportswear, a banner, and travel expenses. Any donations are greatly appreciated and will help offset the cost incurred by families of players.
The CT Crushers will host their first major fundraiser at the Joker's Wild, 232 Wooster Street, New Haven, on Sunday, April 7. Tickets are $20 per person and are available from any team member or at Reno's Pizzeria, 500 Boston Post Road, Orange. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m. There will also be raffle prizes. Have some laughs while helping the team! Joker's Wild has generously offered to donate half of all ticket sales to the team.
The team also is selling ads for its program book, which will be distributed to attendees of the Joker's Wild fundraiser. Raffle Prixe donations would be greatly appreciated.
A major corporate sponsor is sought, whose name will be displayed on the banner that will be carried by the team during opening ceremonies.
Team members are: Jack Ballocca, Michael Bier, Clayton Coassin, Marc Chodos, Drew DeDomenico, Anthony Esposito, Michael Ficaro, Robert Jaques, Ryan Kennedy, Michael McGurrin, Peter Minore, Sean Nusdeo, Quentin Pitter, Gunnar Poulimas, Joey Schittina, and Griffin Tirollo. Please see any team member to purchase tickets, take out an ad, or donate a raffle item.
For more information, please contact Stephanie or Dave Kennedy, (203) 795-3216 or e-mail email@example.com


text:
Big Data - A Microsoft Tools Approach
(As with all of these types of posts, check the date of the latest update I've made here. Anything older than 6 months is probably out of date, given the speed with which we release new features into Windows and SQL Azure)
I don't normally like to discuss things in terms of tools. I find that whenever you start with a given tool (or even a tool stack) it's too easy to fit the problem to the tool(s), rather than the other way around as it should be.
That being said, it's often useful to have an example to work through to better understand a concept. But like many ideas in Computer Science, "Big Data" is too broad a term in use to show a single example that brings out the multiple processes, use-cases and patterns you can use it for.
So we turn to a description of the tools you can use to analyze large data sets. "Big Data" is a term used lately to describe data sets that have the "Four V's" as a characteristic, but I have a simpler definition I like to use:
Big Data involves a data set too large to process in a reasonable period of time
I realize that's a bit broad, but in my mind it answers the question and is fairly future-proof. The general idea is that you want to analyze some data, and using whatever current methods, storage, compute and so on that you have at hand it doesn't allow you to finish processing it in a time period that you are comfortable with. I'll explain some new tools you can use for this processing.
Yes, this post is Microsoft-centric. There are probably posts from other vendors and open-source that cover this process in the way they best see fit. And of course you can always "mix and match", meaning using Microsoft for one or more parts of the process and other vendors or open-source for another. I never advise that you use any one vendor blindly - educate yourself, examine the facts, perform some tests and choose whatever mix of technologies best solves your problem.
At the risk of being vendor-specific, and probably incomplete, I use the following short list of tools Microsoft has for working with "Big Data". There is no single package that performs all phases of analysis. These tools are what I use; they should not be taken as a Microsoft authoritative testament to the toolset we'll finalize for a given problem-space. In fact, that's the key: find the problem and then fit the tools to that.
Process Types
I break up the analysis of the data into two process types. The first is examining and processing the data in-line, meaning as the data passes through some process. The second is a store-analyze-present process.
Processing Data In-Line
Processing data in-line means that the data doesn't have a destination - it remains in the source system. But as it moves from an input or is routed to storage within the source system, various methods are available to examine the data as it passes, and either trigger some action or create some analysis.
You might not think of this as "Big Data", but in fact it can be. Organizations have huge amounts of data stored in multiple systems. Many times the data from these systems do not end up in a database for evaluation. There are options, however, to evaluate that data real-time and either act on the data or perhaps copy or stream it to another process for evaluation.
The advantage of an in-stream data analysis is that you don't necessarily have to store the data again to work with it. That's also a disadvantage - depending on how you architect the solution, you might not retain a historical record. One method of dealing with this requirement is to trigger a rollup collection or a more detailed collection based on the event.
StreamInsight - StreamInsight is Microsoft's "Complex Event Processing" or CEP engine. This product, hooked into SQL Server 2008R2, has multiple ways of interacting with a data flow. You can create adapters to talk with systems, and then examine the data mid-stream and create triggers to do something with it. You can read more about StreamInsight here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee391416(v=sql.110).aspx
BizTalk - When there is more latency available between the initiation of the data and its processing, you can use Microsoft BizTalk. This is a message-passing and Service Bus oriented tool, and it can also be used to join system's data together than normally does not have a direct link, for instance a Mainframe system to SQL Server. You can learn more about BizTalk here: http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/overview.aspx
.NET and the Windows Azure Service Bus - Along the same lines as BizTalk but with a more programming-oriented design are the Windows and Windows Azure Service Bus tools. The Service Bus allows you to pass messages as well, and opens up web interactions and even inter-company routing. BizTalk can do this as well, but the Service Bus tools use an API approach for designing the flow and interfaces you want. The Service Bus offerings are also intended as near real-time, not as a streaming interface. You can learn more about the Windows Azure Service Bus here: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/tour/service-bus/ and more about the Event Processing side here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd569756.aspx
A more traditional approach with an organization's data is to store the data and analyze it out-of-band. This began with simply running code over a data store, but as locking and blocking became an issue on a file system, Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMs) were created. Over time a distinction was made between data used in an online processing system, meant to be highly available for writing data (OLTP) and systems designed for analytical and reporting purposes (OLAP).
Later the data grew larger than these systems were designed for, primarily due to consistency requirements. In analysis, however, consistency isn't always a requirement, and so file-based systems for that analysis were re-introduced from the Mainframe concepts, with new technology layered in for speed and size.
I normally break up the process of analyzing large data sets into four phases:
- Source and Transfer - Obtaining the data at its source and transferring or loading it into the storage; optionally transforming it along the way
- Store and Process - Data is stored on some sort of persistence, and in some cases an engine handles the acquisition and placement on persistent storage, as well as retrieval through an interface.
- Analysis - A new layer introduced with "Big Data" is a separate analysis step. This is dependent on the engine or storage methodology, is often programming language or script based, and sometimes re-introduces the analysis back into the data. Some engines and processes combine this function into the previous phase.
- Presentation - In most cases, the data wants a graphical representation to comprehend, especially in a series or trend analysis. In other cases a simple symbolic representation, similar to the "dashboard" elements in a Business Intelligence suite. Presentation tools may also have an analysis or refinement capability to allow end-users to work with the data sets. As in the Analysis phase, some methodologies bundle in the Analysis and Presentation phases into one toolset.
Source and Transfer
You'll notice in this area, along with those that follow, Microsoft is adopting not only its own technologies but those within open-source. This is a positive sign, and means that you will have a best-of-breed, supported set of tools to move the data from one location to another. Traditional file-copy, File Transfer Protocol and more are certainly options, but do not normally deal with moving datasets.
I've already mentioned the ability of a streaming tool to push data into a store-analyze-present model, so I'll follow up that discussion with the tools that can extract data from one source and place it in another.
SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)/SQL Server Bulk Copy Program (BCP) - SSIS is a SQL Server tool used to move data from one location to another, and optionally perform transform or other processes as it does so. You are not limited to working with SQL Server data - in fact, almost any modern source of data from text to various database platforms is available to move to various systems. It is also extremely fast and has a rich development environment. You can learn more about SSIS here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms141026.aspx BCP is a tool that has been used with SQL Server data since the first releases; it has multiple sources and destinations as well. It is a command-line utility,and has some limited transform capabilities. You can learn more about BCP here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162802.aspx
Sqoop - Tied to Microsoft's latest announcements with Hadoop on Windows and Windows Azure, Sqoop is a tool that is used to move data between SQL Server 2008R2 (and higher) and Hadoop, quickly and efficiently. You can read more about that in the Readme file here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27584
Application Programming Interfaces - API's exist in most every major language that can connect to one data source, access data, optionally transforming it and storing it in another system. Most every dialect of the .NET-based languages contain methods to perform this task.
Store and Process
Data at rest is normally used for historical analysis. In some cases this analysis is performed near real-time, and in others historical data is analyzed periodically. Systems that handle data at rest range from simple storage to active management engines.
SQL Server - Microsoft's flagship RDBMS can indeed store massive amounts of complex data. I am familiar with a two systems in excess of 300 Terabytes of federated data, and the Pan-Starrs project is designed to handle 1+ Petabyte of data. The theoretical limit of SQL Server DataCenter edition is 540 Petabytes. SQL Server is an engine, so the data access and storage is handled in an abstract layer that also handles concurrency for ACID properties. You can learn more about SQL Server here: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/compare.aspx
SQL Azure Federations - SQL Azure is a database service from Microsoft associated with the Windows Azure platform. Database Servers are multi-tenant, but are shared across a "fabric" that moves active databases for redundancy and performance. Copies of all databases are kept triple-redundant with a consistent commitment model. Databases are (at this writing - check http://WindowsAzure.com for the latest) capped at a 150 GB size limit per database. However, Microsoft released a "Federation" technology, allowing you to query a head node and have the data federated out to multiple databases. This improves both size and performance. You can read more about SQL Azure Federations here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/2281.federations-building-scalable-elastic-and-multi-tenant-database-solutions-with-sql-azure.aspx
Analysis Services - The Business Intelligence engine within SQL Server, called Analysis Services, can also handle extremely large data systems. In addition to traditional BI data store layouts (ROLAP, MOLAP and HOLAP), the latest version of SQL Server introduces the Vertipaq column-storage technology allowing more direct access to data and a different level of compression. You can read more about Analysis Services here: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/business-intelligence/analysis-services.aspx and more about Vertipaq here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh212945(v=SQL.110).aspx
Parallel Data Warehouse - The Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) offering from Microsoft is largely described by the title. Accessed in multiple ways including using Transact-SQL (the Microsoft dialect of the Structured Query Language), This is an MPP appliance scaling in parallel to extremely large datasets. It is a hardware and software offering - you can learn more about it here: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/data-warehousing/pdw.aspx
HPC Server - Microsoft's High-Performance Computing version of Windows Server deals not only with large data sets, but with extremely complicated computing requirements. A scale-out architecture and inter-operation with Linux systems, as well as dozens of applications pre-written to work with this server make this a capable "Big Data" system. It is a mature offering, with a long track record of success in scientific, financial and other areas of data processing. It is available both on premises and in Windows Azure, and also in a hybrid of both models, allowing you to "rent" a super-computer when needed. You can read more about it here: http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/product/cluster-computing.aspx
Hadoop - Pairing up with Hortonworks, Microsoft has released the Hadoop Open-Source system - including HDFS and a Map/Reduce standardized software, Hive and Pig - on Windows and the Windows Azure platform. This is not a customized version; off-the-shelf concepts and queries work well here. You can read more about Hadoop here: http://hadoop.apache.org/common/docs/current/ and you can read more about Microsoft's offerings here: http://hortonworks.com/partners/microsoft/ and here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6204.hadoop-based-services-for-windows.aspx
Windows and Azure Storage - Although not an engine - other than a triple-redundant, immediately consistent commit - Windows Azure can hold terabytes of information and make it available to everything from the R programming language to the Hadoop offering. Binary storage (Blobs) and Table storage (Key-Value Pair) data can be queried across a distributed environment. You can learn more about Windows Azure storage here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg433040.aspx
In a "Big Data" environment, it's not unusual to have a specialized set of tasks for analyzing and even interpreting the data. This is a new field called "data Science", with a requirement not only for computing, but also a heavy emphasis on math.
Transact-SQL - T-SQL is the dialect of the Structured Query Language used by Microsoft. It includes not only robust selection, updating and manipulating of data, but also analytical and domain-level interrogation as well. It can be used on SQL Server, PDW and ODBC data sources. You can read more about T-SQL here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510741.aspx
Multidimensional Expressions and Data Analysis Expressions - The MDX and DAX languages allow you to query multidimensional data models that do not fit well with typical two-plane query languages. Pivots, aggregations and more are available within these constructs to query and work with data in Analysis Services. You can read more about MDX here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms145506(v=sql.110).aspx and more about DAX here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28572
HPC Jobs and Tasks - Work submitted to the Windows HPC Server has a particular job - essentially a reservation request for resources. Within a job you can submit tasks, such as parametric sweeps and more. You can learn more about Jobs and Tasks here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc719020(v=ws.10).aspx
HiveQL - HiveQL is the language used to query a Hive object running on Hadoop. You can see a tutorial on that process here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6628.aspx
Piglatin - Piglatin is the submission language for the Pig implementation on Hadoop. An example of that process is here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/avkashchauhan/archive/2012/01/10/running-apache-pig-pig-latin-at-apache-hadoop-on-windows-azure.aspx
Application Programming Interfaces - Almost all of the analysis offerings have associated API's - of special note is Microsoft Research's Infer.NET, a new language construct for framework for running Bayesian inference in graphical models, as well as probabilistic programming. You can read more about Infer.NET here: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/infernet/
Lots of tools work in presenting the data once you have done the primary analysis. In fact, there's a great video of a comparison of various tools here: http://msbiacademy.com/Lesson.aspx?id=73 Primarily focused on Business Intelligence. That term itself is now not as completely defined, but the tools I'll show below can be used in multiple ways - not just traditional Business Intelligence scenarios. Application Programming Interfaces (API's) can also be used for presentation; but I'll focus here on "out of the box" tools.
Excel - Microsoft's Excel can be used not only for single-desk analysis of data sets, but with larger datasets as well. It has interfaces into SQL Server, Analysis Services, can be connected to the PDW, and is a first-class job submission system for the Windows HPC Server. You can watch a video about Excel and big data here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=e20b7482-11c9-4965-b8f0-7fb6ac7a769f and you can also connect Excel to Hadoop: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/how-to-connect-excel-to-hadoop-on-azure-via-hiveodbc.aspx
Reporting Services - Reporting Services is a SQL Server tool that can query and show data from multiple sources, all at once. It can also be used with Analysis Services. You can read more about Reporting Services here: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/solutions-technologies/business-intelligence/reporting-services.aspx
Power View - Power View is a "Self-Service" Business Intelligence reporting tool, which can work with on-premises data in addition to SQL Azure and other data. You can read more about it and see videos of Power View in action here: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/future-editions/business-intelligence/SQL-Server-2012-reporting-services.aspx
SharePoint Services - Microsoft has rolled several capable tools in SharePoint as "Services". This has the advantage of being able to integrate into the working environment of many companies. You can read more about lots of these reporting and analytic presentation tools here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee692578
This is by no means an exhaustive list - more capabilities are added all the time to Microsoft's products, and things will surely shift and merge as time goes on. Expect today's "Big Data" to be tomorrow's "Laptop Environment".


text:
- For the United States Capital, see Washington, D.C.
- For the U.S. President see George Washington
|The Evergreen State
|Official Language
|Jay Inslee, D
|Patty Murray, D
(202) 224-2621
|Maria Cantwell, D
(202) 224-3441
|Ratification of Constitution/or statehood
|November 11, 1889 (42nd)
|Motto: "Al-ki" (bye and bye)
Washington, often referred to as Washington State, was the forty-second state to enter into the Union, on Nov. 11, 1889. The state is named after the first president George Washington. Its capital is Olympia, and its largest city is Seattle. It is located at the extreme northwest corner of the 48 contiguous American states. This Democrat-dominated state was the location of an early outbreak of the coronavirus COVID-19 in early 2020 in a nursing home.
The state Constitution of Washington, like all of the other 50 states, acknowledges God or our Creator or the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe. It says:
- We, the people of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this constitution.
The state has a notably wide variety of terrain and boasts of three national parks. The western edge of Washington borders the Pacific Ocean and has the only temperate rain forests in the country, the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault. The Olympic Mountains rise from sea level to nearly 8,000 feet in elevation. Puget Sound, gouged by the Vashon sheet in the last ice age, brings ocean access to ports far inland. The Cascade Mountain Range bisects the state from north to south and contains several large volcanoes, both active and dormant. The eastern half of Washington is much drier, with a continental climate and much farmland irrigated by Columbia River dams and irrigation works constructed in the time of the New Deal.
Washington was the first state to allow women to vote in local elections, since 1855.
The 2004 election created controversy due to a virtual tie between candidates conservative Republican Dino Rossi and liberal Democrat Christine Gregoire. Rossi won both the original election and the first recount, but the second recount gave the election to Christine Gregoire by a mere 129 votes.[1] Controversially, on the second "recount," more votes were counted than ballots were cast in Washington state.
Since 2007, Washington has offered domestic partnerships, which are similar to same sex marriage.[1]
In 2009, Washington was the first state in the United States to affirm civil unions by a public vote (Ref. 71). In 2012, they continued this continued this trajectory by fully implementing marriage equality by a vote of the people. The same year, they fully legalized marijuana possession.
Washington state has consistently been a blue state since 1988, with the last winning Republican being Ronald Wilson Reagan.
Elected Officials
- Sen. Patty Murray (D)
- Sen. Maria Cantwell (D)
- Rep. Suzan Delbene [D, WA-01]
- Rep. Rick Larsen [D, WA-02]
- Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler [R, WA-03]
- Rep. Dan Newhouse [R, WA-04]
- Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers [R, WA-05]
- Rep. Derek Kilmer [D, WA-06]
- Rep. Pramila Jayapal [D, WA-07]
- Rep. Dave Reichert [R, WA-08]
- Rep. Adam Smith [D, WA-09]
- Rep. Denny Heck [D, WA-10]
- Governor Jay Inslee (D)
- Lt. Governor Cyrus Habib (D)
- Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D)
- Secretary of State Kim Wyman (R)
- State Auditor Pat McCarthy
- State Treasurer Duane Davidson
Notable people from Washington
- Glenn Beck, conservative talk radio host and television anchor employed by Fox News.
- Bob Barker, host of the long-running game show The Price is Right, was born in Darrington.
- Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the influential grunge band Nirvana, was from Aberdeen.
- Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the world's richest man as of 2007, lives in Medina.
- Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and despoiler of skylines.[2]
- Jimi Hendrix, an influential rock guitarist of the late 1960s, was born in Seattle.
- Gary Larson, cartoonist known for his strip The Far Side, was born in Tacoma.
- Rob Maness, Louisiana Republican and Tea Party figure, born in Fort Lewis in 1961.
- Bill Nye, engineer best known for his children's television series Bill Nye the Science Guy, studied at Washington State University in Pullman.
- Chief Sealth, a Native American leader who converted to Roman Catholicism, lent his name to the city of Seattle.
- John Stockton, the all-time NBA leader in assists and steals, was born and raised in Spokane.
- Ted Bundy, serial killer, grew up in Tacoma and attended University of Washington.
- Gary Ridgeway, serial killer.


text:
The user is attempting to do a matrix multiply C = AB using PDGEMM in his application. This is being attempted on an SGI ice system. Apparently the code runs fine on an IBM system.
The one thing that the user is doing that is unusual is that the matrices and blocking factors are *extremely* non-square. To isolate the problem I modified the example code for PDGEMM from netlib to test this call independently of the rest of the code using the data sizes that the user needs.
When I run some weak scaling tests the code crashes with:
Stack trace terminated abnormally.
*** glibc detected *** ./pblas: free(): invalid next size (normal): 0x00000000d7ccef60 ***
forrtl: severe (174): SIGSEGV, segmentation fault occurred
Processor grid: 3 x 16, Col major order
Matrix A: 75,000,000 x 16, blockcyclic, block size: 25,000,000 x 1
Matrix B: 16 x 16, blockcycle, block size: 1 x 1
Matrix C; 75,000,000 x 16, blockcyclic, block size: 25,000,000 x 1
The code crashes with the above the error message when run with these parameters.
A weakly scaled down version by changing "16"s above to "8" and "4"s runs to completion (reduce number of columns and also the number of processors in the coumn direction keeping the memory footprint the same; ignoring the changes in the size of matrix B which is very small).
The code was verified to produce correct results with a very small test case.
Can anyone suggest what may be wrong? I believe generally square blocking factors are recommended, could the extreme shape of the matrix and the blocking factors cause these problems? Any other suggestions for working around this problem?
The test case was created by downloading the PDGEMM example program and modifying the values to match what the user needs in his application. I can provide the code if it is going to help.
Thank you!


text:
Presumed dead for 60 years, Hector Mann was a comic genius who had flashed briefly across American movie screens, tantalizing the public with the promise of a brilliant future. Then, just as the silent era came to an end, he walked out of his house one January morning and was never heard from again.
Zimmer's research leads him to write the first full-length study of Hector's films. Upon publication the following year, a letter turns up bearing a return address from New Mexico, supposedly written by Hector's wife. "Hector has read your book and would like to meet you. Are you interested in paying us a visit?" Is the letter a hoax, or is Hector Mann still alive? Torn between doubt and belief, Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision from him, changing his life forever.
"One of Auster's best." (Publishers Weekly)
"Mesmerizing....Paul Auster's narration of his own book, which is mostly told in the first person, is a part of the story's fascination....He reads skillfully....To press the play button is to succumb." (AudioFile)
"Auster's signature fascination with the capriciousness of fate and adept use of the classic story-within-the-story motif are writ larger than ever in his brilliant, sage, and suspenseful tenth novel." (Booklist)
- Gene
- 2004/10/05
I'm new to the Paul Auster universe, but this book won't be my last brush. There are many surprises here, but not the vulgar surprises of empty and meaningless complexity, something deeper and closer to the core of life's real mystery. We follow a fictitious actor from the silent era into several secret lives. If you are looking for a thriller, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a sober sort of entertainment mixed with despair, this is more like it.
- David A
- 2005/01/11
wonderful book, wonderful story
this was the first audio book that i listened to. i absolutely loved it and am looking forward to reading/listening to most of his work. there are two major strengths of this audio book. first, it is read by the author. for the audio books that i have listened to, the ones actually read by the author are so much richer and more expressive than those read by actors. the author, obviously, knew what s/he intened as the subtext of any particular passage and can convey that subtext through their voice. in addition, auster has an extremely pleasant voice and it was enjoyable to listen to him read it. the second strength of the book is the numerous intertwining plot-lines that are weaved together so well. in many ways, this is not simply a single story, but a richly told tapestry of stories spanning many years and several lives. to me, this made the book extremely enjoyable because each component of the overall plot was compelling, interesting, and well-told.
the only con of the book is that it had a bit of a downer for an ending, though this is just personal perference. the ending was not bad, but i was hoping for a happier ending.
in short, i cannot say enough to recommend this book. it will be well-worth your time and money.
- SFort
- 2006/08/25
Excellent writing, extraordinarily depressing
First, the good: the author is a superb writer. He is so good that even his descriptions of mundane actions and scenes are fascinating to read. Also, the concept behind the book is unique, and being a lover of old silent movies, I was hypnotized by the first few chapters. Now, the bad: this is the most depressing book I have ever read. The book tells you almost from page one that the narrator's wife and children were killed in a plane accident, the rest of the book occuring after that fact. So you'd think things would get better from that point, but they actually manage to get worse. There's an endless spiral of bleakness and crushed hopes in this book. In the last few paragraphs of the final chapter, the narrator calls the book his "compilation of sorrows." That it is. Do not entertain any hopes once you start this book. All hope is lost here.
- Amber
- 2010/10/21
Good, then boring, then depressing.
This story was dark, dark, dark. At first it was a kind of engaging mystery, and I was totally enthralled for the first third or so. Then things go from bad, to worse, to Shakespearean tragedy of epic porportions. I found all of the long back story about Hector boring, and the ending was bizarre. Not my cup of tea.
- Peregrine
- 2009/11/29
Compelling Narrative, ending is hard to take
Without giving too much away, I will say that although the story is compelling and Auster's reading is perfect, it's an extremely nihilistic work. Auster is essentially telling us that life itself is a waste of time!
- Glenn A. Miller
- 2005/05/23
Odd but compelling
This is the second Auster work I've been through. I didn't feel the anger of the primary character, nor the sadness. I just wasn't sold.
The plot, however, is so completely unique that I think you will listen hour after hour to see where it is all headed.
- Bex
- 2011/11/17
A book men will love, ladies...
I'm not familiar with Paul Auster or his other works, but when I asked my boyfriend to recommend a book, this is what he told me to read. I can see why it would appeal to him. I knew a few pages in this particular book would appeal to a man more than a woman, but as a person who loves almost all genres, I gave it a try.
The story is depressing but we listeners know this from the start - anything that starts with what this guy has gone through will have a somber tone. For that matter, the reader was spot on for this tone, but the recording sounded a bit off (maybe aged?).
Personally it didn't really appeal to me but the story was intriguing so I stuck through to the end. Ladies, you may want to really think before getting this one. Guys, you may just like it. Silent movie fans, you will LOVE it.
If I were a man I might have given it 4 stars.
- Thomas Massnick
- 2011/11/11
One of Auster's best
Mr. Auster did a fantastic job with the narration. His precise, rich voice matches his prose style better than the other narrators of his other books could do. I will say, however, that books like Timbuktu do well to have a different voice actor because of the main character's odd tone. Auster does not have the range of a professional actor, and cannot perform many distinct characters, but for this book his voice was perfect.
The story itself was fascinating and devastating. Auster does a great job of portraying a sane and calm person at the end of his rope. The only thing I did not like about the book was its title--it is somewhat forgettable.


text:
Eighteen years of interviewing travel agents and tour operators for "The Perrin Report" and other Condé Nast Traveler consumer news articles have given me a well-thumbed Rolodex of the most trusted consultants—people who offer the best combination of specialized knowledge, insider connections, user-friendliness, and value. Each year, my team and I evaluate more than a hundred new applicants, and only a handful make the cut. Our recommended specialists undergo a rigorous screening process that includes a 27-question application, sample itineraries, extensive phone interviews, and client references. Those who have inadequate firsthand experience of the destination they claim to specialize in or who send an insufficient number of clients there annually are disqualified. So are those who do business with only the superrich and those who normally design trips for clients not as savvy and authenticity-seeking as the readers of Condé Nast Traveler. Other red flags: agents who unnecessarily book every trip through a tour operator (as opposed to directly with local hotels and suppliers) or who use on-site contacts that charge exorbitant rates.
The specialists who make the list do so by meeting our expectations and those of our readers. I regularly receive feedback from readers about their experiences. Any specialist who merits few raves or is the object of a valid complaint is removed from the list. To share your impressions of our specialists or to nominate someone new for consideration, e-mail me at firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you prefer not to hop from specialist to specialist but to develop a relationship with one generalist, the consultants marked "Generalist," are your best bet. Even if you settle into a long-term relationship with one of them, when booking a journey where the right guides and local connections are critical, it's still advisable to contact the listed specialists to find out what they offer that your generalist doesn't.
Botswana, Gabon, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia
Cherri Briggs, Explore, Steamboat Springs, Colorado
Briggs lives part-time in Botswana, so she's keyed in to the most knowledgeable guides and cutting-edge destinations. Zambia and Gabon, she says, still offer the "real Africa" experience, which is vanishing in more-developed countries (888-596-6377; email@example.com; exploreafrica.net).
East Africa
Linda Friedman, Custom Safaris, Bethesda, Maryland
Friedman—who has an office in Nairobi, with support staff and salaried guides—builds both luxury accommodations and cultural exchanges into her safaris. A proponent of philanthropic travel, she contributes money from each trip to a Kenyan school, which has gone from 6 students to more than 100; her clients have been known to donate sandals or to decorate classrooms (866-530-1982; email@example.com; customsafaris.com).
Kent Redding, Africa Adventure Consultants, Denver
A former camp manager in Tanzania, Redding plans safaris and Kilimanjaro climbs that tread lightly on the earth—and your wallet. He urges every client to spend at least one night at a tented camp and excels at planning roughing-it adventures such as multiday hikes (866-778-1089; firstname.lastname@example.com; adventuresinafrica.com).
Nina Wennersten, Hippo Creek Safaris, Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey
Wennersten favors small camps and lodges, as well as private reserves bordering national parks, so you feel that yours is the only vehicle on game drives—even in the crowded Ngorongoro Crater. Instead of staged events, her itineraries include actual cultural experiences such as tribal weddings (866-930-9124; email@example.com; hippocreeksafaris.com).
Monique Rodriguez, Cortez Travel & Expeditions, Solana Beach, California
Rodriguez, an honorary consul of Madagascar, knows the best spots for the island's famous flora and fauna and has leads on traditional ceremonies—including the Fitampoha, Tsanga-tsaina, and Sambatra—that reflect the soul of Malagasy culture (800-854-1029; email@example.com; cortez-usa.com).
Joel Zack, Heritage Tours, New York City
Zack wrote a book on Morocco's architecture, and the connections he forged help clients to see the culture inside the Casbahs. Have your camera ready for the "magical hour," he says: the period just before sunset, when the light over the High Atlas Mountains is ethereal (800-378-4555; email@example.com; heritagetoursonline.com).
Astrid Breuer, Michael's Travel Centre Inc., Agoura Hills, California
A Seychelles native, Breuer knows the hottest Mahé hangouts and La Digue beaches and can guide you to undiscovered outer islands such as Alphonse and Desroches (818-889-2246; email@example.com; gotoseychelles.com).
Southern Africa
**Julian Harrison, Premier Tours, Philadelphia
**This South African native, co-author of Fodor's African Safari, can have you herd-counting by jeep, horse, elephant, or balloon. In Cape Town, he advises, take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain in the early morning, before clouds obscure the view (800-545-1910, ext. 429; firstname.lastname@example.com; premiertours.com).
Ryan Hilton, Admiral Travel Gallery, Sarasota, Florida
This native Zimbabwean's trips incorporate artistic touches such as sunrise poetry readings and painting sessions at water holes. He says the wildlife sightings, accommodations, and services in Botswana's Okavango Delta and Linyanti regions rival those of South Africa's Kruger National Park, where he used to guide (941-951-1801; email@example.com; admiraltravel.com).
Mark W. Nolting, Africa Adventure Company, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
The author of Africa's Top Wildlife Countries, Nolting specializes in retreats to private game reserves untainted by crowds. A current favorite? Botswana's Mashatu, where a safari costs less than half what it does elsewhere in the country (800-882-9453; email@example.com; africanadventure.com).
Generalist: Phoebe Weinberg, Greatways Travel, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan
Having made 53 trips to Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, Weinberg knows all the ins and outs of the posh lodges and camps—down to their habit of accepting only certain credit cards or cash for incidental charges—and preps her clients with a 75-page customized book containing details on every aspect of their trip, from facts about the animals they'll see to tipping etiquette (313-886-4710; firstname.lastname@example.com; greatwaystravel.com).
West Africa
**Will Weber, Journeys International, Ann Arbor, Michigan
**A former Peace Corps volunteer, Weber emphasizes nature and cultural encounters, such as visiting Pygmy villages in Cameroon and tracking lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic. In Mali, he's in the know on Bamako's music clubs and desert festivals (800-255-8735; firstname.lastname@example.com; journeys-intl.com).
Vanessa Guibert Heitner, Limitless Argentina, Buenos Aires
With a Ph.D. in Hispanic literary studies, this Argentine is equally fluent in the country's archaeological past and its cosmopolitan present and has access to artists' studios and private wineries. She can also add a Uruguayan beach or Chilean ski extension to your itinerary (202-536-5812; firstname.lastname@example.com; limitlessargentina.com).
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru
**Emmanuel Burgio, Blue Parallel, Potomac, Maryland
**Many of Burgio's clients come from his past life as an investment banker, and they're willing to pay top dollar for his white-glove service with authentic touches—like a bossa nova show at your pousada on a private Brazilian island—and a focus on the region's World Heritage Sites (800-256-5307; firstname.lastname@example.com; blueparallel.com).
Tom Damon, Southwind Adventures, Littleton, Colorado
An avid trekker, Damon arranges sporty but comfortable trips that highlight nature, archaeology, and adventure, from the Galápagos to Patagonia to the Amazon and Machu Picchu, which he likes to approach via the Urubamba route—less crowded than the famous Inca Trail (800-377-9463; email@example.com; southwindadventures.com).
Belize and Honduras
**Becky Harris, Viaventure, San Ignacio, Belize
**Having lived in Central America for the past six years, Harris is always on top of the hottest spots in these emerging destinations, from Mayan villages to Caribbean beach resorts. Want to explore the ruins at Copán? She can get you dinner with an archaeologist there (502-78-32-2509; email@example.com; viaventure.com).
Vicky McGlynn, Travelong of Summit, New Jersey
McGlynn, who has owned a house in Bermuda for 38 years, is familiar with all of the island's options, from secluded villas to deep-sea-fishing boats to moped rentals. She favors the off-season (Nov.–March), when prices plunge, festivals abound, and the golf is sublime (908-277-2700, ext. 11; email@example.com; travelongsummit.com).
**Augusto Simas, Travel Place, Rio de Janeiro
**Whether you're into nature, culture, or beaches, Simas knows Brazil's undiscovered highlights. Only a native like him would send clients to Rio's Friday- and Saturday-night summer concerts atop Sugar Loaf: Take the cable car up for a drink in an open-air lounge before the Brazilian rock bands start playing around midnight (55-21-3534-5201; firstname.lastname@example.com).
Rebecca Falkenberry, Hill's Travel Service, St. Petersburg, Florida
Covering everything from ice climbing in Jasper to heli-fishing in British Columbia, Falkenberry is a western Canada adventure guru. She promises that a trip to the Great Bear Rainforest is worth the floatplane ride (it's the only way in), even if you don't see one of the fabled white spirit bears (877-822-5993; firstname.lastname@example.com; hillstravel.com).
Mary Pyle Peters, Distinctive Journeys, Blairsden, California
Peters is your ticket for a romantic long weekend in Quebec City or a family trip to the Rockies. While many people watch the International Fireworks Competition from the base of Montmorency Falls, she's scoped out the premier view from the restaurant at the top (530-836-0684; firstname.lastname@example.com).
**Generalist: Martha Gaughen, Sterling Brownell, Atlanta
**Gaughen knows the best villas, resorts, and activities for kids or honeymooners. To show clients that Jamaica is much more than beaches, she arranges biking trips into the Blue Mountains and tours of old plantation homes (800-447-2799; firstname.lastname@example.com; sterlingtvl.com).
Terry McCabe, Altour International, Fair Lawn, New Jersey
This veteran island-hopper knows both the luxury resorts and the hidden small hotels with old-world charm. Peak season lasts just four months, she points out, with values to be had the rest of the year (201-703-8585; email@example.com; altour.com).
**Becky Veith, Travel Experts, Raleigh, North Carolina
**Veith is a whiz when it comes to the islands, particularly the all-inclusive resorts. Don't challenge her to a game of Caribbean trivia unless you already know that motorized water sports are forbidden during Easter week in the Dominican Republic or that touching the fruit of a manchineel tree causes blisters (814-734-5112; firstname.lastname@example.com; beckyveith.com).
Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Leigh Ann Cloutier, Rico Tours, Austin, Texas
Cloutier sends hundreds of clients to Costa Rica's bohemian hotels and upscale resorts each year as well as to Nicaragua's up-and-coming hideaways. She's not only on top of but ahead of the trends, and has already toured properties around the Marino Ballena National Park that won't be open for another year (512-303-0001; firstname.lastname@example.com; ricotours.com).
Richard Edwards, Austin-Lehman Adventures, Billings, Montana
Edwards resided in Costa Rica for 12 years and uses his background as a sustainable-development economist to weave eco-conscious elements into his itineraries. He's especially well versed in the small, upscale family-run lodges, many of which have strong ties to their communities (406-534-0158; firstname.lastname@example.com; austinlehman.com).
**Brady Binstadt, Geographic Expeditions, San Francisco
**Between visits to lesser-known markets like the one in Solola, guided volcano climbs off Lake Atitlán, and helicopter transfers, Binstadt's clients soak up Guatemala's rich culture in charming small hotels, private villas, and even homestays (800-777-8183; firstname.lastname@example.com; geoex.com).
**Generalist: Ada King, Connoisseur's Travel, Chicago
**King covers all aspects (and corners) of the country, from the Mayan temples to the cuisine of Mexico City. Her shopper clients know to be in Oaxaca for the city market on Saturday and in Tlacolula for the Indian market on Sunday (888-672-1140; firstname.lastname@example.com; connoisseurstravel.com).
**Jewell Ramos, WorldviewTravel, Santa Ana, California
**After 90-plus trips to Mexico, Ramos knows the more affordable sights, from colonial cities to beach towns, and tailors trips to appeal to all members of the family. The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve is a treasure, she says, with its Mayan citadel, jaguars, reptiles, and birds (828-890-5547; firstname.lastname@example.com).
Generalist: Meg McGriff North, Brownell Travel, Birmingham, Alabama
North can arrange overwater bungalows off the northern coast and visits to remote Indian communities. Rather than book an entire cruise ship itinerary just to see the canal, she advises, do a partial or full transit on a smaller, independently owned vessel (205-414-1653; firstname.lastname@example.com; brownelltravel.com).
Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
**Brent Olson, Geographic Expeditions, San Francisco
**Olson has visited Bhutan more than 40 times and has been sending clients to Nepal and Sri Lanka for 20 years. He knows the best rooms at the plush Amankora, in Paro, but also directs clients to several recently opened locally owned hotels (800-777-8183; firstname.lastname@example.com; geoex.com).
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam
Andrea Ross, Journeys Within, Rancho Santa Margarita, California
Ross and her husband run a B&B in Siem Reap, and they've personally trained every guide they use. Pioneers in travelers' philanthropy, the couple encourage guests to sponsor a well or spend an afternoon teaching English (877-454-3672; email@example.com; journeys-within.com).
Karin Hansen, Frosch Travel, Deerfield, Illinois
Hansen, whose Beijing-based daughter keeps her up-to-date on the latest trends, counsels clients with more moderate budgets on how to include memorable elements while eliminating costlier ones, and above all on how to avoid the sights jammed with the bus-tour crowd (847-948-5300, ext. 1322; email@example.com; froschvacations.com).
Gerald Hatherly, Abercrombie & Kent, Hong Kong
A&K has access to places and people that other operators in China don't—although its white-glove service steers travelers away from gritty but authentic experiences. Hatherly calibrates his itineraries to the minute: Visit Beijing over a weekend for the Panjiayuan curio market, the Forbidden City before the galleries close in the afternoon, and the Temple of Heaven in the early morning, when locals gather to exercise, play cards, and sing (852-2865-7818; firstname.lastname@example.com; abercrombiekent.com).
China & Tibet
Rebecca Mazzaro, Asia Transpacific Journeys, Boulder, Colorado
Mazzaro scours every corner of the country to find ways in which her clients can interact with locals: taking a tai chi lesson atop the Great Wall, making dumplings with a Beijing family, or meeting a Tibetan Buddhist monk at a special monastery. She likes to send even first-timers to remote villages like Ping An, where they'll visit with Zhuang and Yao farmers (800-642-2742, ext. 233; email@example.com; asiatranspacific.com).
**Victor Biswas, International Ventures and Travel, New York City
**Biswas crafts wildlife and art tours that pass muster with NGO and museum travel groups, and his connections open doors into private homes and fully booked five-star hotels. To explore the less-traveled northeast, he recommends a riverboat trip up the Brahmaputra, past national parks and tea estates (800-338-2624; firstname.lastname@example.com; ivat.com).
India, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Tibet
**Sanjay Saxena, Destination Himalaya, San Rafael, California
**Whether you want to stay in a maharaja's hunting lodge, ride horseback through the Mongolian steppe, or visit Tibetan monasteries, Saxena is your guy—particularly if you prefer spending more time outdoors than in. He likes to include rural festivals—such as Sri Lanka's Kandy Perahera (in August this year), where the nightly parades include acrobats and bejeweled elephants (800-694-6342; email@example.com; destinationhimalaya.net).
Jarrod Hobson, Asia Transpacific Journeys, Boulder, Colorado
Hobson sends active adventurers sea kayaking around Komodo Island, observing orangutans on Borneo, and feasting with a local family in a remote village in northern Bali. Java's Borobudur Temple rivals Angkor Wat, he says (800-642-2742, ext. 223; email@example.com; asiatranspacific.com).
Indonesia: Bali
Diane Embree, Michael's Travel Centre, Westlake Village, California
Embree opens doors to Bali's local culture with visits to a Hindu priest, a medicine man, or an elementary school, and she can help you navigate the myriad accommodation options alongside beaches and rice paddies (818-707-0091; email@example.com; balibarongtours.com).
Nancy Craft, Esprit Travel & Tours, Telluride, Colorado
Craft has dozens of artisan friends from her days studying textiles in Japan, and she and her Japanese staff can get you into their studios as well as into private gardens and little-known ryokans (800-377-7481; firstname.lastname@example.com; esprittravel.com).
Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam
**Sandy Ferguson, Asia Desk, Duluth, Georgia
**Ferguson, who grew up in Thailand and has a house in Vietnam, includes experiences that typify each culture's character, like a slow boat ride to Luang Prabang or a gallery tour of Saigon (800-667-4993; firstname.lastname@example.com; asiadesk.net).
Lindsey Wallace, Linara Travel, Calabasas, California
Since each Maldivian resort is on its own island, picking the right one is essential, and Wallace knows the options intimately. Go in May, June, or July, he says: This "rainy season" translates as brief, cooling afternoon showers—and 30 to 40 percent lower rates (800-335-6033; email@example.com; linaratravel.com).
Eric Kareus, Asia Transpacific Journeys, Boulder, Colorado
From visiting the Kengtung market in the mountainous Shan State to snorkeling in the Mergui Archipelago, which only recently opened to foreigners, Kareus is keen on the lesser-known gems of the country and has guides that show them in the most authentic light (800-642-2742, ext. 229; firstname.lastname@example.com; asiatranspacific.com).
**Generalist: Ellison Poe, Poe Travel, Little Rock, Arkansas
**A former resident of Vienna, Poe can point you to culture on the cheap: $4 standing-room-only tickets to the Vienna State Opera and free concerts in neighborhood churches in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and beyond (800-727-1960; firstname.lastname@example.com; poetravel.com).
Belgium and the Netherlands
Harmina Mulder, The Travel Society, Denver
Mulder, who grew up in Holland, knows the prettiest drives and the quaintest cities. Prime time for tulip viewing is mid-April, she says; visit the Aalsmeer flower auction on a Thursday, the least-crowded day, and go soon after 7:30 a.m., when it opens (303-337-8262; firstname.lastname@example.com; travelsociety.com).
Bulgaria and Romania
**Alexander Datsev, Exeter International, Tampa
**A native of Bulgaria, Datsev worked as a tour guide in his home country before moving to the United States, and the connections he's retained in the region will allow him to immerse you in its culture, opening doors to crafts workshops and even residents' homes (813-251-5355; email@example.com; exeterinternational.com).
Wanda S. Radetti, Tasteful Croatian Journeys, New York City
Having been to Croatia more than 50 times, Radetti fashions trips that not only hit the Adriatic coast but are chock-full of culinary and historic surprises. In Zagreb, she tells her clients to be in the Old City at dusk to see the town's lamplighter making the rounds (917-257-5777; email@example.com; visitcroatia.com).
Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland
**Gwen Kozlowski, Exeter International, Tampa
**Kozlowski has seen all of the region's best boutique hotels and can pull strings to get you behind the scenes at Prague's museums or Poland's crafts workshops. She recommends that you end, rather than start, a multi-city trip in Prague—nothing can follow the town's fairy-tale beauty (813-251-5355; firstname.lastname@example.com; exeterinternational.com).
Generalist: Katey Hartwell, Connoisseur's Travel, Chicago
From the Cotswolds to Cornwall, Hartwell knows the charming hotels, castles, and palaces and the best guides. To get the most for your time and money in London, she recommends reservations to make entry to the top attractions queue-free and, for families, apartments with front-desk staff (720-240-4768; firstname.lastname@example.com; connoisseurstravel.com).
England and Scotland
Susie Worthy, The NoteWorthy Group, London
Worthy has unparalleled access, from prime seats at the Royal Ascot or Wimbledon to tea with country manor owners. Such arrangements are expensive, but attending choral evensong in St. George's Chapel, which she suggests after a day at Windsor Castle, is free to all (44-20-7824-8995; firstname.lastname@example.com; noteworthyevents.com).
Jill Jergel, Frontiers International Travel, Wexford, Pennsylvania
Jergel can have you touring Normandy with a retired American brigadier general or visiting small family-owned châteaux with a Burgundy wine specialist, and she's got plenty of tricks up her sleeve for kids, too. She times her clients' Versailles visits to catch the fountain shows set to music on Sunday afternoons (800-245-1950; email@example.com).
Howard Lewis, Protravel International, Beverly Hills, California
Lewis's novella-length itineraries feature day-trips from country châteaux and B&Bs, since he prefers that clients spend enough time in an area to become regulars at the local café. He's also got the bottom line in mind, advising clients to look for a cheaper airfare to Brussels and book the high-speed train into Paris—which takes an hour and 15 minutes (310-271-9566; email@example.com; protravelinc.com).
Marion Harbison, Sterling Brownell, Chattanooga
Harbison has in-depth knowledge you won't find in any guidebook: insight on charming towns, local eats, and lesser-known museums and festivals such as the Rakoczy celebration in her hometown, Bad Kissingen (423-894-9001; firstname.lastname@example.com).
Ronnie Liadis, Liadis Travel Ltd., Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
Liadis wants her clients to see Greece as the locals do, dining at menu-less restaurants and visiting secluded beaches accessible only by boat. Her strengths are the islands and the Peloponnese peninsula, and she favors accommodations with modern interiors but ancient bones, such as a suite with a pool built against a 900-year-old wall (800-542-3471; firstname.lastname@example.com; greeceexperts.com).
Leftheris Papageorgiou, Hellenic Adventures Inc., Minneapolis
Papageorgiou was born and raised in Greece, studied its history and philosophy, and has an office in Athens. He loves to send clients to untouristed parts of the mainland for hiking, biking, rafting, and kayaking, and knows the best yachts and crews to charter in the islands (800-851-6349; firstname.lastname@example.com; hellenicadventures.com).
Kathleen Sheridan, Altour International, Fair Lawn, New Jersey
Sheridan likes to fly clients into Dublin and out of Shannon (or vice versa), with stays in B&Bs, country inns, and castles, and also knows Northern Ireland. She recommends filling up on an Irish breakfast, which is included at most hotels and hearty enough to last until a light dinner at a pub or wine bistro (201-421-2902; email@example.com; altour.com).
Roberto Agostini, Charming Italian Travel, Dallas
Agostini's contacts all around Italy can get you access nearly anywhere—for the right price. During the summer, in his hometown of Venice, he recommends dining on a seventeenth-century bragozzo boat—far more romantic than a cramped gondola ride (972-247-9055; firstname.lastname@example.com; conderoberto.com).
Maria Teresa Berdondini, Tuscany by Tuscans, Montecatini Terme, Italy
Berdondini expertly blends her native Tuscany's artistic, historic, and gastronomic heritage into clients' itineraries. And she can take you straight to the source for Tuscany's most famous exports: artisan silversmiths, paper marblers, shoemakers, and of course Prada and Gucci outlets (39-05-727-0467; firstname.lastname@example.com; tuscanybytuscans.it).
Andrea Grisdale, IC Bellagio, Bellagio, Italy
Grisdale, who lives on Lake Como, knows Italy's best five-star hotels and all the right people: Her contacts can get you sold-out tours of the Vatican or pre-sale tickets for La Scala. She'll steer cyclists to Puglia for its great cuisine and few hills, and make sure families in Venice don't miss the mask and gondola factories (39-03-195-2059; email@example.com; icbellagio.com).
**Maria Gabriella Landers and Brian Dore, Concierge in Umbria, New York City
**This couple got their start when they moved to Umbria to study Italian and began planning itineraries for visiting friends. Their backgrounds make them a perfect match for the region: Landers studied art history, Dore is a chef, and both are opera singers (212-769-4767; email@example.com; conciergeinumbria.net).
Generalist: Richard Bruce Turen, Churchill & Turen, Naperville, Illinois
This food-and-wine connoisseur, who was the headmaster of an American school in Chianti for six years, can usher you into Italy's country kitchens, where the sort of food you'd find in a typical Italian home is prepared. A highlight: dinner in a former home of Machiavelli's, where you learn what real Italian garlic bread tastes like—the kind grilled with the thick, cloudy oil known as "first press" (630-717-7777; email@example.com; traveltruth.com).
Sallie Massie, Resorts & Charted Courses, New York City
Massie can organize everything from helicopter arrivals at the classiest resorts and surprisingly affordable itineraries that include the principality's free gardens, parks, and walking trails as well as its bus and rail networks. She can also incorporate the south of France (800-757-6422; firstname.lastname@example.com; resorts-chartedcourses.com).
Stacy Cosme, Travel Destinations, Erie, Pennsylvania
Cosme knows the pousadas, fishing villages, and authentic fado shows firsthand. Madeira's May flower festival is well trodden by tourists, but she times clients' trips to include the last day, when children make wishes as they place flowers in a "Wall of Hope" (814-833-7484; email@example.com; alltraveldestinations.com).
Russia and the Baltic States
Natasha Tichy, Frontiers International Travel, Wexford, Pennsylvania
This former Russian tour guide devises itineraries highlighting architecture and culture, pairing deluxe hotels in the better-known cities with countryside homestays—all for a fraction of what you'd pay in Western Europe. If the timing's right, she'll send you to the Baltic Song Festival to hear the world's largest choir: 25,000 singers in folk dress (724-935-1577; firstname.lastname@example.com; frontierstravel.com).
Russia and Eastern Europe
**Greg Tepper, Exeter International, Tampa
**For those who can afford them, Tepper's guides open doors that are otherwise closed to the public in chic Moscow, historic St. Petersburg, untouched Turkmenistan, and newly independent Montenegro. He times Moscow visits to fall on weekends, when the hotels are cheaper and the museums and Izmailovsky Park's outdoor market are open (800-633-1008; firstname.lastname@example.com; exeterinternational.com).
Scandinavia (including Greenland and Iceland)
Tor D. Jensen, Jensen World Travel, Wilmette, Illinois
Jensen can arrange Scandinavian heritage tours, fjord forays, and summer cabin rentals. The largest Fourth of July celebration outside the United States takes place in his native Denmark: three days of picnics and performances in the Rebild Hills, culminating in fireworks at midnight on July 4 (800-853-6736; email@example.com; jensenworldtravel.com).
Virginia Irurita, Made for Spain, Madrid
With this native's connections, you'll see private wineries, stay in a palace in Seville, and get a personal lecture on Gaudí from a professor in Barcelona. Most tourists visit Madrid's Rastro flea market on weekends, but Irurita will tell you that the best-quality items appear during the week (34-91-310-7070; email@example.com; madeforspain.com).
Heinz Rufer, Beale Travel Service, Chicago
Rufer, who knows four- and five-star hotels inside and out, sends so many people to his native country that he gets discounts on the airline Swiss. He prefers to base clients in a few small cities and give them instructions on how to explore the surroundings by car (800-521-6455; firstname.lastname@example.com; bealetravel.com).
Earl Starkey, Protravel International, New York City
Starkey, who maintains an office in Istanbul and an incomparable team of guides, has his finger on the pulse of that cosmopolitan city, from the art scene in Beyoglu to the chic restaurants in Suadiye, on the Asian side. Elsewhere in Turkey, the southeast is an up-and-coming destination, he says, with new waterways so you can explore villages and ruins by boat (800-227-1059, ext. 387; firstname.lastname@example.com; sophisticated-travel.com).
Susan McDougal, Adventure Travel, Huntsville, Alabama
McDougal can point you to the best train, car, and barge itineraries and the top cottages and inns. North Wales has Europe's highest concentration of castles, and she'll help you choose the right one: Caernarfon for an immaculate restoration, Harlech for a weathered ruin (256-880-6300; email@example.com; adventuretravel.com).
Western Europe
**Generalist: Rudi Steele, Rudi Steele Travel, Dallas
**Steele knows the management at Europe's finest hotels, and these connections translate into perfectly calibrated itineraries. Save him for special occasions, when you're ready to splurge—say, a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary (214-522-2777; email@example.com; rudisteele.com).
Generalist: Janine Safer Whitney, Altour, New York City
From Como to the Cotswolds, this Harvard Business School grad leads high-powered clients—most of them chairmen or CEOs—to hidden treasures, and has technology tips if you need to stay connected on the road (212-897-5000; email@example.com; altour.com).
Egypt, Israel, and Jordan
Generalist: James R. Berkeley, Destinations & Adventures International, Nashville
Berkeley, who lived in Cairo for four years, designs deluxe yet good-value itineraries that hit not only the highlights but the off-the-tourist-path gems of Egypt and its neighboring states. Avoid the crowds, he suggests, by visiting the Sphinx and the Pyramids in the morning, Memphis and Sakkara in the late afternoon. Don't miss the Temple Mount in Israel, he advises, and exit from there into the Old City Bazaar (800-659-4599; firstname.lastname@example.com; daitravel.com).
Susan Weissberg, Wyllys Professional Travel, Coral Gables, Florida
Weissberg lived in Israel for ten years while managing a travel agency and draws upon that experience to build unique trips for her clients. In addition to visiting the region's religious highlights, she recommends fitting a stay at a kibbutz into your itinerary, as well as snorkeling in the Red Sea (305-442-2008; email@example.com; wyllystravel.com).
Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia
Rita Zawaideh, Caravan-Serai Inc., Seattle
A native of Jordan and former resident of Syria, Zawaideh plans trips that marry past and present, from archaeological digs to souk tours. Given just the name of a client's ancestral village, she'll actually track down relatives to meet along the way (800-451-8097; firstname.lastname@example.com; caravan-serai.com).
Australia and Fiji
**Lynette Wilson, Destination World, Hermosa Beach, California
**Only a former Oz resident like Wilson knows about Wylie's Baths, a natural saltwater pool on the shoreline in the Sydney suburb of Coogee. She also packs such jewels into her itineraries to Fiji, which she's visited 170 times (800-224-0220; firstname.lastname@example.com; destinationworld.com).
French Polynesia and the Cook Islands
**Kleon Howe, The Art of Travel, San Diego
**Howe, who once spent five months in Tahiti while sailing around the world, keeps active travelers busy parasailing, horseback riding, hiking, and playing golf. For romantics, he'll arrange dinner on the deck of your overwater bungalow (888-294-3598; firstname.lastname@example.com; theartoftravelonline.com).
New Zealand
**Donna Thomas, New Zealand Travel, Langhorne, Pennsylvania
**Thomas's trips blend luxury and nature. Under her tutelage, clients get the most from their Milford Sound boat trips by avoiding the busiest departures and sitting on the left side of the vessel (800-367-5494; firstname.lastname@example.com; newzealandtravel.org).
**Jane Turner, Active Downunder, San Diego
**This native Kiwi works primarily with small B&Bs and mom-and-pop businesses to get her clients the inside track on Maori culture on the North Island and wilderness and adventure experiences on the South. March and April have great fall weather and few crowds, but whatever time of year you go, Turner says, pack for "four seasons in one day" (800-425-9036; firstname.lastname@example.com; activedownunder.com).
Papua New Guinea
Jim Harlan, Uncommon Adventures, Marina Del Rey, California
Harlan can relay all the details, down to the idiosyncrasies of the remote highland tribes that his clients may encounter. As an avid scuba diver, he knows firsthand the country's world-class dive sites (888-390-9675; firstname.lastname@example.com; uncommonadventures.com).
Margret Propper, Brownell Travel, Birmingham, Alabama
Having visited the forty-ninth state more than 40 times—in both summer and winter—Propper knows the ins and outs. She flies clients straight to Denali's backcountry lodges to avoid the crowds at the park entrance (800-999-3960; firstname.lastname@example.com; secretagentm.com).
California's Napa Valley, Sierra Foothills, and Sonoma Valley
**Jackie Richmond, Wine Country Concierge, Napa
**Richmond custom-designs itineraries that take you to small, overlooked wineries and impossible-to-get-into restaurants. From December through March, she can find you uncrowded tasting rooms and significantly lower-priced lodgings (707-252-4472; firstname.lastname@example.com; winetrip.com).
Renée Kipling Coon, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Erie, Pennsylvania
From Sanibel Island to South Beach, Coon will direct you to the hottest spas, book a boat for alligator spotting, or arrange a day-trip to the Keys from Fort Myers or Miami via ferry (814-838-7669; firstname.lastname@example.com).
Judi Chaitman, Great Getaways, Leawood, Kansas
Chaitman is so passionate about the islands that she got married there. She loves to send clients to Maui's Haleakala volcano, either via helicopter or bike, to watch the sun rise (800-546-8747; firstname.lastname@example.com; greatgetaways.travel).
Betty Cox, Travel Concepts, Fountain Valley, California
For value-minded families, Cox knows the tricks for making the islands affordable. She advises renting a condo, as she does every Thanksgiving, and suggests alternate transportation to get off the tourist track: motorcycles on the Big Island, public buses on Oahu (800-369-0107; firstname.lastname@example.com; travelconceptsfv.com).
Robin Kanno, Landmark Travel, Orinda, California
Kanno is an Oahu expert—she lived there for eight years and returns to Hawaii every other month—and encourages clients to explore the sights outside Waikiki by car. She packs folklore, geography, architecture, customs, and restaurant recommendations into her pre-trip briefings. Popular wellness-themed itineraries incorporate eco-hikes and sacred ceremonies, she says, not just spa visits (925-984-9665; firstname.lastname@example.com; landmarktravel.com).
New York City
Kitt Garrett, Discover New York with Kitt Garrett, New York City
Garrett, along with associate Cheryl Smith, arranges expert-led tours at hefty price tags, but she won't just get you into a sold-out Broadway show—she'll have you coached by the musical director and singing with the cast. The "Kitt's Picks" section of her Web site lists her favorite restaurants and theater productions (212-370-1319; email@example.com; dnykg.com).
Pacific Northwest
Sheri Doyle, Pacific Northwest Journeys, Seattle
No detail is overlooked in Doyle's Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia itineraries: Since you can't make reservations for the San Juan Islands ferries, for example, she steers clients clear of the most popular Friday and Sunday departures (800-935-9730; firstname.lastname@example.com; pnwjourneys.com).
The Rockies
Caroline Bach Wood, Sterling Brownell, Bozeman, Montana
Growing up, Wood spent every summer in Yellowstone and knows its untrammeled spots. She creates personalized 100-page guidebooks for each client's trip to Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho—where she likes to include a stop in Stanley for spectacular vistas of, and hikes through, the Sawtooth Mountains (406-624-6976; email@example.com; sterlingtvl.com).
Betsy Donley, Camelback Odyssey Travel, Phoenix
Donley knows the best ways to see the region's natural wonders—luxury camping on the rim of the Grand Canyon, renting a houseboat on Lake Powell—as well as its top golf courses, spas, and museums. Her Hopi guide has rare access to thousand-year-old petroglyphs on First, Second, and Third mesas (800-445-6527, ext. 439; firstname.lastname@example.com; camelbacktravel.com).
Hotels & Resorts
**Jody Bear, Bear & Bear/Valerie Wilson Travel, New York City
**Like her fashionable clientele, Bear is a trend spotter, and she can secure a room in a "sold out" hotel as well as provide concierge services, whether tracking down the best tailor in Bangkok or nabbing a table at Rome's restaurant du jour (212-532-3400; email@example.com).
**Generalist: Rudi Steele, Rudi Steele Travel, Dallas
**Steele is on a first-name basis with the general managers and concierges at hundreds of top properties worldwide and can tell you which suite gets the best morning light or has the finest view from the tub (214-522-2777; firstname.lastname@example.com; rudisteele.com).
Generalist: Phoebe Weinberg, Greatways Travel, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan
The copious notes that Weinberg and her staff keep on properties in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America include photos, floor plans that show room size and views, and the numbers of the best and worst rooms (313-886-4710; email@example.com; greatwaystravel.com).
Affordable Large Ships
Linda Allen, Cruises by Linda, Harrison, Arkansas
With premium lines like Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Princess, and Celebrity, finding the lowest price is Allen's priority—even after a client has made final payment. She recommends eating breakfast and lunch in the main dining room, which is often empty even when the buffet lines are long (800-422-3445; firstname.lastname@example.com).
Affordable Luxury
**Mary Jean Tully, Cruise Professionals, Toronto
**Tully does such a high volume of business with the finer lines—especially Crystal, Regent Seven Seas, and Silversea—that she has the pull to secure the sailing and cabin you want, and she has tricks up her sleeve that will get you the most bang for your buck (800-265-3838; email@example.com; cruiseprofessionals.com).
Alaska: Large Ships
Nancy Kelly, Kelly Cruises, Oak Brook, Illinois
Want to combine an Alaskan cruise with a land-based tour? Kelly, who has clout with all the big Alaska operators, will make the glacier flights and bear viewings happen (800-837-7447; email@example.com; alaskacruiseandtourexperts.com).
Alaska: Small Ships, European River Cruises
**Margret Propper, Brownell Travel, Birmingham, Alabama
**Propper has a handle on the best small-ship cruise options in Alaska and is adept at combining a sailing with an independent land trip. If riverboats are your thing, Propper can pick the right itinerary and crew for you, from Provence to Poland (and even China), and can cleverly fill a few days before or after your sailing (800-999-3960; email@example.com; secretagentm.com).
Cunard Line Cruises
**Dorothy Reminick, Reid Travel of Florida, Boca Raton, Florida
**Having worked for Cunard for 30 years, Reminick knows the ins and outs of the confusing cabin and dining categories on its ships—including the new Queen Victoria. On the Queen Elizabeth 2, she likes to put clients in two extra-large P2 suites on the quiet Three Deck; aboard the Queen Mary 2, she favors the forward-situated B1 and B2 rooms, with their Plexiglas balconies (800-666-7150; email@example.com).
European Canal Barge Trips
**Jill Jergel, Frontiers International Travel, Wexford, Pennsylvania
**Jergel, who is chummy with both owners and crews on every boat she sells, can have you biking along canals, touring cathedrals, or indulging in gustatory delicacies on board. A barge charter is perfect for a family, she says, since you have the run of the vessel (800-245-1950; email@example.com; frontierstravel.com).
Long Cruises
**Janet Lanterman, Cruise Specialists, Seattle
**Lanterman has insider access at Carnival, Holland America, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, and Windstar, and can arrange shore excursions that cost less than what the cruise lines charge. She focuses on world cruises and 30-day-plus sailings (800-544-2469; firstname.lastname@example.com; csiseattle.com).
Luxury Midsize Ships
**Leslie Fambrini, Personalized Travel Consultants, Los Altos, California
**Thanks to her in-depth knowledge of ships' layouts and accommodations and her many loyal fans among the cruise industry's leaders, Fambrini gets her clients their dream cabins and then royal treatment on board, especially when they sail on Crystal (650-949-0111; firstname.lastname@example.com; personalized-travel.com).
The Mediterranean, the Greek Islands, and Luxury Small Ships Worldwide
**Generalist: Richard Bruce Turen, Churchill & Turen, Naperville, Illinois
**Turen's frankness about the differences between ships and his cleverness about how to maximize your time in port make him the go-to guy if you want to mix a southern European cruise with several days of mainland sightseeing—especially if you're considering sailing on Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, SeaDream Yacht Club, or Windstar (630-717-7777; email@example.com; traveltruth.com).
Polar Cruises
Chris Dunham, Quark Expeditions, Darien, Connecticut
Dunham knows which of Quark's seven icebreakers and rugged expedition ships in the Arctic and Antarctic to send a wildlife lover, "big ice" fiend, or history buff on. Don't leave home without your waterproof pants, she warns: They'll keep you dry while sprawled on the ice for an eye-to-eye penguin shot (800-356-5699; email@example.com; quarkexpeditions.com).
Scandinavia and the Baltic
Paul Niskanen, Cruise Masters, Portland, Oregon
His shore tours in the Baltic surpass any ship's offerings. To mingle with Scandinavians in port, he advises a May or early-June cruise, when the weather is pleasant and the locals haven't yet left for vacation (503-641-7447; email@example.com; finevoyages.com).
Yacht Charters: Caribbean
Ed Hamilton, Ed Hamilton & Co., Wiscasset, Maine
From the popular Virgin Islands to the lesser-known San Blas, Hamilton can find the right vessel for you—bareboat or crewed. He says that April actually has the best weather (800-621-7855; email@example.com; ed-hamilton.com).
Yacht Charters: Exotic
Mary Crowley, Ocean Voyages, Sausalito, California
After 27 years of searching out the best boats and crews in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean, Crowley has files on 4,000 vessels. Captains are an essential element; some of her favorites are also expert archaeologists and linguists (415-332-4681; email@example.com; oceanvoyages.com).
Fishing and Hunting
Generalist: Mollie Fitzgerald, Frontiers International Travel, Wexford, Pennsylvania
Fitzgerald has scoured the globe to find the field or stream of your dreams, and she'll cover details you never thought of: the most productive moon phase for Caribbean flats fishing, airline and country gun restrictions, and the proper salmon flies for Canada or Iceland (800-245-1950; firstname.lastname@example.com; frontierstravel.com).
Gordon Dalgleish, PerryGolf, Wilmington, North Carolina
A native Scotsman, Dalgleish is himself a two-handicap player. His high-end golf trips incorporate hard-to-get tee times at the more popular courses in the British Isles as well as those farther afield in South Africa and New Zealand (800-344-5257; firstname.lastname@example.com; perrygolf.com).
**Eleanor Nelson, Travel House, Barrington, Illinois
**Nelson plays on about 30 different courses a year and knows how to extract the most from your golf dollar: Greens fees in Canada are a third those of equivalent courses in Europe (800-356-0220; email@example.com; travelhouseinc.com).
River Rafting
**Mindy Gleason, O.A.R.S., Angels Camp, California
**Whether you're a Class V river runner or a novice, a camper or lodge dweller, Gleason will help you choose the right river options in the Americas and Fiji. Just don't splurge on the trip and scrimp on the equipment, she warns; layered synthetic clothing is a must (800-346-6277, ext. 730; email@example.com; oars.com).
**Thom Gilligan, Marathon Tours & Travel, Boston
**A veteran of 62 marathons, Gilligan can point you to races through vineyards in France and game parks in Kenya and assure entry in several popular European city runs. Every two years, he plans Antarctica's only marathon (617-242-7845; firstname.lastname@example.com; marathontours.com).
Scuba Diving
**Meg Austin, The Travel Society, Denver
**Austin, who handles novice and expert divers alike, knows the leading operators and resorts in the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Mexico. One of her favorite summer destinations is the Turks and Caicos, which has the world's third-largest reef and a drier climate than the rest of the Caribbean (303-932-0434; firstname.lastname@example.com; meg2book.com).
Ayse Boykin, Travel Store Platinum, Los Angeles
Boykin knows the best and most remote spots in the Red Sea, the Pacific and Indian oceans, and South America. Darwin and Wolf islands, in the Galápagos, are must-sees, she says, to view true pelagic species (310-689-5410; firstname.lastname@example.com; travelstoreusa.com).
Skiing: Europe
Dorothea Rasser, SkiEurope/Alpine Adventures, Houston
Born and raised in the Alps, Rasser has a line on the best slopes from Andorra to Albania. One of her favorite itineraries pairs a few days in Salzburg with a week at one of the Gastein Valley's charming chalets (800-333-5533; email@example.com; ski-europe.com).
Skiing: United States and Canada
**Jana Emery, Ski.com, Aspen
**Emery can tell you which resorts are most suitable for honeymooners, intrepid skiers, and spa lovers, and can even locate grocery stores outside resort towns for families staying in condos (800-525-2052, ext. 3622; firstname.lastname@example.com; ski.com).
Claire Truso, Country Walkers, Waterbury, Vermont
Truso will match you to the right hiking, walking, or snowshoeing trip, from an easy stroll through Puglia to a challenging hike in Montana's Glacier National Park. She'll even help you choose the right footwear (800-464-9255; email@example.com; countrywalkers.com).
Business Travel
**Tanuja Kulkarni, Protravel International, New York City
**Business travelers need a large agency that has offices nationwide and can score the best fares and perks because of the volume of sales it does with the airlines. Top executives who don't have to use their in-house travel agency rely on Kulkarni's 25 years of experience in booking business trips. She even advises you on which roads to avoid en route to the airport (212-409-9596; firstname.lastname@example.com; protravelinc.com).
**Terry McCabe, Altour International, Fair Lawn, New Jersey
**Taking into account the client's home base, frequent destinations, and airline preferences, McCabe matches road warriors with the right agent within this powerful firm. If you have a PDA, she'll send flight updates and itinerary changes to you instantly (201-703-8585; email@example.com; altour.com).
**Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg, Valerie Wilson Travel, New York City
**Small businesses outsource their travel arrangements to Wilson-Buttigieg and her team, who use their sway to procure exit-row airline seats and rooms at fully booked hotels. Travel with a flight schedule and a backup plan, she advises, so you know your options when a meeting runs late (866-898-8728; firstname.lastname@example.com; vwti.com).
Culinary Programs
Generalist: Richard Bruce Turen, Churchill & Turen, Naperville, Illinois
This former food critic arranges in-restaurant cooking classes from Europe to Asia. He also knows that every meal need not be a white-tablecloth affair and can point you, for instance, to the best family-run trattorias in Italy (630-717-7777; email@example.com; traveltruth.com).
Susan Kelly, Travel Magic, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Kelly can advise on everything from the bed configuration at each Disney hotel to every shore excursion offered on its cruise ships. Her customized booklets even indicate which attractions will be closed for repairs during your trip (800-810-2844; email@example.com; travelmagic.com).
Family Travel: Asia
**Leslie Overton, Absolute Travel, New York City
**Having tackled Asia seven times with her own two kids, Overton can tell you where to see baby pandas, what pacing works for every age group, and which hotels have family-friendly suites—unlike in other parts of the world, staff at many Asian five-stars love to see children (212-627-1950; firstname.lastname@example.com; absolutetravel.com).
Family Travel: Trips with Young Children
Generalist: Martha Gaughen, Sterling Brownell, Atlanta
Gaughen knows from personal experience the best resorts and villas from the Caribbean to Chile, and can work out complicated logistics such as an around-the-world trip. When babies are involved, she looks for properties with nannies and in-room fridges (800-447-2799; martha@ sterlingtvl.com; sterlingtvl.com).
Kay Merrill, Are We There Yet, Larkspur, California
Merrill's trips allow family members with different needs and expectations to function well as a group, whether biking in Australia or touring in Barcelona. She gets everyone involved—even the kids—by letting each person help plan activities for a particular day or city (888-300-0536, ext. 215; email@example.com).
**Kimberly Wilson Wetty, Valerie Wilson Travel, New York City
**Whether you want to get away with your kids at a beach resort or reconnect with your spouse at a romantic inn, this mother of two youngsters considers every aspect—down to the stroller-friendliness of a resort. One-bedroom suites with rollaway beds are often cheaper than two connecting rooms, she says, and will give you more space to share (212-592-1218; firstname.lastname@example.com; vwti.com).
Family Travel: Multigenerational Trips
Generalist: Mary Ann Ramsey, Betty Maclean Travel, Naples, Florida
Ramsey is the go-to agent if your extended family wants first-class treatment every step of the way, on anything from a Mediterranean cruise to an African safari. For the ultimate in togetherness and freedom, she suggests chartering a barge in France, so family members can bike along the canal or tour wineries by day and reunite in the evening (800-865-8111; firstname.lastname@example.com; bettymacleantravel.com).
Joan Weber, Journeys International, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Weber has traveled with her own children in Africa, Asia, and South America, and her exotic customized adventure- and culture-themed itineraries widen the horizons of family members young and old. For big groups, she suggests chartering a Galápagos yacht or booking an entire eco-lodge (800-255-8735; firstname.lastname@example.com; journeysforfamilies.com).
Frequent-Flier Miles
**LaDonna Epler, Colorado Springs
**Having no luck redeeming your miles? Epler, who worked for ten years at the now-defunct AwardPlanner office of Randy Petersen's webflyer.com, can help. She'll use your points to book trips like a business-class ticket from San Diego to Nairobi that returns from Johannesburg with a two-day stay in Amsterdam, for 120,000 miles (719-638-9408; email@example.com).
Gay and Lesbian Travel
Peter Carideo, CRC Travel, Chicago
Carideo is up-to-date on the latest gay-friendly hotels and destinations, which he says are emerging even in historically less-than-hospitable corners of the Caribbean (773-525-3800; firstname.lastname@example.com; crctravel.com).
**Peter Friedman, Unique Travel, Delray Beach, Florida
**Friedman—who's lived in 17 countries—will sprinkle your itinerary with surprises, and can arrange anything from a Sandals suite to a South African safari and wine tour. He'll even set up a registry so wedding guests can help fund the trip (800-245-3403; email@example.com; uniquetrav.com).
Cookie Anspach Kohn, Valerie Wilson Travel, Highland Park, Illinois
Not sure where to go? Kohn will offer plenty of suggestions and make sure her arrangements suit the tastes of both bride and groom. Splurge on your first and last accommodations, she advises, since those are the ones you'll remember most (847-432-1211; firstname.lastname@example.com; vwti.com).
Private-Jet Vacations
Brian T. Robertson, Robertson International Travel Consultants, Santa Barbara, California
For little more than the price of flying first-class, Robertson can book slower-paced luxury or remote expedition-type jet vacations for a family or group of friends. Keep your party to 16, he warns, or you'll have to charter a 44-seat plane, since few jets accommodate any number in between (805-969-3221; email@example.com; robertsontravel.com).
Rail Travel: North America
**Sylvia and Ted Blishak, Accent on Travel USA, Klamath Falls, Oregon
**After taking more than 300 train trips, this couple know which trains offer the most scenic views and luxurious amenities, which run late, and how to link the best U.S. and Canadian routes. They also advise on details, like booking a sleeper next to the dining and lounge cars to shorten shaky walks (800-347-0645; firstname.lastname@example.com; accentontravelusa.com).
Rail Travel: Overseas
**George Tobias, Linden Travel Bureau, New York City
**Tobias is an expert on the range of rail options, from still-chugging steam trains to the Orient-Express. On Europe's high-speed network, he saves clients hundreds of dollars by booking train and car-rental packages, and reminds them to use their rail passes for free or reduced lake and fjord steamer fares (800-678-6558; firstname.lastname@example.com).
**Carol Cornell, Covington Travel, Fort Wayne, Indiana
**Cornell knows all the best European factory stores for china, crystal, pottery, and silver. Linens, she says, are a steal in Alsace, where the huge inventory makes for low prices despite the strong euro (260-432-5995; email@example.com).
**Angela Turen, Churchill & Turen, Naperville, Illinois
**Having tried massages, facials, wraps, and procedures at more than 100 resort, destination, and cruise-ship spas, Turen can separate the real deal from the marketing hype (630-717-7777; email@example.com; traveltruth.com).
Spiritual Renewal
Kathy Obbish, Custom Explorations, Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Obbish orchestrates trips all over the world that incorporate a metaphysical purpose as well as the destination's must-sees, whether to trace ancient philosophies in China or to experience private meditation at the Great Pyramids (866-530-1982; firstname.lastname@example.com; customexplorations.com).


text:
BOSNIA-Herzegovina suffered their second successive World Cup defeat as Nigeria's 1-0 win in Cuiaba ended the debutants' hopes of reaching the knockout stages.
After a positive display in a narrow loss to Argentina in their first-ever fixture at this level, Bosnia would have been hopeful of picking up a maiden World Cup success over a Nigeria side who laboured to a draw in their opener.
But Peter Odemwinigie's smart first-half finish gave a sharper Super Eagles side their own first World Cup victory in 16 years, although Bosnia's Edin Dzeko saw an earlier effort wrongly chalked off for offside before hitting a post in second-half stoppage time.
The three points move Nigeria to second in Group F, with a draw in their final game against already-qualified Argentina enough to see them through.
Bosnia started on the back foot and Emmanuel Emenike was gifted the ball by a poor Emir Spahic pass, with Haris Medunjanin hauling down the forward and Odemwingie striking the resulting free-kick only inches wide.
Muhamed Besic bent a shot over Vincent Enyeama's crossbar as the fast pace continued for the early stages, with Ahmed Musa then unable to control a perfect pass from Emenike.
As Nigeria began to take control of the game, John Obi Mikel was the next man to come close but the Chelsea midfielder dragged a low shot wide, with Onazi forcing a save from Asmir Begovic from a similar effort soon after.
Zvjezdan Misimovic could not test Enyeama when well-placed on the edge of the Nigeria box as Bosnia looked to enjoy their own spell of sustained pressure.
That new-found pressure should have led to an opening goal as Dzeko appeared to have scored on 20 minutes but the striker was flagged offside as he rifled home a weighted through ball, with replays showing the decision to be a poor one as he was well onside.
Hajrovic finally worked Enyeama as he cut inside and let off a decent effort, with Dzeko set free again moments later - this time the flag remained down but the Manchester City striker's shot was not strong enough to beat the Nigerian goalkeeper on the second occasion.
With Bosnia starting to grow into the game, Nigeria struck a blow with the opening goal as Emenike was too strong for captain Spahic and his low cross was tucked away by Odemwingie just before the half-hour mark.
The goal was not without controversy, however as the Bosnia bench erupted following the decision not to award Spahic a free-kick as Emenike did seem to inadvertently clip the skipper's heels.
Musa stung the palms of Begovic later in the first half as Nigeria looked to build on their lead but Bosnia still held a threat as Medunjanin's long-range shot flew wide before Dzeko thrashed an effort past the post in stoppage time.
The second half did not start with the same vigour as the first, with Nigeria unsurprisingly less gung-ho and doing a better job at containing Bosnia in the process.
Michael Babatunde worked Begovic as Nigeria did push forward when they had the opportunity, with Safet Susic introducing Vedad Ibisevic from the Bosnia bench to give his side more attacking options.
Begovic was forced to keep out another Babatunde strike before the Stoke goalkeeper made himself big to block Emenike's close-range chance and was kept busy as the same player drilled in a near-post effort on 65 minutes.
Ibisevic, who scored Bosnia's first-ever World Cup goal in their opening-match defeat, should have levelled the game with 15 minutes remaining but could only head Misimovic's corner over despite little Nigerian pressure.
Nigeria began to sit back as they looked to close out the win and Miralem Pjanic sent Enyeama sprawling as the impressive midfielder looked to level the game.
The Super Eagles had not been shy to shoot on site throughout the game and Onazi once again called Begovic into action before Emenike's own attempt slid wide.
There was still time for two chances to fall to Dzeko to salvage a point for his side, the first was a downward header that was easily saved but his second shot was diverted onto the post by Enyeama's boot.
Bosnia drop out, while Nigeria take a big step towards progressing to the latter stages.