Bee Travel
Plan well ahead to visit Grand Canyon
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
You can't have it all. That is today's lesson. While working to piece together my Grand Canyon vacation, I've been thwarted at several turns. It got me to thinking about those nearly impossible reservations to get - kinda like the ones I've been experiencing.

If you dally too long, you can't, for example, get in-the-park lodging at the canyon. I just barely snagged a couple of nights at the Kachina Lodge and the El Tovar, while I work on the other elements of my vacation. I'll cancel one of them, once I find out whether I can get reservations at …

"The Wave." There is a permit system for hikers to "The Wave," that geologic feature (which admittedly, I had never heard of until about three weeks ago) in southern Utah. You can go online the first of any month - at noon, Mountain Time - and try to secure permits for four months ahead. I was two hours too late for June and shall try again for July. I'm planning "B" for if we fail altogether.

Another elusive place for reservations is the Phantom Ranch. In the Grand Canyon and below the rim, the ranch is popular with hikers and kayakers. It takes reservations the first of the month, booking 13 months ahead and solidly so. You'll need a little luck to secure an independent peak season reservation. Do your research first, and then - at the appointed date and hour - place your telephone call. Or take the overnight mule tour (read about it first), which includes cabin accommodations.

Interestingly, the National Parks aren't getting rich on these hard-to-come-by reservations. The top price at the El Tovar is $256 per night. For $66, you can bunk in a room at the Bright Angel Lodge (no bath or shower), and the trailer park is even cheaper. Guests who are lucky enough to snag a single-sex dormitory room at The Phantom Ranch pay a stingy $36.29/night.

You can't make a reservation at Cinderella's Castle. Who hasn't thought it would be pretty neat to stay there, even when there was no lodging in it? In any event, now that there is a place, it can't be reserved at any price. Only hand-selected park guests are invited randomly to stay at the one suite built into the castle.

Still, there aren't a lot of places you can't get into - no top 10 list of "forbidden" destinations. If you want to go to Afghanistan, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Tibet or North Korea, you can, though it may not be recommended or easy. And most of our national parks don't have a lot of restrictions, and many of those that have lodging aren't as popular as the Grand Canyon. And wintertime is a whole 'nother animal.

So, while maybe I can't have it all - at once, and on my terms - the world, by and large, is available given flexibility, determination and means. And while fate at times hands me a "sold out" sign, with the other it opens a door to unforeseen adventures. Not a bad trade.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globe-trotting as a member of the travel industry. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)