Transat Holidays has introduced new City Break packages to Athens, Barcelona and Madrid. City Breaks include round-trip airfare and two nights accommodation. (Comstock)

Gay or straight, travelling alone or with kids, today's column has something for just about everyone.

- Out In Canada, a twice-yearly publication for the gay and lesbian traveller, is being distributed free in major Canadian centres and across the U.S. More details at outin canada.ca.

- The 56 Hilton Family hotels in Canada are offering special "Get Going Canada" rates and free Hilton Family Road Maps. Guests receive a copy of the map specific to that region. Rates are available through Sept. 30. Visit hiltoncanada.com/getgoingcanada.

- Nolitours and Transat Holidays are waiving the single supplement at certain Cuba and Dominican Republic properties this summer. Featured resorts include TRYP Cayo Coco (Cayo Coco), Hotel Playa Pesquero (Holguin), Cameleon Club Amigo Varadero (Varadero), Sirenas Tropical Suites Punta Cana Grand (Punta Cana) and Ocean Blue Golf & Beach Resort (Punta Cana). Certain travel periods apply to each hotel. Contact a travel agent for details.

DREAM TRIP, DREAM PRICE

If South Africa is one of your dream destinations, here's a chance to see it at a great price with one of the best guides I've ever encountered.

Cyril Payle is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Geometric Tours by offering two of his most popular five-day tours back to back for 10,000 Rand -- about $1,500 -- per person which includes accommodation, breakfast and dinner daily, and is available until the end of September.

Before founding Geometric, Payle worked 19 years for the Western Cape department of nature. He is passionate about wildlife, and talks about trapping leopards that have strayed into cities and releasing them into the wild.

I met him when he was hired to take a group of Canadian travel writers on the Garden Route, one of the two tours in his anniversary offer (the other is called The Best of the Cape & Big Six).

Visit geometrictours.co.za for details. Toronto-based The Travel Society uses Geometric Tours for its South Africa trips. It has a departure scheduled for Oct. 12 and two for 2008. Call 1-877-926-2500, ext. 24.

MORE LEISURE TRAVEL NEWS

- Transat Holidays has introduced new City Break packages to Athens, Barcelona and Madrid. City Breaks include round-trip airfare and two nights accommodation. They are also available to Vienna, London, Paris, Lyon, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast, Glasgow, Dublin and Edinburgh.

- Belfast has launched the world's first interactive multi-media digital tourism trail based around the Titanic. Using rented Node explorer units, the latest GPS-based technology, visitors are led on a tour of city sites associated with the Titanic story. Visit gotobelfast.com.

- Mexico has replaced the U.K. as the second-most-visited country for Canadians. The United States is first. Statistics Canada says Canadians made a record 842,000 overnight visits to Mexico in 2006, up 6% from 2005.

READER RECOMMENDATION

A woman who has rented houseboats from a couple of companies gives family-owned Egan Marine high marks for its operations on Ontario's historic Trent-Severn Waterway. Egan has been in business for 35 years. Visit houseboat.on.ca or phone 1-800-720-3426.