HOTEL CHAIN OFFERS WINTER DISCOUNTS. Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts is offering guests Le Passport, which is good for savings of up to 50 percent off rack rates at all of its 100 hotels worldwide. The Le Passport savings will be good from Dec. 1, 1998 to March 31, 1999. You must book two or more nights to be eligible. The discounted prices include tax and service charges. To make reservations or to order a Le Passport brochure, call 1-800-543-4300. Here are examples of Le Passport rates. You'll save more than $181 at Le Meridian Waldorf Hotel in London where Le Passport price is $229. Le Meridien Park Hotel in Frankfurt is $136 a night compared to the standard rate of $247. Le Meridien New Orleans's Le Passport rate is $184, down from the standard rate of $275. Guests at Le Meridien Nirwana resort in Bali has a rate of $90, compared to the rack rate of $210. Stay at Le Meridien Pyramids in Cairo for $80 instead of the usual $160.WATCH WHALES IN LONG BEACH. This Southern California port city has more than longshoremen. Beginning late December, Pacific Grey whales will pass by near the coast on their way from the Bering Sea to the warm waters off Baja, their winter feeding and birthing grounds. A number of tour operators offer whale watching excursions that cost between $12 and $15 per person. They include Spirit Cruises, 310-831-1073, launching from Shoreline Village on selected weekdays; Long Beach Sportfishing, 562-432-8993, leaving from Berth 55; Belmont Pier, 562-434-6781, leaving from Belmont Pier; Catalina Cruises, 562-491-5559, leaving from the Catalina Cruises Terminal at Golden Shore; and Star Party Cruises, 562-799-7000, launching from Seaport Village.

SWISSAIR ON THE CHEAP. To inaugurate its new service between Newark, N.J., and Basel, Switzerland, Swissair is offering a special $298 roundtrip economy-class fare plus $53 in fees, taxes and service charges. The fare is available for travel from Dec. 17, 1998, through Jan. 31, 1999. You must purchase the ticket within 72 hours of making reservations but no later than Dec. 4, 1999. The fare requires a Saturday night minimum stay and allows a maximum 30-day stay. Tickets are non-refundable and cannot be combined with any other discounts or promotional fares and offers. Book through your travel agent or by calling 1-800-221-4750. Beginning Dec. 17, Swiss will operate the new flight daily except Wednesday. It is a codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines, leaving Newark at 8:45 p.m. and arriving in Basel at 10:15 a.m. It leaves Basel at 11:55 a.m. and arrives in Newark at 2:55 p.m.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES EXTENDS ITS REACH. Beginning Jan. 14, 1999, the low-cost carrier will offer Saturday-only flights between Las Vegas and Baltimore (an alternative airport to Washington, D.C.), Orlando, St. Louis, Cleveland and Tampa. The fares will be as low as $99 one-way. The $99 one-way fare applies only to the new Saturday-only nonstop flights.

LITERARY PILGRIMAGE. The Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts were home to some of America's literary giants: Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant and Edith Wharton. For information on where these writers lived, call the Berkshire Visitors Bureau at 1-800-237-5747, or visit the Web at www.berkshires.org. William Cullen Bryant grew up in Cummington. While still in his teens, he wrote "Thanatopsis" and "To a Wild Fowl." In 1816, he arrived in Great Barrington on foot carrying his few possessions on his back. He practiced law there until 1825, when he moved to New York City where he founded the New York Review. In 1826, he became the editor of The New York Evening Post, a position he held until his death in 1878.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Boston native, built a summer home in Pittsfield. Herman Melville lived in Arrowhead from 1850 to 1863. He wrote "Moby Dick" while living there. Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in a little red cottage called Tanglewood on the border between Stockbridge and Lenox. He was morose and unsociable, but he became good friends with Melville. Hawthorne wrote "House of Seven Gables," "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood Tales" while residing in the Berkshires. Edith Wharton first visited Lenox with her husband's family. She later designed and built her home there. "The truth is that I am in love with the place -- climate, scenery, life & all," she wrote of the Berkshires. "Ethan Frome" was inspired by the true story of a Berkshire sledding accident and by the poverty she saw surrounding the great estates during her frequent drives through the countryside.

Contemporary writers living in Lenox include William Shirer, author of "Berlin Diary" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," and Stefan Lorang, a historian and Lincoln biographer.

Of the many authors' homes, the William Cullen Bryant homestead in Cummington and Jonathan Edwards' home, the Mission Home in Stockbridge, are maintained by the Trustees of Reservations, and they offer tours. The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in Lenox, has guided tours. Arrowhead, the home of Herman Melville, is open for tours and is also home to the Berkshire County Historical Society. These properties are open from May through October.

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