Hiking with a llama is a bit like walking into the wilderness with Big Bird. Not only are these gentle creatures great companions, they also carry your daypacks, a trait that makes them particularly endearing. At the Telemark Inn Bethel,Maine,we find out how to handle these intelligent creatures.

There is something joyous about watching animals roam free in their natural habitat. Visiting Africa is a dream trip, one that you and your kids will remember forever. To choose a family friendly company and departure, consider the following tips.

Etosha National Park takes us by surprise. Springbok prance across the plains, lions linger in tall grass meadows, giraffe munch acacia trees and elephants stretch their trunks into the silvery coolness of waterholes. Namibia’s jewel, Etosha reigns as one of Africa’s largest game parks.

Learn to hang glide, time travel back to the 16th century, plus swim and sun on dune bordered beaches in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a strip of narrow barrier islands off the state’s coast that stretch for 125-miles.

Have limited time in London? Then, capture a sense of the city’s rhythms, people and iconic sites from Buckingham Palace to the Tower of London on this combination walking tour and river ride.

For those who consider shopping a trip essential, China is magic. The vendors at Shanghai’s and Beijing’s markets hawk everything—tea pots, Buddhas, pearl necklaces, scarves, jade bracelets, cheap watches, "designer bags," silk shawls and more. But you need to know where to look and how to shop.

While Beijing mixes modern skyscrapers with ancient icons such as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, the Chinese countryside in the Longji region delivers natural scenes of legendary beauty as well as a chance to see how traditional people live.

Take a covered wagon trip and time travel back to the era of pioneer journeys when America’s west stretched out as a vast, little explored land filled with promise. On an Oregon Trail Wagon Train, you experience the Nebraska grasslands, the slow pace of a westward trek plus some old-fashioned fun.

Come to Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft Park, one of Africa’s largest conservation areas, to experience its sand dunes, among the world’s highest. Watch the sunrise create dramatic shadows on the dunes, hike the slopes and find out about the lizards, chameleons and other creatures that live in dunes.

Cozumel, along Mexico’s Caribbean, offers white sands as well as first-class snorkeling and diving. In Los Cabos on Mexico’s Pacific coast, the desert meets the sea and jagged mountains rise. The sands turn coral in the sun and blue waves send plumes of white spray crashes against the shore.