Travel Briefs Star-Bulletin staff

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Explore Kauai

The Kauai Beach Hotel & Resort is offering a new package designed for travelers who want to explore Kauai. The 25-acre deluxe beachfront property is centrally located on Kauai's eastern shore, providing the ideal home base.

The resort is minutes from Lihue Airport and such popular attractions as Wailua Falls, the Sleeping Giant and the Fern Grotto river cruises, plus more shopping and dining options than any other region of the island.

The resort's Kauai Adventure Package includes accommodations, daily buffet breakfast for two, a nightly Manager's Cocktail Party, a compact rental car and a tube cruise for two with Kauai Backcountry Tubing Adventures. You'll float in an inner tube through miles of open ditches, tunnels and flumes that were once part of a sugar plantation irrigation system.

The excursion ends with a picnic lunch at a natural swimming hole.

The package requires a three-night minimum stay and is valid through Dec. 22. Package rates range from $449 per night for two in a mountain/garden view room to $539 per night for two in an oceanfront room. Rates are subject to taxes. Additional nights are available.

Call toll-free 888-805-3843, direct at 808-245-1955, or visit the Web site www.kauaibeachhotelandresort.com.

Lahaina on Big Isle

Lahaina Galleries marks the opening of its new location in the Shops at Mauna Lani on the Big Island, as well as its 30th anniversary, with a celebration today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Owners Jim and Nancy Killett will be there, along with artists Alessio and Marcello Bugagiar, a k a the Twins, Lau Chun, Yankel Ginzburg, Aldo Luongo and Big Island-based Andrea Razzauti, Darrell Hill, Holly Young and Tai Lake. Each artist has been creating work specifically for this unveiling for the past six months.

For more information, call 800-228-2006 or visit www.lahainagalleries.com.

Plan dream wedding

A wedding in paradise might be every couple's dream, and the Lodge & Beach Village at Molokai Ranch wants to help make that dream come true through one of several wedding packages leaving brides and grooms with nothing to worry about except saying "I do."

Arrangements for these packages, available through Dec. 20, are taken care of by a personal wedding coordinator:

» "Simplicity ... A Simple Ceremony" comes with a ceremony performed by a nondenominational officiant, exchange of leis, chilled champagne and site fee, for $900.

» "Serendipity ... A Charming Ceremony" includes ceremony, exchange of leis, champagne, site fee and an hour of photography with photos provided on CD or DVD, for $1,600.

» "Destiny ... A Complete Ceremony" features the ceremony, teardrop bouquet (10- to 12-inch round), Hawaiian or contemporary musician, one-tier custom cake decorated with fresh flowers, champagne, site fee, one-hour of photography with photos on CD or DVD, for $2,200.

Three ceremony sites are offered: Kaupoa Beach, featuring an exclusive white-sand beach; the Greenhouse, a cozy gazebo setting; or the country elegance of the Lodge's two-story Great Room.

Couples can spend their wedding night or honeymoon in one of 22 lodge guest rooms, ranging from $418 for a deluxe room and $508 for a luxury room. Couples may also stay in canvas bungalows at Kaupoa Beach, from $288 per night.

Call 888-627-8082 or visit www.molokairanch.com.

Love Parade party set to return after cancellations

After two years of cancellations, organizers of Berlin's massive Love Parade, scheduled for July 15, promise they have secured enough sponsors not to disappoint the millions of Euro club kids who eagerly doff as many pieces of clothing as German law will allow and dance to world-class DJs such as Tiesto and Paul van Dyk.

As the name implies, the Love Parade begins with specially equipped floats (this year, the 40 DJ floats were chosen online), before the party collapses into one big trance-fueled, electronic music rally at the Victory Column. The party is free (hence the event's previous financial woes), and as a result every oddball in Europe is usually there. In other words, don't forget the camera.

For more information log on to www.loveparade.net or call 011-49-30-2360-79-792.

Organic cuisine grows as hotel dining option

Increasingly, hotels and resorts are featuring organic cuisine on their menus and in their guest programs.

The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa in Carefree, Ariz. (theboulders.com), recently announced plans to become an all-organic resort with large-scale gardens on the grounds that will produce a variety of herbs and spices.

City hotels are offering organic experiences, too. As part of a new wellness program, Peninsula Hotels (www.peninsula.com) is rolling out organic items in its restaurants and room-service offerings.

American Express offers new travel discount card

Travelers seem to be divided into two camps when it comes to carrying money. The cavalier set travels with an ATM card and nothing else. Those more cautious prefer to diversify their currency, relying on the old-school practice of separating the traveler's check stubs from the actual traveler's checks.

American Express is rewarding the cautious set with its new American Express Discount Card, available with the purchase of $500 worth of its traveler's checks. More information is available at www.americanexpress.com/travelerscheque or at any bank or American Express Travel Service office that sells traveler's checks.

WWI museum promoters look to raise awareness

KANSAS CITY, Mo. » Promoters of a new, $26 million World War I museum scheduled to open in less than six months are hoping to get the public interested in a war that took place nine decades ago.

Officials at the Liberty Memorial, the nation's official World War I monument, are unveiling a new logo and creating a promotional campaign that will highlight not only the educational role of the new museum, but also its entertainment value. The museum's gala opening is Dec. 2.

Wax museum deal close in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON » One of the world's leading entertainment companies is close to reaching a deal to open a Madame Tussauds wax museum in the nation's capital, officials familiar with the talks confirmed.

London-based Tussauds Group has been negotiating with a developer for space in the old Woodward & Lothrop department store building downtown.

Fuji Rock Festival will be worth the ticket hassle

Obtaining tickets for the Fuji Rock Festival may be more difficult than sitting through "The Da Vinci Code," but the payoff is three days and four stages with acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Strokes, Scissor Sisters, the Hives, Snow Patrol, Martha Wainwright, and Jet.

Ticket reservations for the July 28-30 festival in Niigata, Japan, must be made in advance by e-mail, followed by wire transfer of 38,900 yen ($347). The shows take place at the Naeba Ski Resort, which is 90 minutes from Toyko by train. Camping is available on site.

For more information, log on to www.fujirockfestival.com or check out the Ganban overseas ticket page at www.ganban.net/ frf06-oversea.html.