The so-called shoulder season of travel, the post-Labor Day weeks when people resume their normal li

The so-called shoulder season of travel, the post-Labor Day weeks when people resume their normal lives after summer vacationing, is a time when the travel industry tries hard to persuade people to take trips. That period starts in September, continues all the way to November, and is known for prices that are much lower than usual to every destination other than the foliage-tinted forests of New England.
Several weeks ago, I wrote about dramatic price reductions for trips to Beijing (six nights for $899, including air), or to Beijing and Shanghai ($999 for seven nights there, including air), starting November. Those have now been supplemented by an attractive, eight-night, air-and-land package to the Golden Triangle of China (Beijing, Xian and Shanghai) for $1,499, starting November, and first announced last week by Wilson Wu s China Spree ( www. chinaspree.com ; tel. 855/556-6868 ). (I ve noted before that China Spree has now taken over China Focus former role as the top source for China-bound bargains).
Beijing and Shanghai become a Golden Triangle through the addition san francisco walking tours of costly flights from Beijing to Xian (home of the terra cotta warriors) and from Xian to Shanghai. Such a trip, spending san francisco walking tours nine nights in China itself, is a spectacular value at $1,499, including round-trip air to China from San Francisco.
Among the trips that undercut China in price are cruises of Alaska and the Mediterranean that you can pick up for immediate departure in early September. Alaska from September 1 to September 15 is the chief draw. Go to  www.vacationstogo.com , click on Alaska, and you ll find several san francisco walking tours seven-night cruises reduced san francisco walking tours in price to $349, $379, $399, $449 and $499 per person (on Norwegian Cruise Line or Holland America san francisco walking tours Cruises) for those last remaining days of the Alaskan cruise season. Add a moderately-priced flight to the departure cities in the Pacific Northwest, and you have an extremely worthwhile vacation. I wouldn t be surprised if the cruise lines in question even placed you in a balcony cabin for those low sums.
A number of September sailings of the Mediterranean san francisco walking tours are also priced at low levels. If you will go to websites of any of the cruise brokers (the aforemention Vacations san francisco walking tours To Go, plus  www. cruisesonly.com  and   www. onlinevacationcenter.com ), you ll find numerous 7-night cruises of the Med for $429 and $568. Go to the longer-duration cruises, and you ll find a 12-night cruise on the Norwegian Spirit (leaving September 7) selling for $529 ($44 a day). Prices on Costa Cruises in the Mediterranean sink to as low as $382 for a seven-night cruise san francisco walking tours in October. Earlier, on a September 29 departures from Rotterdam san francisco walking tours of the Holland America ship called the Rotterdam , an 8-night cruise to Rome sells for as little as $499 ($62 a day).