Roll Up Your Sleeves on Your Next Vacation

Call it a working vacation. You can help build a school in China, tutor young readers in the Cook Islands, care for children at a Ukrainian orphanage or save a rain forest in Kauai.

Those assignments and about 50 others are available this fall from Global Volunteers, which has provided more than 13,000 volunteers for human and economic development projects worldwide since it was founded in 1984.

Upcoming projects will be based in 16 countries. Most assignments last two to three weeks; participants need no experience. Last year, 1,750 volunteers participated.

Costs: Fees are charged to cover food, lodging and ground transportation in the community. Air fare is not included. All program costs, including air fare, are tax deductible. A sampling of upcoming programs and fees:

* Build a school in China, Sept. 14-Oct. 5 or Oct. 12-Nov. 2, $1,995.

* Tutor readers or work in a nature preserve in the Cook Islands, Sept. 14-Oct. 5, Oct. 26-Nov. 16, Nov. 16-Dec. 7 or Jan. 11-Feb. 1, $2,395.

* Work in a 300-bed Ukrainian orphanage, Sept. 14-Oct. 5, $2,595.

* Help out on an environmental project in Kauai, Oct. 5-19 or Jan. 4-18, $1,595.

Contact: Global Volunteers; (800) 487-1074, www.globalvolunteers.org.

National Parks: By Rail

Step back in time to 1940s-style train travel, complete with fine china, fresh flowers and individual sleeping compartments, on 12-night national parks tours planned for July 18 and Aug. 15.

The tours, which begin at Union Station in Los Angeles, are by bus and private train--a vintage renovated Pullman--that will carry participants to Glacier National Park in Montana. Among other stops are Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks; Portland, Ore.; Helena and Great Falls, Mont.; Virginia City, Nev.; Nevada City, Calif.; and Seattle. There will be sightseeing along the Columbia River Gorge, a drive along Going to the Sun Highway over the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park, and boat cruises in Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.

Cost: from $2,495 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip rail and bus travel; lodgings, including overnight stays at Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Lodge and Glacier Park Lodge; most meals; sightseeing and escort.

Contact: Uncommon Journeys of Walnut Creek; (800) 323-5893, uncommonjourneys.com.

Costa Rica: Surf and Suds

A Central American surf safari--featuring glassy beach breaks, free beer and a bilingual surf guide--will hit the beaches of Costa Rica on Sept. 18.

The seven-night surf tour begins at Playa Naranjo, known for its fine breaks. Participants will be bused down the Nicoya Peninsula with daily stops at surfing beaches.

Cost: $1,750 per person, double occupancy. Price includes round-trip air fare on LACSA from Los Angeles, surfboard transport, accommodations at the Tropicana Hotel in Guanacaste, all meals, beer, transfers, moonlight barbecue and volleyball tournament.

Contact: Stress Buster Vacations; (866) SOO-EASY (766-3279).

Italy: On the River

Cruise the waterways of Northern Italy for seven days this fall on the Casanova, a 94-passenger riverboat that will sail from the Gulf of Venice up the Po River Valley.

The tour, organized by Summerland Travel, departs from Los Angeles on Nov. 1 and includes two nights at the Hotel Luna Baglioni in Venice. The cruise part of the itinerary begins and ends in Venice, with stops in Padua, Chioggia, Mantua, Bologna and Verona.

Cost: from $3,275 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, breakfasts in Venice, meals on board ship, transfers and escort.

Contact: Claudette Crowther at Summerland Travel; (805) 969-9014.

Andes: Ancient Skies

Astronomy and history buffs may be interested in an upcoming field study tour to Peru and Bolivia that will be led by Griffith Observatory director E.C. Krupp.

The Far Horizons tour, co-sponsored by UCLA Extension, will explore astronomy’s influence on the Inca culture at the Sun’s Hitching Post and Cave of the Sun at Machu Picchu, at the Sun’s Temple in Cuzco and elsewhere in Bolivia and Peru.

Cost: $5,395 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Houston, four South American flights, round-trip train tickets to Machu Picchu, hotel and some meals. Air fare from Los Angeles to Houston is not included.

Contact: Far Horizons Archaeological and Cultural Trips Inc.; (800) 552-4575, www.farhorizon.com.

Ireland: Emerald Isle

Dublin and Belfast will be the anchors for an eight-day tour of Ireland that gets underway Sept. 14.

The tour, hosted by Doug McIntyre, an early morning host on 790 KABC talk radio, will include genealogy discussions as well as sightseeing. The itinerary includes visits to Donegal, the Bushmills distillery, Belleek china factory, Dublin Castle, the Giant’s Causeway, Trinity College and Dublin Castle.

Cost: $2,175 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotel accommodations in Dublin and Belfast, breakfasts, four dinners, entrance fees, service charges and taxes.

Contact: Lakeside Travel, Burbank; (818) 953-9399, www.kabc.com.

China: Cruise the Yangtze

The Three Gorges region of China’s Yangtze River will be highlighted on low-cost 15-day tours departing Oct. 18 and 23.

The tours include four-day cruise segments on the Yangtze that focus on the site of the Three Gorges dam. After the dam is completed, the water level behind it will nearly double, drastically changing the scenery and living conditions in the vicinity.

Besides the Yangtze River segment, aboard a Victoria Cruises ship, participants can sightsee in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. The tour operator is based in Alhambra.

Cost: from $2,199 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from the West Coast on Air China, domestic air fare within China, accommodations and sightseeing, the cruise segment between Chongqing and Wuhan with shore excursions, transfers, some meals, entertainment and English-speaking guide.

Contact: Ritz Tours; (800) 900-2446, fax (626) 281-0117, www.ritztours.com.

Poland: An Overview

Warsaw, Krakow and the alpine resort of Zakopane will be among the stops on a seven-day land-only tour of Poland available through Oct. 14.

Poland, an increasingly popular tourist destination, is known for its historic cities and rich heritage. The Nordique Tours/Norvista itinerary includes cities and countryside. The tour visits Warsaw’s Old Town Square and Jewish Ghetto Memorial, the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz and the 700-year-old Wieliczka salt mine.

Departures are scheduled one to three times a month through mid-October.

Cost: $799 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, breakfasts, four lunches, two dinners, sightseeing, a folklore show, tour escort, bus transportation and transfers. Air fare from Los Angeles is extra.

Contact: Nordique Tours/Norvista; (310) 645-7527, www.nordiquetours.com.

Canada: High Country

Some of the most scenic areas of the Canadian Rockies will be on the itinerary of an eight-day air-and-bus tour planned this fall.

The Great Western Tours trip will include two nights in Banff, lunch at Lake Louise, two nights in Jasper, one night in Edmonton with a visit to the 800-store West Edmonton Mall, and two nights in Calgary. Among the Rocky Mountain tour stops will be Victoria Glacier, Emerald Lake, Icefields Parkway, Columbia Icefields, Pyramid Lake and Maligne Canyon.

Cost: $1,375 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from LAX, bus transportation, seven nights’ hotel accommodations, 10 meals, sightseeing, admissions and travel insurance.

Contact: Great Western Tours; (626) 578-1161.

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The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with travel agents, cruise lines or tour operators.