T A B L E_T A L K Visiting any national parks or wilderness areas this winter? Exchange recommendations and advice in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk   R E C E N T L Y Desperately seeking e-mail By Lisa Dreier Finding Internet access in India is feasible, but not for the fainthearted (12/06/98) This week in travel Wanderlust's select guide to the top travel-related news stories from around the globe (12/04/98) In the driver's seat By Dawn MacKeen The smart alternative to renting, driveaways let you take someone else's car cross-country -- for free (12/03/98) At home in Tuscany By Ferenc Máté The slow-paced pleasures of rural Italy come to life for two new residents (12/02/98) The belles of St. Mary's By Jennifer Moses A Jewish writer learns about the Old South, and herself, in the most unlikely of places (12/01/98)   Browse the Wanderlust Feature archives     Wanderlust's Official Travel Book Partner		______t h e_.C r u i s e_..c o c o o n A GUEST LECTURER ON A LUXURY AEGEAN VOYAGE ASKS: IS THIS ANY WAY TO SEE THE WORLD? BY ZACHARY KARABELL So there I was, comfortably settled on the deck chair, the sun suffusing me with warmth, the glistening Aegean surrounding me, a book in hand, ready to be read, but no real urgency to do so. Yes, almost perfect. Then, a tap at my shoulder, "Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but could you tell me about the ancient Minoans? It says in my guidebook that they all perished in 1750 B.C., but you said in your lecture that it happened in 1400. So which is it?" Not the kind of question you really want to answer on a beautiful day of cruising on a gorgeous 175-foot yacht from Santorini to Crete. Not really the kind of question I wanted to answer just then, and not really an interesting answer. But then again, I was there to answer questions like this and dozens of other more obscure, less obscure, silly, smart, banal. I was on this yacht not because I'd won a prize, and certainly not because I'd paid $7,000 for this privilege -- excluding airfare, plus a $1,000 premium for single-occupancy. I wasn't there to work on my tan, or to stare deeply into the lolling waves and allow myself that delicious mesmerizing sensation of time ceasing and life passing hypnotically as the moment evaporates on the surf, as your very being gets drawn into the white foam, and you can almost picture yourself as some ancient mariner, pre-Coleridge, voyaging God knows where for who knows how long, like some Odysseus on a trip that will hopefully take somewhat less than the requisite 10 years, seduced by the waves ... "Excuse me, but could you tell me some more about the Colossus at Rhodes?" And why shouldn't they ask? They had paid good money. They had traveled halfway around the world, promised in their glossy brochures that they would spend a luxurious week and a half aboard a world-class private yacht with world-class facilities, state-of-the-art navigation equipment, superb international cuisine, gracious staff, guided tours of some of the most magnificent ruins of antiquity, several days in Athens and then Istanbul, excursions to idyllic islands and exquisite coastline -- and me. Well, not me, precisely. Rather, a "guest lecturer," who happened to be me. At first, it seemed like the ideal arrangement. All expenses paid. Luxury accommodations. A chance to revisit some of my favorite spots on the planet. Three or four formal lectures and an opportunity to relax a bit at the end of a busy summer. My friends rolled their eyes every time I mentioned it. "I don't want to hear about it!" one said. "Oh, you!" was all another could muster. "How? All I want to know is how?" asked one person. "You don't know anything about antiquity or the Aegean! You're, you're ... a writer!" she said indignantly and stormed off during a party. Fair enough, though not really accurate. I did know something about the region and its history, but I couldn't argue the impression that the whole thing seemed, well, like the ultimate free lunch. It wasn't. Boy, was it not. N E X T+P A G E | The cult of the expert