The former Saga Ruby will now be a floating hotel in Myanmar.

Long-time cruisers will remember the Norwegian Vistafjord, considered one of the most luxurious cruise ships afloat at her 1970s debut. In the 1980s the Norwegian America Line was bought by Cunard, and in the 1990s the ship was renamed as the Coronia. In 2004, the ship was sold to Saga Cruises as the Saga Ruby.

Now she’s moving to Myanmar (the former Burma), where she will become a luxury hotel, according to Dania Beach, Fla.-based QPS Ventures, the brokerage arm of Nautical Ventures Group. The 561-passenger ship, which sold for $14 million, will be refurbished and used as a stationary luxury hotel, according to a QPS statement.

Fruit tarts at Capt. Lindsey House

The bell rings, one of the Berry Manor Pie Mom calls for the raising of the forks, and the call comes out. “Let’s eat some pie!” And off we go onto a calorie-laden three-hour forage for crust and filling, 40 flavors in all, at 27 bed-and-breakfasts, galleries, shops that on regular days serve up spa treatments and gourmet olive oils and yarns.

Though this is the 10th annual Pies on Parade festival in

Downtown Rockland, it is our first romp through a glorious feast of tarts, pies, quiches, pizzas, pastry shells and cobblers in just about every sweet and savory combination imaginable. pecan, raspberry, blueberry, cinnamon, pumpkin,

Savory pie with balsamic vinegar at Fiore.

artichoke and spinach, goat cheese, roasted turkey, bacon and apple, seafood, lemon meringue. Cornish lamb with rhubarb chutney. Shepherd’s pie. Even blue barky pup-pies for the canine set. And of course, this being Maine, whoopie pies.

Though the Berry Manor moms, Capt. Lindsey’s Ken and Ellen Barnes, and Bobby Flay-nemesis Lynn Archer posed tough competition, our favorites came from the Artspace cooperative, where five artists turned their talents to a yummy pair of pastries, one made from apple, sausage and cheese, and the other of apricot and almonds — Yum! — serving up 50 pies in all.

At Rheal Spa

The pie parade is a fundraiser for the local food pantry. This year’s event was a sell-out, with more than 600 buying the $25 tickets, and a not-a-prayer waiting list.

Yeah, I can hear you thinking. But really, is this reason enough to leave your home in warm-and-sunny Miami for wicked cold (that would be 18 too-cold-to-snow degrees) in Midcoast Maine?

Really, once you pull on long johns, jeans, and four layers of arctic wear and down courtesy of L.L. Bean, Icebreaker and Uniglo, it’s not bad.

If you REALLY want cold, come up the weekend after the Super Bowl for the annual National Toboggan Championships. (The year we went, it was so cold that even the Flaming Hot Menopausal Mamas sledding team members huddled by the bonfire and hid out in the Chowder Competition tent.)

For that, you definitely need to fortify yourself with a hearty breakfast at Home Kitchen Cafe and dinner at Shepherd’s Pie, our favorite local restaurants. Or heck, you could just burrow in front of the fireplace at the Camden Harbour Inn and sip a Winter’s Wrath at Natalie’s restaurant and bar. A couple of cocktails, and you won’t care about what’s happening outside.

Celebrating winter in midcoast Maine (near Rockland and Camden, by Penobscot Bay):

Pies on Parade

• Pies on Parade: Last Sunday each January in Rockland; 2015 date is Jan. 25. Tickets go on sale the day after Thanksgiving and cost $25; proceeds go to the Area Interfaith Outreach food pantry.
• Winterfest Carnival: Ice-carving, snow games and snowboard and ski competitions are part of the fun at this annual week-long event, this year beginning Feb. 1.
• National Toboggan Championships, Feb. 7-9, 2014: The culmination of Winterfest held annually the week after Super Bowl, this three-day celebration of athleticism and insanity features costumes, tailgate parties and teams from around the globe and benefits the Camden Snow Bowl, the local public slope.
• Camden Conference, Feb. 21-23, 2014: This annual conference focusing on world events offers a more intellectual approach to winter. This year’s topic: the global politics of food and water.
• Smelt fishing: Several camps rent out shacks complete with a wood-burning stove and electric lights so you can the fish in the hole. Experienced anglers suggest asking for a flat-top stove and bringing a skillet so you can fry the fish soon as you snag them. Well-known camps include Baker’s Smelt Camps, Worthing Camps  and Jim’s Camps
• Maine Restaurant Week, March 1-10, 2014: Fine restaurants around the state offer prix fixe meals. Midcoast faves include Natalies and  Hartstone Inn

You’re just ambling back to work after the holidays, and you’re still sorting through your December bills. Buying a ticket for a spring trip to Europe or a summer cruise isn’t really on your radar.

And that’s exactly why airlines and cruise lines usually announce fare sales just after the holidays. Bookings typically slow as we all trudge back to work and try to keep those New Year’s resolutions about financial caution.

A reader wants to take her young children to a great, small-town Fourth celebration. Larry Bleiberg, travel writer and my co-author on 100 Best Affordable Vacations from National Geographic Books, recommends Bristol, R.I.’s annual celebration. I don’t know if it qualifies as best, but I love the hometown parade in Thomaston, Maine.

If you’ve got a suggestion, I’d love to hear it!

And speaking of 100 Best Affordable Vacations, I’ll be talking about the book and sharing some of my personal travel slides today at the Miami Book Fair. 2:30 in Room 7128; join us!

France: Copyright Jane Wooldridge

Q: I recently was in Europe on business and found my credit card company charged me $8 on a $240 hotel charge. That seems high to me. My wife and I are going back for a two-week vacation and would like to know how we can avoid these kinds of fees.
Juan

A: Most credit cards charge a percentage fee for “foreign transactions” on top of additional fees your card issuer may impose. 

If your credit is good and you’ve got enough time before you leave, consider getting a credit card that doesn’t charge for foreign transactions; I use a Capital One card (and no, I don’t have any connection to the company.)

If that’s not an option, or you just don’t want another card, check out the rates on cards you already have. Be aware that you’ll pay high fees if you make a cash withdrawal against a credit card; using an ATM card to pull cash is usually cheaper.

You could avoid all of that by carrying travelers checks, but even then you’ll often have to pay a fee for converting them from U.S. dollars to the currency of the country you’re visiting. And in these days of widespread ATMs — I’ve found them just about everywhere in the world that has electricity, with the exception of a few places in rural Africa — many vendors won’t even take travelers’ checks.

Whatever card you use, call and let them know to which countries you’ll be traveling, and when. Be sure you’ve got enough credit and that your card isn’t expired. This will avoid the hassle (not to mention embarrassment) of having your card denied.

Conventional wisdom says you should stick with one card for all your trip purchases. Great idea — but be sure you’ve got a second card stashed in a different location. On a trip to Senegal, the ATM machine ate the card of one woman in our group; it was the only card she had with her, and we delayed the trip several hours until the bank re-opened so we could rescue it.

Also take the emergency contact numbers for your cards; an easy way to do this is to scan the back of your cards and e-mail them to yourself or upload them to a cloud service like Dropbox or Google Docs. I once had my wallet stolen in London but didn’t have the phone numbers handy to report the loss of my various cards. Sorting out the mess took two days, and by the time my “replacement” card finally arrived at my London lodging, I was on my way back to the U.S.