WorldHeritage SitePeru: The hum-mingbird “geoglyph”recently used for aGreenpeace publicitystunt is just one ofmore than 70 giantfigures found in theNazca Lines, createdbetween 500 B.C.and A.D. 500. Someother animals toview from the air(please): a spider,dog, monkey, lizard,killer whales and apelican. www.nazcaflights.com, whc.unesco.org/en/list/700.

CyclingVietnam: Ride & Seek’s new seven-day, family-friendly tour of coastalVietnam, departing March 22, in-cludes half-day rides through ruralscenery, visits to historical sitessuch as the imperial city of Hue andtime relaxing on the beaches of HoiAn. From $2,500. www.rideandseek.com/local/vietnam-coastal.

New hotelCroatia: The Prije-ko Palace in OldTown Dubrovnikoffers nine suitesnamed for the con-temporary artistswhose works arefeatured in them.The rooms alsofeature a kitchen-ette, seating area,free Wi-Fi and airconditioning. Thepicturesque hotel(from $91) includesa rooftop terrace,restaurant and winebar. www.prijekopalace.com.

New museumArizona: Navajo blankets, Kit Carsonmemorabilia, and art by Georgia O’Keeffeand others will have a new showcase inWestern Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum ofthe West. The 43,000-square-foot, city-owned museum, set to open Thursday,Jan. 15, includes an amphitheater, sculp-ture garden and native cactus garden.www.scottsdalemuseumwest.org.

HotelclosureHawaii: TinyLanai haslost one of itsonly threehotels — atleast till thenext holidayseason. TheFour SeasonsResort Lanai closed its 102-room Lodge at Koele(pictured) earlier this month in order to houseworkers renovating the east wing of its 201-roomManele Bay resort (from $1,000). A quainter option:the 11-room Hotel Lanai (from $149). www.fourseasons.com/lanai. www.hotellanai.com.

Jeanne Cooper / Special to The Chronicle

Prijeko Palace

Ride & Seek Bicycle Adventures

Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau 2014

GLOBETROTTERBy Jeanne Cooper

SFChronicle.com and SFGate.com | Sunday, January 11, 2015 | L3

Whalefest Monterey isan annual thank-you tothe whales, dolphins,porpoises and pinni-peds — and, ofcourse, the en-dearing sea otters— that visit orlive in MontereyBay and delightthousands ofvisitors each year.It helps spread theword about theNational MarineSanctuary and theneed to protect it, plusit’s fun. Visitors can climbaround a 60-foot gray whale

model, go on whale-watching trips, viewdocumentary films,attend panels withmarine scientists,take historicwalking tours,and find outexactly what awhale-dis-entanglementteam does.

1 Vitals: 10a.m.-5 p.m. Jan.

24-25. Old Fisher-man’s Wharf, Mon-

terey. Free. www.montereywharf.com.

1 Tasting Santa Ynez Val-ley: “Sideways” put the SantaYnez Valley on the map, butLos Olivos is not the onlypicturesque country townwith sophisticated tastes.During the valley’s annualRestaurant Week, it will costonly $20.15 to eat from athree-course tasting menu ata stellar lineup of restaurants,not just in Los Olivos, but inBallard, Buellton, Los Ala-mos, Santa Ynez and Solvang.The complete list, withmenus, locations and hours,is on the website, and reser-vations are recommended.Jan. 25-31. www.dinesyv.com.

1Warm days, hot art in Indio:If 75-degree days and an eclecticmix of fine art and high-qualitycrafts sound like the ingredientsfor a winter break, the CoachellaValley’s Southwest Arts Festivalin Indio stands ready to serve.More than 280 artists from 22states and numerous countriesparticipated last year. This year’sevent will feature interactive art,with pottery, glass-blowing andfine-art painting on display.Food, drink and mellow jazzcontribute to the relaxed atmo-sphere. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 23-25.$9 adults, $8 seniors; three-daypass $12; up to age 13 free. www.discoverindio.com.

READY, SET, GO By Christine Delsol

Monterey celebrates whales and their friends

Whalefest Monterey

INFO TO GO

Q:I’m really hoping you can help with acar rental issue I’m having. I recentlyrented a car from E-Z Rent-A-Car inAtlanta. It was late in the evening. My

friend and I got in the vehicle after I askedher to do a walk-around with me, but therewas no employee available to walk with us.

We didn’t notice anything wrong with thecar. When I returned the car, an E-Z employeeclaimed that the passenger side fog light wasmissing, and pointed it out to me. I had to signan incident report prior to leaving.

The fog light can be missed while walkingclosely around the car, but it is noticeablewhen you’re far away, which we never were.E-Z is charging me $1,166 for this damage. I donot believe it was caused by us. I asked to seethe last few rental slips, and E-Z said it wouldshow them to me. But it hasn’t.

I asked for the camera footage, which wouldshow us leaving the lot, and I’m positive itwould show the fog light missing as well. Butthe company will not release it unless I takethis to court.

The price E-Z is charging is obscene, and it’sthrowing in some additional random charges,like painting the vehicle, which makes thetotal bill $1,361. I checked BBB, and this placehas more than 300 complaints, many similarto mine. I feel defeated. What should I do?

— Julie Mehta, Jamaica, N.Y.

A: Did you say a miss-ing fog light? That’skind of hard to over-look. But E-Z sent youimages of a red 2014Chevrolet Impala witha gaping hole wherethe light should havebeen. Indeed, in adarkened garage youmight have missedthis.

Had you taken pic-tures of the car beforeleaving the lot, thosemight have saved you.

In fact, if you hadreviewed the images,you could have imme-diately reported theproblem to a managerand requested a differ-ent vehicle. There’s noway you should bedriving a car without alight. It’s unsafe andprobably illegal.

By the way, youdon’t have to signanything when youreturn a vehicle. If acar rental company

insists you take re-sponsibility for some-thing you didn’t do,then you need tospeak with a managerimmediately. Ask himor her to review theprevious rental docu-ments to see if some-one reported the dam-age at that time. Don’tsign and leave.

If you do sign thedocuments, you’readmitting “I did it,”and that limits youroptions. E-Z couldsend you a bill forwhatever it wanted —a new light, a paint jobor “loss of use” on thevehicle. You, or yourinsurance company,would be responsiblefor paying it. Not anideal situation.

By the way, youcould have appealedthis to a manager atE-Z. I list its exec-utives’ names andnumbers on my web-site: http://elliott.org/company-contacts/e-z-rent-car.

As it turns out,there were more imag-es of your rental:closed-circuit video ofyour Impala leavingthe rental lot. Youasked E-Z to see them,and it told you itwould be happy topull them, if you got asubpoena from acourt.

I asked the compa-ny if it could reviewthe footage one moretime to make surenothing had beenmissed. After check-ing the images of yourcar, it decided to dropits claim against you.

Christopher Elliott is theombudsman for Nation-al Geographic Travelermagazine. E-mail:elliottc@gmail.comTwitter: @elliottdotorg

TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTERBy Christopher Elliot

Rental repairbill fromE-Zhard to justify