Yes, it encourages serious office daydreaming. Patricia Schultz's phenomenal best-seller "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" is now in 2008 "tear-off" calendar mode.

With 365 opportunities for fantasizing about destinations, the calendar's sharp color photographs and snippets of information and little-known facts are just enough to whet the appetite for your next vacation and kickstart you into checking those air-fares. Forget appointments, meetings and deadlines, there's no room to scrawl on this calendar, anyhow. Instead, plan to visit Omayyad Mosque, in Damascus, Syria, or the Alhambra in Spain, at sunset. Do it ... before you die.

"1,000 Places to See Before You Die" 2008 calendar, $12.99

— Chris Oliver

GADGET

POWER TO THE IPOD ...

Keeping an iPod charged is a daily "do," and on vacation can be a challenge. Lightweight and ultra-compact, iTurbo charges any iPod (except the Shuffle) in about an hour without the need for a laptop. The lipstick-sized device takes one AA battery (included) and uses digital AlgorChip technology to top up your iPod without overcharging it. Cable length is about 4 inches. When the blue light on top of the iTurbo no longer illuminates, simply change the AA battery and the iTurbo is ready for use again. (An iPod nano, will run up to an additional nine hours.) Compatible with iPod mini (4GB, 6GB), iPod nano (1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB) and iPod classic (20GB, 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, 160GB). $29.99 at Apple and computer stores.

— Chris Oliver

MONEY

STRETCH YOUR DOLLAR

If your wallet's been to Europe recently and exploded against the euro and the British pound, here are two places where the dollar still has muscle, exchange rates are favorable and prices low: Thailand and Argentina.

Barbara Messing, www.Hotwire.com's travel expert, says you can still get a $12 steak dinner and an $8 bottle of wine in Buenos Aires, a cosmopolitan city that often reminds visitors of Paris — long boulevards, scenic parks and great shopping. John Cohn, spokesman for www.Orbitz.com, notes that you can find three- and four-star hotels in Phuket, Thailand, for under $120 a night.

Other suggestions: Chile, Turkey, Vietnam and Mexico. In Santiago, for example, Cohn says, the cost of a good meal is about $12, and you can find hotels for around $110. And Mexico, with 11 pesos to the dollar, remains both affordable and accessible.