DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711140050

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: TRAVELWISE

SOURCE: STEPHEN HARRIMAN

                                            LENGTH:  120 lines

``PROPER'' CHRISTMAS TEA IS FOR A GOOD CAUSE

FOR THOSE of you who enjoy taking tea - and I mean a proper afternoon tea like you may have enjoyed in London or somewhere else in the far reaches of the British empire - you don't have to journey to the far reaches of the planet for the delightful experience.

The Virginia Beach Circle of Friends has decided to have a Christmas Tea to raise money for a worthy cause, and they have been working for, well, months to get it all just right.

They've scheduled it for Dec. 7 at Princess Anne Country Club. They are trying to raise money to sponsor a guide dog for the blind, which costs $5,000 or more from birth to ``graduation'' from training. That is why they are charging $18 for adults, $8 for children. I've always paid a bit more than that for a really well-done afternoon tea at the Ritz in London, the Oriental in Bangkok, the Peninsula in Hong Kong, Raffles in Singapore, or the Empress in Victoria, British Columbia.

I sort of ``collect'' tea experiences, you see, and I look forward to this one.

The Circle's Christmas Tea will feature author T.K. Smithson, who will read and sign copies of her book, ``How Reindeer Fly'' (something I've always wondered about). There will be two seatings: one for families (including children), from 3 to 4:15, and one for adults, from 4:30 to 6. The invitations note that gentlemen are welcome, that sherry is available and that there will be a cash bar.

Let me add that, in my experience, afternoon teas are not just for Miss Jane Marple and her little group of friends. Men do take tea. Guys, it's OK.

This is what it's all about:

Tea is more than a beverage, or even a midafternoon meal.

It's an attitude. It's a ritual.

For this you can thank Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, who in the 19th century started the whole tradition of afternoon tea. Experiencing ``a sinking feeling'' around 5 in the afternoon, she asked her friends to join her for tea, buttered bread and little cakes.

By 1850 the well-to-do were asking themselves how they ever got along without it.

Americans often mistakenly refer to it as high tea. The difference is this: ``Afternoon tea'' is tea and light refreshments (light being a relative term); ``high tea'' is a much more substantial meal served after 6 p.m. as a substitute for supper and having no pretense of being light.

And afternoon tea is ``taken.'' That is, one takes tea; one does not have tea.

The ``very best'' afternoon tea would begin with fresh fruits (if seasonally available) and perhaps toasted honey crumpets. Sometimes champagne is served, but that is straying a bit.

Always there are scones, those heavy homemade English biscuit-like cakes, either plain or raisin, to be sliced in half and heaped with clotted cream and jam (strawberry preferably but raspberry will do).

Tea sandwiches - finger sandwiches we sometimes call them; sandwiches cut in triangular quarters after the crusts have been sliced off - follow on a three-tiered china or silver rack. Usually the sandwich fillings are cucumber and watercress, deviled egg or egg salad, and salmon with cream cheese.

Sometimes there are pastries filled with chocolate mousse or fruit filling.

I have seen the menu for the Circle's Christmas Tea. It looks quite proper. If you'd like to partake, call 428-5495 or 481-2100 for reservations. Deadline for reservations is Dec. 3. CRUISE TO THE DARK SIDE

How big a deal is it to you to see a total solar eclipse? Tough call. On the one hand they only last three-and-a-half to four minutes, and you can't even look right at it without risking severe eye damage. On the other hand, total solar eclipses occur about seven times a decade. The next one over the Continental United States will be in 2017.

So . . . if you want to see one - the next one - plan to be in northern South America, Central America or the southern Caribbean in February 1998.

One of the most enlightening ways to experience this near darkness in the daytime is aboard a cruise ship that features authorities on astronomy to explain what is happening.

Each of three Holland America vessels, for example, will have at least half a dozen experts. Among them will be Leif J. Robinson, editor in chief of Sky & Telescope, on the Statendam; George B. Field of Harvard on the Ryndam; and Fred C. Hess, retired professor of astronomy, on the Veendam.

Frank Drake, president of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, will be on the Radisson Diamond; Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, discoverers of the Hale-Bopp comet, on the Star Clipper, a four-masted sailing ship; and Fred Espenak, an astronomer at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on the Carnival's Fascination.

Other ships with itineraries in the area at the time of the eclipse include Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas and Cunard's Vistafjord.

Contact a local travel agent for additional information and bookings. YOUR MONEY'S WORTH

Marriott hotels, resorts & suites offer Holiday Getaways, from $59 to $79 per room per night, Nov. 17-Dec. 28, at more than 178 properties nationwide. Most available Thursday-Sunday; some every day. Info: (800) USA-WKND.

Wayside Inn in Middletown, Va., a few miles south of Winchester, offers several getaways. Sample: Skyline Drive package, $125 per couple, includes one-night lodgings, a picnic lunch, admission to nearby Shenandoah National Park. Other packages available. Info: (540) 869-1797.

British Airways is offering a Taste of the World holiday with air fare and hotel (three nights' accommodations, including breakfast) beginning at $399 a person, double occupancy. Available to 10 European cities, good for travel midweek from through Dec. 12 and Jan. 1-March 31. There is a weekend surcharge of $25 each way, and other restrictions apply. Info: (800) 359-8722.

Italy Intermezzo program, from $629 per person, double occupancy, through March 26, includes round trip on Alitalia from New York to Rome, Florence or Venice, three nights' accommodations in four-star hotel. Other cities for an additional charge. Info: (800) 845-3365. THE COST OF DEPARTING

Vacationers using St. Maarten's Princess Juliana International Airport must pay a departure tax that increased last month to $16, up from $12. Another increase, to $20, is due March 1. The airport serves passengers heading for both the Dutch St. Maarten and the French half of the island, St. Martin. The new income, officials say, will go for airport improvements.

The best single improvement they could make is in attitude adjustment of airport personnel. I have endured that airport twice. I experienced an arrogance and indifference that left me wondering if the people who do the island's television commercials were talking about the same island I saw.

The increases make the St. Maarten airport one of the priciest in the Caribbean, where most islands charge a departure tax of $10 or less. Highest are at Haiti, which charges $25, and Aruba, which charges $20.

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