TRAVEL TIPS

Textiles featured on India tour. Highlights of a special India tour, A Many-Splendoured Journey, will be visits to the Calico Museum of Textiles and the Shrayes Folk Art Museum in Ahmedabad. Other trips will be to Patan to see how patola (rare silk saris) are still woven as they were 900 years ago and to see the Rabari weavers and embroiderers in remote Kutch on the Arabian Sea. These destinations are combined with visits to the usual tourist sites in India. Two experts from the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., will accompany the 22-day tour, scheduled from Jan. 12 to Feb. 1. Total cost, including a tax-deductible museum donation, is $3725 (double occupancy). Write to the Textile Museum, 2320 S St., NW, Washington, DC 20008, or call (202) 667-0441. A child's Christmas in New York City. Grandparents or other relatives looking for an unusual gift for a child this Christmas season might like to make a reservation at the Plaza Hotel in New York. A Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night special rate of $159 includes an arrival gift of a cuddly F.A.O. Schwarz teddy bear for each child (limited to two to a room). It also includes an F.A.O. Schwarz shopping bag with a $10 gift certificate to start off a shopping expedition in the fabled store. The weekend can be rounded out with skating in nearby Central Park and the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall. This special rate is available from Nov. 22 to Jan. 11. For more information contact your travel agent or call 800-228-3000.

Youth Hostels catalog for all ages. American Youth Hostels Inc. has many ideas for the budget traveler who wants to see the world. Between September and March, the group is offering 21 trips to such destinations as New Zealand, California, and the Holy Land. Travelers can hike, cycle, ski, or snorkel during their adventure. In particular, the cycling trips, which cater to all levels of expertise, cover territory along the California coast, Switzerland's Rhine Valley, or New Zealand. Those who are 50 and over can enjoy a leisurely five weeks in Europe's best-known spots. For the free World Adventure 1986-87 trip catalog, write American Youth Hostels, PO Box 37613, Dept. 858, Washington, DC 20013, or call (202) 783-6161.

One-call booking service for US ski vacations. Nine years ago, Advance Reservations Inc. began to offer packaged tours to skiers in the Western United States. This year it has added 10 new destinations to its list of resorts. Among the new listings are Vail, Keystone Resort, and Copper Mountain in Colorado; Robert Redford's Sundance Resort in Utah; Squaw Valley USA in California; and resorts in Nevada and New Mexico. Advance Reservations Inc. is able to custom-build a ski package to 20 major destinations to meet the skier's budget and time schedule. For a one-call service to include transportation, ski rentals and lessons, write Advance Reservations Inc., PO Box 1179, Park City, UT 84060. Or call 800-453-4565.

``Thar she blows'' off California's coast. If you've missed previous migrations, you can make arrangements now to see the California gray whales migrating from the frigid Artic seas to the warm lagoons of Baja California. It's an annual event that peaks between mid-December and early February. The San Diego Natural History Museum sponsors a limited number of supervised whale-watching excursions during the peak of the migration. Marine biology specialists accompany each trip and give informal instruction on mammal life. Advance reservations are required for the Saturday or Sunday two-hour long trip scheduled between Dec. 27 and Jan. 25. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children under 12 (not recommended for children under 6). Write, sending check payable to Natural History Museum, to WHALES, San Diego Natural History Museum, PO Box 1390, San Diego, CA 92112.

Dale Carnegie on skis? Finally, after 70 years in the classroom, Dale Carnegie courses are moving out. At Killington, Vt., participants can sign up for training in leadership skills and ski instruction in a week-long Killington Mountain-Dale Carnegie Program. The schedule includes two hours of skiing each morning, Monday through Friday, with Killington Ski School instructors. Afternoons, Sunday through Thursday, participants will spend 2 hours with Dale Carnegie instructors learning skills in human relations, communication, sales, and management. Sessions are scheduled from December through March. More information is available by contacting Dick Courcelle, Killington Ski and Summer Resort, Killington, VT 05751, or calling (802) 422-3333.

Windsurfing school in Antigua. If you've been hankering to learn to windsurf, you might fly to Antigua this winter and learn on Mistral boards from certified instructors. A Norwegian world champion, Haakon Nissen-Lie, has been invited to kick off the opening week of a new school Dec. 13-21. The school is at the Half Moon Bay Hotel on the south side of Antigua. Beginners and advanced windsurfers will enjoy waters of the white, three-quarter-mile-long, crescent-shaped beach. Special rates for the opening week start at $350 and include full English breakfast daily, free use of equipment and clinics, tennis and golf, and snorkeling and sailing, plus nightly entertainment and dancing. A dinner supplement is $20 a day. For more information contact your travel agent or the Half Moon Bay Hotel, PO Box 144, St. John's, Antigua; or Robert Reid Associates, 845 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022 or call (212) 832-2277.

Family vacations in the Himalayas. Adventurous families can find their lost horizons on a 10-day trek through central Nepal's Annapurna region. The next six days are open for jungle elephant safaris or white-water rafting. The trek, which involves moderate hiking and visits in local communities, is guided by the native Sherpas. Lodging is usually under tent, and porters will carry personal belongings, food, and equipment. Minimum age is 3. Children under 50 pounds can be carried by porter pack basket. Write Journeys Family Trek, PO Box 7545, Ann Arbor, MI 48107 or call 800-255-8735.