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You’ll enter the World War II era when spending a night on the USS Missouri, the battleship that’s now a memorial and museum based in Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Campers experiencing the Battleship Missouri’s overnight encampment get a personalized dog tag, sleep in the same area where the crew slept, store their gear in lockers, and eat Navy-style chow on the ship’s mess deck. The encampments are open to scouting, school, and other groups that meet insurance coverage requirements.

Adult encampments may be arranged on the Battleship New Jersey, the floating museum on the Camden, New Jersey, waterfront across from Center City Philadelphia. Whether it’s a group of children or adults, the tour may include visiting the Combat Engagement Center, where you’ll participate in a simulated launch of a Tomahawk missile, to climbing down the original ladders to view the Admiral’s cabin and sleeping in the sailors’ quarters.

This same trend is catching on in zoos. How about a zoo slumber party for your child’s birthday? Families, scout troops, and school groups can take the Roar and Snore Overnights at the Philadelphia Zoo. Themed sleepovers, such as Critters of the Night or Froggin’ Frenzy can be arranged.

The age limits for children who can attend these overnights vary from museum to museum. In general, attendees must bring their own sleeping bag. In some museums you’ll sleep on carpeted floors, in others on cots, and on the battleships in the quarters actually used by the sailors. —LF

American Museum of Natural History ( 212/769-5000;www.amnh.org). The Field Museum ( 312/922-9410;www.fieldmuseum.org). USS Missouri ( 877/MIGHTYMO [644-4896] or 808/455-1600; www.ussmissouri.com). Battleship New Jersey ( 866/877-6262 or 856/966-1652; www.battleshipnewjersey.org).

When to Go: Contact the museums or battleships directly for schedules.

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Taking in a Football (Soccer) Match in Buenos Aires

The Match Box

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Boca Junior fans take up positions behind the goal. Long blue and gold banners are unfurled and spread across the crowd as fireworks crackle and fizzle in the sky above. Thousands of flags flap in the Buenos Aires breeze, red smoke from flares streams across the stadium, and a tangle of ticker tape covers the green grass of the football pitch below. The fans burst into song just as the whistle is blown and kick-off begins. They have come to cheer and jeer at the Superclasico, one of the fiercest and most important sporting rivalries in the world between two Argentine teams, Boca Juniors and River Plate. The venue is Boca’s intimidating and claustrophobic home ground known as La Bombonera (the chocolate box), a 60,000 capacity stadium located in a poor, working class district south of the city center. This entire country of soccer fanatics shuts down to catch the game, and even the nearby tourist tango street known as El Caminito is shuttered up and empty as people crowd in front of TVs in cafes, bars, and restaurants. That’s how important football (soccer) is here. The excitement that builds during a match is enough to keep your adrenaline rushing all day long.

Up in the stands the match seems to have little impact on the crowd. The pitch can barely be seen from under all the flags, banners, armpits, and elbows. The fans keep up a continuous song amazingly to the accompaniment of a four-piece brass band and a troupe of drummers in the middle of all this surging chaos. Suddenly Boca score and the entire crowd squashes itself into a tight space by the fence as they rush down and scream with joy. It’s utter mayhem. This goal leads to an even more intense continued chant and song until River Plate score and suddenly the Boca section is very quiet. It is the turn of the opposition fans to jump and gesticulate and shout obscenities.

Shortly into the second half Boca score again and the fans, known as Barrio Bravos, are stage diving off the top steps and climbing the razor wire fence. The second half passes in a burr of noise and surging bodies. Then the whistle goes and the place goes absolutely berserk.