What are these SF stories?

[zagboodle]

When I was in junior high school, I read a story about a man who visited a travel agency and was shown pictures of what looked like an alien paradise.  He had to go out in the woods and wait in a barn with a bunch of other vacationers, and he finally decided he'd been ripped off and left the barn right before it transported everyone else to the alien world.  He went back to the agency and they refunded his money but wouldn't let him try again.  Ring a bell with anyone?

Also, there was another story that I don't even remember the plot of, I just remember that one of the characters stepped into an airlock and smiled and then blew up, except the person witnessing it may have been hallucinating the whole thing.  I know that's not much to go on, but that's all I remember.

[Simon Painter]

I'm not certain, but the second story you've described could be The Black Corridor by Michael Moorcock, which features a main character who's been alone on a space ship for years, and who's mental state has desteriorated to the point that he begins to hallucinate wildly.

Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK

[zagboodle]

That looks like an interesting book - but this was a short story.  Thanks for your help, though! 

[Planish]

I hope you don't mind if I highjack this thread for my own evil purposes, but the title seemed appropriate.

I remember reading a novel where the main character goes into some establishment where one builds stuff like wooden chairs, and destroys them at the end of the session. This is some sort of therapy or meditation activity.

Was it by Philip K. Dick (maybe Ubik)?
Or (I think more likely) something by John Brunner?