If you are longing to get away from Chicago this winter but have neither the time nor the funds, one $49 ticket will get you to 10 exotic locations-and more. Founded in 1898 by University of Chicago geographers, the Geographic Society of Chicago is offering 10 evenings in its 1994-1995 Travel-Adventure Film Series: the Great Canadian Train Ride, Oct. 8-9; Emerging Indochina, Oct. 22-23; Bobby Burns’ Bonny Scotland, Nov. 12-13; Alaska, Nov. 26-27; The Crusaders, Dec. 10-11; the Grand Canyon, Jan. 14-15; Grand Tour of Europe 1892, Feb. 11-12; Cemeteries, Feb. 25-26; Darwin’s Patagonia, March 11-12; and Scandinavia, March 25-26. Screenings are held at First Chicago Center Theater (enter west side of Dearborn Street between Madison and Monroe Streets) on Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m.
In addition to the film series, the society offers day excursions from Chicago in September, October and November. Trips include a Sept. 7 excursion to Cuneo Museum in Vernon Hills with its Venetian architecture; an expedition to Starved Rock on Sept. 24; a Sept. 28 tour of Power House, Commonwealth Edison’s energy museum at Zion, and Kendall College’s Mitchell Indian Museum; and a day’s sojourn in Arthurian England with lunch and “Camelot” at the Drury Lane Theater in Oak Brook on Nov. 10. Prices for days trips vary. All excursions leave by bus from Dearborn and Monroe Streets.
Participation in the film series and the day trips is for members only ($49 annually; ($300 lifetime). Membership includes admission to all 10 films in the travel-adventure series. Non-members pay $6 at the door for the films and are welcome on the day trips if space permits. For details, call the Geographic Society at 726-5293.
Greening Ireland
Those with roots in the Emerald Isle-and who in Chicago doesn’t have at least one?-now can put down the real thing. Without lifting a shovel, Americans of Irish descent can have trees planted in Dublin’s 1,752-acre Phoenix Park in their own names or in the names of their Irish ancestors for $40. The $40 sets aside a square yard for planting, and $200 gets the 6-square-yard “family plot.” Each donor will receive an official certificate signed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin listing the names of those for whom the trees were dedicated.
The funds also will help the national reforestation program in Ireland intended to reverse the damage done in the 17th and 18th Centuries when colonial landowners cut down vast expanses of Irish forests, as well as Irish Rehab, a voluntary organization that provides vocational education, training and allied services to people with disabilities. Call 914-934-8342.
– Yoicks! Cross Country International Equestrian Vacations of Millbrook, N.Y., is offering six-day, five-night fox-hunting vacations from September through February 1995 to your choice of 10 of Ireland’s most famous hunting packs. Both veteran and novice are welcome to hunt with packs in Tipperary, Limerick, Galway Blazers, DuHollow and Scarteen any day of the week. Riders will stay in the Dunraven Arms Hotel in the village of Adare. The trip begins with a day of training at the Clonshire Equestrian Center, where riders can get used to their Irish hunter, jumping cross-country obstacles and getting tips on Irish hunting etiquette. The cost is $1,450 per person (single supplement, $150), and includes all horse, equipment and hunting fees, five nights, daily breakfast and dinner. Tour participants have to get to Clonshire on their own, although the tour operator will make travel arrangements. Tip: It’s much closer to fly into Shannon International Airport than Dublin. Call 800-828-8768.
Back roads beauty
As you might expect, Larry Niles, owner of Bike Vermont, believes that the best way to see Vermont foliage this autumn is from the seat of a bicycle. Niles provides riders with organized inn-to-inn bicycle tours along carefully researched back roads to keep well away from the leaf-peeping automobile and bus crowds but have the full benefit of Vermont’s beautiful autumn vistas of gold and orange. Tours are limited to 20 participants who ride at their own pace and average about 20 to 50 miles per day. Prices range from $305 per person for a weekend tour to $755 for a five-day trek, and include lodging, breakfasts and dinners, full van support, daily maps and detailed directions. Bicycle rentals also are available. Call 800-257-2226.
Accessible travel
Fodor’s has given its first Accessibility Awards to hotels that have made a special effort to increase accessibility for travelers with mobility, vision and hearing disabilities. The honorees are: the Best Western Inn of Chicago, 162 E. Ohio St., the Embassy Suites in Memphis, The Pierre in New York City, the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, the Sheraton Palace in San Francisco, Port of the Islands Resort and Marina in East Naples, Fla., the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel, the Beverly Prescott Hotel in Los Angeles, the Four Seasons Hotel Austin, the Willard Inter-Continental in Washington, D.C. The awards were given in conjunction with the June publication of “Great American Vacations for Travelers With Disabilities” (Fodor’s Travel Publications Inc., $18).
Asian rodeo
If you think a “city slickers” vacation out West is too tame for your adventurous spirit, consider attending the annual Elephant Roundup Nov. 18-20 in Surin, Thailand. Absolute Asia is offering a package from Bangkok for $235 per person (single supplement, $60), which includes transfers, sightseeing, accommodations, some meals, entrance fees and that coveted ticket to the Elephant Roundup. The roundup begins with a procession of pachyderms adorned in lavish headdresses and howdahs and proceeds through demonstrations of elephants at work, an elephant race, a roundup of wild elephants and the elephant war parade. Thai dances, religious rites and fireworks culminated the celebration. Call 800-736-8187.
