The wearin’ o’ the green is still two months away, but for some the thinkin’ o’ the green never ends. One interesting way to see Ireland is to accompany Mick Moloney, Irish musician, recording artist and professor of folklore at Villanova University, on his Irish Folklore Tours.
Moloney’s tours are not the usual European buscapade. You’ll go deep into the Irish countryside and back roads to visit sites ranging from ancient stone circles to Medieval abbeys and castles, hear songs of emigration, rebellion and famine, take set dancing lessons, and hear more Irish on history, politics, culture, folklore and mythology than you ever dreamed possible. And each day concludes with traditional Irish music and, no doubt, traditional Irish drink.
Moloney is offering eight tours from early May into October, each to a different region of the Emerald Isle. The tours are offered May 8-19, June 29-July 10, July 10-21, Aug. 20-31, Sept. 14-25, and Sept. 25-Oct. 6. Two concurrent tours will be offered July 31-Aug. 11, one of which will be led by Moloney, the other by Tommy Sands.
Each tour is $2,395 per person based on double occupancy (single supplement $250) in the May and September low-season departures. In the high season of June, July and August, the tour costs $2,595 per person double occupancy (single supplement $400). The price includes all round-trip air fare from New York or Boston to Ireland on Aer Lingus, hotel accommodations, ground transportation, all admissions and entrance fees, all breakfasts and six dinners. It’s advised that tour participants be in good physical condition and ready to enjoy some hillside walking. Call 800-848-4364.
MARDI GRAS GUIDE
New Orleans will host its 140th annual celebration starting Feb. 9, and the 12 days of Fat Tuesday festivities will see more than 60 scheduled parades boasting such celebrities as former disco diva Donna Summer, former American Bandstand host Dick Clark, and favorite son Harry Connick, Jr. With so much excitement, it’s easy to become overwhelmed.
If you’re planning on attending this year’s Mardi Gras in the Crescent City, the 20th annual edition of Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide contains more than 136 pages of facts, photos, features and festival history as well as individual profiles of each parade and maps showing their routes.
The 1996 Mardi Gras Guide is a must for anyone who intends on spending any amount of time in New Orleans during the party. The guide is available by mail for $6.50, including first-class postage and handing. Send your check or money order to Arthur Hardy Enterprises, Inc., P.O. Box 19500, New Orleans, La. 70179, and your copy will be shipped the same day it’s received.
More information about New Orleans and Mardi Gras can be yours by writing to the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors’ Bureau, Inc., 1520 Sugar Bowl Dr., New Orleans, La. 70112, or by calling 504-566-5068. Lodging information is available from the Greater New Orleans Hotel & Motel Association by calling 800-695-2264.
PICK YOUR POLE
Northwest Passage has as extensive a range of outdoor vacations, running the gamut from Arctic and Antarctic expeditions to evening sea kayaking in Wilmette on Lake Michigan. Each tour is rated from 1 to 4 according to the skills required for the activity, and any tour marked with an “S” means that those tours are particularly strenuous.
On the 4S end of things is a dogsled and ski expedition to the North Pole recreating Admiral Robert Peary’s final 100- to 150-mile dash. Interested tour members must have had or be willing to acquire dogsled experience and must obtain the leaders’ consent to take part. There is a February 12-18 shakedown tour starting in Ely, Minn., and your choice of expeditions departing either April 19-May 4, 1996, or April 18-May 3, 1997.
The pole expedition costs $25,500 based on double occupancy (no single supplement). You’ll have to provide your own transportation to Ely and to Resolute, Northwest Territory, Canada, but after that, all charter air transportation, ground transportation, dogs, sleds and mushing equipment, skis, boots, sleeping system and all meals and group equipment are included. Northwest Passage also is sponsoring an all-women’s expedition May 3-18, 1996, and May 2-17, 1997.
A 4S expedition in the most southern of climes is a climbing expedition of Mt. Vinson in Antarctica. After a shakedown trek in Colorado Nov. 19-23, you’ll make the Antarctic trip Jan. 2-20, 1997. The Mt. Vinson expedition costs $26,000 based on double occupancy (no single supplement). You’ll have to provide your own transportation to Denver for the preliminary trek and to Punta Arenas, Chile. All flights from Punta Arenas, meals, camping and mountaineering equipment otherwise are included.
If you don’t want to wander so far afield, Northwest Passage has sea kayaking in Wilmette for $35 per session, as well as trips to Door County and Lake Superior.
Northwest Passage membership costs $35 per person and $75 for families per year with renewal costs of $25 and $50, respectively. Members receive a bi-monthly newsletter, annual brochure, and trip prices as quoted. Non-members pay an extra 10 percent. Call 800-732-7328, or check out Northwest Passage’s homepage at http://www.nwpassage.com.
EUROTRAIN TRAVEL
Planning a vacation to Europe in 1996? Odds are part of that vacation will involve train travel. Rick Steves’ 1996 Guide to European Railpasses provides up-to-date prices and features for every train-travel pass imaginable, plus money-saving passes that Americans can only buy on the continent. It also includes maps and analyzes different trips for best value. You can get a free copy of the guide by writing to Europe Through the Back Door, Box 2009, Edmonds, Wash., 98020, or call 206-771-8303. You also can e-mail your request to ricksteves@aol.com.
– In a roundup of 1996 tour brochures two weeks ago, the Travel notes column failed to mention the address and phone number in England for Holts’ Tours, which specializes in military history. Write for a brochure to 15 Market Street, Sandwich, Kent CT13 9DA, England, or call 011-44-1304-612338. You may fax your request to 011-44-1304-614930.
