It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Travel

The ultimate Christmas gift is Italy. Or Ireland. Read on.

Time now for some truly shameless shilling that I’d never get away with if Im worked for a reputable publication. Fortunately, I don’t. Please don’t disown me.

I’ve been no better place in the world than Kenmare, a storybook town in County Kerry, nestled in a snug with my wife, downing a pint of Guinness and watching the world go by. Unless it’s Tuscany, looking across fields of gold while sipping a famous chianti with my wife and son as the setting sun bathes the landscape in its triumphal beauty.

Dang, Doc. That prose is a bit overripe, doncha think?

For anyone believing the vacation of a lifetime would make a decent holiday gift, who has the time and means to see the world — whose basement and closets overflow with Stuff — your ship has come in.

(Actually, your flight to Dublin or Rome, where you’ll be met by a motor coach at the airport and taken hassle-free to your accommodations. But you get the drift.)

I’ve been plugging the Italy trip for a few months. Frequent Perusers by now know of my absolute affection for the country. Specifically, Tuscany. Simply, I’ve been to lots of Western civilization. Tuscany was the best. Food, relaxation, culture, history, drink that turned me into a Wine Person. Vistas that made me gape.

Weather that batted 1.000. Fourteen days, 14 clear and sunny afternoons.

Wines that would be considered extravagantly priced here, served at the lunch/dinner table there, no more expensive than our house wines. Did I mention that on the tour of Tuscany, house wine is included in the trip charge?

I’d go back today. I’ll settle instead for next October, when Kerry and I accompany our pal Larry Fannon on a 10-day adventure back to the Tuscan hills. You can come, too.

Or maybe Ireland in May is more to your liking. I’ve been there twice. Completely different experience than Italy. The world in Ireland is green, its towns are alive with good craic and better music. Italy made me feel more alive; Ireland made me happy.

Irish pleasures are simple: Strolling Killarney’s streets, experiencing the heaves and rolls of the seaside roads in Dingle, listening to musicians in a pub, who magically enter solo and instantly form bands. Being consumed in color. Everything in Ireland is painted brightly. Its world is a palette.

This excursion, April 29-May 10, is all-encompassing. Ireland is not huge. Ten days is enough to see much of it, before deciding which area of the country you’d like to revisit next time.

You have a fair amount of time to reserve spots for the Italy trip, Oct. 1-11. If you’d prefer Ireland, the deadline is a little sooner. A deposit of $500/person will hold your space. It’s refundable until the remaining balance is due, Feb. 1.

The itineraries and costs of both trips are included below, as well as registration forms.

I’ve talked about Larry before in This Space. He’s a Loveland guy who retired 20-some years ago and has traveled the world since. He has been taking groups to Itay and Ireland for two decades. In fact, he has an apartment in a small Tuscan town, where he lives half the year.

Larry knows what he knows. He hires the best guides, books the best reasonably priced hotels and restaurants and will be ready with advice on the region for anyone who asks. You could do a mega-tour run by people who won’t know the region, or your name. Or you could go with Larry, who has two decades of experience and connections, and whose tours are limited to about 20 people.

Plus, you’ll get Me!Me!Me! as a travel partner. And my infinitely better half. Picture pounding Guinnii in Dublin or chianti in Montepulciano, introducing locals to the unique charms of, ahem, Bengaldom.

It’s likely Larry and I will hold informational meetings between now and late January, and beyond for the Italy trip. If you’d like more info in the meantime, please contact Larry at Cruisetheinternet@gmail.com/513-368-1900. Or you can reach me via TML or pdoc53@gmail.com.

We’d love to take you with us.

The Ireland trip:

Ireland registration:

Italy trip:

Italy registration:

. . . and a few pictures I took in June:

Manarola

Tuscan sunset

Sunset from our Tuscan villa

All this, and wine, too.