With a lifetime of working to strict deadlines, procrastination was not my usual thing . . . but there was that one occasion while working in then West Germany in 1960 with a rare chance to visit Oberammergau, Bavaria, for “The Passionspiel''.
“Too busy with all this talk of some kind of wall being planned,” I told the occasionally devout other half. “I'll catch the play later.”
Of course, this best known of all religious pageants only happens every TEN years, and by 1970 I was in Asia; by 1980 in Australia; by 1990 and 2000, somewhere else, far from Europe.
Maybe next time?
And although the next representation of Christ's last hours on Earth is not due until September 2010, or two and a half years away, it is good advice to book now!
The people at Far Horizons travel are already taking bookings.
The company has built a visit to the play as the highlight of a 26-day fully-escorted tour by road and ferry through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Herzegovina.
And, if you are not all Passionspiel'd out, they can also arrange a six-day extension to the Holy Land on the way home.
This makes the entire package a bit of a travel marathon but with “multiple-night” stays in several cities and towns it is value-for-money for those with time available.
Without the Holy Land add-on it is priced from $29,500 pp twin-share including return air, hotel accommodation (private home in Oberammergau), all land transport and meals, your leader and local guides, entry fees, tips and taxes.
Far Horizons encourages early registration. For more information, call 1800 083 141 or check-out www.farhorizons.com.au Tahiti-New York hopover
The Tahiti option for Sydney-New York travellers resumes on June 6 with Air Tahiti Nui, the international airline of Tahiti and her islands.
Until October 10, the Friday special is a one-stop service with an hour in Papeete before continuing, direct, to the Big Apple's JFK airport.
Round trip economy starts at $1517pp plus taxes, which vary by date of travel.
With a 9.05am Sydney departure, you cross the international dateline to arrive in Tahiti seven hours later. All being well, you should be in New York at 3.10pm, also on the Friday.
We agree with the airline's Australia boss Craig Lee, New York is one of the world's most exciting cities. The NY tourism people are about to open an office here to convince more Sydneysiders to make the trip.
The other advantage of flying via Tahiti is an arrival at JFK out of peak so you could be dining or strolling to your Broadway show the same evening.
Air Tahiti Nui, five-time winner of Best Pacific Airline, operates three-class Airbus A340-300's.
Talk to a travel agent or visit www.airtahitinui.com.au
Go east, in Canada too
Just as heading east opens up a whole new ball game for Aussies holidaying in the US, Canada's great Atlantic Provinces deliver an unbelievable dimension to travel in the land of the maple leaf.
Adventure Associates have been showing off a 23-day program which packages Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, a quite incredible coastal experience - by any standard.
The relatively few (until now) Aussies who have bothered, are home with tall tales and true of millions of seabirds, humpback whales and towering icebergs a million years old.
The tour includes the mighty World Heritage Gros Morne National Park; North America's most easterly point, Cape Spear; and the remains of the first known European settlement in the New World.
You travel via delectable Vancouver and French-flavoured Quebec City ahead of Newfoundland capital St Johns, an enigmatic frontier town with big city chic.
The folks at home will love your postcards (yep, some of us still send those) from places like Twillingate, Cow Head, Corner Brook and Port aux Basques and, of course, Sydney, Nova Scotia. It's probably the tangible warmth and friendliness of the people on Canada's Atlantic seaboard which will get to you.
The program leaves Sydney on August 8, next year. The $10,990 pp twin-share price tag includes all air travel.
Give Adventure Associates a call on 1800 222 141. Hey Jimmy: Watch it!
Our supposed friends at BritRail are clearly up for a spot of bovver referring to Glasgow as Scotland's “second city”. Or perhaps they only road-tested their new ticketing deal, the Central Scotland Pass, as far as (according to the book) capital, Edinburgh.
The pass gives the option of basing yourself in either city, travelling between the two and umpteen, handy tourist destinations in the area during the one-week validity of the brief.
From dour (ok, grand) Edinburgh Castle you can whisk away to Glasgow's eclectic Burrell Collection; from royal Holyrood House to Charles Rennie Mackintosh's House for an art lover; or on to the fortress that is Stirling Castle - all served by frequent trains.
The pass, which also includes travel on Glasgow's Underground (the “subway”), costs $94 for standard class travel.
If you have time for more than this glimpse of Scotland, the BritRail Scottish Freedom Pass is still available in various configurations and, in case there is an Irish Celtic bit in your ancestry there is a BritRail Pass + Ireland. (If the other ''bit'' is Welsh there is yet another pass which delivers unlimited travel in the Land of the Leek as well as England and Scotland.) Keep an eye on the weather forecast, but a leisurely ferry crossing of the Irish Sea can also be included for an extra charge.
It will all become clear when you visit go-green BritRail's site, www.BritRail.com | 
