Rothar Cycle Tours have a few spaces available for their 18 September departure to south Brittany, visiting Quimper, Pont Aven, Lorient and the Quiberon peninsula. The cost is £445 and includes return fare from Cork, bike and accommodation. Your luggage is carried for you. Details from Aidan Quinlan, (021) 274143.
GUIDED tours have become very popular in recent years, and now Derry has it own. If you are in the area and have an hour or so to kill, take the tour from the Tourism Information Centre at 44 Foyle Street and see sites such as the City Walls, the Diamond, St Columb Cathedral and the Guildhall. Departure is at 2.30 p. m Monday to Friday and costs £3.25.
THE greatest free show on earth began again last week when the Blackpool Illuminations were turned on along the six-mile stretch of the promenade. The Illuminations will continue until 7 November. The lights cost £2 million to stage and are expected to attract eight million visitors.
Blackpool has been a favourite with Irish holiday-makers over the years. Short breaks are very reasonable. Details from your local travel agent, or you can call Blackpool Tourism on (00 44 1253) 478 203.
NEW York is where its all happening for short breaks this winter, and at the prices Aer Lingus, Continental and Delta are charging, why not? You can get two-for-one tickets from £349 to £399. The closing dates for bookings are 3 November with Continental and Delta, and 10 November with Aer Lingus, who are also offering Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles at special prices. Continental is offering the two-for-one across its entire North American network, which means cities like Seattle for £670, Honolulu for £893, Atlanta for £407. Delta, too, is offering specials across its network. All of these offers are valid until 31 March next year, with some black-out dates over Christmas and New Year.
AFTER an eight-year absence, British Airways is to reinstate its Shannon- Gatwick service from 22 October. The service will be operated on Avro RJ100 jets, from Sunday to Friday. A Saturday flight will be added to the schedule in the spring.
GATWICK Airport have also changed the system whereby they used to give you a card when you entered the departure lounge and then collected it as you left to board your aircraft. This system caused delays when people misplaced their cards and the tally of cards did not correspond to the number of bodies on a plane. Now as you enter the international departure area, a bar code is stuck to your boarding card and a video image is taken, and as you leave, the bar code is scanned. They hope this will reduce the delays.