Plan Now for Trips During the Holiday Season

It’s not too early for mature travelers to start making travel plans for the upcoming holiday season. Poole Tours, which for many years has been packaging trips for senior adults, is offering three holiday packages, one at Thanksgiving and two for Christmas.

“Thanksgiving in the Valley of the Sun,� beginning Nov. 21, is a five-day escorted visit to the Phoenix area, including Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Rawhide, Paradise Valley and Scottsdale.

Price is $489 per person double occupancy. The trip includes round-trip transportation on a deluxe Greyhound motor coach, plus hotel, four breakfasts and four dinners and a welcome reception and dinner. There’s also an old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel.

‘Christmas in Victoria’

One of the Poole Christmas tours is the “Christmas in Victoria� holiday, a special Canadian celebration that begins Dec. 21, with four nights in Victoria and two nights in Vancouver.

The trip includes round-trip air transportation between Los Angeles and Vancouver, a city tour, ferry service to Victoria and a Christmas dinner. The per-person price of $1,159 also includes air transportation, deluxe motor-coach touring in Vancouver and Victoria, all accommodations and all breakfasts and dinners in Victoria.

Another choice for a Christmas trip is a repeat of Poole’s popular “Christmas Luminarias Tour� that includes Christmas dinner in Albuquerque and a Christmas Eve tour of that city’s dramatic candlelighting custom, in which citizens line their yards, walkways and fences with thousands of paper bags weighted with sand and holding candles. It’s spectacular.

The eight-day tour, which begins Dec. 21, also includes visits to Santa Fe, Jerome Ghost Town, Prescott, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, Flagstaff, the Petrified Forest, Las Cruces and a farewell dinner in Phoenix. Price, including round-trip transportation via deluxe Greyhound motor coach, is $659 per person double occupancy.

Complete descriptive material can be obtained for each tour by writing Poole Tours, P.O. Box 990, Temple City, Calif. 91780. Or call Monday through Friday: (213) 283-3412, (818) 285-9775 or (714) 855-4918.

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The ideal time to visit Death Valley is in October, when the summer heat has abated and temperatures are more moderate. Golden Tours for Senior Citizens is repeating its three-day, two-night tour that passes through the solitary landscape of Death Valley via motor coach, spending two nights at historic Stovepipe Wells Village. The guided tour includes a visit to famed Scotty’s Castle and a stop at Furnace Creek.

Dates of the Death Valley tour are Oct. 28-30, and the price is $160 per person, double occupancy, including meals while in Death Valley, plus transportation, hotel and guided tour. Departures are from Alhambra or Pasadena, with free parking at both locations. For complete tour details, write to Golden Tours, Box 1070, Alhambra 91802. Or call (213) 283-7876 or (818) 289-6271.

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One of the leading tour operators for mature travelers is Giovanni Tours, which has just released its schedule for the 1989 season. Eight major international tours are scheduled, including the usual Giovanni touch, free predeparture parties consisting of lunches or dinners featuring characteristic dishes and drinks of the country to be visited.

Classes are held with lectures and slide shows that tell of the history and customs of the country, as well as hints on packing and how to cope with jet lag. Also included are free film developing, prizes along the way and a reunion party after the trip, to which friends and family are invited to exchange photographs and experiences.

Planned tours include a western Caribbean cruise, London theater and countryside, South Pacific, Holy Land and Greek Isle cruise, Grand Europe, British Isles, Alaska cruise and Heart of the Orient. Trips run from eight to 23 days and include air fare from all major United States cities.

For a summary of these tours and a coupon for ordering additional information (no charge for any of this material), write to Giovanni Tours, 5308 Derry Ave., Suite F, Agoura Hills 91301, or call (818) 889-3156.