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Italian Government Travel Office

630 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1565

Rockefeller Center

New York, NY 10111

If you are a member of AAA, drop by one of their offices and request their "Europe Travel Book". Pages 402 to 451 cover most of the areas we will visit in Italy.

Those with Internet access can visit several Italian travel sites by clicking on to my web site and then going through the EF Tours section. Simply log on to www.laufer-world.com and then click on to International Travel and follow the prompts to the Italy tour.

Even though our tour is seven months away, I thought I'd alert you to one of the options we have for getting to Newark Airport. Last month for our tour to Ireland, I rented and Academy Tours bus and each participant paid $40 for the round trip to Newark Airport. They were either dropped off in Vincentown or parked their cars in a safe and convenient area on my property. Upon our return the bus was waiting at the terminal for us. Everyone felt it was a great deal -- and extremely convenient. We will do the same this time, and the round trip will probably be even cheaper, since we have more people on the Italy trip. So keep that in mind as you ponder the options for getting to Newark International Airport for our flight to Italy.

We have decided to limit this tour to one full 53-passenger bus, so it is now sold out. We have created a waiting list in case anyone cancels. If you have any second thoughts about going on the tour, contact me first, as I will tap the waiting list for substitutes. If you have any friends who might like to go, tell them to contact me to be placed on the waiting list. I recommend the Central European Tour, to be conducted in August, 1999, as a substitute.

Several individuals have asked about our plans for the millennium tour. I have selected SCANDANAVIAN HIGHLIGHTS, a 9-day tour of Denmark, Norway and Sweden to be conducted during the first week of August, 2000. This tour will cost approximately $1,800 per adult person, double occupancy (about $1,600 for students under 25). Watch for details.

If you have been following the travel publications, you know that it is impossible to get a hotel in Rome during the year 2000. In addition to it being the millennium year, it has also been declared a "Jubilee Year" by the Catholic Church. Thus, our visit to Italy, and Rome in particular, just prior to this major event, is very timely. Likewise, our visit to Assisi should come at just about the time that the preliminary repairs to the Basilica of St. Francis are completed. You may recall that a major earthquake caused severe damage to the Basilica and its art treasures last year.