Often the best friends you make are while traveling. Freed from responsibilities at home, work and with family, life is easy-breezy as you explore and act curious about your surroundings.
By partnering with hotels and tour groups, these local groups provide a memorable experience for travelers—along with the opportunity to meet other people from the state. Book through a group you know and love (hello, PBS and one of Milwaukee’s most famed Irish pubs!) and rely on local experts on the ground to immerse you in their culture.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
1. PBS Wisconsin
Fresh off its July 11-23, 2023, cruise to Alaska, there will be a second cruise this fall, partnering again with Holiday Vacations. Pack your bags for Greece (Oct. 11-21), which begins with hotel nights in Athens followed by a four-night cruise in the Aegean Sea (visiting Heraklion, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes and Santorini), then more time exploring Athens before returning to the States.
2. Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
On the “Wright in Japan: The Architect’s Eastern Vision” tour (March 20-31, 2024), this Chicago-based organization takes you into the footsteps of Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who traveled to the country seven times between 1905 and 1922 to design 14 projects, by traveling to Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo. Activities include lectures, a tea ceremony, garden stroll, art museums, spots where Wright visited, and a tour of the preserved lobby portion of Wright’s Imperial Hotel.
3. Alliance Française de Milwaukee
If you’re a Francophile and also want to be a snowbird, a seven-night stay on Martinique (Feb. 2-10, 2024) in the French Caribbean is parfait. Flights are included, from Chicago to Miami (spending one night there) and a stay at the all-inclusive Club Med Buccaneer Creek on Martinique. Activities range from experiencing Creole architecture and manicured gardens to sunset yoga and scuba diving. The Languedoc, France, trip (May 3-13, 2024) also includes flights from Chicago to Paris and Marseille, and hotel nights and all meals. Likely excursions are wine tours, an abbey, a circus and a medieval village. Both trips fold in daily French classes.
4. County Clare Inn & Pub
Just like the name of the East Side pub, this airline-and-hotel package focuses on County Clare, Ireland’s West Coast. County Clare Inn & Pub’s parent company, Harp & Eagle Limited, runs these tours, and there’s still availability for the Nov. 1-9 offering. The cost includes non-stop flights from Chicago to Dublin, seven nights lodging at Old Ground Hotel (an 18th-century manor house) and daily breakfast. For an additional cost, you can book supplemental tours of a national park, the Cliffs of Moher, a crystal factory, Galway, a castle and more.
5. Historic Milwaukee
A visit with former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s on the itinerary for a trip to Europe’s Benelux region (May 7-17, 2024) called “Benelux: Explore the Styles and Sites,” under his new role as U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg. With airfare included, other stops include city tours in the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Rotterdam), time in Belgium (Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent) and Luxembourg, checking out the Delta Works dam-construction project, and a boat ride on the Moselle River.
6. Milwaukee PBS
Milwaukee PBS’s bus trips mean you don’t have to spring for airfare or deal with flight schedules. Upcoming trips are to Stout’s Island, Wisconsin (Aug. 27-29, 2023) with accommodations on the island’s Stout’s Island Lodge, and Dayton, Ohio (Sept. 17-20, 2023), with a focus on aviation history. “The Wright Brothers and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Tour” includes a visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force as well as where the Wright brothers grew up, the Wilbur Wright Birthplace Museum.
7. Milwaukee Catholic Home
With Milwaukee’s Rev. Tim Kitzke as tour guide, this 10-day pilgrimage to Ireland (June 2-11, 2024) includes round-trip airfare between Chicago and Dublin and eight nights’ accommodations in Dublin, Derry, Galway and Killarny. Stops on the tour hit all the highlights, such as The Cliffs of Moher, Aran Islands, Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College and Ring of Kerry, plus other activities like masses, ferry rides and a garden tour.
