Festival Tours International
Eunice - Erath - Vacherie - Lafayette
April 27 - May 4, 2006$1599 - "Land package"
Includes first weekend of Jazz Fest
with an optional "add on" of the second weekend of Jazz Fest
plus our 3-day midweek trip out to Cajun Country
"Cajun Country only" also available; $750 (subject to availability)
We were lucky to have had our reservations at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel all set before Katrina struck so our rooms are waiting for us. The French Quarter had virtually no flooding and therelativly little damage there was has now been cleaned up. By the time April comes around most of the stores should be open, ready and anxious for visitors.
More restaurants are opening each day! In fact, many of our favorite ones already are. For a full list go to The New Orleans Menu.
So many people have asked us how they can help the city. And the answer is to come back, to eat, shop, enjoy and support New Orleans. For those that want to go a bit further we are we are also planning an optional opportunity for you to participate in a Community Service project on Thursday, May 3 when the festival is not on. We'll keep you posted on that in case you want to join in.
Full details of musicians playing this year are on the Jazz Fest website, nojazzfest.com.
Join us for an insider's trip to Louisiana * Stay in the heart of the bayou * Cruise down the bayou swamps * Experience the taste of the Cajun country at our annual private crawfish boil at the home of Marc & Ann Savoy * Enjoy a rockin' zydeco Bar-B-Q with Geno Delafose at his country ranch outside Eunice * Taste the best in Cajun cooking with renowned chef Patrick Mould * Roll into the exciting city of New Orleans for the best music festival in the world! "Jazzfest" has non-stop music with hundreds of musicians on 10 stages!
Come with us to eat, drink, dance & be merryin the warm Louisiana sun!
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"It's really wonderful that people like Nancy who have enough, what you
might say, 'soul', that she can organize a really down-home trip like this
for you folks where you can hear music and eat crawfish after going out
and catching 'em for yourself. She really puts you in contact. You really
get in the mud!" --- Marc Savoy
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"A trip on Nancy Covey's musical excursions is to get INSIDE the culture your
visiting. She knows all the local musicians, all the local chefs, and you
get steeped in an insider's view that can't be had if you're a tourist. It's
better to wander lost, than to follow a map made by tourists. With Nancy you
get extremely interesting traveling companions, a very happy stomach, and
the soundtrack is unique regional songs played live! I'm a musician, and I
had a blast!" --- John Densmore, percussionist.
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"Nancy, the tour was beyond amazing. after listening to this music for so
long, Randy and I could not believe what we were hearing and who we were
seeing. The whole experience was overwhelming -- we were saying on the
flight home that we were pretty much stunned and speechless a good part of
the time those three days and nights. The itinerary you've constructed is just great. You packed in so much, but we never felt rushed. We loved everything we did, but being at the musicians' homes, meeting them and hearing the music in those three different settings... wow, I still don't have words for that. The day and evening with the Savoys was particularly unforgettable. In fact, the whole thing was unforgettable! Incredible music, incredible food (did we eat enough, you think?!), and some of the nicest folks we've ever met, both our fellow travellers on the bus and, of course, our hosts at every stop. Our warmest thanks to you, Nancy. You're the kind of person who makes people feel they've known you always. What a great thing it is that you do. I know we would have made it to Cajun country on our own, but we would never have had the kind of experiences we had on the tour. And thanks, also, to Carole for keeping us all together. How lucky that Michael Doucet gave us your flyer back in February. Please keep in touch. We would love to sign up again for next year. --- Linda and Randy Green, Illinois, May 2004. |
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"We did Nancy's tour and stayed at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. We found
its central location in the French Quarter an ideal spot for our first
trip to New Orleans. We had read the article in Rhythms Magazine about Nancy's tour and went with high expectations, but nothing could have prepared us for it. It's an experience rather than a tour and no amount of words can prepare you; like sex, you have to do it to truly know what it's all about. From the geniality of Geno Delafose and an evening of zydeco music, barbecue and dancing in his barn, to Marc Savoy's intense commitment to Cajun Culture ... Marc was the most gracious of hosts at his beautiful home, made so welcoming by the grace of his wife Ann. I had heard stories about Nancy's crawfish boil at the Savoys' farm both in print and on air. Yet again it was so much more than one can comprehend; people were eating crawfish non-stop for well over an hour. The final day included a magnificent lunch and Cajun cooking class in the gardens of Rip Van Winkle Homestead with the Cajun entertainer-cum-chef Pat Mould, and finished with a visit to the eccentric D. L. Menard, a further example of southern hospitality. It was superb. --- Tim Robinson, Melbourne, Australia, May 2005. |
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"Nancy's tour is the truest experience of Cajun food and music that you
can get without being a local ... and I sure didn't feel like I was on a
tour!" --- Chuck Taggart,
Author/webmaster of The Gumbo
Pages, music programmer/host of "Down
Home", on KCSN 88.5 FM, Northridge
/ Los Angeles, Calif.
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"Everyone should go on Nancy's trip at least once in their lifetime!"
--- Sandy Miranda, host of
"Music
of the World", on KPFA-FM, Berkeley,
Calif.
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| "We first went on Nancy's tour back in 1991 as an easy way to go to the Jazz Festival. We thought the Fest was the most fun you could possibly have, until we got to the Cajun country part of the tour ... we had to come on the trip again. And again. Each year, we thought "How can we miss it?" ... Each year, we went to the crawfish boil, easily the best party we've ever attended. Each year, we think we can't possibly have as much fun as last year. And yet, we do. Nancy always tops herself. Our all time favorite memory? The year we got married at the crawfish boil. Told you it was a good party!!" --- Steve Hochman and Mary Herczog. Read more about what they have to say! | |
| "I had a great time in NOLA and Cajun country -- made some new friends, heard some great music and even got to dance. I definitely have a better appreciation of Cajun people, their culture and their music. Now I need a holiday to recover from the excess of life in the Big Easy. I'm back home now, back to the real world ... ho hum! Thanks again, Nancy." -- Richard Shadforth, London, May 2005. | |
Festival Tours International
15332 Antioch St., #17, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Fax/Tel (818) 346-5146 (310) 454-4080
E-mail: Festtours@aol.com
Download and print out our 2006
booking form and
booking conditions
(PDF format file; free Adobe Acrobat reader required)
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Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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Want to know more? Phone, fax or write to: Nancy Covey or Joey Thompson Festival Tours International 15332 Antioch St., #17, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 Fax/Tel (818) 346-5146 (310) 454-4080 E-mail: Festtours@aol.com
Download and print out our 2006
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 Nancy Covey, our fearless leader! |
Email Nancy for more info on the Tour
Read more about Jazzfest, and
visit the Official New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival site
Festival Tours Home Page
Read about our previous music trips to England and
Scotland, plus Central Europe!
The Gumbo Pages' Home Page