By Fred Wright, Jr.

PJ Party
Pack your PJs. Leave the good clothes at home. At least that’s the pitch from Hastings House on British Columbia’s Saltspring Island, which is offering a Pajama Party Package, complete with crackling fire, champagne and casual clothes, all in the privacy of a suite. The resident chef will meet with guests to determine menu choices. Included in the package are a two-hour spa treatment, afternoon tea and meals. Guests may also choose a gourmet safari, a flower-arranging class or a painting class. The two-night, three-day package is US$ 1,329 to US$ 1,853. For more information, call 800-661-9255 or go to www.hastingshouse.com.

Speaking of Cash
Fans of “The Man in Black,” the late American country singer Johnny Cash (1932-2003), can now meet their hero up close and personal, as well as strum along with the legendary singer — or at least his wax figure — at the new interactive Johnny Cash experience at Madame Tussauds New York. The figure depicts a clad-in-black 1970s Cash seated and playing a guitar. Visitors can sit next to the figure, pick up a guitar and play along. Located in Times Square, the museum is open daily. For more information, call 800-246-8872 or go to www.nycwax.com.

Royal Stage Work
For live theater fans who love William Shakespeare’s works, an historic festival is under way at the home stage of The Bard. The Royal Shakespeare Company, based in Stratford-on-Avon in England, will produce the biggest festival in its history, inviting theater companies from around the world to join the company in a yearlong celebration of Shakespeare’s complete works. For the first time, all plays, the sonnets and the long poems will be presented in the same event. The Complete Works Festival runs April 2006 through April 2007. Headline performers include Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen. For more information, go to www.rsccompleteworks.co.uk.

A Sight for Azores Eyes
A new 29-room hotel has opened on the Azores island of Terceira, in a 16th century fortress overlooking the Atlantic. The Pousada de Angra opened its doors in April with off-season rates as low as US$ 60 per person, double occupancy, including a Portuguese breakfast. Azores Express is the only airline with direct flights from the United States to the Azores, a group of volcanic islands belonging to Portugal. The service has a new single price of approximately US$ 96 per person for all inter-island flights for passengers coming from selected U.S. gateway cities. Guests of the new hotel can go diving, fishing or whale and dolphin watching. For more information about Azores Express, call 800-762-9995 or go to www.azores-express.com. For information about Pousada de Angra Hotel, call 800-265-4842 or go to www.pousadas.pt.

Channeling Your Balloon Fantasies
The Channel Champ, the first hot-air balloon to cross the English Channel, is now part of a new exhibit at the National Balloon Museum in Indianola, Iowa. (The key phrase is “hot air;” this isn’t the first manmade balloon to cross the channel, it’s the first one using fuel-generated hot air.) The balloon was launched from Rye, England, on April 13, 1963, and landed in Gravelines, France, in a flight lasting 3 hours, 17 minutes. More remarkable, perhaps, is that the two passengers rode without parachutes on a wooden board along with two 30-gallon (113 l) fuel tanks and a few instruments, to an altitude of 13,500 feet (4,115 m). The museum is open daily, but closed during January. Entrance is free. For more information and directions, call 515-961-3714 or go to www.nationalballoonmuseum.com.

Rare Welsh Rarebits
Welsh Rarebits, in this case, is the collective name for 48 luxury homes, estates, townhouses and boutique hotels scattered throughout Wales where guests can enjoy an evening’s rest, gourmet food and traditional Welsh hospitality. Guests in selected Rarebits can also enjoy spa amenities or, especially this time of year, a rich array of blooming gardens. While towns and villages in Wales are known for their difficult-to-pronounce names, such as Llandeilo and Tre-Ysgawen, local maps are very easy to follow. Rates for a Rarebits B&B start at approximately US$ 68, and spa packages start at around US$ 150. A 2006 Welsh Rarebits brochure is available by calling 800-959-2537 or going to www.welsh.rarebits.co.uk.