Once Upon a Time in Warm Hawaii ...

Learn the art of storytelling on Oahu, an island of myths, legends and history on a four-day trip that leaves Dec. 3. Participants attend classes during the day and in their free time meet native Hawaiians, tour the island and visit the beaches. Professional storytellers Robert and Kelly Wilhelm teach the classes. Cost: $495 per person, double occupancy, including hotel accommodations, classes and most meals. Not included: air fare to Hawaii. Contact: Storyfest Journeys, 18934 Rolling Road, Hagerstown, MD 21742; telephone (800) 277-7035.

Staging London

Celebrate the New Year with Critic’s Choice, International, in London for a theater tour Dec. 27-- Jan. 6. Guests will spend nine nights at the Park Lane Hotel in London’s charming Mayfair district, across from Green Park and a short walk to Harrods and Oxford Street. Activities include seven choice seats (stalls or dress circle) to a variety of London theater (dramas, comedies, Shakespeare, musicals), a New Year’s party on a Thames River cruiser, a half-day tour of London and a visit to an art gallery or museum and an excursion to the countryside.. Guests will also meet and talk with drama critic Ed Kaufman, professor emeritus at USC’s School of Cinema/TV/Drama. Cost: $3,799 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare on American Airlines, theater tickets, some meals, full English breakfast daily, hotel accommodations, transportation to all events via motor coach, entrance fees, porterage and gratuities. Contact: Nancy Bland at Montrose Travel, 2343 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020; tel. (213) 245-3158; fax (818) 248-5460.

Pub View of London

Discover the historic pubs of London on an seven-day trip to London Nov. 11-18. Participants will stay at Rubens Hotel on Buckingham Palace Road. There are two guided walking tours of London’s historic pubs scheduled during the week with transportation to and from each starting point. Some of the pubs scheduled are the Prospect of Whitby, built in 1520; The Red Lion, site of the battle between Cromwell and Charles I, and the pub I Am the Only Running Footman, so named for the liveried footman who would run ahead of aristocrats’ carriages. In addition to the pub tours, a half-day tour of London, including Westminster Abbey and a choice of a London show are included on the itinerary. Cost: $1,199 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotel accommodations, daily continental breakfast, cancellation insurance, tour, transfers and taxes. The Pig’s Ear Pub in San Bernardino, an English-style pub, is hosting the tour. Contact: Redlands Travel Service, 219 E. Olive Ave., Redlands, CA 92373; tel. (800) 339-8417.

Bohemian Highlights

A 16-day tour to Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic departs Oct. 20 from Los Angeles. The following afternoon participants meet their tour director and are given an orientation tour and overnight in Frankfurt. In Berlin, Germany’s capital, a sightseeing tour stops at the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, Tiergarten, the German State Opera House and Unter den Linden Boulevard. Two nights are spent in Warsaw to see the suburb of Poznan, with its charming city hall and gothic churches, and the Warsaw Ghetto. Also visited in Poland is Czestochowa, home of the nation’s most important shrine containing the icon of the “Black Madonna,’ and the medieval city of Krakow, Poland’s former capital and a treasure trove of historical monuments.

Budapest on the Danube is visited before traveling to Vienna on the Danube to see the opera house, Belvedere Palace Gardens, Hofburg and the Cathedral of St. Stephen. The group then heads north to Prague in the Czech Republic for an overnight stay and viewing of Hradcany Castle, home to President Vaclav Havel, and the cathedral of St. Vitus and Wenceslas Square.

En route to Munich for an overnight stay, there is a stop with a tour at Nuremberg. In Munich, the Olympic Stadium and Marienplatz with the Glockenspiel clock highlight an orientation tour of this Bavarian city. Members continue on to the university city of Heidelberg before finishing in Frankfurt for a day to rest before flying home.

Cost: $2,398 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, hotels, breakfast daily, eight dinners, motor coach while touring, airport transfers, tour director and local guides, baggage handling and hotel tips. Contact: Vern or Anne Bonar of Bonar Travel, 24 Whitewater Drive, Corona del Mar, CA 92625; tel. (714) 640-7402.

Natural New Zealand

Experience the nature and wildlife of New Zealand on a 21-day tour Oct. 28-Nov. 17. The tour will focus on the natural and cultural history of the country with several off-the-beaten-track excursions to observe some of the unique bird and animal life.

The tour includes a day cruise of the fiords of Milford Sound; tour of the Whakarewarewa thermal area in Rotorua and the kauri forests near Whangarei; a Maori feast and concert; a visit to the glow worm caves of Waitomo, a sheep station, vineyards of Martinborough, and a side trip to Stewart Island in search of the elusive kakapo and kiwi.

The tour also takes participants to major cities, including Auckland, Wellington, Napier and Christchurch, providing opportunities to visit museums, botanical gardens, aquariums. The trip, which is sponsored by the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, Vt., is limited to 15 participants. Cost: $5,340 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air from Los Angeles, lodging, land transportation, escort fees, porterage fees and most meals. Contact: Steve Amos, Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, Main and Prospect streets, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819; tel. (802) 748-2372 (weekdays) or (802) 626-5561 (evenings).

Salute to Beer

Leaving Sept. 8, the Beer Lovers Travel Club will sponsor a trip to Munich, Germany, to celebrate the opening of Oktoberfest and learn about the history and brewing of Europe’s finest beers. Oktoberfest takes place during September and ends at the beginning of October. The opening ceremonies start Sept. 16, with cultural parades and expositions highlighting Bavarian costumes and tradition. The 12-day tour will kick off in Brussels and go through Belgium and southern Germany to visit breweries and museums along the pilgrimage to the world’s biggest beer festival. Cost: $2,200 per person, double occupancy, including hotels and motor-coach transportation, all breakfast and some meals. Not included: air fare to Brussels and from Munich. Contact: John Shuman, P.O. Box 492216, Redding, CA 96049; tel. (916) 244-6945.

Southeast Asia

Twelfth-Century walled cities, provincial capitals and priceless treasures are seen in three countries, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, on a 21-day tour that leaves Nov. 25. Ancient temples, stupas and pagodas are common sights on a trip that begins in Bangkok to visit the provincial capitals of Sukhothia, Chiang-Mai and Chiang-Rai CQ?-VR with a continuation to the Buddhist caves at Pak Ou in northern Laos. In Myanmar, guests take a boat ride on Inle Lake sighting the famed “leg-rowers” of Upper-Burma. A tour of the Ananda Temple at sunset to hear the chimes invoking the attention of a sitting Buddha. Cost: $5,280 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, tours and three meals daily. Not included: international air fare. Contact: First Cabin Travel, 7734 Herschel Ave., Suite R, La Jolla, CA 92037; tel. (800) 752-3302.

Traditions of Veneto

Suzanne Campion-Tittoto will lead a 13-day tour to sample the culture and traditions of Veneto departing from Los Angeles Oct 14. Tittoto, who is American-born but now lives in Venice, will take guests on a journey to places familiar only to the natives and where traditions find their triumph in cooking.

The trip includes four days on Lago di Garda, tours of the Palladian villas including the Villa Barbaro, where the present owner, Countess Lugling Bruschetti Diamante, will personally escort the group to latteria , where asiago and grana cheeses are made. Visits are made to several regional wineries with talks by their chief enologists, and meals at family-owned restaurants, where local products are used to prepare regional specialties. The town of Asolo, to visit the tour leader’s vineyards, with samplings of homemade wood-oven baked bread, fresh salami and wines; tours of the Palladian villas; four days on beautiful Lago di Garda including local tours highlighting the region; scenic tours of the Dolomite mountains; the Lagoon Islands of Venice including Murano, Burano and Torchello. Shops where artisans work making fine Venetian lace and weaving delicate silks, and the School of Embroidery, which dates back to the 17th Century. Cost: $3,905 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, most meals, tours and ground transportation. Contact: Campioni Italiani di Veneto; tel. (310) 373-2226.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with cruise lines, travel agents or tour operators.