I kid you not. “Wrock the Boat” will be sailing from New Orleans next Halloween as the first Harry Potter themed cruise, ever.
This cruise, unfortunately, is really just for Wizard Rock fans. Would anyone out there be interested in a Hogwarts Professor cruise? I’m pretty sure I could twist the arms of Harry Potter mavens like Amy Sturgis (Belmont), James Thomas (Pepperdine), Edmund Kern (Lawrence), David Baggett (Liberty), Travis Prinzi (Sword of Gryffindor), and Tom Morris to join me and the HogPro All-Pros for a ride on a boat with talks and discussion groups taking the place of rock concerts….
All of you wanting that firehose introduction to English literature via Harry Potter, I promise to give talks on Shakespeare, Swift, Austen, Dickens, Lewis, and Sayers, with Dante thrown in as a token nod to Florence, on said cruise if you sign up in sufficient numbers to make it happen. Anyone know a travel agent that creates this kind of package?
More seriously, assuming this sort of float-on-a-boat thing would be ridiculously expensive and silly, how about a HogPro conference next summer? All we need is a College or Prep School, preferably one located near an airport, willing to let us rent a dormitory floor or two for sleeping and a couple of lecture halls for sleeping, I mean, lectures. I floated this idea once before and I’m hopeless at organizing this sort of thing. Reading about “Wrock the Boat,” though, made me think it’s a possibility.
Anyone out there willing to take on this project? Let us know below!
The cruise idea sounds like a blast, but I’d probably have to pass on that until my kids are older (and my wallet fatter!)
The summer conference idea sounds great, though. I’d be willing to arrange for the facilities, as long as there’s enough interest, and people out there are willing to come to Minneapolis, Minnesota! Yes, I know this is fly-over country, but if everyone had to come here, then people from the East Coast and West Coast would be equally disadvantaged. On the positive side, you can get fairly inexpensive flights in and out of here from most locations. Plus, it’s gorgeous here in the summer. Contrary to popular belief, the temperature does rise above freezing for a good part of the year.
I spoke with an Events Services coordinator at Northwestern College here in the Twin Cities, and it sounds doable and affordable, even for a fairly small group of people. I can e-mail the price quotes to you, John, if you’re interested.
Wow, this would be amazing. And Mary N., flyover country is the best place to live. As an added benefit, the Twin Cities area has a lot to offer–we could possibly indulge our inner materialists at the Mall of America and squeak in a Prairie Home Companion show.
Seriously, such a conference might be doable for us, if food isn’t an issue (no gluten for me!). Why, we could even bring the kitties. Luscious Badboy nips and Mrs. Fleasley shrieks, but Hairy Plotter is a dear.
Do you think you could get Janet on board?
Hoping this can happen; kitties nosing the suitcases…
If it involves the possibility of a trip to the Mall of America, which my daughter thinks of as heaven on earth (without having ever been there, of course), I think I’d have to do everything within my power to be there. (With hopes that I am in a post-strike solvency mode…)
What a truly lovely idea!
I’d be interested in the conference anywhere in the USA.
I’d love to go on the cruise, but recognize it’s price–HPfantours.com based in Colorado does a lot of HP theme trips to London/Oxford/Scotland and would be a good resource. I went on an HP fan trip in 2005, and it was great!
The official link is http://www.hpfantrips.com (sorry)
John,
With you and that list of authors and speakers I would be “booking” (no pun intended) my family on that cruise today, if not sooner!
My family and I are very familiar with http://www.hpfantrips.com/ based
in Colorado having been on three HPFan tours through England/Oxford/Scotland. HP FanTrips gives the HP enthusiast the best experience seeing the sites of the films and the inspiration for the places in JKR’s HP book series.
John, my wife is on Beyond Boundries Travel (HPFanTrips) staff and may be able to look into the possibilities for your HP Literary Cruise idea.
Stay tuned readers!
Oh, and by the way…
Best. Post title. Ever.
Dr. Elliot Engel http://www.authorsink.com/default.htm has done this sort of thing for years at his Author’s Ink “Dickens Destinations” tours. http://www.authorsink.com/Destinations.htm Here’s hoping that we can (a) get HP Fan Trips to organize a HogPro specific UK group trip that I can lead, (b) find a HP resonant place http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson_Hall,_University_of_Chicago to do a week-long intensive or convention style immersion on Harry and English/World literature, or (c) we hijack a Cruise Ship ourselves…
Would it be helpful for people interested in participating in whatever this turns out to be to weigh in as to how much we might be able/willing to spend? I’d hate for this to turn into something many people would regretfully have to pass on….
Great point, Janet, I’ll have to talk to my dear husband Greene. I’m sure a cruise would be out for us.
The kitties will be green with envy if we can’t go…
A Hogwarts Professor cruise? Count me in! 🙂
(But, hey, a little wizard rock wouldn’t hurt either. *g*)