It is a truly fab time to be a Beatle fan. The new Rock Band: The Beatles is out this week and is creating a massive amount of buzz as it will turn on millions of new Beatle fans among the young  gamer generation.  On the very same day, the newly re-mastered and digitized catalog of the Beatle albums recorded from 1962-70 is being released and the smorgasbord of options (sets or individual, stereo or mono) is enough to keep us Beatlemaniacs up all night for weeks, listening for the 101st time to each song for yet another subtle nuance. I have been an over-the-top Beatlemaniac  since I was 12, so it's rewarding to see all of this publicity and  continuously swelling adoration of the most influential rock band of all time.

For anyone who may now leap up that ladder from mere fan to Beatlemaniac, and who wants to incorporate Beatle themes in future travel, here are a few suggestions:

Liverpool. This is the place to visit if you've gone over that edge and returned to this side as a Beatlemaniac and you're ready to really "get back".  The Beatles journey from working class, neighborhood guys from Liverpool to living legends is a truly fascinating one and their progression made a mark on the social history of the 20th century.

In the 1950s and 60s, when the Beatles began making music here, Liverpool was a downtrodden port city that was seen as inferior to anything in the "south" of England, where most successes in entertainment were accomplished.  Today, Liverpool is a fairly vibrant and contemporary place, thanks to a big push to modernize and rejuvenate in time to be the 2008 European Cultural Capital city and host millions of visitors.  It's a very quick and easy day trip from London--  just two hours ride each way on the speedy BritRail train out of Euston Station.

The heart of Beatles musical history in the central part of Liverpool- the Cavern Club and Mathew Street- is easily reached in a 10-15 minute walk from where London trains arrive, Lime Street Station.  The legendary Cavern Club, which saw nearly 300 Beatle performances from 1961-63, was torn down in the 1970s, before it was realized what great revenue the Fab Four could bring to the city.  It's been rebuilt on the same spot, looking just as it did inside, but without the smell and dank darkness.  The Beatle-themed Hard Day's Night Hotel opened just three years ago in a historic building (circa 1884) at the corner of Mathew  and North John Streets. Though not officially part of Beatles history, it is a must-see to marvel at hundreds of photos, trippy artwork and some actual Beatle artifacts as well as to drop a few quid on some of the hundreds of Beatle-themed souvenirs.

If you wander just another 15 minutes further downhill from the Mathew Street/Cavern district you'll reach the Albert Dock area where The Beatles Story museum is located.  This section of the seaport has also been completely revamped from old shipping warehouses to a collection of museums that sit on the banks of the famous Mersey River.  The Beatles Story provides a recorded guide and lots of re-created scenes that take visitors through the early days of the Beatles in Liverpool to their international triumph and ultimate disbanding in 1971.  For those unfamiliar with the Beatles years of work to achieve their success, it's a good primer and the interviews on the guide from Beatles and their relatives and confidants are first-rate.

No visit to Liverpool can be complete with a little Magical Mystery Tour. The two-hour bus journey (on a bus that replicated THAT bus from THAT movie) departs from  Albert Dock to roam  the neighborhoods and suburbs of Liverpool to see the childhood homes of Three of the Fab Four (Ringo's childhood homes in the very poor Dingle section of town are either boarded up or demolished), Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane (the barber still has his shop in the roundabout there!) and more.  The tour is made extra special by guide Neil, who is a mate of Paul McCartney's, and offers up dozens of anecdotes and insider gossip with the traditional Liverpudlian humor and nasal drone.  The Magical Mystery Tour doesn't allow for entry into the homes, but the National Trust organization does offer tours to the interior of John and Paul's childhood homes (March-October with limited tour times) but with no additional stops or lively Neil to comment.

London.  You could spend several days visiting places in central London and nearby that were important to Beatle history and there are books that map them all out.   Or just sign up for  the fabulous London Walks  that offer two Beatle-themed walking  tours and you'll  get  the highlights of locations truly most important.  Guide Richard Porter is renowned as the Pied Piper of Beatles Fans in London and is part of why these tours are so great.  Of most importance and on both tours are the Abbey Road Studios in St. John's Wood and the crosswalk in front made famous on the Abbey Road album cover.

But the tour won't take you a few blocks over to Paul's house at 7 Cavendish Ave. - he still owns it and still uses it, occasionally.  It's delightfully modest and visible from the street and reminds you of the simpler times of 1966 (when he first purchased the house) when he walked to work at Abbey Road and chatted with fans who hung around outside.  The tours also take you to 3 Saville Road, near Piccadilly Circus, where the Apple offices were located and where the Beatles performed their last live "concert" ever on the roof in January 1969.  Go ahead- walk up and touch the door knob.

New York.  If a trip to New York is in your current or future plans, it's easy to include a couple of stops to see places most important to Beatle history.  One is the Ed Sullivan Theater, now home to the David Letterman Show, located at Broadway and 53rd in Midtown.  This was where the Beatles performed for the first time on American television in February 1964 and introduced themselves to some 70 million American households.   This past July Paul McCartney, in homage to this historic site, performed live from atop the marquee outside for a lucky crowd one hot afternoon.  Walk through Central Park to 72nd street or take the subway that stops there.

Strawberry Fields is the understated and peaceful place dedicated to John Lennon in the park he loved in the city he loved.  It's said that if you stand at the Imagine mosaic and look up at the Dakota building where he lived (and Yoko still lives), you would have the same view he had when looking down on the park.  I always feel a bit guilty walking across Central Park West at 72nd street to see the doorway of The Dakota, where Lennon was shot and killed in 1980. To see it is to realize the tragic outcome of how accessible Lennon felt he could live in New York.  But I find it just ghoulish to take pictures there.

Las Vegas. Cirque du Soleil's LOVE show at the Mirage is a new way to appreciate and experience the beloved Beatle music.  More than 20 favorite songs create a soundscape that  is enhanced by acrobatics, dancing, miming, visual effects and an overall cacophony of sight and sound.  It's endorsed by all four members of "the company" (McCartney, Starr and the widows of Lennon and Harrison) and I can tell you they enjoy attending the show.  I scored the ultimate Beatlemaniac's experience when I sat in the audience with all four of them at the show's first anniversary performance!

Do you have a favorite Beatle-themed destination to share?