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A New Look At New Orleans
Whatever your vice, it can probably be found in New Orleans, home of Mardi Gras, zydeco, bimbos and booze. But this bad-ass river town has another side: romantic, soulful, epicurean, and yes, even familial. Take a new look at the Big Easy with the loving eye of a local. Some say Paris is the most romantic city in the world, but in the absence of a transatlantic ticket, New Orleans might give it a run for the money. From the quaint carriage rides around the French Quarter to the splendor…
Different And Cheap: 3 Cool Places
Believe it or not, vacation season is winding down and late summer is a great time for some fantastic bargains. Conventional wisdom says to head to some calm and collected place: perhaps a beach on the northeast coast, or a ranch out west, or a cool mountain retreat. I say to hell with conventional wisdom. Don’t worry about things that are beyond your control. Damn the torpedoes and full steam ahead to Cancun, London and Aruba. Cancun. Hey, if it is good enough for Emily, it is good enough for…
Why Agents Love & Hate The Net
It seems you can’t get through life without at least one of those love/hate relationships: Alexis Carrington, Martha Stewart, OJ, or the latest challenge — the Internet. Sometimes I wonder how Earth managed to revolve without e-mail, instant news, spectacular travel deals and online porn. And sometimes I wish I’d never heard of cyberspace. You’d think the Internet has put the whammy on traditional travel agents — just look at the declining numbers. According to the Airlines Reporting Corporation, in May of 2001, there were 29,412 approved retail locations in…
What’s Your Tour Type?
Remember the days when Granny would pull out the old Super-8 projector to “treat” the kids to her latest jaunt across Europe with her friends on that “lovely” escorted tour? You probably also felt like you’d rather be undergoing a root canal. Without drugs. And a pit-bull chewing your leg. Good news: Tours are changing. And they’re not just for Granny anymore. Three years ago, I spoke with Paolo Mantegazza, the late chief executive of Globus & Cosmos, one of the world’s oldest and most respected escorted tour operators.…
Feeling Homesick? Five Remedies
Dorothy was right. There’s no place like home. If you travel for fun, you might only have a vague appreciation of that. But if you’ve ever been away on business for an extended period of time, you probably see things differently. There are few things worse than being sent across some ocean to tend to business for a long period of time. Unfortunately, I can’t write a note to excuse you from the project at hand. But I can offer some suggestions for making it a bit more palatable when…
Annapolis: More Than The Academy
The Blue Angels have just completed their last flyover. The presidential motorcade is heading back to a waiting Marine One, and all of the Midshipman have picked up their hats. Now that all the hustle and bustle of Commissioning Week — better known to us civilians as graduation — is over, Annapolis, Md., will calm down. The locals will have their town and harbor back for a little while until the summer tourists begin their annual migration. Whether you come for the history, the education, the water, or the hospitality,…
A Single Dad’s Trip Survival Guide
If the archetypal 20th century vacation was mom, dad and the kids driving to a national park in the station wagon (complete with a Rockwellesque dog, its tongue wagging in the wind), then the 21st century vacation is … well, a little less nuclear. After all, half of the marriages end in divorce nowadays. So scratch one parent. The dog? Left at home, preferably with the estranged spouse. And the rules? Let’s just say a glimpse at a modern-day getaway wouldn’t inspire Norman Rockwell to paint. Unless he wanted to…
12 Wellness Tips For The Road
Keeping healthy at home is hard enough. Just ask anyone who has survived a Northeastern winter. Between hacks, coughs, drips, sneezes, wheezes, and fevers, it is amazing that we can make it until spring. But when traveling, it’s a completely different story. Of course you have purchased travel insurance for your trip, but the key to a successful trip is to remain healthy and not use the insurance at all. Staying healthy on holiday is not just about avoiding the Centers for Disease Control hotspots or getting a shot or…
5 Tips For Getting The Star Treatment
You’ve probably seen it on TV. There’s Robin Leach is teeing off of the 17th hole at the Port Royal Golf Course. Or Joan Collins is sipping champagne in first class. Or Nicole Kidman is frolicking in the warm waters of the newest Jamaican resort. And you’ve wondered: how do they do it? Strictly between us, these perks are available to mere mortals, too. You just need to know how to do get the star treatment. Here are five sure-fire strategies. 1. Book off-season. There is no law that says…
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