October in the City by the Bay - I just can’t say enough about it. Getting a late Indian summer means warm days in October. This year the city would host the America’s Cup yacht race trials and the annual Naval “Fleet Week,” complete with the Blue Angels buzzing over San Francisco Bay, all on the same weekend. San Francisco is one of world’s favorite cities. October weekends include street fairs, music festivals, food and beer festivals, and more. The city comes to life with warm days and nights
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An oldie but goodie from one of the seminal Spanish pop groups of the 1980′s and 1990′s, reunited just about a year ago. Two brothers, Nacho and José María Cano wrote and played the tunes and Ana Torroja sang ‘em, and many were quirky doozies — I Can’t Get Up Today, This Isn’t a Serious Cemetery, I Crashed a Party, Stereosexual. This one, from the 1987 album Descanso dominical (Sunday Break) describes the annual New Year’s Eve revelry in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol plaza — “sa
When in Seattle, Washington stay at the luxurious Pan Pacific Hotel and after a day of work or sightseeing head across the courtyard to the Vida Spa to revitalizes your external sense of well-being while restoring your internal sense of vitality and energy. Each treatment is as unique as your needs. So your body, mind and spirit can all be brought into perfect harmony. Vida offers 17 treatment rooms, three couples treatment rooms, four side by side pedicure lounges and two manicure areas. Vida’s
First impressions of what to expect in Sierra Leone were not encouraging. The Sierra Leone High Commission in the UK, where tourists are required to apply for visas, is on a narrow street in central London. The reception area was dark and shabby. Visa applicants were directed along a gloomy passage to an official sitting in a small room behind a desk piled high with a clutter of papers and forms. Fortunately, the process proved to be less arduous than feared and the official who issued the visa
| There’s snow on the ground in many parts of British Columbia, and thoughts are turning to Christmas. Where better to get into the Christmas spirit than in the traditional Christmas markets in Germany? Today we’re joined by Bavarian guide Simone, who regularly delights travelers with her fun and insightful tours of Munich. In November and December, Simone offers a special Christmas Market tour. |  (click to enlarge) |
What images come to your mind if you talk about December in Germany? Snow covered mo |
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It all started with a produce stand run by "Pop" Balducci in Brooklyn. Now after 96 years and multiple restructurings, Balducci’s is a flagship destination for gourmands the nation over online along with 6 physical stores located in Maryland, Virginia, New York and Connecticut. After all these years, produce is still hand-selected, only prime cuts of meat will do, and the fish is flown in fresh daily from the dock. If you walk into any of their shops, you get on site chef prepared dishes, the fi
by Shannon Farley
Costa Rica’s 2012 “Christmas Bird Count” at Veragua Rainforest Research & Adventure near Limón scored great success.
A historic number of 417 different bird species, and 12,665 individual birds, were identified in a 24-hour period – the highest number registered in Central America for the annual bird count. Beginning at 12:00 a.m. on December 5 and finishing at midnight the same day, 67 ornithologists, naturalist guides, university students and bird enthusiasts covered 19 routes
Rajasthan, the land of the Rajputana dynasty and its heritage treasures, has attracted a tremendous number visitors to its vast and scintillating sights for memorable holidays. This land of princes and maharajas has many luxurious and opulent things to offer from eloquent palaces to majestic forts and monuments, from the faraway Aravali Hills to goosebump-inducing wilderness amidst lush foliage and the vibrant fairs and festivals - all part of the essential tableau of Rajasthan tours.
But above a
From November 9 to 11, 2012, a trio of leading family travel "influencers" ushered in their annual Family Travel Conference, http://www.familytravelconference.com/ a gathering of passionate, talented and savvy family travel bloggers and journalists from around the country. The venue was the huge, but responsive Omni Hotel in Dallas, Texas.
This is a group with clout...and Klout. Together, the hundred or so attendees have become family travel's "thought leaders and influencers." The FTC attend
When George Lucas first created the Star Wars trilogy, he likely never never imagined that the films, set in Tunisia, would draw in thousands of fans yearly to the country to this day. Many Star Wars fans have already found their way to the deserts of southern Tunisia, 'in a galaxy far far away’ that set the scene for one of history's most famous films .
As the producer and director of the trilogy, George Lucas traveled to exotic lands to find the perfect setting for his epic space opera film.
Ahhh, there's no place like home Las Vegas for Christmas.
December is considered the 'off season' in Las Vegas, but that is a relative term. Vegas is always hopping, no matter what time of year. Christmas is actually very crowded in Las Vegas. Absolutely everything is open, shops, casinos, bars, restaurants, buffets, attractions and shows.
The large resort hotels on the Las Vegas Strip are beautifully decorated for Christmas, each trying to outdo the others.
December 2011 has brought below average
Have you ever been to Barcelona at Christmastime? Sure, sun and sandy beaches come to mind, when mentioning this name, but Christmas is very special for the Catalans.
If you haven’t visited the city at this time of the year, do so – the temperature are high enough for pleasant stroll down the streets, full of lights. And there are loads of things to do in Barcelona. You can best feel the spirit of the festivities at Fira de Santa Llucia, the most traditional Christmas market in the city. Here you
Not too many people know much about (or have even heard of) the tiny, 10-island West African country of Cape Verde, on Boavista island). But even though relatively few actually understood her song lyrics, plenty in Europe, Africa, and the rest of the world certainly knew and loved its most famous native daughter, a soulful singer whom we lost a year ago today at age 70.
Like one of my favorite U.S. jazz icons, Alberta Hunter, Cesária Évora started her career young and at one po
By Shannon Farley
Any Olympic athlete or professional athlete, or high school or university athlete, or even a child on a sports team for that matter, has a coach. Actors have coaches. Singers and dancers have coaches or trainers. Over the past decades, executives and businesspersons have joined the ranks of seeking coaching for success.
In today’s modern world, there is business coaching, financial coaching, executive coaching, career coaching, expat & global coaching for those living and working
The indifferent, howling storm tossed us through the night. The Hawaiian Islands are 2,000 miles from the nearest land. The waves come in from the open ocean and there is nothing to slow their momentum. We pitched twenty feet up, then plunged down, slamming on the water with a heavy thud. After several hours of this rude pounding, I gave up to the fatalistic notion that this was the way I was meant to go. Since I planned to have my ashes scattered at sea, I felt this was just a short cut to what
You'd think eating was risk-free, or at least faux pas free. It's not
Nor is travel, it seems. New Media Travel's post ''How Not to Travel Like an Ugly American highlights some of the cultural land mines that lie in wait for the unsuspecting traveler, such as never bring a dozen roses to a dinner party in Italy. Your hostess will frown at the gesture because it's "improperly romantic," and apparently Italians prefer an odd number of flowers.
Who would have thought. The post also provides a "cu
Every bottle of wine or liquor I can think of has a label. Many times the label simply indicates the contents with a brief description of origin and flavor. But sometimes, labels go beyond the basic requirements with a higher purpose. Campari and Fonseca Bin 27 Port are two brands with labels promoting indigenous art.
Campari
Campari's art label is very fiery...vibrant! And this most accurately portrays what's inside the bottle. This spirit can be sipped straight, but when mixed in classic cockta
Queenstown - oh yeah, baby! Every tourist that goes to New Zealand also goes to Queenstown. You would think it's really big, but it isn't. It's just an little town where the most tourist come to party and the locals to enjoy the amazing ski area called "The Remarkables". The town was actually named after a queen Victoria because of it's beauty. A town fit for a queen.
I don't know if Queen Victoria was beautiful, but Queenstown was definitely amazing. OK, it was overcrowded with tourists but that
The “How to Make Sushi Class” at the Mohegan Manor in Baldwinsville, New York is the perfect gift for the hard-to-get-for person. Mohegan Manor is located in a historic building built in 1911 as the Oddfellows Mohegan Lodge. The lounge was the original post office for Baldwinsville. It was beautifully restored by Dennis Sick and has been the home of Mohegan Manor since 1989. Mohegan Manor has a restaurant, bar, and event facilities plus a Sushi Club with a dedicated sushi chef. The club is loc
Located 10 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, the Fisherman's Outlet is one of L.A.'s favorite seafood lunch restaurants, an iconic L.A. eatery and "fish heaven" to Angelenos and tourists alike since 1961. The location may not be the best in L.A, located near Little Tokyo and Skid Row - so why do people come from throughout the L.A. area to this seedy neighborhood? For mouth-watering seafood cooked to perfection. Open for lunch only, be prepared to wait in line during the lunch rush hour, but
