Blogs

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

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

por Jorge Mira

Hay una larga lista de personas famosas con fobia a volar. Quizás el más destacado de todos ellos sea Gabriel García Márquez, quien hace ya tiempo escribió un cómico artículo sobre el asunto titulado “Seamos machos: hablemos del miedo al avión”, en el que nos dejaba algunas perlas como éstas:

“Yo lo padezco como nadie, a mucha honra, y además con una gratitud inmensa, porque gracias a él he podido darle la vuelta al mundo en 82 horas, a bordo de toda clase de aviones, y por lo m

By Shannon Farley

Tortuguero is like the imaginary jungle coast in Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” It is a wild place.

You can just imagine what was going through Christopher Columbus’ mind when he anchored off the palm-fringed beach in 1502 … “I have come to the end of the earth,” he must have mused.

The Tortuguero coast along Costa Rica’s northern Caribbean region is a 22-mile-long, desolate, volcanic black sand beach littered with driftwood and tree logs tossed up on shore from wil

And, yes,  we told you so.

In a New Media Travel article we discussed the low-to-no threat that cell phones pose to navigation, and why some many other airlines like Emirates are permitting cell phone use in flight. US-based airlines don't.

But we also said most passengers don't actually want to talk in the air. Nor do they want to talk to their co-passengers.

Apparently saying "I love you," at 35,000 feet isn't a great a temptation for 38% of us who fly.

It seems we'd rather enjoy the quiet

We recently interviewed Brian & Bill Rogers of Timeshare Users Group (TUG) on our show, The Traveling Eye.  Bill, the father and founder of TUG told us that there's no "in the middle" for timeshare owners.  You either love it or hate it.  Why because you either understand the business of timeshare ownership or don't.  This is exactly why we did the show and looked to TUG for some expert advice.

I think we have all been to a presentation or two.  For my husband it became a sport to find and rece

Last week, Vilma Soltesz died after she was denied her seat on a flight because of her weight. Soltesz was planning to fly home to receive treatment for diabetes and renal disease, but she passed away in Hungary before she could get home. Her husband has filed a lawsuit, but the two airlines named in the suit (Delta and KLM) are claiming that they could not physically accommodate Soltesz.

Though the details of Soltesz's ordeal remain in dispute, her story—and the experiences of countless other fl