Blogs

The Pantai Inn just opened in San Diego’s favorite coastal community and is offering travelers great deals on ocean view suites.

The inn will eventually expand to 44 suites, but at the moment – I was there two days ago – only 7 suites are available, and these are being offered at discounted rates as low as $299 a night including continental breakfast, wi-fi, and free parking.

This has got to be Southern California’s best hotel deal at the moment, and it’s great for traveling families because

Luxury spas and retreats are fun. After all, who doesn't like a great massage?

This type of travel is good for our physical well-being and also for our mental health - especially if we learn new behaviors that we can practice at home.

Over the years when I've visited spas, I've collected recipes that I can easily prepare in my own kitchen.

Here is one of my favorites:

Reduced Fat Carrot Peanut Butter

Ingredients:
peanut butter (smooth) 1/3 cup
carrot chunks, boiled    1 cup

Directions:
B

We’ve talked about how to get to San Diego’s favorite coastal community, but if you’re planning a trip, you also need to think about the best time to be here.

Weather -

Weather is certainly a consideration – even though the temperature in San Diego is mild year round, and we get less than 10 inches of rain a year (usually from November to March). Click here for some rainy day suggestions.

Daytime temps range from a low of 64°F (about 17°C) in December to a high of 79°F (about 25°C) in August.

I'm always impressed when a wine visually reflects its terroir. You actually begin getting to know it just by pouring. My most recent instance of this was when I tasted Santi Moscato Montedoro 2010. Santi Moscato grapes are grown in Italy's Trentino region on foothills of the Dolomite Mountains. The word “Montedoro” is derived from the golden hue reflected on the pointed spires of these mountains at sunset.

Upon first taste, this wine has enough sugar to lull you into the assumption that it can o

The popularity of family travel has caused parents, grandparents, and toy manufacturers to come up with creative ways to keep kids entertained and engaged en route to their destination.

One of the best ideas I’ve seen yet is the Trunki – a durable plastic suitcase that pre-schoolers can pack, ride-on, and pull along behind them.

Made by Melissa & Doug, the educational toy company, the Trunki comes in a variety of bright kid-friendly colors. My favorite is the red one that looks like a lady bug

In celebration of national Day here in the UAE we had a short holiday, so we decided to take a quick jaunt to London. I had never been there, and I am a history fanatic, where better than London! 

I always fly Qatar Airways. Qatar flies into Heathrow. I did nor know anything about this airport, or i would have taken a different carrier and avoided this miserable excuse for an international airport.

We arrived at Heathrow airport about noon. TWO HOURS later we were finally through immigration. Term

I started writing “La Jolla Travel Information” 3 years ago because I want visitors to get the most from the time they spend in my community.

However, it recently occurred to me that while I was busy leading you off the beaten path in La Jolla, I may have overlooked some critical information…

Do you know where La Jolla is?

The city of San Diego is located in the southwest corner of the United States - just above the border with Mexico and along the Pacific coast. It is the 8th largest city in the

Getting High in Jamaica

I was pretty terrified.

Weak knees,  breath-holding terrified.

I was standing on the edge of small tree platform high above the Jamaican rain forest, looking down at all the treetops. About eye level with the birds!

With the forest canopy beneath me, the guides from Chukka Tours expertly snapped all the hooks and cables in place and I could feel myself about to shout out, “I don’t want to do this, Man” !

Thankfully before I could, one of the women leaders placed a reassuring

It all started when Savannah Bee Company owner Ted Dennard was 13 years old and met Roy Hightower, a renowned beekeeper who was scouting out a spot for his hives to harvest “Swamp Honey” made from the nectar of swamp dwelling White Tupelo tree blossoms. At first, the bee swarms intimidated Ted but when Roy twirled a frame of honeycomb with sunlight shining through like a stained glass window, Ted was hooked for life. He kept bees throughout his high school and college years. During his Peace Cor

This is the city that has everything: shopping, culture, sports, entertainment and good food. And the best part is that most attractions in London is gathered in the center. The best way to get to know the city is to walk, since there are an awful lot to see. You may want to take a neighborhood per day, preferably Leicester Square, Soho, Westminster and the City of London.

If you have a lot of activities planned in different parts of the center, the subway, or the “tube”, is the best way to trave

Hace poco tuve el placer de otra bonita visita a esta preciosa ciudad patrimonio de la humanidad UNESCO, y aunque en mis muchos viajes por el mundo muchísimas personas nativas me han pedido (y una vez literalmente exigido a punta de cuchillo) dinero, esta ocasión, como dirían mis amigos españoles, ha sido la hostia.

Pues este pasado miércoles, estuve con un amigo cartaginero conversando un tomando un traguito en el conocido bar-restaurante Café del Mar, ubicado sobre la anciana muralla de piedra

How Tourism Ireland Won Top Social Media Prize

Luck of the Irish?

Hardly.

It was no surprise to us when Tourism Ireland  was tapped as the winner in the “Best Use of Social Media” contest at the Travolution Awards in London.

Nor were they lucky.

We’ve worked under contract with Tourism Ireland producing short-form Travel Video PostCards, and they were always way ahead of most every other player in the travel industry in embracing social media opportunities.

They were innovative and experimental, very

Oh sure, there's Shakira, Paulina, Thalia, Camila, Juanes, Marc, Ricky, and other popular poppers, God bless 'em. But ay,  bendito, the sensation of the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards earlier this month -- as it was at the same awards in 2009 -- was the Puerto Rican duo Calle 13, nominated for ten awards, and bringing home nine, breaking Colombian singer Juanes' lifetime Latin Grammys record. This pair of 33-year-old stepbrothers, tattooed René Pérez (aka "Residente") and bearded Eduardo Cabr

The world is now more accessible than ever before. Things you thoght weren't posiible now are, you just need the reight resources and assistance.

Twenty percent (62 million) of the U.S. population has some form of disability, and the number of these individuals is increasing daily. These people need to, want to, and can travel. If you’re part of that twenty percent, a world of travel awaits you.

Travel professionals such as myself and our agency Latitudes travel (www.LatitudesWI.com) who are acce

Muscadine is a type of grape mostly indigenous to the Southeastern United States but also found from Delaware down to Georgia and as far west as Texas. Not only do they grow best in humid climates within this region, their distillation into wine is exclusive to this area as well. The first European settlers in America were introduced to Muscadine by the Natives. Sir Walter Raleigh is considered the first in 1584 and the “Mother Vine” is still living today on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

Also k

When Travelers Become Transumers

Get comfortable with the term "Transumer,” because you’ll be hearing it often.

Correspondent Charlene Rook uses it in her informative articles in Sparksheet  to refer to the flow of goods and services by savvy hospitality and travel marketers that follow a traveler wherever he or she may be in the travel cycle.

In other words, when brands extend their services across travel categories to reach the traveler in airports, train stations and other kinds of spaces, that

I am not ashamed to admit it I like to eat. and I prefer to eat really great food. My nickname when I worked on cruise ships was the food scout, and my book Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships is filled with vivid descriptions of the wonderful meals I have eaten across the globe. So when I heard that there was an all you can eat lobster buffet at Valley View casino - a small casino set in the mountains north of San Diego I knew that I had to go there. I know some people don'