Tag: travel ideas

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Things to do, places to go for 22 January 2009

I want to support the travel industry in tough economic times, so on occasional Thursdays (when I have time) I’ll put up a post with short excerpts from relevant PR pitches that have come to me via email.

It has to be something that I think my readers will like, it would help if it included links, and I’m not copying/pasting a whole press release. Readers should know that this is PR info and not independently vetted by me.

Here are a few recent items that might interest you….

  • Kid-friendly Hollywood Holiday Inn – The Beverly Garland Holiday Inn is nestled on seven acres in North Hollywood, less than a mile from Universal Studios Hollywood.  The 255 room property, which has been owned and operated by Hollywood actress Beverly Garland and her family since 1972, features seven “KidSuites” that are ideal for families. In addition, the property offers discounted VIP packages with Universal Studios.
  • New York City tourism site revamped – The site NYCgo.com features a comprehensive one-stop hub of information for visitors and residents, tailored to the interests of a variety of lifestyle categories, with select information available in nine foreign languages….Additionally, the website for the first time will house a dedicated cultural calendar from the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs, featuring more than 300 event and exhibition listings submitted by cultural institutions across the five boroughs.
  • Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada – If you are looking for a unique, entertaining and educational experience that ties together nature and the environment, you absolutely have to visit the Hôtel de Glace in Duchesnay, Jacques-Cartier region….With its towering snow archways and crystalline ice sculptures alongside inviting fireplaces, North America’s only ice hotel stands out both for its ethereal beauty and excellent service.  The ice hotel is completely redesigned each year.  January 4 to March 29, 2009.
  • Hawaii Whale Watching –  Humpback whales are being spotted in Hawaii’s warm waters as the whale watching season is in full force around the islands, which typically runs from November through May. While the whales are here, visitors can enjoy the impressive acrobatic displays of these large mammals from the sea or from the shore. Besides the various whale watching tours available, humpback whales may be spotted from just about any beach park around the state with the right timing and with some patience. Make a family day out of the activity and see how many you can find.
  • MonteLago Village Resort at Lake Las Vegas – A mere 17 miles from the bustling neon of the Vegas Strip, this incredibly child and family-friendly resort encompasses condo-style accommodations with kitchenettes (great for preparing quick snacks and/or meals for the kids without breaking the bank at restaurants every day) and multiple bedrooms, if desired. There are a plethora of outdoor activities like swimming in the year-round, kid-friendly, shallow pool (adults have one with a hot-tub, as well), boating (paddle, kayak, gondola), golfing, hiking and ice-skating in the winter (there is one casino on the property.)  Visit www.montelagovillage.com
  • Frommer’s top destinations for 2009 –
    1. Cartagena, Colombia
    2. Cape Town, South Africa
    3. Saqqara, Egypt
    4. Washington, D.C., United States
    5. Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada
    6. Civil Rights Trail from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, United States
    7. Lassen Volcano National Park, California, United States
    8. Berlin, Germany
    9. Belfast, Northern Ireland
    10. Istanbul, Turkey
    11. Cambodia (but not Angkor Wat)
    12. Waiheke Island, New Zealand
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USA

Teensy treasures at the Toy and Miniature Museum

The Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City is a little misleading; it seems like the perfect place to take the kids, but in many ways it’s better for adults and older children.

It’s not that there aren’t zillions of neat toys, trains, dolls, dollhouses, Teddy bears, marbles and other treasures – there are indeed, but the vast majority are beautiful antiques that are protected behind display cases.

It’s a “look but don’t touch” sort of place, which  was fine with me but might be a disappointment for very young people (I’d take the little ones to one of the museum workshops or special events so they can get hands onto crafts and learning projects.)

Spread across two floors of the 1911 Tureman Mansion in Kansas City, Missouri is an incredibly comprehensive collection of every wondrous toy imaginable.

I’ve been a sucker for detailed dollhouses since my own parents took me as a child to see the amazing Queen Mary’s dollhouse in the UK.

The first floor of the Toy and Miniature Museum has all sorts of dollhouses with lovely delicate period furnishings, plus a big section of toy trains, planes, cars and Noah’s Arks.

The Miniatures Gallery has beautifully-lighted tiny art miniatures to inspect, most to 1/12 scale; I loved the tiny dancing skeletons and eensy furniture.

(I am working very hard not to use the word “Lilliputian” in this blog post. I know that “eensy” is not a word; this is a time when it is fun to be an editor-free blogger….)

The highlight of the second floor galleries is probably the Marble Games and Gallery.  I don’t even know how to play marbles, but the colors and swirling patterns in the glassware have always appealed to me. These were gorgeous and their lighted displays showed them to perfection.

The gift shop was OK, but the surprising number of generic “Made in China” toys was rather disappointing. I thought, for example, that I’d see a lot more variety of locally-made Moon Marbles.

I recommend a trip to this museum if you’re in Kansas City, even if – or especially if – you are an adult.

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Book Reviews Tips

LIFE Dream Destinations book winner!

I used the Random Sequence Generator on Random.org to determine the book winner from the seven comments left on the post, and the winner is….

Jamie Pearson from Travel Savvy Mom!

Thanks to everyone who read the post (even if you didn’t leave a comment, it’s just nice to have you visit.)

This was my first giveaway contest, and I have several more books to review that I will give away in the same manner.  Look for them in coming weeks….you can subscribe to our Family Travel Logue feed if you’d like, or fill in your email address in the box on our site’s homepage to get posts by email.

Categories
Book Reviews Tips

LIFE’s Dream Destinations (and how you can win the book)

Dream Destinations, a LIFE book (photo of book cover by Sheila Scarborough)Sometimes you need a little travel dreaming in your life, and I wandered the world recently courtesy of LIFE’s hardcover travel book, “Dream Destinations: 100 of the World’s Best Vacations” (at the end of this post, find out how to get me to mail it to you!)

Starting in 1936, LIFE magazine was the place to go for excellent photojournalism. I was sad when it folded as a monthly magazine in 2000, but the brand lives onward in various scaled-back incarnations, including some book publishing.

Any book like this is trying to both appeal to the adventurous, and also encourage the less-traveled to jump in and wander.  Consequently, some places that LIFE suggests are way too predictable and touristy for me, so I must smack myself because many others (including my wonderful readers who put up with my opinionated rants) might love them.

Then again, several locations were new to me, and almost all of the photos were very nice, so on balance I was pleased with the book.

“Dream Destinations” is organized by vacation types, so I focused on the ones “For Families.”  Here are some of LIFE’s suggestions for kid-friendly locations, and my reaction to them:

  • London.  Well, yes, I’ll buy that!  Unfortunately, it’s so expensive that it really is a dream to ever go there unless you save up for awhile.
  • Orlando.  No way.  I know there’s more to the town than Walt Disney World, but to be blunt, there isn’t MUCH more.  Doesn’t meet my “dream” criteria (plus the accompanying photo was one of the weakest in the book; was the photographer not very inspired?)
  • The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park.  Yes, indeed.  Their snowy hotel photo is drool-worthy, and the writeup highlighted something unique: the Bracebridge Dinners during Christmas.
  • The Bahamas.  I’m all for a tropical escape, but the writeup talked about all-inclusive resorts and behemoth places like Atlantis on Paradise Island. Neither is my style because they keep visitors in a cossetted bubble; how am I going to show my kids any local Bahamian culture in such lodgings?
  • Memphis.  Yes, absolutely.  Lots of different kinds of music to learn about (including the roots of rock in tiny Sun Studio,) family-friendly Beale Street, good food, the excellent National Civil Rights Museum….I’m a fan.

Many other destination photos and descriptions in the book (listed in sections like “For History Buffs” and “For Romantics”) were very appealing and less-known to me:  China’s Huangshan Mountains, the Masai Mara in Africa, upper Bucks County PA in the fall,  Snowdonia in Wales and Lake Wanaka in New Zealand.

If all this sounds like your kind of book, here’s what to do to win my copy:

  • Leave a brief comment below about why you’d like to read “Dream Destinations.”
  • At the end of this week, on Friday, September 19, 2008, I will randomly pick one of your comments using one of the cool tools on Random.org, then I’ll announce the winner in a separate post.
  • If you win, I’ll email you at the address you leave when you comment (to get your snail mail address,) then I’ll box up the book and send it to you. Yes, I’ll mail to places outside the US.

Good luck, and follow your dreams….

Update: Looks like LIFE is (partly) back in an online form, with access to lots of images.

Categories
Asia

Family Travel: Take the Kids to Hong Kong

Dragon Masks, History of Hong Kong Museum (Scarborough photo)I recently had the opportunity to take my daughter to Hong Kong; it’s my favorite city in the world since I made my first Navy port visit there in 1985.

I’ve seen it before and after the vaunted turnover to the Chinese, and it’s still the same sparkling, colorful urban jewel.

Think of it as sort of a Chinese New York, with all of the energy and verve and excitement which that analogy implies.

We visited along with my intrepid 20-something nephew on a Go-Today package; just the airfare and hotel because I said “no thanks” to the included tour. I already knew where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. The package was a Hong Kong-Tokyo combined deal; you’ll see the rest tomorrow when I post the link to my article about Tokyo in the San Antonio Express-News. (Update: here’s the link to my post “Navigating Tokyo with a ‘tween” including a link to the article plus other good Tokyo info.)

With a package, you are limited to a menu of hotels at different price ranges, but we weren’t going on this trip to admire our hotel. The Stanford Hillview on Kowloon side was fine; rooms were comfortable, staff was helpful and breakfast was OK.

Speaking of breakfast — I have now had a traditional Chinese breakfast and a traditional Japanese breakfast and I prefer….the traditional Norwegian breakfast! (smoked salmon, yogurts, cheeses, pickled herring in tomato sauce, fruit, meats, hearty bread, good coffee.)

Anyway, just getting around Hong Kong is half the fun. Assuming you arrive at Hong Kong International, grab your MTR Pass at the tourist desk and kick back as the Airport Express train whisks you efficiently into town in 20-40 minutes. Getting you and your family around is easy on buses, subway trains and fun double-decker trams.

The best transport, however, is the Star Ferry, which in just minutes takes you back and forth across the narrow strip of water that separates Hong Kong Island from the mainland (Kowloon side.) No extra charge for the spectacular views.

Star Ferry Terminal on Kowloon Side, Hong Kong (Scarborough photo)

The city is wonderfully walkable, so go to the well-designed tourist Web site, figure out what you and the kids would like to do, and take off.

My top recommendations for Hong Kong family travel:

** See the nightly laser light show at 8 p.m. from Kowloon side, either standing at the Sidewalk of the Stars or sitting (with a Shirley Temple or Coke for them and a good gin and tonic for you) in the lobby bar of the Intercontinental Hong Kong Hotel.

** Check out the options under the Tourist Board’s Cultural Kaleidoscope program; how would your kids like a (free) morning tai chi class overlooking the harbor?

** While exploring Wan Chai and Central, visit the original Shanghai Tang store in the Pedder Building. Wildly expensive and wildly imaginative and gorgeous. We haunted the sale rack till we found something we could afford.

** Ride the Mid-Levels escalators up the Hong Kong hills, then hop off and wander some side streets.

The Mid-Levels, Hong Kong (Scarborough photo)

** There are several very good museums; we liked the Hong Kong Museum of History for a comprehensive look at the city’s origins and development.

** Wander through the Kowloon/Nathan Road big branch of Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium (check out the snake wine, with snake included, in the food store, plus colorful packaging on Chinese herbs and medicines one floor up.) Rubber ear with acupuncture spots noted in Chinese? Great inexpensive souvenirs.

** A nighttime tram trip up to Victoria Peak (in clear weather) to admire the city laid out before us.

For more info, check out Frommer’s Favorite Experiences in Hong Kong, MSN Travel’s take here and this excellent article on GoNOMAD.

For serious shoppers (poking, browsing, buying and schlepping is a serious sport in HK) my personal favorite shopping Bible is by Suzy Gershman: Born to Shop Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing (Suzy includes some teen-oriented shopping tips from her own young son Aaron.)

Get your family going to Hong Kong; it’s worth every jet-lagged minute.

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Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Hong Kong, China, Asia

Costumes, Hong Kong Museum of History (Scarborough photo)