Enhanced Hotel Security You Can Expect

With unrest and terrorism more of a threat these days, you’ll find enhanced hotel security almost everywhere. It’s not only big, high profile hotels that are beefing up their security for elite guests. Moderately priced hotels that most travelers will stay in at least once in a while are adding layers of security.
 
Some of these things you may notice right off, other measures that they’re taking aren’t so obvious. And the hotels may or may not let you know what they’re doing. They may not want the “bad guys” to know what they’re doing, and they have to consider how you might react.
 
They also walk a fine line with this enhanced hotel security. They don’t want to scare you away if you think there is the possibility of unrest. On the other hand, they might want you to feel reassured that they are taking measures to protect you.
 
The problem is, of course, that some of these things might seem like a hassle if you encounter them. Just remember that the hotels are doing them to protect you, not to annoy you.
 
Some of the security measures you may find include:
 
You may discover that there is no longer underground parking or parking right next to the hotel.
 
They may not let taxis drive up to the hotel entrance. We’ve stayed in hotels where taxis must park in front, and hotel staff will bring you and your luggage to the entrance in golf carts.
 
You may find metal detectors at all entrances. We’ve encountered scanning of luggage on arrival.
 
At check-in, receptionists will probably tell you your room number quietly. You don’t want it announced to everyone. The room number should not be written on the outside of a folder for all to see. Your card key may be a different number than your room number, so if you lose it, no one will know which room is yours.
 
We’ve also found that sometimes there are bag searches and scans when you return to the hotel from shopping or sightseeing.
  
In areas of high threat, you may find an end to luggage storage. Hotels in those areas may also refuse to let you send luggage or packages in advance of your arrival at the hotel. Yes, you might just have to go ahead and pay for those checked bags on your airline flight.
   

 
Especially in high profile hotels, you may start seeing uniformed security guards in lobbies, restaurants, and beach or pool areas. You might even encounter random photo ID checks.
  
You’ll also start seeing card keys required to access room floors from the elevator. Those side doors to the pool or beach that used to be open, will start requiring card keys too. In extreme cases, hotels might even limit lobby access to registered guests only.
 
Just be patient if you encounter this enhanced hotel security. Be thankful that they care enough to make things safer to keep on traveling.

Don’t Ruin A Good Holiday By Being A Travel Worrier

It’s easy to slip into being a travel worrier. You start to worry about some event that has already happened. Or worse, you start to worry that something might happen while your traveling. We’ve done it ourselves, usually just the few days before a trip when we’re trying to get everything done. Don’t get caught up in this.
  
Travelers tend to sit at home before their trip just thinking of reasons to be stressed. You did your research about the safety of the country you’re going to visit, you got all of your vaccinations, but still your “friends” have told you that it’s not safe, you’re nuts to go there, or you are sure to come down with some exotic fever.
 
Our advice is not to listen to them. They probably just wish they could be there with you! You’ve done your research. Don’t let those nay-sayers stress you out.
 
Travel problems are always there. You, and your friends, will just start to notice them more when you are planning a trip.
 
Every year there are demonstrations on the streets of Paris. There are air-traffic controller strikes in Italy and transportation strikes somewhere else. There are train wrecks and bus accidents and terrorists attacks and disease outbreaks. There will be earthquakes and fierce storms. I could go on and on, but then we’d all soon become travel worriers.
  
Most of the time these disruptive problems show up way back in the newspaper and you’ll never notice them. But it you’re planning a trip to India your friends will notice them. And if problems make the headline news, everyone will think you should just stay home.
 
You may begin to think that yourself, but even if something unexpected happens, in most cases, you should just take things in stride and go on your trip anyway.
 
We went to central India to see tigers a few years ago. There was unrest half a continent away. All of our friends said it was too risky, they might go to war. We read travel advisories from several different governments and decided to go anyway. We had no problems. We went to three national parks and saw tigers everyday. I’m so glad we didn’t become travel worriers on that trip!
 
Sometimes things will happen and you could never have predicted them. We had a friend that went on a cruise as her first trip to Europe. Know what happened? Her ship sank!!!!
 
It is a good idea to expect that there might be problems. If something comes up, tackle them creatively. We got stuck for four days in Queenstown, New Zealand due to weather. If something like that happens to you, do what we did, make friends! You’ll probably find that you’ll make lots of local new friends because people will try to help you.
 
The key to enjoying your travel is to take little unexpected glitches in stride. If something comes up before your trip, evaluate it. If it is really a dangerous situation, by all means, cancel your trip; but don’t be a travel worrier and ruin a good holiday because your friends said so.

Never Sleepless In Seattle

Seattle is known as “The Emerald City”. It’s the cultural center of the Pacific Northwest. Water defines this city. It sits on an isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington.
 
Rain makes it the Emerald City, and it does have plenty of rain, but despite its reputation, it is more often cloudy than it is rainy. In fact, it receives less rain that New York City and most east coast cities! There many nice days for exploring.
 
Seattle is the home of industries and entrepreneurs from Boeing Aircraft Corporation to Bill Gates and Microsoft to Starbucks coffee.
 
Pioneer Square is the city’s very first neighborhood, covering about 20 square blocks of Victorian type architecture. How do you want to see it? There are guided walking tours, horse drawn buggy tours, or you can explore on your own. There are fine art galleries and boutique stores for shopping. It is a great area for nightlife.
 
There is an underground city beneath Pioneer Square. After the Great Fire of 1889, the city was rebuilt over the top of the ashes. Take a guided tour under the city’s sidewalks and streets, through the hidden subterranean passages that once were the main roadways and storefronts of old downtown.
 
Take the waterfront streetcar from Pioneer Square along the waterfront to Pike Place Market. These vintage streetcars take you to destinations in and near Pioneer Square.
 
Pike Place Market is the oldest continually operating farmers market in the U.S. It’s a high energy bazaar offering regional produce and seafood popular with tourists and locals alike. Watch fish fly at the Pike Place Fish Market, and if you don’t know what we mean by that, you need to experience it.
 
The Seattle Aquarium is on Pier 59 on the Waterfront, just down the hill from Pike Place Market. It is one of the stops on that Waterfront Streetcar.
 
Space Needle is in the heart of the city, in Seattle Center. You can take a ride to the top just to enjoy the view, or you can dine at the Sky City Restaurant. This restaurant revolves 360 degrees allowing you to take in the entire view are you enjoy a fine meal. They are open for lunch and dinner. Brunch is served on weekends.
 
Ride a monorail. You can catch the privately run Seattle Monorail from downtown to the Space Needle.
 
The Museum of Flight is located south of downtown, at the south end of Boeing Field/King County Airport. The great gallery showcases 20 full-size aircraft from early models to the latest. Visit the Red Barn, full of exhibits showing early aircraft construction. This was the historic birthplace of the Boeing Airplane Company.
 
Take a tour of the Boeing Facility in Everett where they make 747, 767, 777, and 787 planes. You can call for a reservation. Tickets can be purchased at the facility if they are not fully booked. The guided tours take about 90 minutes.
 
If you’re really interested in aircraft, the Museum of Flight operates its Restoration Center at Paine Field also in Everett, Washington. You can see approximately three dozen aircraft under restoration.
 
Still have time left? Go whale watching. Visit the San Juan Islands. Further afield you can explore Mount Rainier, Olympic National Park, North Cascades, and Mt. St. Helen’s Volcanic Monument.
  
If the city has taken all of your time, you can see the mountains from the Space Needle and save the national parks for another visit, because Seattle will call you back.

Miami Beach – a popular Holiday Destination

Miami Beach is not Miami. It often gets caught in the blanket of “greater Miami”, but it is a city unto itself. Its nickname is simply “The Beach” because that’s mostly what there is here. It’s really a narrow, seven mile long island just to the east of Miami proper. Technically it is a barrier island, but technical or not, it’s all about restaurants and attractions, places to shop and nightlife, and those beaches.
 
As you can imagine, most activities center around the beach and the ocean. There is the usual array of beach toys from boogie boards to wave runners. You can rent bicycles and scooters. There are charter boats aplenty if you want to go fishing. Arrange for scuba diving or snorkeling trips. Even arrange for a floating wedding if that’s your heart’s desire.
 
Of course there is always the option of just lounging on the beach. The Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit organization that rates the quality of U.S. beaches, rated it as the premier urban beach in the country.
  
There is a beautiful boardwalk and an outdoor shopping mall. Into golf? This skinny island even has a world class golf course.
  
South Beach, or SoBe, is the “hottest” beach in the area with nightlife and a wide sandy beach. It’s pretty much what everyone thinks a tropical beach should be – wide and sandy, lined with palm trees, with clean, clear, turquoise water. It’s a great swimming beach year round. But not too good for surfing because the waves are usually too small.
  
South Beach has exuberant Art Deco architecture. Visit the Art Deco Historic District which has buildings constructed during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. The colours and styles are sure to make you smile.
  
The nightlife is particularly exuberant in trendy SoBe. You’ll mingle with quite an international set with tourists from Europe, Latin America and Canada as well as the U.S. Some of the most popular nightclubs can be very hard to get into, so if that’s what you want to do, you should talk to your hotel concierge to see if they have tickets or can at least give you tips on how to get in.
  
If you get tired of the beach and nightlife, there is a botanical garden, and there are several museums and galleries. You can catch a play at one of the theaters. The Miami City Ballet is based here as is the New World Symphony.
  
You’ll find a wide range of hotel accommodations from ocean front resorts and boutique hotels to budget hotels and hostels for frugal travelers. Depending on your travel budget, those lower end hotels might be a good option, because Miami Beach does tend to be a little expensive. Another option is to stay in Miami proper and just visit The Beach for day trips.
  
You can fly into either Miami International Airport or Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport. It is probably cheapest to take a taxi from the Miami Airport. The Fort Lauderdale airport is smaller and friendlier, but a bit farther away. A private shuttle might be cheaper than a taxi.
  
So for a great beach vacation right in a city, think about Miami Beach. Water sports, culture, shopping and night life. The Beach has it all!

Las Vegas – the city with a Reputation!

You’ve probably heard it called “Sin City”. You hear mottos like “What ever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas…”
 
So is it a good place for tourists? It all depends on what you want, but there’s something for almost everyone.
 
Downtown is where it began, and the fun continues. There are historic hotels and casinos under sleek new lights. They all glow with neon at night, and street performers come out to entertain the crowds before they dive in to the casinos. Though historic, it still rivals the Strip.
 
The Strip is where the mind-boggling new hotels are. It pulses with light at night. A volcano erupts, pirates fight, fountains dance. Thousands of people wander up and down the strip looking at the displays in a free-flowing, fluid party. And that’s only from the outside. Once you enter one of the casinos, you’ve entered a whole new world.
  
What about Vegas shows, and events, and nightlife? It’s true that Las Vegas is all about the gambling, but there is so much more. Many people go to Vegas for the shows. And the shows run quite a gamut from classic showgirls and magicians, to legendary singers and performers, to Cirque du Soleil shows (six of them at the moment!). There are Broadway plays, big name rock concerts, and classic car shows.
 
This city in the desert used to be known for its all-you-can-eat buffets and cheap coffee shop breakfasts that were meant to lure and keep gamblers happy. Those are still around, but now celebrity chefs have opened restaurants in many of the hotels and casinos, making Las Vegas a culinary hotspot.
 
Shopping?  You want shopping? You can find anything you want. Clocks that look like dice? Sure. Playing cards and T-shirts? Without a doubt, “traditional” souvenirs are available, but so is haute couture from top designers and the most prestigious jewelry and watches. Vegas is all about indulgence, whatever your budget.
 
You will never be bored. Not a gambler? There really is an endless array of attractions and activities. Even at the casinos. Shark Reef is a great aquarium. You can ride a roller coaster high in the sky. Watch circus acts or singing cowgirls. Visit a fine art gallery.
 
Golf is always an option. The city claims more than 60 golf courses, something for every skill level and budget.
 
You can probably see a new bride and groom almost any day in Vegas. It has become a wedding destination – whether it is a formal affair, a theme wedding, or one of the drive-thru chapels that Vegas is known for. All the happy couple has to do is show up. Getting a license is quick and easy, and the chapels have everything you need: rings, flowers, wedding gowns and tuxes. Weddings take place almost around the clock.
 
And don’t forget the gambling. From slot machines to all games of chance. The casinos even offer gaming lessons for those who want to know the rules before they try their luck.
 
So no matter what you want to do in Las Vegas – whether you want what happens there to stay there or not, you’ll find something to do that will fit your style and budget.

Experience the “Old West” at the Denver Pow Wow

Do the Indians really call it a Pow Wow? Yes, they do, and the Denver Pow Wow is one of the largest of its kind in the country. The word comes from the Narragansett Indian language. The word “powwaw” means “spiritual leader.”
 
If you’ve included Denver in your travel plans, you should try to get there in March for this event.
 
The modern gathering is a social occasion. It’s a time for Native Americans to come together to honour their heritage with singing and dancing, traditional costumes and foods, and storytelling and native art. This event started in 1984 when Native Americans started re-asserting and revitalizing their heritage and rights.
  
The Denver Pow Wow is usually a three day event. It features hundreds of dancers and musicians from about 100 different tribes. There are different styles of traditional dances from each of the various tribes. Dancing is probably the central activity during a Pow Wow. It’s definitely a colorful event.
 
If you go to their website, they have a great section on explanations for non-Indian spectators. Indian dancing is really an individual activity, but it is performed as a group. Each dancer moves to the beat of the drum. Dance styles vary and are derived from traditional dances of the different tribes represented.
  
Dance costumes are colorful and elaborate. They really do wear those headdresses for the dancing. They’re made from animal hair with eagle feathers on top. There are bone breastplates, feather bustles, beaded armbands, and chokers and anklets of fur.
 
Traditional dancing was originally a form of story telling. Warriors acted out battles or hunting scenes.
  
The one event you really don’t want to miss is the “Grand Entry”. This procession is performed a couple of times on Friday and Saturday and one last time on Sunday. It starts with the “Heart Beat drum group” singing, followed by the entrance of a participant carrying an Eagle Staff. Next come the flag entrances, the American flag and flags of Indian Nations. Once everyone has entered, the flags are raised with flag songs.
 
Then comes the Intertribal Dance. All the dancers from all the tribes and from all age groups dance together, but in their own style. With the beat of hundreds of drums urging them on, and the swirl of colour as they dance around. You feel it as well as see it – it’s something you won’t soon forget.
  
There are also dancing competitions. The women get into the act with the Jingle Dress Dance.
  
There are many booths selling Native American arts and crafts: jewelry, blankets, pottery and beadwork. And yes, you can buy authentic Cheyenne arrows and Sioux tomahawks.
  
Try traditional food such as fry bread and Indian tacos.
 
The Denver Pow Wow is held in the Denver Coliseum. Tickets are sold at the door. If you want to take pictures you will be required to purchase a permit for video and digital cameras.
 
Native American cultures are the Old West. Visit Denver for the Rocky Mountains and include the Denver Pow Wow for that Old West spirit.

Tiger Travel Tips

This week there has been plenty of commentary about the merits of (supposedly) saving a few dollars by flying Tiger Airways. Read more

When in the US, be sure to Visit Chicago

Chicago, Illinois has long been said to have an inferiority complex to New York, but it is a world class city. It has cutting edge architecture, fantastic museums, and good restaurants. It’s right on Lake Michigan with a beautiful waterfront.
  
No trip to Chicago is complete without visiting its fine museums, and there are many of them. There is even a “Museum Campus” just south of Grant Park on Lake Shore Drive.
 
If you like dinosaurs, don’t miss the Field Museum of Natural History. It features “Sue”, the world’s largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex. It’s a great museum for learning about all kinds of ancient life forms in the Evolving Planet exhibit. Learn about ancient Americans too.
 
Nearby on the Museum Campus are the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium which was America’s first planetarium. There are several other museums scattered around the city. If you plan on visiting a number of museums during your visit, you may want to purchase a City Pass or a Go Chicago Card. Each of these cards gets you into different venues, so check to see which gives you the best discounts for your trip.
 
But don’t spend all of your time in museums. Just walking along the lake is pretty. Make your way along the shoreline, through Grant Park and visit Millennium Park.
 
Millennium Park is the heart of downtown. Newly opened is the the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the U.S. There are free concerts and events held there. Also see the “interactive” Crown Fountain. This “fountain” has fifty foot tall glass block towers projecting video images of Chicagoans with the water flowing over them. Kids play in the shallow reflecting pool between them. One iconic new sculpture is the Cloud Gate, the shiny elliptical sculpture reflects the clouds and the city’s famous skyline.
 
The Navy Pier is one of The Windy City’s most popular attractions. It’s a hub for tour boats on Lake Michigan and offers a variety of activities and dining. You can stop inside the Family Pavilion and get a map of the pier then decide what you would like to do. It could easily occupy you for a day or two.
 
The Navy Pier Park will make you feel like you stumbled upon an old time carnival. There is a huge ferris wheel, an old carousel, and a miniature golf course. See a fantastic Stained Glass Museum. Stop and have a brew in the Beer Garden and listen to live music.
 
If you are a sports fan, you can’t beat Chicago. There are two rival baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox. The Cubs play at the legendary Wrigley Field. Basketball – it’s the Bulls. The Bears play American football. The Fire play soccer or what the rest of you call football. For hockey it’s the Blackhawks and the Wolves.
 
It’s most famous citizen currently is probably President Obama. Tourists are flocking to see his Hyde Park neighborhood, and several tour companies have set up tours to accommodate them. There are free walking tours with volunteer guides or you can get a map and visit them on your own.
 
So whether you’re interested in dinosaurs and ancient history or current events, Chicago could be your kind of town.

Walk through US History in Boston

The Boston Freedom Trail makes for an interesting walk through United States history. The two and a half mile walking route takes the visitor to sixteen historical sites. A red brick line serves as your guide to two and a half centuries of America’s significant past.
 
You can walk the trail in two or three hours, but if you want to stop and look inside some of the buildings or study some of the exhibits, allow yourself a full day, two if you’re really curious.
 
Boston Common is the starting point for the Freedom Trail. It’s the oldest park in the United States. British troops camped on the Boston Common prior to the Revolution and left from here to face the militias at Lexington and Concord in 1775.
 
Massachusetts State House is your next stop. It was built in 1798. This “new” State House is on top of Beacon Hill across from the Boston Common.
 
Park Street Church sits on the site of the old town granary. The Granary Burying Ground, which was founded in 1660, is across from this Church. Three signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine.
 
King James II ordered King’s Chapel built so the Church of England would have a parish in Boston. It’s on a corner of the oldest Burying Ground in Boston proper. Many colonists are buried here including John Winthrop, who was the Colony’s governor, and Mary Chiton who was the first woman to step off the Mayflower.
 
A statue of Benjamin Franklin overlooks the former site of the Boston Latin School. Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock once attended the school.
 
See the former site of the Old Corner Bookstore where many famous books were published including “The Scarlet Letter” and “Walden”.
 
The Old South Meeting House is where the Boston Tea Party began. Over 5,000 colonists gathered here in 1773 to protest the tax on tea. Debate was getting them nowhere, so they stormed to the waterfront where they dumped three shiploads of tea into Boston Harbor.
 
The Old State House was occupied by the British during the Revolution. On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony. The citizens of Boston gathered in the street for this first public reading in Massachusetts.
  
A circle of cobblestones and a marker in front of the Old State House commemorates the Boston Massacre Site.
  
Since 1742, Faneuil Hall has been a marketplace and meeting hall for Boston. Samuel Adams and others gave speeches in this hall that fanned the colonists desire for independence.
 
The Paul Revere House is the oldest building in downtown Boston. Paul Revere lived here from 1770 to 1800.
 
The Old North Church is Boston’s oldest church. It was on the church’s steeple that the lanterns were hung to signal the approach of the British. “One if by land, and two, if by sea” Of course this one has to be on the Boston Freedom Trail.
 
The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. It’s in the Charlestown Navy Yard which was one of the first shipyards built in the U.S.
 
Bunker Hill Monument marks the site of the first major battle of the American Revolution and the end of the Freedom Trail.
 
You can make this a self-guided tour or you can take a guided tour. Several are available through the Boston Common Visitors Center. If walking is too hard, you can take one of the trolley tours that are offered by different companies. They take you to the sites along the Boston Freedom Trail with narration and let you hop on and off at selected stops to explore on your own.
 
Whether you walk or ride, the Boston Freedom Trail is a fun way to explore history.

Highlights of Boston, USA

When visiting to the US, Boston in the state of Massachusetts is a city that you might want to visit.
  
It doesn’t have the Broadway plays and glitzy shopping of New York City down the coast, but this city is steeped in United States history.
 
It is one of the oldest cities in the United States founded in 1630 by the pilgrims from England. Not the pilgrims that come over on the Mayflower to Plymouth, by the way.
 
During the United States Revolution several major battles took place here, the Battle of Bunker Hill is one of the most famous. The Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought nearby. It was from the Old North Church that Paul Revere took his famous “midnight ride” crying the warning of the approach of the British. As the poem goes,
 
 ”…One if by land, and two if by sea;

And I on the opposite shore will be,

Ready to ride and spread the alarm

Through every Middlesex village and farm…..”
 
Walk the Freedom Trail. This two and a half mile route will help you get acquainted with the city and efficiently visit many of the city’s historic landmarks. Allow yourself at least three hours for this tour, a full day to really see everything would be better. If walking isn’t for you, there are trolley tours that will let you hop on and hop off at the sites.
 
Stroll through the historic Public Garden. It is adjacent to the Boston Common and is the nation’s oldest botanical garden. Ride one of the famous Swan Boats. Locals and visitors have been riding in them during the summer months since 1877.
 
See the Faneuil Hall marketplace also known as Quincy market. For over 250 years, the marketplace has played an integral role in the life of this city’s residents. This indoor-outdoor market is still a great place for shopping and dining.
 
Eat in the Union Oyster House, the city’s oldest restaurant. Walk through the “burying grounds”, the cemeteries. You can find the graves of several famous early Americans.
 
Visit the colleges and universities, there are several in the area. Harvard, just across the Charles River in Cambridge might be the most famous. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the U.S. You can also visit, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Brandeis University among a couple of dozen others nearly as well known.
 
In the summertime, sit on the green along the Charles River and listen to the Boston Pops play in the Hatch Shell – a wonderful free concert. If you’re there for the July 4th concert you’ll hear Tschaikovsky’s 1812 Overture complete with cannons and fireworks.
 
Boston has great museums, and there are more across the river in Cambridge around Harvard. There are sports teams for baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey fans, and there is always shopping.
 
It’s a great starting point to explore the USA’s New England states. With all it has going for it, give Boston a look when you’re making travel plans.

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