Traveling with the family can afford some of the most memorable vacations for years to come. With proper planning and research, you can ensure that your family vacation pleases even the pickiest member of the family. But with so many choices available, how does one choose the perfect destination? Budget, location, activities and amenities are all factors that help determine a location the whole family will enjoy. The following five travel tips will get even the most inexperienced travelers on the road to their ideal summer vacation in 2006.
Plan ahead. Accommodations can be sold out or unavailable by early summer. The Travel Industry Association of America, who conducted an online survey of 1,519 U.S. adults aged 18 and over in January 2006, reports that 21 percent of Americans who are planning to travel this summer had already arranged lodging at their destination. The rest were either exploring their options for where to stay (28 percent) or had not yet selected the specific destination for their trip (32 percent). The age of the internet makes research and booking easy and fairly painless. Chamber of Commerce websites make finding destination activities and outings simple. Getting the whole family excited about your trip can be as easy as spending 20 minutes around the computer looking at websites that bring the destination right into your home.
We know its bad manners to brag (tall poppy syndrome and all that) but we can’t help but share this good news. Last week while we were chomping turkey in Beantown, The Times online published their list of the 50 Best Travel Websites of 2007 and iTravel iShop is on the list. The Times says the list was “a recognition of sites that have shown real innovation during 2007 and which have launched or improved their offerings to become truly worthy of being added to a favourites list.” The list puts us in good company with websites we love, like Gridskipper, TripAdvisor and Coolhunter, and the list included plenty of sites we haven’t heard of, but are eager to check out. So thank you to The Times, and we’re off to do some celebrating now.
It may seem strange to write about shower curtains, but ask any NYLON (New York??? Londoner) and this will be a topic close to their heart. They will probably go off on a rant about how impossible it is to find a shower curtain in theUK-the whole concept of a shower liner plus a separate curtain just hasn???t caught on here. This shower curtain angst was the inspiration behind Balineum, founded by ex-New Yorker Sarah Watson. Balineum, the Latin word for bathhouse, sells a small but lovely selection of shower curtains online (the website looks a lot like Restoration Hardware- in a good way). We like the look of Alison, with its hotel-like border, andVirginia, pictured, with a thick linen stripe. At ??75 and ??100, they aren???t cheap, but there???s nothing else like it in theUK. A range of matching towels will soon be launched- and how about some towel rails and classic glass shelves, please? To order by phone, call +44 207 487 5826.
Miami Beach is fast becoming one of the top vacation destinations for families andtravelersalike. Miami Beach offers sun, fun and a variety of activities to choose from. Now that you have decided to vacation in Miami Beach, it is time to choose the hotel that you will reside in for your vacation. With a plethora of hotel options how does one pick the perfect Miami Beach hotel? A good way to choose a hotel is by the amenities t
hat the hotel has to offer. One of the biggest disappointments that I have encountered is getting to a hotel and expecting a service that the hotel does not offer. With all the travel tools that are available on the web, you can do a little research before you go to make sure you get what you want. Listed below are what I feel are the top 5 amenities that a hotel can offer to you and your family to make your accommodation choice perfect for you.
There is a lot of buzz for a new travel website called Dopplr; buzz is mainly coming from the “web 2.0 blogosphere”, if I may call it this way. Unfortunately, I am not able to give you a lot of details concerning the new website as I have not received an invitation yet. (my email can be found in the contact section of this blog).
What is dopplr?
“Dopplr is an online service for frequent travellers. It was created by an international team of world travellers as a tool for our own use. We liked it so much that we decided to open it up to our global friends. If you travel more than five times a year and have friends who do as well, then Dopplr is for you. How does Dopplr work? It lets you share your future travel plans with a group of trusted fellow travelers whom you have chosen. It also reminds you of friends and colleagues who live in the cities you’re planning to visit. You can use the service with your personal computer and mobile phone.”
There aren???t too many times where life gives you the opportunity to sleep in a round bed- which is why I couldn???t wait to stay at theMadonnaInninSan Luis Obispo. There really isn???t much to do in this university town (unless you want to wash your clothes at a laundromat or eat cheap sushi)- but it was the perfect stop over for us betweenYosemiteandHearstCastle. TheMadonnaInnis the massive, monstrous and gloriously, unabashedly over the top creation of the late Alex Madonna. Taking design cues from Liberace,Cherand perhaps Liza Minnelli, Madonna adhered to the ???build it and they will come??? school of thought, as the hotel is a destination unto itself. There are 109 individually decorated rooms. Some are quite funky, like Caveman, with ceilings and walls made from rocks, orBuffalo, with (yup) a large buffalo head staring down at you. Other rooms have an extremely loose interpretation of a theme- such as a room decorated ???in the design of Sir Walter Raleigh??? which has lots of patterned fabrics??¦ and absolutely nothing to do with him.
Surprisingly the Spanish online travel market is not saturated by the emergence of aggregation and comparison engines; there is still space for newcomer(s) to enter this segment of the online travel industry. That’s what Minube.com (that literally means “My Cloud” in Spanish) did today by launching this new flight/hotel aggregator “Minube”.
Minube.com referred itself as being a web 2.0 site. A simple, clean and original design withgreen, red and orange clouds! It uses features that made Web 2.0 sites so convenient such as the suggestion search box; as you type in a query it will display the available cities/countries/airports dynamically via some AJAX. Pretty useful when you don’t know how to spell those Spanish cities or when you don’t know the airport name of your destination.
“Art Du Service“, a french blog that talks about the service sector in general (with a focus on services in the tourism, telecommunication and banking industry) stayed at the Easyhotel of London and came back with a candid video of the room.
easyHotel brand is part of a larger group known as EasyGroup which also holds easyJet, the famous budget airline mostly known in Europe.
Check below the amateur video of theeasyHotel London South Kensington. You will see that the bathroom is as tiny as the toilets of an easyjet aircraft!
WorldMate Live is a portable app that works on your Blackberry and other smart phones. The portable app is much like portable travel assistant. The WorldMate Live application will help keep your holiday and business travel stress free by alerting you of flight delays, keeping travle of reservations, important phone numbers and more.
Unlike other such services, WorldMate Live is updated in real time. Find out exactly when you flight gets delayed so that you can make arrangements fast. No more waiting till your at the ticket counter to find out about your delayed flight.
If you travel with children, check out this online resource for tips, hints and ideas for enjoying the US with your family Parent Magazines of America
This national network of ezines is geared to specific geographic areas. I find our local edition, which covers the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, gives interesting, accurate, up-to-date information about things to do with children in our area.
If you ‘re visiting Aspen, Glenwood Springs or any place in between, be sure to take advantage of the “local knowledge” they offer at Mountain Parent
