Only halfway through our G Adventures tour of vast, mysterious China, it’s clear I’m on the trip of a lifetime. In the next days, we’ll visit the precarious hanging temples of Mount Heng, the walled streets of Pingyao and Xian’s terracotta warriors …. In all, a dizzying 1,700 miles in 12 days.
G Adventures High-Energy China Itinerary (from Travel Weekly)
Now I’m practically grabbing strangers on the street to share the news: Romantic rail travel has become cyber-smart, and the current era in train travel may be Europe’s finest.
Getting Up To Speed on Rail Europe (from Travel Weekly)
Every traveler loves the inside scoop that few others know about. Here are a few tips to pass along when booking rail tours:
Giving European Rail Travelers the Inside Track (from Travel Weekly)
With events that include the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and a referendum on independence from the U.K., 2014 is shaping up to be Scotland’s year.
Scotland Promoting Heritage Tourism (from Travel Weekly)
Last year’s Summer Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubliee have boosted the cool factor and infrastructure of the 2,000-year-old capital. Not only is it hip to go Brit, but more than 13,000 new hotel rooms and a brilliant transit system ease the way for getting around London with tots in tow.
London Sites Charm Adults, Kids Alike (from Travel Weekly)
There’s a scene in the film “Joe Versus the Volcano” where Tom Hanks directs his driver to the best hotel in New York. Then, a question in his voice, he ventures, “The Plaza?” Ossie Davis, playing the wiser and older driver, takes a patient breath before explaining that, while the Plaza is nice, the Pierre is the best hotel in New York.
Jazz Age Elegance Endures at The Pierre in New York (from Travel Weekly)
“Welcome to the world of Slow Food,” Madge said, finally allowing us to dip bread in the oil. (He insisted on the full effect first.) The meal that followed included pecorino cheese, traditional Roman pasta, farm-fresh lamb and wine, all from small producers in Lazio. The grand finale, crostata di ricotta, was a sublime calibration of ricotta and dark chocolate with a gleaming orb of buffalo mozzarella ice cream on the side.
If this was Slow Food, I was willing to wait for more.
Memorable Meals on Brendan Tour (from Travel Weekly)
The bed was like a big, white marshmallow, and my garden patio had a private gate that opened onto the pool, where two beautifully wrought wooden lounges waited, bearing little brass plaques displaying my room number.
Hotel Cipriani Offers Escape from the Masses in Venice (from Travel Weekly)
Basically, you never know what amazing surprise awaits around the next corner. The Chinese “special administrative region” is booming with swank meeting-friendly hotels, glittering casinos, elaborate entertainment and fine dining restaurants due to the skyrocketing economy.
This charming former Portuguese protectorate 37 miles southwest of Hong Kong has become the planet’s top-grossing gaming town, bringing in 4-6 times Vegas’ gambling revenues.
Macau: City of Dreams (from Prevue Magazine)
The desert metropolis has one-upped itself to forge a super-hip new paradigm with hotspots that are artier, sexier and more sophisticated than ever.
For evidence, check out the much-heralded $1.8 billion, 2,995-room Cosmopolitan Hotel.
Las Vegas Reinvents Itself — Yet Again (from Prevue Magazine)
La Posada de Santa Fe Resort feels like a star’s hideaway even though it’s just two blocks from the Plaza. At the center, there’s a magnificent 1883 mansion replete with heavy wood frames and ornately carved brass. All told, there’s 157 rooms on six acres housed in casitas spread amid colorful gardens, fountains and outdoor fireplaces. Most rooms have private patios, looming Spanish-style armoires and 3-foot thick adobe walls.
Hotel Hopping with Destination Services in Santa Fe
But what of the dining? Can any eatery established on the path of the old Chisholm Trail satisfy a couple of high-maintenance New Yorkers while bowing to these cholesterol-phobic times? For us, the answer was an emphatic yes. Best of all, we didn’t even have to leave the latest jewel in Fort Worth’s art crown, theModern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Cafe Modern: Fine Dining on the Old Chisholm Trail (from CEOtraveler.com)
It is everything we’d hoped: room after room filled with brilliant chandeliers, sumptuous rugs, quarry-loads of marble and elegant open spaces where the sultans once held court over the empire. The 16-foot windows frame the blue-sky morning; the endless silk curtains sway in the breeze; and just below, the mighty Bosphorus Strait courses through the heart of Istanbul—the gateway between Europe and Asia.
Istanbul + Izmir: Meet at the Crossroads
You could say that Belfast has survived its own shipwreck. After decades of “the troubles,” resolved in 1998’s Good Friday agreements, there’s been a slow, steady return to prosperity. “The change since the peace agreements is phenomenal,” says Bill Wolsey, owner of The Merchant, a super-hip 75-room hotel in the old Ulster Bank headquarters in the arty, buzzy Cathedral district.
Not everyone is drawn to vacation at a ranch-resort in South Texas. (Some don’t even believe ranch and resort belong in the same sentence.) If you aren’t a die-hard Texan inspired by sagebrush-studded plains, or a soul smitten by the vast arid landscape of the film Giant, you might not have considered Cibolo Creek Ranch a crucial place to stay before you die. But maybe you should. For Cibolo Creek Ranch presents a once-in-a-lifetime dreamscape, a stretch of deep quiet in an endless vista coupled with luxurious rooms so private that they have no phone or internet connection….
ab chaos iter: you get educated by traveling 