Topiary Dinosaur in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood getting a spring refresh
Overnight car trips. Visits to roadside attractions. Airport hang-out time. It all seems possible now that the weather is getting nice and so many people are vaccinated and honoring all the stay-healthy rules.
When we go. We won’t be out there alone.
Our email is filled with studies, surveys, and proclamations about the travel rebound already underway.
AAA Travel expects more than 37 million people to travel 50 miles or more away from home over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. That is an increase of 60% over last year when a record low 23 million people traveled.
Are there deals to be had at hotels and attractions and on planes? Don’t count on it
“Travel inflation is real and deals are hard to come by for summer and out months,” says Clayton Reid, CEO of global travel, tourism, and marketing company MMGY Global. “While we do expect deals in city centers to some degree, where the recovery of urban hotels and attractions is lagging, demand is so high that prices are actually going up in many places. Even airfares are on the rise because demand is outweighing airlines’ reduced schedules.”
Deals may not matter
This colorful Tripit chart shows that vaccinated Americans are ready to get out on the road as soon as they can. What about you?
We’re ready. Our suitcase has been patiently waiting by the door.
We’ve learned a lot of things during this pandemic.
Some of those things are way too personal to share here. Others we’re going to file under “do this going forward.”
For example, when spending days working and drinking coffee, we’re going to use the smaller mug and try to keep a lid on the caffeine.
And instead of putting away so many things for ‘the right time’ or ‘that special day,’ we’re going to use them.
Case in point: the one-way travel pass the folks at Seaport Airlines handed out at an event I attended more than five years ago. It may have been longer ago than that.
The small commuter airline was based in Portland, OR, and operated from 2008 through 2016 with service from Portland and Memphis to a handful of cities. One of those flights was between Portland International Airport (PDX) and Seattle, leaving from King County International Airport (BFI) – also known as Boeing Field. I was going to fly to Portland on Seaport Airlines, spend the weekend visiting friends and taking advantage of buying things with no sales tax, and take the train home. I put the pass away because I waiting for just the right time. And I let it slide.
The pass fell out of a folder today when I was looking for something else. And I felt sad about that lost opportunity.
But after I shared a snap of the pass on social media, Scott McMurren of the travel newsletter AlaskaTravelgram.com forwarded the post to Kent Craford, one of the founders of Seaport Airlines. He’s now with Alaska Seaplanes and he sent me an email saying he’d honor my pass up there. And he said, “I’ll even upgrade your pass to round-trip.”
[This is a slightly different version of the story we prepared for NBC News]
As the pace of Covid-19 vaccinations is ramping up, so is consumer confidence — and with it, a surge in travel bookings.
“Many travelers are feeling optimistic that they will be able to vacation abroad this year. Many people are already actively planning their next big trip; even for trips more than four months out,” said Shibani Walia, senior research analyst at Tripadvisor.
2020 was the worst year in history for air travel demand, according to the International Air Transport Association, with global passenger traffic falling more than 65 percent, compared to 2019. The hotel industry also tanked, surpassing 1 billion unsold room nights, according to hotel industry research firm STR. The story was much the same for cruises, attractions, and tours, with the World Tourism Organization calling 2020 the worst year on record.
Pent up demand fuel bookings
With a comprehensive vaccine schedule and pent-up demand for leaving home, vacation planning and bookings are on the rise for late 2021, 2022, and beyond.
Spirit Airlines announced Thursday it would start training new pilots and flight attendants as of next month, in preparation for a spike in leisure travel.
“We just got our first shot. So maybe we could plan a trip this summer or later this year,” says Vicky Stein of New York. “I’d love to visit my son in Vancouver, B.C. But that depends on the regulations in Canada. At this point, I’d be happy to go to Vermont.”
A recent Tripadvisor survey found that 80 percent of U.S. consumers planned to take at least one overnight domestic leisure trip in 2021. Just over one-third of respondents planning at least three domestic trips this year. Popular destinations such as Orlando are already seeing a hopeful booking rebound.
“The region expects 2021 spring break travel to mirror the Christmas and New Year holidays, when occupancy reached 50 percent,” said Daryl Cronk, senior director of market research for Visit Orlando. “This would be a significant improvement over last year’s 12 percent, one of the lowest points of the year.”
Tripadvisor’s survey also found a strong interest in international travel planning. Nearly half (47%) of all respondents said they are planning to travel internationally in 2021.
Already, the majority of hotel clicks for trips taking place from May onwards are to international destinations, Tripadvisor noted. “This is an early signal that travelers are feeling increasingly confident they will be able to travel abroad in 2021, at least in the back half of the year.”
Italy, France, Japan, Australia, and Greece are at the top of most travelers’ lists, said Misty Belles, managing director at Virtuoso travel network, citing customer planning.
Cruises may make a comeback
Travelers are also eyeing cruises, a good sign for the many cruise lines that had to abandon entire sailing seasons.
“We’re seeing growing confidence from cruisers as vaccines begin to be distributed,” said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief at Cruise Critic. “Both because they see it as a step in the right direction for the return of travel, and because they’ll feel most comfortable sailing knowing that they and their fellow passengers have been vaccinated.”
Many cruisers are making their bookings further out.
“Our 136-day 2021-2022 Viking World Cruise sold out more than a year in advance,” says Richard Marnell, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Viking. “And we have had such strong demand for our new Mississippi River cruises that we opened additional dates for sale in 2023 sooner than expected.”
Rich and Suzi McClear of Sitka, Alaska, whose 2020 Holland America Line world cruise was cut short due to the pandemic, are anxious to go back to sea. “We’re rebooked for a 2022 world cruise. We’re also booked for the 2023 world cruise, which we view as an insurance policy in case the 2022 cruise does not go,” they said in an email.
Should you book a trip too?
Most travel companies now have flexible and more generous booking and cancellation policies, and prices are historically low. So, it can be a good time to book future trips.
Airfares, for example, are 20 percent lower compared to last year, said Adit Damodaran, economist for travel app Hopper. “Domestic airfare prices are expected to rise in mid-to-late March and gradually return to 2019 levels over the course of the year. And it is not too early to book for 2022, especially if you’re booking with trip protection or flexible booking options.
Resolved to travel more in 2020? Experts offer tips on
where and when to go.
If you plan to travel to more charming and culturally diverse destinations in the new year, this story should come in handy.
For CNBC, we reviewed a handful of the many “Best places to go” lists issued this time of year and asked travel industry experts for advice on the best times and reasons to visit certain cities.
When to go
Your vacations may be ruled by school vacations and crunch
times at work, but, “If budget is
your number one priority for travel in 2020, it behooves you to consider flying
in winter months as nearly all major US cities boast their lowest median
booking price in either January or February,” said Kelly Sunderland, travel
trends expert for travel site Hipmunk.
Where to go
The mighty fortress of Festung Hohensalzburg overlooks the city. Getty Images.
On its Best in Travel 2020 list, Lonely Planet picked Salzburg, Austria
as the number-one city to visit next year, ranking Washington, DC second and
Cairo, Egypt third.
“The Salzburg
Festival [July 18 –
August 30] is turning 100, and this heart-stealer of an Alpine city is singing
about it at the top of its voice,” said Lonely Planet writer Kerry Walker, “One
of the world’s greatest classical music shindigs, the festival is always a
riotous feast of opera, classical music and drama–and never more so than in
2020.”
Bhutan topped Lonely Planet’s list of countries to
visit in 2020, with England in second place and North Macedonia in third.
“A dozen nations vie for the title of real-life Shangri-La,
but Bhutan’s
claim has more clout than most,” said Lonely Planet writer Joe Bindloss, “This tiny piece of Himalayan paradise operates a strict
‘high-value, low-impact’ tourism policy, compelling travelers to pay a high
daily fee [$250] just to set foot in its pine-scented, monastery-crowned hills.”
Bhutan also topped the Rough Guides
list of the 4
Best Countries to visit in 2020, followed by Ethiopia, Austria (where
Vienna will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of
Beethoven) and Montenegro.
Luxe travel
In its 2020 Luxe Report, global luxury travel network Virtuoso shares trends already influencing bookings for next year.
Courtesy Virtuoso
“Italy continues its reign as the global favorite, as well as
the top spot for solo travelers,” the report notes, “while Croatia heads the
list of emerging destinations, attracting buzz due to the Game-of-Thrones
effect as well as its rich history and convenience to other major European
hubs.”
In Virtuoso’s survey, Antarctica takes the top spot for adventure travel in 2020, with Greece showing up as the top destinations for Millennials as well as second on the global destinations list and a third-place for honeymoons.
2020 also marks the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower voyage and the founding of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts. Events are planned in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States.
In Plymouth, MA, “Plimoth Plantation is actually a
really fun experience, with or without kids,” said Lindsay Taylor-Lauer of Takfiri
Travel, a Virtuoso Agency, “And in New England there is something for everyone
to do and explore, from the Azorean Restaurant in Gloucester, MA to the gilded
mansions in Newport, Rhode Island and minkes [whales] popping from the water as
you ferry from Dennis Port to Martha’s Vineyard on Cape Cod.”
52+ more options to consider
Fodor’s Travel put together a Go List for 2020 that includes 52
places.
Destinations topping the list in the United States
and Canada are Athens, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; and Newfoundland,
Canada. Sicily’s Aeolian Islands top the list for destinations to head for in
Europe, followed by Albania and Andalusia, in the southern part of Spain.
Destinations are broken down by region (Africa/Middle East,
Asia, South America, etc.) and, as a nice bonus, there is also a Go List 2020
playlist on Spotify to help you get in the travel-planning mood.
For its Best
Trips 2020 list, National Geographic picked 25 must-see destinations and travel
experiences.
On the list: Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park, which celebrated its
centennial in 2019, and Philadelphia, PA, described as “an American classic” reinventing
itself for a new generation in much the same way Detroit, Cleveland and
Cincinnati have been doing, “but better.” National Geographic’s Best Trips list
also suggests Tasmania, Australia and Southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert, one of
the world’s few International Dark Sky Sanctuaries.
Events to travel for
January 16 marks the 100th
anniversary of the start of prohibition in the United States, so 2020 may be a
good time to visit the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in Bardstown,
Kentucky and to travel along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
And if a trip to Japan has been on your list for a while, keep in the mind that the 2020 Summer Olympics take place in Tokyo this year from July 24 through August 9 and there will be packages and tours heading that way.
Skip the things. Grab travel deals on Black Friday/ Cyber Monday instead.
Here are some travel-related deals for Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Travel Tuesday to get you started on deal-shopping this season.
More deals to come!
Deals on getting from here to there
Look for Amtrak’s “Track Friday Sale,” to go live at
Amtrak.com on
November 29. Last year’s deal offered 30% off nationwide train travel well into
the new year.
Many airlines will be offering discounts and flash deals.
To catch them, make sure to follow a few favorite airlines on Twitter and other social media sites and join their frequent flyer programs so you get email announcements sent to insiders.
Until December 2, Air France is offering current and new Flying Blue loyalty program members triple miles on most US to Paris flights purchased for travel December 7 to March 31, 2020.
Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus will offer $100 off on round trip economy fares and $200 off on round trip business class flights from the US and Canada to Europe booked between Tuesday 11/26 and Tuesday 12/3 for travel between January 1 and March 8, 2020.
Turkish Airlines is having a Black Friday “Friday Flyday” sale with discounts to various cities around the world.
According to
Hopper, many other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand,
Singapore Airlines and TAP Portugal will likely launch sale offers on Cyber
Monday or Travel Tuesday.
From 5 a.m. November 29 through midnight on Monday
December 2, travelers flying out of Toronto or Vancouver, B.C. can get 25% off
a 2 or 3-hour lounge stay and 35% off 2 and 3-hour lounge stays in their
airport lounges in Winnipeg and Edmonton.
Place to stay
It seems that just about every hotel and resort is courting
travelers with a Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Travel Tuesdays deals this year.
Savvy shoppers will be able to snag great lodging deals but pay
attention to the fine print on the offers. Some deals are non-refundable, have blackout
dates and narrow stay windows or other restrictions.
As with airlines, you can often get the best deals if you are a member of a property or chain’s free-to-join frequent-stay program. And, keep in mind that discounts often don’t apply to local and state taxes and resort and amenities fees, which can be quite steep at some properties.
Here are some offers that caught our attention:
Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort’s Cyber Deal, underway now through
December 3, offers Honors Members up to 30 percent off a Hawaii vacation. Valid
for stays Nov. 28, 2019 through June 30, 2020.
For its ‘Black Friday Meets The Mile
High’ deal at The Curtis in
Denver, the hotel is linking its holiday booking deal to Denver’s elevation of
5280 feet. The hotel is offering discounted rates of $52.80/night for dates in
December and January booked from Black Friday to Cyber Monday (11/29 –
12/2).
Virgin Hotels in Chicago, San
Francisco and Dallas are celebrating Cyber Month. Discounts of up to 30% off
best rates will be available December 2, 2019 through January 2, 2020 for stays
between December 2, 2019 and June 1, 2020. As a bonus, each hotel will choose a
winner each day to be upgraded to a penthouse suite.
MGM Resorts properties in
Las Vegas, including Bellagio, Aria and MGM Grand, have lined up Cyber Week
deals up to 35% off regular rates, plus 5% more for M Life Rewards members,
from November 25 through December 4, 2019. Look for many more offers Sin City
offers on visitlasvegas.com.
Pacifica Hotels, which owns boutique properties on the
Pacific Coast, will offer 40% off room rates during its Cyber Monday Sale. The
hotel’s Passport Program participants get early access to the sale on Friday,
November 29th. Sale covers stays from December 2, 2019 through March
14, 2020.
If you book on the HotelTonight mobile app, use the code HTDEAL25 between Monday December 2 and Tuesday December 3 (Cyber Monday/Travel Tuesday) to get 25% off one hotel stay.
And double-up on discounts at Hotwire’s mobile app with promo codes
that can be used on top of discounted hotel bookings made between November 27
and November 29. Use code HWBF for $10 off $100 hotel bookings; HWBF40 for $40
off $300 hotel bookings and HWBF70 for $70 off $500 hotel bookings. On Cyber
Monday (Dec 2), use promo code HWHOTDEALS for an extra 11% off $100 Hotwire Hot
Rate Hotels.
Packages and tours
Botswana, Okavango Delta, Moremi Game Reserve, Photographing Elephants on a Game Drive
Cruise lines and tour companies will be also be floating
special offers during this holiday shopping weekend.
Travelers looking to experience bucket list cruises destinations such as Antarctica, Alaska and Norway can take advantage of Hurtigruten’s deals of up to 50% off select 2020 and 2021 itineraries. Sale dates are November 27 through December 4, 2019, and include expedition voyages aboard the line’s MS Roald Amundsen, the first hybrid electric-powered expedition ship in the world.
Abercrombie & Kent’s Holiday Sale offers discounts of $1,000 to $3,900 on a wide variety of adventures to destinations such as Vietnam, India, Peru and Kenya. Their sale runs from 8 a.m. C.S.T. December 2 through 4 p.m. December 6, 2019.
Deals on attractions
While you’re grabbing airfare and lodging deals, be on the
lookout for discounts on attractions and amusement parks in cities you plan to
visit.
Now through December 8, 2019, use promo code “GIFT” to get an
additional 10% off the deals and discounts to more than 50 theme parks,
attractions, activities and dinner shows at Visit Orlando.
From Saturday, November 30 through Monday, December 2, use promo
code CYBERMONDAY to save up to 15% on Go City passes, which offer
discounted admission packages at popular attractions in more than 20 cities.
And in advance of the July 4, 2020 opening of LEGOLAND New York Resort, the price of the park’s highest tier annual pass, the Gold Pass, will be on sale for $99.99 instead of $209.99 from Black Friday through Cyber Monday.
The pass can’t be activated until the LEGOLAND New York park opens but waiting will be worth it. The pass not only offers year-long admission to this new LEGOLAND resort, but admission to more than 30 other Merlin Entertainment attractions around the country, including LEGOLAND resorts in California and Florida, LEGOLAND Discovery Centers, Madame Tussauds and SEA LIFE Aquariums.
(My story about Travel Deals for Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Travel Tuesday first appeared on CNBC in a slightly different form).
Where are upscale Americans spending their travel dollars?
Should you do what they do?
Wealthy or not,
it’s good to know where the well-do-to are vacationing and where the
up-and-coming “it” destinations will be for the next few seasons.
A shortcut to that intel comes from the advisors
who consult with upscale Americans about their vacation goals and bucket lists
and then book those journeys.
So where are well-to-do Americans jetting off to? Here’s a story I put together recently for CNBC.
Global luxury travel network Virtuoso polled
advisors, crunched numbers from $49.5 billion in bookings and transactions for
September through December 2019 and shared a couple of Top 10 lists as well as insights
on some emerging travel trends.
The Top 10 destinations
“Americans
increasingly choose to travel domestically for the holidays,” notes Virtuoso,
which puts the United States, with its vast array of destinations and
attractions, in the lead spot in the Top 10 list.
As it has in the past, Europe’s appeal as a
summer destination is extending into the fall this year, with destinations such
as Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain in spots 2, 3, 4, 8 and
10, respectively, on the Top 10 list.
South Africa and Israel, in the middle of the
list, at #5 and #6, remain popular destinations for families seeking “trips of
a lifetime” during the holiday season, according to Virtuoso. And Japan, the top
emerging “it” country in Virtuoso’s 2019 Luxe Report, takes its place on the Top
10 list of fall and holiday season destinations at #9.
Luxury leisure travel bookings being made by advisors in the
Ovation Travel Group for 2019 and 2020 seem to be following those trends, said Gina
Gabbard, Ovation’s Senior Vice President of Leisure & Independent Advisors.
“Italy is overwhelmingly the hands-down favorite among
international destinations, with increased interest now in Southern Italy,”
said Gabbard, “Our advisors note its amazing food and wine, culture and
diversity of things to do, including history and art, along with available luxury
accommodations. Direct flights from the U.S. are a plus.”
Despite concerns about Brexit, bookings to the United Kingdom
are holding their own, said Gabbard, “The added benefit to our clients is that
the value of the U.S. dollar is so strong against the pound.”
Virtuoso’s Hot 10 list
Virtuoso also shared its “Hot 10” list, which
is made up of countries experiencing the largest increases by percentage in
year-over-year bookings. In some cases, the increases come from a country and
its offerings being “discovered” or better promoted; in other cases, political
fears may be subsiding.
For September through December 2019, the list
is topped by Uruguay (up 286 percent), which Virtuoso attributes to the
country’s award-winning wineries, pleasant climate and adventure opportunities.
Bookings are also way up for travel to the beach
retreats of the Maldives (up 171 percent) as well as Malta (up 140 percent),
Romania (135 percent) and Egypt (up 122 percent). Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Qatar,
South Korea and the fjords of Norway (up 96 percent) round out the “Hot 10”
list.
Where are upscale Americans staying?
“We’re seeing a rise in exclusive-use travel
as people look for the ultimate in privacy and seclusion while getting away
from it all,” said Misty Belles, Virtuoso’s managing director for Global Public
Relations, “Home rentals, from villas to condos, jumped 56 percent this year,
with millennials and multigenerational trips both contributing to the growing
popularity in residences.”
Belles says private yacht travel is also gathering momentum
as people look to escape crowds and explore smaller, lesser-known ports of
call.
When it comes to hotel
stays, Becky Powell, President of Virtuoso-member Protravel International, says
hyper-personalized stays are in.
“Increasingly, hotels
are using technology to connect and build relationships with guests and
instantly fix issues,” says Powell. Hotels are also focusing on sustainability
and emphasizing connections to the destination or city they are in with local
partnerships and unique experiences, she said.
Upscale travelers and overtourism
Lots of stories about overtourism have been in then news, “But
now we are seeing it translate into client conversations and influence
decisions,” said Jack Ezon, founder of Virtuoso member Embark, “Our clients
want to feel like travelers, not tourists. And no matter how wealthy they are,
they don’t want to see a Prada or Gucci on every corner,” he said.
Instead, Ezon says upscale travelers are increasingly seeking out charming and “new” secondary destinations, staying in neighborhoods beyond the popular city centers and traveling during the off or shoulder-seasons not to save money, but to have more of the city to themselves.
Have a destination you’d like to tell us about? Please share your tips in the comment section below.
It is a stay at home holiday for some people today. But a travel day for millions. At that means some people will end up stuck at the airport.
It can happen anytime, of course. But as the busy summer travel season kicks into gear, I’ve been asked to work up some airport travel tips for the Weather Chanel audience.
Here are my notes for my appearance, currently scheduled for early Tuesday. Please feel free to add your notes too.
Practice. Seems silly, but often in the rush to get to the airport we forget that we’ll have to partially unpack at the security checkpoint.
Make sure you’re wearing socks without holes, shoes that are easy to take off and put back on. And have your potions and lotions and electronic gear easiy accessible in your carry-on bag.
Leave your guns at home.
TSA finds about 100 guns – most loaded – at checkpoints each week. I’ve given up wondering why people need so many guns. But if you carry a gun around town, check to see that you’ve taken it out of your purse or briefcase before you head to the airport.
Don’t miss the fun.
Look at the “passenger amenities” or “services” section of the airport website. (And subscribe to StuckatTheAirport.com).
Many airports have art or history exhibits, a unique shop or restuarant, even a special observation deck you may miss if you just get to the airport and stick by your gate.
Bring a wide mouth refillable water bottle. You don’t have to buy an overpriced bottle of water. More and more airports have bottle refill stations. Spend your money on something else.
Charge your phones and gadgets before you leave home.
Yes – there are more outlets in more places in airports. But someone else always seems to be using them when you’ need them.
And often they don’t even work. (Expert tip: check to see if that bank of chairs with outlets is plugged in before you use a chair outlet.)
To be a hero bring along a power cord with extra plugs so others can share.
Check to see if there are mobile apps – such as GRAB – you can use to order food ahead that you can just pick put at airport restaurant instead of waiting in line.
An increasing number of airports have At Your Gate and Airport Sherpa – which allow you to order food (and even neck pillows) and have the order delivered to you anywhere in the airport.
Bring snacks. You never know when you’re going to be delayed at the airport. Having something in your bag will keep you from getting cranky and from overspending at the airport and on the airplane, where free snacks can be limited or non-existent.
Shortcut the customs and immigration line.
If you’re traveling out of the country and don’t have Global Entry (a paid program) download the free Mobile Passport app for when you’re coming back through customs.
Either program allows you to shortcut your way through that often very long customs line. Look for the signs or ask the folks stationed along the lines for where to go as the Mobile Passport sign is often not easy to spot.
The Mobile Passport app lets you answer the customs questions on your phone before you even leave the plane and sometimes you can breeze right by the folks who have to wait on a line to fill out those questions at the Global Entry kiosk. Hah!
Bring mad money.
I carry a $10 bill – sometimes $20 – to use as mad money in case I end up stuck somewhere mad and frustrated. I buy myself a treat; a cocktail, some candy, an overpriced coffee drink, a silly souvenir. I deserve it.
Have a tip to add to this list? Please include it in the comments sections below.
A few month’s back I was invited – actually, challenged – to visit Paris and London in just four or five days.
“Not possible,” I insisted. But I was willing to give it a try.
Here’s a slightly edited version of the story I wrote for Travel + Leisure with some ideas for how to do it.
Getting there
and back
To make this fast trip work, fly into one city and out of the
other, and book a seat on the high speed Eurostar train to
travel between the two.
Plenty of airlines fly between the US and both London and Paris
and it is possible to find deals on a one-way or open-jaw ticket using tools on
airline comparison sites or a knowledgeable travel advisor.
British Airways currently offers up to 50 flights from the U.S.
to London each day, depending on the season, from 26 U.S. gateways and will be adding
flights from both Pittsburgh and Charleston to London in April 2019. The
airline allows passengers to cut the cost of flights by using Avios points towards
payment.
Air France currently offers more than 150 flights a week to
Paris from 12 U.S. cities and is adding Dallas/Fort Worth as its 11th
U.S. gateway on March 31, 2019. The French flag carrier offers flash fares to Paris (and other
destinations) about once a month, so sign up to follow the carrier’s Facebook
and Twitter accounts.
Eurostar trains make the trip from city center to city center,
between London’s St. Pancras International
Station to Gare du Nord in Paris, in
just over 2 hours for a little as $60 each way. Eurostar ticket pricing
fluctuates like airline tickets, with the lowest prices usually offered for
midweek travel. Be sure to hold onto your boarding pass: it offers 2-for-1
entry to many museums and exhibitions in both cities.
Where to stay; what to do
Coal Drops Yard
In
London, there are lots of hotel to choose from right near St. Pancras International railway station, which is steps from
the British Library and its many free events and
exhibitions. Nearby is the Wellcome
Collection, a
hip and free science and health-themed museum that markets itself to the “incurably
curious.”
Coal Drops Yard, built in 1850 to handle the eight million tons of
coal delivered to London each year, has been
transformed into the city’s newest trendy destination. Located in King’s Cross,
just a few minutes’ walk from St. Pancras, the shopping and dining center
boasts more than 50 stores, restaurants and cafés, including the flagship store
of Wolf &
Badger, which
gathers cool offerings from independent brands, and Casa Pastor, serving Mexican-inspired tacos,
alongside mezcals, Mexican beers and imaginative margaritas.
For convenience and a
hefty dose of the historic, splurge on a two-night stay at the St.
Pancras Renaissance Hotel, inside St. Pancras station. The “Seat to
Suite” package includes lounge access as well as a concierge escort between your
room and your seat on the Eurostar train, which departs from St. Pancras
station.
If you’ll be heading back to the states from Paris, choose a
hotel in the city center that offers easy access to museums, café and other top
attractions.
The newly renovated 97-room Renaissance
Paris Vendome Hotel, near the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre in the city’s historic 1st arrondissement
is a good option. Book a breakfast-included package (croissants galore!); seek
out nearby “hidden gems” suggested by the hotel’s “Navigator”; and let the
front desk book you a seat (preferably at the chef’s counter) in the hotel’s
popular-with-locals Balagan
Restaurant, which serves an ever-changing menu of Israeli-inspired
Middle Eastern meals.
You can save time by combining touring and fine dining by having
lunch or dinner at (or on) Ducasse sur Seine, chef Alain
Ducasse’s new restaurant on an electric boat offering diners a 90-minute cruise
on the Seine. Or board the Bustronome, a restaurant
inside a double-decker bus that drives by many of the city’s top sights during
a three-hour tour. (There’s a London version of this as well.)
You may not get your fill of croissants, baguettes, macarons or
other French pastries during a quick two-day visit, but you’ll learn some
professional French bakers’ tricks to take home during a gourmet walking tour
or a French breach-making class organized by a local tour group such as Meeting
the French.
My year-end story for CNBC was a look forward at places to go in 2018. Here’s a slightly different version of that story.
A great year-end tradition is sitting down with a map and a glass of wine and reviewing the places you have been in the past year and setting out a wish list for where to go when the calendar resets.
The possibilities of where to go next can seem endless – and expensive – but travel experts have loads of suggested destinations and plenty of tips to get you started on next year’s journeys.
Winning historic US Main Streets
Eleven cities and towns around the United States are sharing more than $1.5 million in preservation grant funds recently awarded by American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve unique features of downtown districts large and small.
Head to Casa Grande, AZ to see how the vintage neon sign park is coming along; how renovation is progressing on the historic Formosa Cafe (once a haunt of Hollywood celebrities and organized crime figures) along Route 66 in West Hollywood, CA; and if the recently reopened 1913 Woodward Theater in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood has reconstructed the building’s historic marquee. See the full list of Main Street winners here.
Party in Paris
During 2018, Paris will host the 10th edition of the Gay Games in August and the iconic Ryder Cup gold tournament in September. March brings the opening of Lafayette Anticipations, a public gathering place in the heart of the Marais that will present a wide variety of events and works of contemporary art, design and fashion. And L’Atelier des Lumières, an immersive digital museum of fine art located in a former iron foundry, is set to open in April with work by major artists projected on the facility’s 26-foot-high walls.
(Takashi Murakami, Kelin’s Pot A, courtesy The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth)
Frolic in Fort Worth
Visitors to Fort Worth get an authentic taste of the Old West twice daily, when Texas cowhands drive a herd of Texas longhorns down Exchange Avenue in in the Stockyards National Historic District. For a taste of Texas-made whiskey and bourbon, visitors can now head to southeast Fort Worth, which is home to Firestone & Robertson Distilling Co.’s new Whiskey Ranch complex. The 112-acre “whiskey wonderland,” thought to be the largest whiskey distillery west of the Mississippi, also has a tavern and a historic 18-hole golf course on site.
In the city’s cultural district, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will host a Takashi Murakami retrospective titled “The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg,” from June 10 through September 16. The exhibition will feature 50 works by Murakami, who is known for his collaborations with pop icon Kanye West and fashion house Louis Vuitton.
Celebrate the Erie Canal
In New York State, a multi-year celebration marking the bicentennial of the construction of the Erie Canal is underway in cities, towns and villages throughout the Canal corridor, which includes major cities such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.
To celebrate the bicentennial of the completion of the Erie Canal, as well as the 150th anniversary of glassmaking coming to the city of Corning, in May 2018 the Corning Museum of Glass will launch GlassBarge, a canal barge outfitted with glassmaking equipment. The floating glass studio will make a four-month journey from Brooklyn to Buffalo, traveling north on the Hudson River and then westward on the Erie Canal from Albany to Buffalo, making stops in towns and cities along the way to offer free glassblowing demonstrations.
New York’s Finger Lakes region, which reaches from Rochester to Syracuse, has also expanded its Craft Your Adventure Beverage Trail to include 29 different stops for craft beer, hard ciders and spirits throughout the region.
Be wowed in World Record spots
World’s Tallest Outdoor Rock Climbing Wall_ courtesy Whitney Peak Hotel
A 19 percent year-over-year increase in domestic bookings suggests to American Express Travel that in 2018 many Americans will be seeking adventures and unique experiences close to home.
That includes visits to World Record hot spots in the U.S. such as the World’s Tallest Outdoor Rock-Climbing Wall in Reno, NV; Bowling Green, KY’s Mammoth Cave National Park, which is home to the world’s longest known cave system; the World’s Largest Living Tree – a giant sequoia named General Sherman – in California’s Sequoia National Park; and the volcanic-formed Crater Lake, OR which, at 1,943 feet, is America’s deepest lake.
Lots more options – and lots more lists
Overview of Paine River and snow-capped Paine Massif in Chile. Photo by Matt Munro.
The editors at a variety of travel sites and publications share extensive lists of hot destinations and editors’ top picks each year. National Geographic offers lots of “Why Go Now” reasons to visit far-flung cities ranging from Harar, Ethiopia and Tbilisi, Georgia to Oaxaca, Mexico and Sydney, Australia in 2018.
And for their Best in Travel 2018 suggestions, the editors at Lonely Planet have put together multiple lists, including the Top 10 Countries, with Chile, South Korea and Portugal at the top the list, and their Top 10 Cities, topped by Seville, Spain and Detroit, Michigan, which is bouncing back after years of decline.
(Takashi Murakami, Kelin’s Pot A, courtesy The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth)
