|

Yoga and Whales in Baja this November

Sea Kayak Adventures, who’ve I’ve recommended in the past as one of the most renowned sea kayaking outfitters in Baja, has just announced two adventures geared to yoga lovers. The all-women November 4-9 trip and co-ed November 9-14 jaunt will feature daily yoga sessions led by certified instructor, Julie Zimmerman. Start your day with yoga on a deserted beach and then go kayaking with dolphins, sea lions, fin whales, and all the other marine life that call the Sea of Cortez home. Each evening begins with a restorative yoga session while guides prepare dinner. No prior kayaking experience is necessary and the $1095 cost includes two nights in a Loreto hotel, three nights camping, four days of guided paddling, all meals while camping, and daily yoga sessions.
 

Similar Posts

|

Five Favorite Adventures in the Caribbean, Multisport in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is gaining in popularity because of the increasing number of direct flights from the US and the fact that Americans don’t have to del with Customs. Spend time in Old San Juan, the walled-in section of the capital known for its handsomely restored centuries-old buildings. Then head out on one of the island’s ecotours—sea kayaking around Bioluminescent Bay, hiking underground in the massive caves of Rio Camuy Cave Park, or trekking in the lush El Yunque Rainforest. At El Yunque, colorful orchids line the trails, leading to a refreshing dip under a waterfall. All three adventures can be arranged as day tours from San Juan. There’s a wonderful B&B in San Juan where we book many of our clients, Casa Castellana. The owner, Natalia Richards, is the ideal host to the island, suggesting favorite restaurants, sites, and day tours. 

 
|

Austin-Lehman Adventures Offers a Yoga Retreat in Mexico

I had the privilege of traveling with Austin-Lehman Adventures last summer on a family trip to the Canadian Rockies and loved every minute of it. For 2012, founder Dan Austin is rolling out some exciting new adventures including a six-day biking trip through Burgundy and three trips in February heading to Yellowstone National Park in the quiet winter months. Yet, the trip that I’m most enthusiastic about is ALA’s first foray into yoga. From March 19-24, 2012, ALA will be heading to a private coffee plantation in Chiapas, Mexico. Wake up to sunrise yoga accompanied by the sounds of the tropical forest and a steaming mug of the plantation’s own coffee. Then head out to explore the Mayan ruins of Izapa, kayak through mangrove swamps on the Pacific Coast, hike to hidden waterfalls, and rest your weary body in a temazcal, an indigenous sauna bath, before digging into a dinner of local Mexican favorites. To a Boston boy who hates the month of March more than any other time in New England, this is the ideal warm-weather retreat.

 

|

Favorite Travel Days 2011, Sea Kayaking Sheepscot Bay, Georgetown, Maine

 

North of Freeport, Maine, fingers of land dangle down from coastal Route 1 to create miles of sheltered bays to paddle. One of my favorite spots is Georgetown, where last June, I rented a room at Coveside B&B and had Seaspray Kayaking deliver an oceanworthy kayak to their docks. Careful not to start or end near low tide (or I’ll be digging for clams in the muck), I paddled south past the lobster boats to the Five Islands Lobster Company wharf. On the way, I spotted ospreys sitting atop their oversized nests, seals popping their heads out of the water like periscopes, and the distinctive orange beak of the American Oystercatcher. Yet, the reason this little jaunt makes my list of top five favorite days is the kayaking north on Little Sheepscot River, sheltered from the surf by MacMahan Island. The boulder-strewn shoreline is draped in seaweed and topped with velvety moss, creating a soothing, shady retreat in the late afternoon hours. An image that I remember vividly more than six months later. 
|

A Perfect Day in Lausanne

From the shores of Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman as the Swiss call it, to the forest and duck pond of Lac de Sauvabelin, the city of Lausanne climbs an impressive 800 feet. You climb uphill or downhill on an Escher-like maze of stairwells, narrow cobblestone streets, bridges, even elevators and escalators. Last night, I took an elevator close to my hotel, the Lausanne Palace, down to the former warehouse district of Flon, now a Tribeca-like neighborhood of hip restaurants like Le Nomade and popular dance clubs like Mars. It’s quite strange to take an elevator down to another neighborhood, but Lausanne is full of surprises, from the massive Gothic cathedral consecrated in 1275 to Jean Dubuffet’s fascinating Art Brut collection, created for the most part by people who are ingenious or simply insane (I’ll delve into this further tomorrow). 

 
The next day we started with a tower climb at Lac de Sauvabelin for magnificent views of the lake, snow-capped peaks of the Alps, and the Vallée de Joux, known for its communities of watchmakers. Then we walked downhill past century-old beech trees on the grounds of Fondation de l’Hermitage. Soon we were in the oldest part of the city, staring up in awe at the 15th-century Château Saint-Maire and the 13th-centutry Lausanne Cathedral. Definitely enter the cathedral to see the stained windows, including the Rose, where more than half the glass is original. Under a bridge in the charming Escaliers du Marché neighborhood, we found Le Barbare, known for its pudding-like hot chocolate. 
 
Saturday is the best day to visit Lausanne in the summer and fall, because its home to a thriving public market. We made it to the bustling center of town, packed with locals on a warm day picking at bins that overflowed with ripe tomatoes, plums, sunflowers, and a slew of other merchandise. One section was devoted to local butchers and cheesemakers. Another street, we tried chocolate truffles and a delectable wild mushroom dip. Near the market, we had lunch at Café du Grütli to sample a Swiss specialty this time of year, saucisse aux choux, sausage marinated with cabbage. Then we entered Globus, Lausanne’s version of Harrods, to purchase a raclette set for our son. Our last stop was Blondel, a beloved chocolate shop in town, where we purchased more souvenirs for the family. Geneva, a 45-minute train ride away might be the better-known city on Lake Geneva, but Lausanne easily entices. 
 
 
 
 
|

Miami Transformed

Vertical gardens barricade the Perez Art Museum, providing much needed shade and heat absorption during Miami’s sweltering summers. The massive windows that line the exterior of the building are the largest hurricane resistant windows in the world. It’s as if current-day architects took a good look at the storied Vizcaya estate that edges the water in the southern part of the city and learned how a century of wear-and-tear transformed Tuscan idealism into tropical overgrowth. 
 
The arrival of the Perez Art Museum not only signals a shift in sustainability but also has put downtown Miami back on the map. Three decades after Miami Vice turned this city core into a bloody graveyard at night, museums, hotels, high-rise condominiums, and James Beard-nominated restaurants have arrived on the scene to lure the Miami Beach and Coral Gables crowd back to urbanity. Miami’s Design District and the surprising success of developer Tony Goldman’s vision of a graffiti-saturated Wynwood Walls helped build the foundation for a Miami resurrection. The Perez Art Museum pays homage to the local contemporary art scene by offering exhibitions on design, minimalist art, geometric abstraction, and works by artists of Latin descent. Yet, this is merely the forefront of the recent surge of development. In fact, everywhere you look along the shores of Biscayne Bay are tall cranes and construction.
 
My entire story on the gentrification of downtown Miami can be found in the latest issue of Everett Potter’s Travel Report. 
 
|

Buy An ActiveTravels Membership and Support Heifer International

For our holiday promotion this year, we’re partnering with Heifer International. With your help, we hope to give the gift of a water buffalo to a deserving community. Why a water buffalo, you ask? Water buffalos provide rich milk with lots of protein and nutrients, and they help farmers to plant four times as many crops, till the fields, and provide necessary fertilizer. Join ActiveTravels or purchase an annual membership for a friend or member of the family and $10 will go towards the purchase of a water buffalo. If we get 25 new memberships during the months of November and December, our goal will be met and we can provide sustenance for a needy community. Already, we have 4 new memberships in the past 2 weeks. Thank you!
 
Still not convinced you need a travel agent in this day and age. Here are some thoughts to consider:
 
Overcome Analysis Paralysis—A recent study said that the average person spends 29 hours researching his next vacation. Spend as much time on the web as your heart desires, but realize that as a member of ActiveTravels, you can bounce ideas off a travel writer that’s been to over 80 countries. You’ll get unbiased travel advice from someone who’s been to that exact location. 
 
Better Rooms—In an upcoming article I wrote for the Boston Globe, I discuss how hotels treat third-party bookings from Priceline, Travelocity, Hotels.com, as their least important priority. You’re given the worst room in the house because there’s no sense of loyalty with these sites. The travel business is all about relationships. Aligned with Virtuoso, we have relationships with hotel GMs around the globe and we call them personally when we book one of our clients.
 
Customer Service—Flight cancelled? Lost luggage? Have to reschedule a flight? Good luck dealing with Orbitz and Expedia. If you’ve gone through this recently, you know the pain. A travel agent makes those calls for you and has contacts at the airlines the public does not have. 
 
Contacts Around the Globe—Want to travel independently to India, Patagonia, or Thailand? Have fun researching that journey on the web. It’s an exhausting task. We work with excellent ground operators in Delhi, Buenos Aires, and Bangkok who know their country intimately and can help with all the logistics. 
 
Annual membership to ActiveTravels is $60 per year, less than dinner for two at a halfway decent restaurant. We guarantee you’ll get your money’s worth! 
 
 
 
 

Leave a Reply