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Boston Ski Deals

I headed to the Boston Ski Show this past weekend and found some decent deals. If you book by 11/23/11, you can get round-trip tickets on American Airlines from Boston to Steamboat, Colorado for $300 round trip. You can also save an additional 20% on lifts and lodging. Steamboat has one of the premier teen programs in the States. “Rough Rider” clinics are offered daily for kids 13-18. Afterwards, teens can mingle among themselves in Night Owls, partaking in such activities as tubing and indoor climbing. Or drag the entire family over to Steamboat Springs for a look at an authentic Wild West town. Closer to home, Omni Mount Washington Hotel and neighboring Bretton Woods Ski Area are offering a Stay Here, Ski Free package. Simply book a room and you receive free lift tickets. Book by December 15th and mention the promo code “BOSSKI.” 

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Ski Snowbasin

Many of our clients who like to ski Park City and Deer Valley have been adding on days to check out Alta and Snowbird. You should also add Snowbasin and nearby Powder Mountain to that list. Only 30 minutes from Salt Lake City on the outskirts of Ogden, Snowbasin is one of the oldest ski resorts in America, first opened in 1939. But what gets skiers all dreamy eyed is the 3,000-foot vertical and 3,000 skiable acres, more than enough terrain to challenge you during a day or two. If you stay in Ogden, 17 miles away, a free shuttle will pick you up for the ski area. Want more? Powder Mountain has a whopping 7,000 acres of terrain and is still mostly skied by locals and ski writers in the know. They offer a chance to ride up on a snow-cat before skiing down and glorious backcountry runs in Powder Country. So just don’t think of Alta and Snowbird the next time you want to escape Park City. Give Snowbasin and Powder a try. 

 
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To Truly Relax on a Greek Island, Head to Tilos

This time of year, late August, and my mind starts to wander to the southern Mediterranean. September and October is the ideal time to visit Greece and Turkey. Temperatures start to cool down a bit and the summer crowds have departed, returning the Mediterranean coast and islands back to their rightful owners. This week, I’m going to delve into some of my favorite Turkish and Greek locales. First stop, Tilos.

Tilos is an island where the locals, still unaccustomed to tourists, greet you as if you lived there your whole life. A place where one picks fresh figs off the tree and finds deserted medieval castles that request no admission fee. Tilos lies approximately 65 kilometers due east of Rhodes and 40 kilometers due south of Kos in the Dodecanese Islands. With a population of only 300 people, the island has a surprising number of readily available accommodations and restaurants, one of which makes some of the best Greek food I’ve ever tasted. Most of the tourist facilities line the sleepy port of Livadia, a town where the lone baker knows you on a first-name basis shortly after you arrive and a restaurateur gives you a free bottle of his favorite wine when you depart. Stay at the aptly named Dream Island on the beach at Livadia. Spacious rooms and patios overlook the sea. A family-run restaurant named Sofia’s is the gourmet dining choice in town. The restaurant is named after Sofia Economou, the matriarch and gracious hostess. Her husband does the cooking and his specialties include fried pumpkin with potato garlic dip, aubergine with tomatoes and Parmesan cheese, and the leanest and juiciest souvlaki we tasted in Greece.  Ferries leave from Rhodes to Tilos every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, returning Wednesday and Friday.
 

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Mad River Valley Bed and Brew This Weekend

What do you do in Vermont between fall foliage and the start of ski season? Drink! The state, and especially the Mad River Valley region around Waterbury, is home to some of the finest craft brews in the country. Take, for example, the beloved ultra-hoppy Heady Topper. The Alchemist, the microbrewery that now cans the beer, had to close down their store this week because it was just too popular and overcrowded. You can still sample the Heady Topper at Prohibition Pig, a favorite watering hole in Waterbury. In fact, if you sign up for the Mad River Valley Bed and Brew Weekend (November 15-17, December 6-8, December 13-15), a 14-seat tour bus will pick you up at your lodging for private tours of many of the region’s best microbrews, including Lawson’s Finest in Warren, and Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville. Cost starts at $85 per person and includes 2 nights at a hotel, lodge, or bed & breakfast in the Mad River Valley, the private Saturday tour of 3-4 craft breweries, a snack box with local Vermont goodies to get you through the day of touring, a Mad River Valley tasting glass, and discounts at local restaurants featuring local craft beers and farm to table food. 

 
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Cape Ann’s Emerson Inn to Reopen on May 13th

In the 1850s, Rockport, Massachusetts businessman William Norwood turned his popular tavern into The Pigeon Cove Inn. One of the inn’s most celebrated guests was none other than the “Sage of Concord,” poet, essayist, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. So it’s no surprise that the property is now called the Emerson Inn. Acquired last year by the family-run Migis Hotel Group, best known as owners of Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake, Maine, the Emerson Inn will reopen after a significant renovation. An hour’s drive north of Boston, the oceanfront inn offers 36 rooms with private balconies and sweeping views of the Atlantic—all within walking distance to the restaurants, shops, and galleries of the charming town of Rockport. As a nod to its past, the inn’s restaurant will now be called the Pigeon Cove Tavern and will feature locally caught seafood, produce and meats from nearby farms. 

 
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Cruise the Marquesas on the New Aranui 5

By far the most memorable cruise I’ve ever taken was a 2-week trip with Lisa aboard the freighter cruise ship, the Aranui. We traveled 750 miles north of the island of Tahiti to the Marquesas Islands, the archipelago most distant from any continent. The only way to visit all six of the inhabited Marquesas was aboard this upscale freighter that offers air-conditioned cabins and three French meals daily. The ship’s main function, however, is to transport goods to the local residents. She comes bearing bricks and cement, pipes and tractors, fishing nets, medicines, and food, all the necessities for an isolated existence; and returns to Tahiti with copra, dried coconut meat that is processed into oil, soap, and cosmetics.  

 
While burly crew members haul sacks of rice and other goods off the boat, guests get the opportunity to take guided hikes, go horseback riding, and visit the locals. Nuka Hiva is the island where a 22-year old sailor named Herman Melville jumped ship and wrote about his experience with cannibals in his first book, Typee. Paul Gauguin’s gravesite rests on the neighboring island of Hiva Oa. Sitting under a plumeria tree on a hillside over the bay, the stone is simply inscribed, “Paul Gauguin, 1903.” A three-hour cruise from Hiva Oa brought us to the verdant island of Fatu Hiva.  Here, we took a ten-mile hike into the stunning Bay of Virgins, the most majestic site of the voyage. Towering rock cliffs rises from the ocean’s depth, forming a v-shaped buttress that’s illuminated by the sun’s yellow-green rays. In the distance, serrated ridges, cloud-piercing peaks and impassable gorges stand as a monument to the centuries of volcanic fires that formed this fantastic landscape. That sight is hard to forget. 
 
On December 12th, the Aranui will be introducing a brand new ship, the Aranui 5. The 254-passenger ship features 103 spacious cabins, many with balconies. Public spaces include the Sky Bar with sweeping panoramic views, two lounges, library, video and computer room, outdoor swimming pool with a whirlpool, fitness room and massage room. Far more luxurious than the ship Lisa and I went on in 1994! The itinerary also includes a stop at Bora Bora on the return trip. Price starts at  $2,781 per person. 
 
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Destinations to Visit in 2015—Any Country in the Eurozone

Last week, the euro dipped below $1.25 against the dollar. Economists say the exchange rate could be as low as $1.10 over the next year. This is due to a stimulus package the European Central Bank is on the verge of providing to support the economy. Stimulus packages tend to weigh heavily on a currency. Anyway, I’m a travel advisor, not an economist. Take my advice, that dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris might finally feel affordable next summer. 

 

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