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Thanks for Your Patience!

I know my blogs have been sporadic at best these past weeks and I apologize. I want to get you updated on a lot of items happening in the travel world but first and foremost, I need to make sure the transition from ActiveTravels.com to ActiveTravels.com/blog goes as smoothly as possible. Lucky I’m in the good hands of Portland, Maine’s iBec Creative so there’s only been a few bumps in the road. I’m off to Manhattan, but I’ll be back next Tuesday with a full slate of blogs. The week after that, I’ll be blogging live from San Antonio during their 11-day Fiesta, featuring parades, festivals, concerts, coronations, athletic events, art exhibits and more. As always, thanks for sticking with me and I look forward to an exciting spring and summer. Have a great weekend and keep active!

 

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Surf Santa Cruz, California

Named after founder Ed Guzman, Club Ed has been teaching the fine art of surfing for more than 20 years from their home base in Santa Cruz, California. Kids over 9 can take courses with their parents, alone, or parents can try it with people their own age. Hey, we’re talking California surfing, dude. Everything’s cool! Out of the water, instructors will discuss how to read waves, tidal conditions, and how to take good care of your board. In the ocean, guides will ride directly alongside novices, even giving you a little push, if necessary, to catch the wave.  It’s not unusual for a guide to grab the back of your wetsuit and haul you up so that you get the feel of riding a wave. Throughout the session, guides will be shouting instructions like “this is a good wave, you can catch it,” or “paddle right.” Then it’s back to the beach for a critique of how you did that day. Cost is $1090 for the five-day program.
 

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The Hard Work of Social Media Marketing

We always ask new members of ActiveTravels how they found us. As we enter into our fifth year of business, more and more clients are saying that they came upon us in a Google search. Very few things make me happier than having complete strangers from around the globe ask us for our travel expertise. Sure, we love referrals, but there’s something terribly exciting about getting an email or call from the UK, Switzerland, New Zealand, and across the US from someone out of the blue. I mentioned this to our social media guru, Ross Lasley, owner of the acclaimed Internet Educator, and it resulted in one of his columns. I came across it recently and I was flattered. Ross understands that nobody finds you on Google by luck. It comes from years of hard work, getting your business out there through all channels of social media. I’ve been blogging regularly since 2009, probably the same I time I joined FaceBook and LinkedIn. The Twitter account came in 2011, Instagram this past year. It’s a steady stream of content, not unlike the hundreds of articles I wrote the 20 years prior. Build it and through hard work they will come. 

 
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The Pearl Neighborhood Celebrates San Antonio’s 300th Birthday with Olé, San Antonio

Home to the San Antonio branch of the Culinary Institute of America, James Beard award-winning restaurants, and a chic boutique hotel built from the remnants of the Pearl Brewery called Hotel Emma, the Pearl is my favorite neighborhood in the city. This summer, the Pearl will be home to Olé, San Antonio, a series of events highlighting music, dance, art, architecture, and food that will celebrate the city’s tri-centennial and its Spanish Heritage. Hotel Emma is getting in on the action by hosting renowned chefs from Spain that will spotlight one particular product like tinned fish, Jamón (Spanish ham), and cheese. These so-called Monograph Sessions will conclude with dinner at the hotel’s signature restaurant, Supper. Hotel Emma is also offering a special rate now through September 16. The special, 300 years, 300 dollars, features rates starting at $300, plus complimentary valet parking.

 
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Greece Week with Heritage Tours

Just back from a dreamy week in Greece with New York-based Heritage Tours, the travel company best known for designing authentic custom-made itineraries to Spain, Morocco, and Turkey. Now they have their sights set on Greece and they invited a small group of travel consultants including ActiveTravels to experience the new product. Let’s just say Lisa and I were highly impressed. You can always book a Greek hotel on your own, but then you’ll miss out on the genuine Greek experience. Heritage has always been known for their unparalleled guiding and Greece was no exception. All the guides we met on this trip, especially to the ancient Greek sites at the Acropolis in Athens, the island of Delos, and Akrotiri on the island of Santorini were exceptional. We were introduced to stellar properties like the family-owned Poseidonion Grand Hotel on a gem of an island called Spetses and the Canaves Oia Suites built into the hillside of Oia, Santorini, beloved by a number of our clients. 
 
Yet, it was the genuine Greek experiences that created memories we won’t soon forget—dining in the courtyard of a home down the block from the Parthenon, a farm-to-table lunch at an actual farm in Mykonos, hiking at sunrise from Oia to Imerovigli on Santorini, wine-tasting at sunset overlooking the caldera in Santorini, a private boat ride from Mykonos to Delos and the island of Paros, biking along the shoreline of Spetses, and dining on tasty Greek salads, fresh octopus and fish at far too many wonderful restaurants. I’ll be spending this week highlighting my favorite activities in Greece. Please follow along! 
 
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La Samanna to Reopen on St. Martin December 10

Great news out of the French side of St. Martin, where Belmond La Sammana has just announced that they are reopening on December 10th.  St. Martin was devastated by Hurricane Irma, so the reopening is something we can all celebrate. Lisa and I know La Samanna well, having stayed in one of their whitewashed villas, only a short stroll to the pearly white sands of Baie Longue. After long walks on the mile-long beach, we sunbathed on the roof of our villa and then cooled off in our private plunge pool. It was like being at a resort built for two. The resort’s 83 rooms and public spaces have been given a refresh, awash in a sea of pastel blues, greens, pinks, and peaches, inspired by the natural tones of the Caribbean. Belmond La Samanna will also reopen its beachfront French restaurant, Trellis, and La Cave Wine Cellar, the largest private wine cellar in the Caribbean. 

 
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Spring Comes to Narragansett Bay

This is supposedly spring in New England, though I can’t really tell from the weather outside. It’s been gray, chilly, and rainy all week. Nevertheless, I can’t help thinking of a story I wrote for Yankee Magazine for their April 2015 issue titled “Spring Comes to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island.” The temperate zone along the shores of Narragansett Bay is where spring arrives first in New England. Visit the Blithewold estate in Bristol over the next several weeks and you can’t help but be awed by the colorful spring bloom. Another stop at the Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth led me to dinosaurs, unicorns, reindeer, and other animals sculpted from California privet, yew, and English boxwood at the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States. May 11th is their annual plant sale, when a frenzy of local gardeners will be throwing Asiatic lilies, tomato plants, geraniums, and herbs like oregano into cardboard crates. May 11th is also sheep shearing day at Watson Farm in Jamestown. The sheep will be bleating, a group of spinners will work their magic transforming fleece into yarn, kids will be laughing as they try the tree swing, and a band will no doubt be playing foot-stomping bluegrass tunes. Doesn’t get more idyllic than that! 

 

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