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Four Seasons Debuts New Resort in the French Alps

Next week, I’m excited to divulge my 5 favorite hotel openings in 2018. But I thought we’d get things started early with the debut of the Four Seasons’ first European mountain hotel. Especially since Megeve, France has been getting dumped on this past week, with a foot of fresh snowfall in the past 24 hours. A modern interpretation of an alpine chalet, Four Seasons Megeve offers 55 guest rooms and suites, and five restaurants and lounges, including a new incarnation of the Michelin two-star restaurant Le 1920. The only hotel directly on the Mont d’Arbois slopes, expect 235 groomed runs at your front door. 

 

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The Emergence of Schenectady’s Mohawk Harbor

I was back in my boyhood stomping grounds this weekend for a high school reunion and was pleasantly surprised at how good the city looked. Much of the change is due to an influx of investment from the new Rivers Casino & Resort. We stayed at the casino’s Landing Hotel, boasting a stylish lounge bar, outdoor tables around fire pits, and a paved walking path along the Mohawk River. I’ve never seen so much action on the river. Peering out at the water from our hotel room, we spotted fishing boats, jet skis, and countless crew teams skimming the water’s surface. I learned at the reunion that the Niskayuna crew team is one of the best in New York, with many alums being awarded D-1 scholarships at some of the finest college crew teams in the country. 
 
Rivers Casino is building up the whole waterfront in a neighborhood called Mohawk Harbor. We strolled down the path to find a spanking new apartment building and Courtyard by Marriott. Soon to make its debut in retail space at the bottom of the apartment building is the Shaker & Vine wine bar. Also opening nearby is a restaurant and microbrewery, Druthers Brewing. Before meeting friends at two bars owned by former classmates, Katie O’Byrnes and Cappocia Wine Lounge, we had to stop at my favorite Italian restaurant in town, Cornells, to dine on a dreamy eggplant parmesan. There’s a scene in the movie, Ratatouille, where the food critic is immediately transported back to his youth thanks to the perfect rendering of the dish. That’s what eggplant parmesan at Cornells does to me. One bite and I’m 11 years old surrounded by my family, my mother in her thick Bronx accent asking if I need more fresh baked bread to swipe up the heavenly red sauce. 
 
Things are looking up in Schenectady. If you’re passing through on a college tour or hitting the track at Saratoga next summer, I wouldn’t hesitate to spend a night or two at Mohawk Harbor. 
 
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Top 5 Beaches in New England to Be Active: Bike to Briggs Beach, Little Compton, Rhode Island

South of Route 195 and the gritty mill towns of Fall River and New Bedford lies countryside so fertile you’ll feel like you’re in Vermont. Stretching from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to Little Compton, Rhode Island, the area is known as the Heritage Farm Coast. It has the sunniest and most temperate climate in New England and thus the longest growing season. Dairy farms, corn fields, even vineyards, border the Sakonnet River as it washes into the Atlantic. Add the crescent of sand at Briggs Beach and you have the perfect country and coast ride. For a good 20-mile loop, take Route 77 south from Tiverton Four Corners to Sakonnet Point and return on backcountry roads past the village green of Little Compton.
 

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New Trace and Trust Program Ensures the Quality of Fresh Seafood

The big news out of Boston last week was a Boston Globe report that discovered many seafood restaurants serving mislabeled fish. Pricey red snapper was replaced by far cheaper tilapia in many instances. White tuna was exchanged for a Central American fish called escolar that often causes stomach ailments. These restaurants were often duped by fraudulent wholesalers who made the bait and switch. Good news is that many of the recently opened seafood restaurants in town like Island Creek Oyster Bar and Legal Harborside either employ their own wholesale seafood business or go straight to the source, the fishermen, so they had no problems.

Even better, a new collaboration between fishermen and New England chefs has resulted in Trace and Trust. Fishermen tell chefs where they are going to fish and what they hope to catch. A photo of the catch will then be uploaded on the Trace and Trust website. When the catch is landed, it is assigned a unique ID number and QR code. The fish is then packed on ice and brought to each restaurant. Diners who order the fish receive a card with that same ID number and QR code. They can scan the QR code with their smart phone or enter the ID number on the Trace and Trust website to learn the story of where their fish was caught and by whom. James Beard-nominated chef, Richard Garcia, at 606 Congress, is already using this technique and diners love it. Boston has always taken its seafood seriously. By going straight to the fishermen, the latest round of seafood restaurants ensure that you’re getting the finest quality fish.

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Unsung Mexican Beach Destinations, Sedona, and Lisbon Hotels in ActiveTravels Feb 2017 Newsletter

We just booked a cruise for a couple headed to Antarctica in January of 2018. That comes on the heels of a safari booking for Botswana in September 2018. You might think that these folks are crazy to book so far in advance. In fact, they’re smart since they want to knock off destinations on their wish list and know that there’s only a limited supply of cruises headed to Antarctica, a small number of safari lodges in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. There’s been such a surge of traffic to well-known destinations of late that Barcelona and Rome are both considering limits this year to the amount of people entering the city each day. And I can’t tell you how many people we could not help last summer when they came calling to find lodging in Iceland at the last minute. The country was essentially sold out. Give us enough advance notice and we can make your dreams a reality, with far better flights and lodging options. 

Having missed connections in Miami, Heathrow, LAX and a slew of other cities, I’m always excited to see new direct flights like the Emirates flight from Newark to Athens that started this month. Delta is now flying direct from Boston to Montego Bay starting on February 25th. Direct flights have opened both coasts of Mexico to a number of new beachfront locales. That’s our main feature in the February newsletter. We also pick our favorite hotels in another popular locale, Lisbon, take a quick escape to Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona, and describe how Flightfox can work magic with your airline miles. Have a look! 
 
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Maine Windjammer Week, Introducing the Fleet

Don’t fret. While still under the beastly spell of winter here in New England, the Maine windjammers will soon take to the waters for another memorable season. This week I’m excited to delve into the history of these tall schooners that ply the waters of Penobscot Bay, the activities including specialty cruises, the food highlighting the quintessential lobster bake, and the majestic scenery found along the mid-Maine coast. I’ve been fortunate to go on three Maine Windjammer cruises, all with my dad and his wife Ginny, and I’ll never forget the smile on my father’s face when asked to take the wheel by the Captain and sail that big boy. It’s a memory I cherish.

 
The 8 tall ships in the Maine Windjammer Association start plying the waters of the Maine coast in late May. Spring features ideal winds, quiet harbors, and the lowest rates of the season, averaging $140 per person per day, including berth, food (an all-you-can-eat lobster bake!), and activities. It’s hard to go wrong with any of these historic vessels, so choose whatever’s available. 
 
Each boat has a story to tell. The Victory Chimeswas built in 1900 in Bethel, Delaware, to carry lumber within Chesapeake Bay. Today, she’s the only remaining three-masted schooner on the East Coast. The 92-foot American Eagle was built in 1930 as part of the Gloucester fishing fleet. It was revamped in 1984 and, along with Victory Chimes, Lewis R. French, Stephen Taber, and the Isaac H. Evans, a historic Delaware oyster boat built in 1886, are all National Historic Landmarks. The red sails on Angelique are similar to the sails used by fishing trawlers in the 1880s to fish the North Sea. Heritage might be one of the latest schooners, launched in 1983, yet it also gives a nod to tradition by using an authentic 1921 deck engine. Launched in 1962, the 90-foot Mary Day was the first windjammer built specifically to take guests on overnight cruises. 
 
If you want an authentic Maine experience, where you can breathe in the fresh salty air dusted with the scent of pine, grab a berth on any of these schooners. You can follow me all week on Twitter @ActiveTravels to hear about some of the specialty themed cruises being offered in 2014, the source of an upcoming story for The Boston Globe. 
 
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Building Relationships in the Travel Industry

In a story for the Boston Globe last year, I interviewed Jacob Tomsky, author of the best-selling “Heads in Beds” (Doubleday). Tomsky spent a decade in the hotel industry, seven of those years manning the front desk at an upscale Midtown Manhattan hotel. He told me that folks who book their room online from websites like Hotels.com often received the worst room in the hotel while the people who booked through a travel agent often receive the best room. Why? Because the travel agent usually has a personal connection with the general manager or director of sales at that hotel and calls 2 to 3 days prior to ensure that the hotel knows their client is coming. Like many businesses, the travel industry is all about relationships. Our clients at ActiveTravels often receive free upgrades and that’s because we send a VIP email telling the general manager that our client will soon arrive. We’ve already developed wonderful relationships with properties around the globe so they know us and appreciate our book of business. Lisa will meet hundreds of those general managers next week when she’s in Las Vegas for the largest travel conference of the year, Virtuoso Week. She has over 400 meetings already lined up with the top hotels, outfitters, and representatives from countries around the globe. Meeting people face to face and having their contact info will help us ensure that you always get the best room available on your next trip. 
 
I’m off to Saratoga to hang with my high school buddies. Have a great weekend! 
 

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