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Auto Slash Slashes Car Rental Prices

This past Saturday in San Diego, I used a relatively new car rental website, AutoSlash, to find an incredibly affordable car for the day. What I like about this website is that they go out and find the discount coupons and codes to automatically reduce your price, instead of you spending hours scouring your email for the latest deals. This being car rentals, where you don’t even need to put a credit card down to make a reservation, AutoSlash will find the best deals available until the moment you arrive at the car rental facility. Thus, you can switch at the last minute to find the best savings. Give it a shot and tell me what you think.
 

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Family Adventure in the Canadian Rockies with Austin-Lehman

As an adventure travel writer, I’ve been paid to bike around the Big Island of Hawaii, sea kayak the Fijian islands, dive the Great Barrier Reef, and paddle the Allagash River during a memorable foliage. Then I had my first child and the canoes, skies, and other outdoor paraphernalia started to collect dust in the basement of my suburban Boston home. Going stir crazy one summer day, I called my dad who gave me the sage advice to integrate family into my work. The next thing I know I’m going up and down the hills of Vermont with my toddler on the back of my bike. Like many parents, I began to realize that I don’t have to give up my passion simply because I have little ones. It was time to introduce my kids to the real me. Now I travel with Jake, 14, and Melanie, 12, as much as possible without getting scolded by their teachers. And they’re the ones teaching me a thing or two about every sport they try. 

This coming summer, we’re already booked on a six-day multisport trip with Austin-Lehman Adventures in the Canadian Rockies. ALA is known for their guided family trips to the most stunning locales across the globe, from Costa Rica to Alaska, Africa, and yes, the Canadian Rockies. In the Banff, Jasper, and Lake Louise region, we’ll trek with crampons across the Athabasca Glacier, whitewater raft down the Kananaskis River, and bike through the tall cedars and pines on the Evans Thomas path. Another highlight is the 64-mile drive through the peaks and deep swaths of forest on Icefields Parkway. Elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, maybe even a bear or cougar can be seen as you make your way to the largest ice cap in the Canadian Rockies, the Columbia Icefield, on the boundary of Banff and Jasper National Parks. At night, we’ll be staying at Baker Creek Chalets, along a quiet stream smack dab in the center of the snowcapped summits.

As we begin to plan our summer vacations, I want to take the time this week to describe some of my favorite trips offered by outfitters.
 

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Yellowstone in Winter, at a Discount

America’s natural wonders were chosen to be national parks to preserve their indigenous state. Yet, if you venture to places like Yellowstone in the summer, “forever wild” seems more like “forever congested.” Come winter, these same parks are virtually uninhabited, almost returning to their original state. Who wouldn’t relish the opportunity to cross-country ski or snowshoe with more bison and elk than homo sapiens? Now Yellowstone National Park Lodges has made it even more attractive, reducing their price at the lodge to $109 per person for a two-night stay. Rates include two breakfasts, a one-hour hot tub rental, unlimited ice skating and skate rentals, in-park transportation, and guided tours. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel makes a great base to look for wolves in Lamar Valley or explore the wondrous travertine terraces just outside the front door of the lodging. Call 866-439-7375 and ask for the "Frosty Fun at Mammoth" package. The rates on the website were incorrect when I last checked.
 

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Four Seasons Makes Its Debut at Oahu’s Ko Olina Resort

Two summers ago, I had the pleasure of staying at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort with the family on Oahu’s blossoming leeward coast. Part of the umbrella Ko Olina Resort (which also includes Disney’s Aulani and Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club), this is the quiet side of the island. We snorkeled with wild dolphins straight from the Ko Olina marina, saw the ring of Saturn one night stargazing through a powerful telescope, listened to live Hawaiian ukulele music on the beach, and dined at some of the finest restaurants on the island including Roy Yamaguchi and Peter Merriman’s Ko Olina outposts. After a yearlong, $500 million renovation, the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort has now transformed into the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina. The Four Seasons had a lot to work with including spacious rooms with oversized balconies that offer expansive views of the ocean at night. We left the screen door open to hear the waves rolling ashore. The beachfront locale is also home to a stingray pool and a separate building that houses a large spa and tennis courts. I’m excited to see what the Four Seasons has done with the property. 

 
While we’re on the subject of the Four Seasons, the company just announced that they would take over management of the Viceroy Anguilla, a perennial client favorite. When it reopens in October, the property will be called the Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Anguilla. It will be the second Four Seasons Resort in the Caribbean, along with Four Seasons Resort Nevis. 
 
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Excited to Announce the Launch of Yogaway Retreats

It all started as the best things in life often do….pure serendipity. I was sitting in our yard near the water, in Quincy, MA, in the summer of 2011. My neighbor Barbara kayaked as close as she could to my chair and said, “I’ve been thinking about you. You’d really like yoga. I go to Healing Tree, and you should too.” I said, “Well, I’ve actually thought about that over time, maybe with your urging, I’ll go.” I had been a dancer as a kid, and fluid movement that’s about grace, flexibility, and strength has always appealed to me. I had long ago given up dance, and yearned for something to fill the void. Barbara had an answer! I walked into Healing Tree, and my yoga habit began. But a very special person – other than Barbara – made it truly possible. Checka Antifonario was one of my first yoga teachers, and I lucked out. Checka is amazing. She made my 50th birthday ultra-memorable (we together organized a weekend yoga retreat in Western MA for ~15 of my nearest and dearest friends, including Lisa and Steve). And, can I say, Checka’s yoga retreats also rock. I’ve been on several of them. 
 
That’s why I’m so excited to announce Checka’s latest venture, Yogaway Retreats. Going on a yoga retreat with the right leader is a wonderful way to travel. It isn’t “all yoga all the time.” It’s exploring an area, hiking, swimming, eating, drinking, talking, and bonding with new people, sometimes over s’mores around a campfire. Checka has upcoming retreats this October in Vermont (I’ve been to that location with her, it’s superb), the Azores late next September (been there, with Checka, absolutely fantastic!), and more including Aspen, Martinique, and Alaska. I love Checka’s picks for lodging and for adventures outside of yoga time, her wonderful personality, and her excellent yoga classes. ActiveTravels would be more than happy to arrange a trip with Checka for you. 
 
Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches 
(Amy in the air, Checka on the mat) 
 
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Clayoquot Partners with Rosewood Georgia to Present Luxury Gone Wild

Take one of Abercrombie & Kent’s luxurious tented African safaris and plop it down on the northern fringes of Vancouver Island in British Columbia and you start to understand the sumptuous wilderness experience that can be had at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort. On the shores of the Bedwell River under the canopy of a temperate rainforest, you can spot bear, whales, porpoises, moose, and bald eagles as you choose to sea kayak, hike, or go on horseback. Then it’s back to home base for a hot tub or massage at the spa, and a fabulous dinner that features the bounty of British Columbian goods. There’s halibut, tuna, and every type of salmon available, from the pink Coho to the cherry red smoked sockeye salmon, and loads of fresh fruit like figs, blueberries, gooseberries, and yellow golden berries. Now Clayoquot has teamed with Vancouver’s classic Rosewood Hotel Georgia to combine city with country in their Luxury Gone Wild package. Spend at least one night in Vancouver and then fly via floatplane to Clayoquot for a 3 to 4-night adventure. Make sure one of those nights at Clayoquot is atop Cloud Camp, a private retreat overlooking the terrain, replete with private chef and guide. 

 
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Cruise With Climate Change Experts to Antarctica with Abercrombie & Kent

For the past 13 years, Dr. James McClintock has spent at least two months a year at Palmer Station in Antarctica. He has seen the firsthand results of global warming, including seeing ice shelves the size of Connecticut break off from the land, watched as the indigenous adelie penguin population has dwindled from 15,000 to 2,000 breeding penguins, tested for increasingly alarming rates of ocean acidification, and much to his dismay, watched as predators like king crabs, who had never made their way this far south, started appearing in droves. Once a year, McClintock gets some much needed R&R aboard the Le Boreal cruise ship as resident naturalist for Abercrombie & Kent’s two-week voyage to Antarctica. Built specifically for Antarctica, the sleek ship is incredibly stable and about thirty percent faster than most ships that cruise through the Drake Passage. Getting on and off the Zodiacs twice a day is also not nearly as challenging. Yet the best part about Le Boreal is the comfort, with each stateroom featuring spacious double beds, large balcony space, flat screen television and L’Occitane products in the bathroom. Then there’s the spa, intimate theater to hear McClintock speak about the upcoming day, and exceptional French food served daily. If you’ve ever wanted to see Antarctica in style while being educated by one of the experts on the region, this is the way to go.

 

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