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Great news for AAA members. A new benefit covers bicycle service. If you or your child gets a flat or breaks a chain, you can now call AAA and they will take you and your bicycle anywhere within 10 miles. Mountain bikers need to get out of the woods and reach a normally travelled road where AAA can pick you up. You’re entitled to two bicycle calls per year. 
When designing itineraries for clientele headed to Paris, I always tell them to drop their bags off at the hotel and head straight to the Rue Cler neighborhood in the 7th Arrondissement. Purchase a hot out of the oven baguette from a boulangerie, soft reblochon (one of my many weaknesses in Paris!) and harder comte cheese from a fromagerie, some jambon and saucisson from a butcherie, and a pint of strawberries and a bottle of water from a grocer. Then head to the grounds in front of the Eiffel Tower and have a memorable meal. Now that I’ve heard about a new company, Paris Picnic, I might have to make some changes. Paris Picnic does the work for you, partnering with the top artisanal food and wine producers in town, to create a gluttonous picnic basket one can only dream about. Le Classique (priced at 32 Euros per person) includes a choice of wine, baguette, assortment of cheeses, charcuterie, fresh salad du jour, artisanal crisps, mineral water, and dessert. Or you can go for broke and order Le Chic, which includes champagne and foie gras. Paris Picnic will deliver the goods and blanket to any number of picnic spots in town—under Eiffel Tower, along the Canal St-Martin, or the grassy slopes of Buttes Chaumont. Oui, oui monsieur!
It was wonderful to be at the Crane Estate Saturday night to hear Megan Hilty and the Boston Pops Orchestra perform at one of the most majestic spots in Massachusetts, the Grand Allée. The gala celebration commemorated the 125th anniversary of The Trustees of Reservation, the nonprofit conservation organization that maintains over 100 sites in Massachusetts and has a yearly membership of more than 125,000 people. The Crane Estate is one of the gems in the Trustees’ collection. Another one is Naumkeag, the recently renovated Stockbridge estate, which will be hosting a free open house this coming Friday, August 12th. The celebration continues throughout 2016. An exhibition, From the Sea to the Mountains: The Trustees 125th Anniversary, is currently on view at the Boston Public Library through August 28. Starting September 18th at World’s End, artist Jeppe Hein will install a reflective structure made of mirrored posts of differing heights whose form mimics the shape of the surrounding drumlin formations. On Columbus Day, October 10th, Massachusetts’ residents will gain access to all Trustees sites for free. So if you haven’t join in the festivities yet, you still have a chance. 
What happens when an avid surfer and World Surf Kayaking champ becomes Senior VP of a growing boutique hotel chain? A surfer sense of style shines through at his properties. Classic Hotels & Resorts John Grossman just launched their third property, the 36-room Laguna Beach House, and you can instantly see John’s imprint on the design. Upon arrival, you’re immediately immersed into the SoCal surf culture with vintage furniture and memorabilia that creates the look and feel of an open, airy beach cottage using a palette of natural, bright colors. Pacific Ocean scenes are depicted in the artwork and surfing accents are spread throughout the property. Formerly the Laguna Cliffs Inn, Classic Hotels poured in over $1.5 million into the renovation of the rooms, lobby, and expanded pool deck. Judging from the rave reviews already found on TripAdvisor, the new décor is working. It also doesn’t hurt that the property is within easy walking distance to the main beach and restaurants and shops in town. Laguna Beach House is the sister hotel to the 70-room Inn at Laguna Beach, another Classic Hotels property.
This past June, I took the Portland ferry to Nova Scotia with my sister, Fawn. This would be my fifth trip to the province and I wanted to focus on the southern half of Nova Scotia, south of Halifax. Over a week, we would stop in the charming seaside community of Lunenburg, one of only two cities in North America chosen as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, go clamming on Digby Flats, oyster farming at Eel Lake, stand-up paddleboard at the White Point Beach Resort, and spend a night at a quintessential Canadian property deep in the woods, Trout Point Lodge. But as I wrote in my original blog, the last day in Nova Scotia was downright dreamy.
In my last blog, I mentioned how the new Emirates non-stop from Boston to Dubai will save New Englanders six hours of travel time if they wanted to continue onward to the nearby Maldives. I don’t think many people realize that Four Seasons Resorts operates a 129-foot three-deck catamaran in the Maldives called the Four Seasons Explorer. 22 lucky guests can opt for the three-night cruise northern cruise or four night southern cruise. Since the Maldives is known as one of the top dive sites in the world, it’s no surprise that the Four Seasons Explorer has a PADI Five-Star Dive Centre on-board. You can also simply relax with spa treatments, sea kayaking jaunts, beach picnics, and remote island excursions. Best yet, the cruise connects two of the Four Seasons Resorts in the Maldives, Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru. Combine all three and you get 7 to 10 days of luxury pampering on a memorable beach vacation. For avid scuba divers and honeymooners, this is hard to top!
Let’s be serious. You’ve just traveled at least six hours from the West Coast to Hawaii, another seven hours to Guam and yet another 90 minutes to this cluster of 200 sparsely populated islands, which Cousteau called the best scuba diving site in the world. You’re going to have to get motivated to do much else but dive on Palau. From your home base on the capital isle of Koror, head to the Big Drop-Off, considered the best dive wall on Earth. It starts in knee-deep water and then abruptly plummets almost 1,500 feet into an abyss. Nearly as mind-boggling is Blue Corner, a large coral cavity where three ocean currents meet. Hunker down and watch schools of tuna, white-tipped sharks and 3-foot-tall giant clams (where’s the melted butter when you need it?). While you’ll have a tough time immersing yourself in traditional island culture here (read: no jerk chicken or Bo Derek-style hair braiding), Palau’s real attraction is its remote beauty. Rent a sea kayak and check out a few of the Rock Islands, which stretch for 20 miles south of Koror. Then dry off at the Palau Pacific Resort, which guards the finest beach on Koror. That is, if you can stop your legs from kicking.