In a few short months, I’ll be whooping it up in Vegas. I’ll be there for a big blogging conference and a little bit of R&R and gambling and I’m sure I’ll be doing some shopping in Las Vegas, too! We haven’t even looked at hotels yet, but I want to stay somewhere nice, right on the strip. When I read about the pool complex at the MGM Grand - sold. 5 pools, 3 whirlpools, a lazy river, fountains, and waterfalls. That’s my kind of resort! The kids won’t be coming on this trip either, so I’ll have plenty of time to chill by the pool without playing referee.

When I was 12, we took a trip from our home in Tarpon Springs, Florida, through Missouri, all the way to Denver, Colorado, and then south through New Mexico and back east through Texas back home. We did this in 2 weeks, and our tight time line was the reason we didn’t go up into the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. We stopped to admire the arch, but the wait time to go up one of the two trams was 4 hours, and my father decided we couldn’t, or that he wouldn’t, wait.

Visitors to the Gateway Arch this summer will also have a wait ahead of them, as one of the two trams used to take visitors to the top has closed, and will remain closed for the next two months. A snapped cable trapped 200 people at the top of the arch this week, and in new cables have to be made and installed now. (Which makes me wonder - why don’t they have backup cables in a warehouse somewhere?)

I had the pleasure of making my first and only trip (so far) to Utah a few years ago to visit a friend. Though my time in Salt Lake City was short, I did get a trip up the mountain to one of the local ski resorts for a day of pampering at the spa. Had I been able to spend more time in Utah, I would have liked to see some of the other cities I’ve heard about, like Park City, home of the Winter Olympics in 2002. Park City is home to the Sundance Film Festival and the United States Ski Team, and it is also a vacation destinations for people who love to ski. This Park City hotel website will help you to find the perfect resort for your stay in Park City. I really liked the April Inn, located right on Main Street downtown. The building looks like something right out of the 1800’s - based on that, I can only imagine how picturesque the town of Park City is!

If you’ve ever flown on Southwest, you’ll know that they have a unique policy for seating their customers on planes. You are not assigned a seat, instead, Southwest uses an open seating policy that allows passengers to choose a sit upon entering the plane. If you’re traveling with a larger group, or your kids, this doesn’t always work out. I have a family of 5, and if we aren’t first in line to enter that plane, we’ll be seated apart from each other.

Southwest is exploring options now for traveling families, and testing a few things on flights out of San Antonio. They are trying designated rows specifically for families, and having families pre-board. While Southwest says they’re not trying to segregate families from business travelers, effectively, they are. Don’t get me wrong - I’m fine with that! I travel with and with my kids, and when I’m without my own kids, I’d prefer not to sit with a screaming baby in my row. I would happily choose to sit in the non family section.

When choosing a hotel in an unfamiliar city, my mantra is always location, location, location!

Learn where the landmarks and attractions are that you wish to see on your vacation, and look for hotels that are close to those places, or close to public transportation. For instance, I’ve never been to Florence, Italy, but I know from my research on Wikipedia that should I ever get to Florence, I want to see:

• Piazza della Repubblica
• Ponte Vecchio and the River Arno
• Santa Maria del Fiore at Duomo Square
• Bartolomeo Ammanati’s Fountain of Neptune

A quick glance at HotelClub.com and their list of Florence hotels, and I can see that several are in what appears to be the heart of the city - close to Duomo Square, or in the historic center. Perfect for a first timer! The Fenice Palace Hotel Florence in particular is just 100 meters from Duomo Square, next to the Medici Chapels, and close to Giotto’s bell tower. The location is also close to museums and dining. Perfecto!

This is a sponsored review.

When you think of Africa, you no doubt think of lush tropical jungles, vast savannas, and hot deserts. Do you think of snow covered peaks? These Kilimanjaro experts would like for Mount Kilimanjaro to be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Africa. If the thought of traveling to Africa on your own to tour the nation sounds a bit daunting, you can book a tour with Tusker Trails and let Eddie Frank show you the wonders of Kilimanjaro first hand.

Eddie was born and raised in Africa, and has scaled the mountain 31 times in 30 years. Wow! He’s made a trip up the mountain for each year of my life. That’s just the kind of guy I’d want by my side if I were to attempt such a feat. Eddie also participates in 5 climbs for charity every year!

Tusker Trails isn’t limited to Mount Kilimanjaro tours either. You can also book tours to see the rest of Tanzania, other parts of East Africa, and Mongolia.

When I flew on US Air last week, I was offered first class upgrade upon check-in, for the total of $100 each way. Now, had I known there would be a screaming baby in my row on the way to Pittsburgh, I would have gladly ponied up the cash. My company was paying for the ticket, so it would have had to come out of my pocket, but it would be a small price to pay for peace and quiet and more leg room.

It got me thinking - do they no longer bump people to first class, instead hoping that they can sell people the tickets for $100 one way? Have you ever been offered a free seat in first class?

When I was in high school, I briefly entertained the thought of becoming a foreign exchange student. Two things stopped me - I had only taken 1 year of French at that point (not what I considered to be enough) and I knew I’d be incredibly homesick if I went to Europe for 3 months. Had there been educational travel tours available back then, I would have been first in line to sign up. Rather than spending your time in the same house for a period of months, these tours allow students to visit places with a group of their peers and see all the major sites and attractions. For example, a tour in Germany allows for stops at:

• Olympic Stadium
• Nymphenburg Palace
• Black Forest
• A cruise on the Danube
• And more!

Believe me - your kids will have a much better time touring Europe with kids than they will with you! And it’s a great chance to let your teen have some independence and shine.

I’m not very pleased with the suitcases we bought from Target for the kids.

Oh I know, I shouldn’t expect much for $20, but I guess I was expecting them to come through their first trip unscathed. Matthew’s bag looks fine - we got him black, which helped. Catherine’s lavender suitcase came off baggage claim in Detroit with a rip in the material, and Gracie’s pink bag is now black with some sort of grease.

Serves me right for buying “cute” luggage for the kids!

If only all travel could be vacation travel - stress free, relaxing, exotic destinations. But there are other types of travel, for example, business travel. Or how about traveling cross-country or to another country entirely to take a new job? Moving is never easy, but it certainly is more difficult when you’re moving across the world instead of across town. Relocation.com is a moving dedicated to making your moving day as stress free as possible. The site has a moving guide that can help you figure out how to best deal with the kids and the pets during this busy time, as well as tips on how to choose a moving company. Maybe you plan on doing it yourself and driving the U-Haul to your new home. How will you get your vehicles there? Auto shipping is something you’ll need to check into. (FYI, auto shipping isn’t just for moves. We used it when my grandfather died and we needed to transport his car from New Jersey to Florida. It was much easier than flying to his home and spending 2 days driving his car back home!) Relocation.com also has international movers, should your new career be taking you overseas.

Having moved 4 times in 11 years, I can honestly say each time was one of the happiest, but busiest and most stress filled days in our life. You can make it a little less stressful by planning ahead as MUCH as possible!

This is a sponsored review.

If you’ve got American Airlines and have been frustrated by the lack of options to book short trips - listen up! AA is once again allowing customers to book so-called “short-hop” flights (example: Chicago to Atlanta or Dallas to Denver) for as little as 15,000 of your AAdvantage miles. You can begin booking these flights on AA.com for travel through September 1st, 2007, through February 20, 2008. Your flight must be on American Airlines, American Eagle or AmericanConnection carriers to use this deal.

Branson, MO bills itself as a family friendly version of Las Vegas. This former small town in the middle of Missouri is now home to many shows and attractions featuring the stars of country music and the natural wonder of the Ozarks. Although I’ve never been to Branson, I imagine that it’s probably a bit like Gatlinburgh, TN, with more glitz and glam. There are hotels, resorts, and Branson cabin rentals available to vacationers. The Thousand Hills Golf Resort offers an award winning 18 hole golf course, beautiful views, and a location just minutes from all of the action in Branson. Most of the cabins feature hot tubs, fireplaces, and porches, and some can sleep up to 16 people.

Our second stop on our Canadian vacation was Montreal. We left Toronto and made the drive east towards the city, arriving in the late afternoon. We stayed for 3 nights, beginning Friday June 22nd, at the Doubletree by Hilton Montreal Centre-Ville, located at 505 Sherbrooke Street East in Montreal.

Price: After comparing prices on the major travel websites, I booked the room directly through the Doubletree website, paying $125USD per night, for 2 rooms. The rooms at this hotel were not suites, but the hotel did offer free breakfast and a coin laundry, which we felt was a good trade off for not having a microwave and fridge in the room. We received a small discount off the regular room rate by selecting the “Get Going Canada” rate.

Location: While the hotel wasn’t located right downtown, in the middle of the hustle and bustle, the location was excellent. Two metro stops away from the center of Montreal, and the metro station was under our hotel! It was nice being on a quiet street, filled with residences and offices. My only complaint about the location is that there wasn’t much to eat in the immediate area. It was perhaps a 10 minute walk away, but not bad.

Cleanliness: This hotel was perfect. Beautiful lobby, clean corridors (with fresh paint, even!) and perfect rooms. I let out a huge sigh of relief when we entered our room and saw that everything in it, from the bedding to the furniture was in pristine condition.

Staff: Here’s where I have mixed feelings. Some of the staff was helpful, others…well, they were clueless. The hotel website stated there was a coin laundry, so my husband inquired about it, only to be told it was 5 blocks away! I looked at the website again and verified it said coin laundry on site, and called the front desk again to inquire. The first person I talked to claimed there wasn’t one, then the manager said there WAS one, but they weren’t sure where it was - perhaps the 2nd or 3rd floor? (How exactly does one manage a hotel without knowing where the coin laundry is?) When I had an issue with the laundry (see below) their response was apathetic.

Amenities: The pool was inside but large, and heated. The kids enjoyed it quite a bit. We had fantastic views of the city from our room as well. After searching the 2nd and 3rd floor for the coin laundry, I went back to the front desk to inquire where exactly it was - keep in mind I was dragging a bag containing dirty laundry and detergent. One of the staff finally left the desk to walk me upstairs, where we found the laundry on the 4th floor. I put in clothing, and put in soap, and put in coins…and discovered it was BROKEN! Thoroughly infuriated by now, I trudged back downstairs and complained that now I had dirty, soapy clothes. Their response was that they would let me know when the machine was fixed. Grrr!

The hotel also boasted free breakfast, but the first person we asked about it said they would have to check our “room plan” to see if we were eligible. Again, I verified on the website that continental breakfast was offered to all guest, and complained, and magically our breakfast passes appeared.

Comfort: Doubletree excels when it comes to comfort. The bedding and mattress we slept on were FABULOUS. However, the a/c didn’t work right in our room for the duration our stay. Despite multiple complaints, the manager’s only solution was to provide a single fan for our room.

Overall rank: On a scale of 1 to 10, the Doubletree by Hilton Montreal Centre-Ville receives a 7. It could be much higher, had the staff not been quite so inept.

You can forget about good surfing where I live. The Gulf of Mexico has wimpy waves, so you can boogie board, and you can wind surf, but you can’t actually surf on a surf board. (Except for those few times when a hurricane is coming and the wind is kicking up huge waves!)

If you want to do serious surfing, you head for the big waves of Hawaii. Poipu, Hawaii is one of the neatest places you can go. The small town boast a population of just over 1,000 people. In fact, at any given time, they’ve probably got more vacationers staying in Poipu condos and hotels than they do residents! But the lack of residents translates into a quiet, picture perfect place to relax in one of these beautiful Poipu vacation homes and find some great waves. The town features several posh high end resorts, as well as many Poipu vacation rentals to choose from. Once you’re settled into your room, had out to the local beaches and catch a wave. Poipu is located on the south side of Kauai (also known as Kaua’i) which is the leeward side, meaning sunnier and drier weather for tourists. You’ll enjoyed the laid back feeling that Poipu has to offer, as well as great beaches (Poipu Beach was named the #1 beach in the world by National Geographic Traveler!) and waves.

This is a sponsored review.

I’m currently working on my review of the Doubletree we stayed at in Montreal, and when I’m finished with the review, I’ll be publishing it here AND printing 2 copies to mail. One will go to the corporate offices of Doubletree, and the other will be sent to hotel management. No, we were not happy with our room, and yes, I am the type to complain in writing

I figure that the worst thing that can happen is they won’t do a thing. The best case scenario would be a credit for part of our stay, our a credit towards a future stay.

Our family ski trips have been to North Carolina so far, because it’s easy for us to get to. However, I’d love to take the family out west some year for skiing in Lake Tahoe. I know it’s more of a “resort” area than we’re used to, so before planning a trip out there, I’d use every bit of information I could find online to make our plans and figure out a budget for our trip. Tahoe360 has information on Tahoe restaurants, snow reports, and maps of the ski resorts too. What a great resources for Lake Tahoe and Reno vacationers!

Now that our trip to Canada is behind us, I need to get passports for the kids. We lucked out by driving into Canada last month, because passports aren’t required, but in 2008, they will be. It’s as good a time as any to get the kids passports, because they’ll be good for a long time!

Getting a passport for a kid seems like a big hassle though. I was 17 when I got my first passport (1993) and I remember going to AAA with my mom, taking the picture, and mailing the forms in. Now you need to present yourself in person to the passport authority, with both parents present to prove that you’re not trying to sneak the child out of the country without one of the parents knowing. You can see why we haven’t done it yet!

Why can’t I go somewhere really fantastic on a business trip? I went to Pittsburgh last week, and my next trips will be to Dallas, and possibly Boston. We’ve got an office in Australia - why can’t they send me there? Coincidentally, after I posted about wishing I could go down under someday, a coworker of mine mentioned that someone in our division IS being sent there. Sweet! Today I’m continuing my short series on Asia hotels and Australia hotels by filling you in on a town called Cairns. This town is considered to be the gateway to north Queensland, and if you plan on visiting the Great Barrier Reef, you’ll have to go through Cairns to get there. The city is lovely, with part of the city being located on Trinity Bay, and beautiful mountains around the rest of town, and the proximity to the reef (only an hour away) makes this city the 4th visited town in Australia. Should you need to locate hotels in Cairns, never fear - you can do so easily online, with the rating and price noted right on the main page, as well as easy access to information on the city, what to see and what to do while you’re there.

A friend asked me last week how we booked our cruises. We’ve been on quite a few, and the last few I’ve booked on a site called CruisesOnly.com. I love, love, LOVE this site because they always have fantastic deals, and they feature all of the major cruise lines. You can usually find the same price, if not better that you’d get by booking through the cruise line directly, and they also offer special deals (like shipboard credit) that most of the cruise lines won’t offer you. We booked a cruise through the site a few years ago, and between the time we booked and the time of our trip, the cruise price dropped. I called Cruises Only and mentioned it and they sent me a credit for the difference!

I just got sidetracked looking at Australia information online, and spent a good 15 minutes looking at the Google satellite of the country. I’m a geek for maps! And the level of detail shown on the Google satellite images is amazing. I scrolled all over the Southern hemisphere, and even found Vanuata, where Survivor was filmed. Neat!

I’m not sure that I’ll ever make it to that side of the world. Looking at it on the map makes it seem so far away. Should it ever happen though, Asia hotels has a ton of selection, from hotels in Brisbane to Malaysia. There are a lot of beautiful beach resorts in that area with options for high end accomodations or something to meet the budget traveler’s needs. What I like best about this site is the last minute deals section - for those of you with the freedom to plan a trip on the spur of the moment, you can save a lot of money by snagging a last minute deal. Don’t waste your time by typing “hotels Australia” into Google and weeding through results - just go to AsiaHotels.com!

This is a sponsored review.