I came across a fascinating account of a trip to North Korea this week online. An American Tourist in North Korea, 2007 gives a great deal of information about how North Korea wishes to be portrayed by those who visit, and the country has easily earned itself a spot on my “Places I Never Want To Visit” list. While the site is a bit lacking in pictures, the information presented is amazing. It’s very rare that American tourists are ever let into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and when they are, the list of rules and regulations to follow is long. I don’t ever wish to visit a place where I could be arrested for folding a newspaper across a photo of Kim Jong-il, but reading about it was simply amazing.

Read the site, and be thankful to be living wherever you call home. Things could be much worse.

What was that I just said about a low key trip to the mountains in January?

Scratch that. A whole new vacation just came up out of thin air - one that involves NO children, and rescheduling our mountain plans for a later date. And, Jim and I will get to break in our new passports! I’m keeping mum until everything is booked and set, which I plan to do today.

Growing up in a small town founded by Greek fisherman and spongers, I saw a lot of things that most people in suburbia don’t. It wasn’t uncommon to see lambs tied up in the yards of homes before Easter, because they’d become the centerpiece of a traditional Greek Easter meal. I know all about Epiphany, because it’s a huge event in my hometown, with young men jumping into the waters of the bayou to retrieve a blessed cross. I visited stores where fresh Greek bread and cookies were sold, and old Greek men smoked from a Hookah, or Arghile in the corner of the store.

If you have the opportunity to travel to the Middle East, or a place like Greece, you will no doubt see people gathering around for some hookah smoking and socializing. Just like the British gather at neighborhood pubs, and Americans get together at sports bars, people in the Middle East gather to share stories of their day and relax with the hookah. It’s as common as drinking coffee is in the US! There are hookah cafes where you can select specialty tobacco and relax with a hookah, meet new people, and pass the time. Shisha tobacco flavors are as varied as coffee varieties, and you’ll even find fruit or dessert flavors.

The hookah is growing in popularity here in the US as well, and you can even buy a hookah online!

Have you heard of a new tour company called Adventures By Disney? The Walt Disney Company started this line in order to offer guests a Disney vacation away from the parks. The company offers a guided vacation to some atypical family vacation locations - like boating to Capri! In 2008, Adventures by Disney will be adding 8 more trips, giving families the chance to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef, hike Machu Picchu, kayak to the Pont du Gard in France, or explore the Great Wall of China.

An Adventures by Disney vacation includes family activities, as well as special events just for the children - like pizza parties and scavenger hunts - so that the adults can enjoy some alone time. Each group has 2 adventure guides who act as your mobile concierge. You’ll do more than just SEE the sights - you’ll be able to learn local arts and crafts or dances or go behind the scenes for special tours.

You may pay a bit more money for one of these tours than a traditional tour vacation, but having been on a Disney cruise, it’s worth every penny. Disney pays attention to details and really does a great job of engaging the entire family.

A few years ago, I caught a movie on AMC called Von Ryan’s Express. The movie, made in 1965, features a young Frank Sinatra as Colonel Joseph L. Ryan, an American POW helping a train full of US soldiers escape from the Nazis during World War II. Not only is it a fantastic plot, but the movie features fabulous views of Switzerland, as the train makes it’s final break through the mountains to freedom. That, along with a Humanities teacher in college who spent a year working at a Swiss ski resort, have put Switzerland at the top of my list for places to visit when I make it back to Europe. St. Moritz, in particular, is a small town located in the Swiss Alps that has outdoor activities year round. The town features luxury resorts and hotels, and is a great place to catch one of the trains to see the Swiss Alps. Swiss passes are sold so that you can enjoy unrestricted travel for up to a month with Swiss travel systems.

One of the trains you can travel on using a Swiss pass is the Glacier Exress. You’ll climb up the Matter and Rhone vallies and through tunnels, crossing mountain passes, and you can view the Rhein gorge. I imagine that it’s a pretty spectacular way to see Switzerland.

This is a sponsored review.

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.

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.

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.

I’ve got a list of countries I’d like to see someday, and Australia is on the top of my list. I heard about it from my brother, who lived there for a time, and I’ve see plenty of episodes of Crocodile Hunter, and ALL of the Crocodile Dundee movies, too. I know that the country is a relatively big place, with landscapes ranging from monoliths to coral reefs, desert and rain forests. In order to ever see it all, you’d need a few weeks, at least! A long trip like that, combined with the expensive airfare required to get there, means cheap hotels are a MUST!

Enter HotelClub.com and their cheap Australia hotels! I checked out the offerings in Sydney, which is where I’d start my trip, if I ever took it. Like any big city, you’ve got a lot of options when it comes to Sydney hotels. There are small lodges which are styled after B and B’s, lovely hotels overlooking Sydney Harbour, and skyscrapers in Sydney’s central business district. When you visit the site, you’ve got instant access to a list of hotels in Sydney, which also displays the location, star rating and price for each hotel. It makes it very easy to weed out locations and narrow down your choices. You’ll also find a list of recommended hotels, a forum for Sydney, and information on the city.

This is a sponsored review.

Looks can be deceiving.

I say that, having typed on my other blog this afternoon that our hotel here in Montreal was stunning. And it is, visually. As far as the amenities and staff - I’m unimpressed.

For starters, when we were looking online, weeks ago, for a hotel in Montreal, we specifically chose THIS hotel because it had several things we not only needed, but wanted. In the needs columns:

• Free breakfast (eating out gets to be expensive each morning)
• Coin laundry in the hotel (we knew bringing enough clothing to last the whole 9 days would be too much, so we packed enough to get us halfway through)

In the wants columns:

• Close to downtown, or in downtown
• A pool for the kids

When we checked in, my husband asked the front desk about the coin laundry, and was told there wasn’t one, but that we could walk 5 blocks to one. He was also told there was a breakfast, but it wasn’t free. Hmm…that didn’t sound right, but we needed to eat and laundry and food for the morning wasn’t the priority right then and there. We set the a/c in our room to frigid and left to find some grub. When we returned, the a/c wasn’t really blowing, and it was downright warm in our room. It was almost 11pm, so I called the front desk and asked about 3 things - the a/c, the laundry, and the breakfast.

The front desk clerk told me he would send someone up within 10 minutes to check the a/c, and that our ‘package’ didn’t include breakfast, and that the coin laundry was on either floor 2, or floor 3. The problem with that is that the website says, “FREE BREAKFAST” without a mention of a package. The other problem? I searched floors 2 and 3 and found no laundry. I went to the front desk and complained in person. I was told that we could get free breakfast after all (squeaky wheel?) and that the laundry was on the 4th floor. (How does the hotel staff NOT know where the coin laundry is?

So I go BACK upstairs to my room, get the laundry, the soap, and go to the 4th floor. Dump in the soap, clothing, and put in the money - nothing. Wait, do a dance, sing a song - still nothing. Go back down to 1st floor, and now I am irritated, as you can only imagine. Their solution? Check into it tomorrow and reimburse me the $2.

Again, I’m not impressed with that.

So I go back to the 4th floor, stuff clothes back into bags, and head to my room, where I rinse soap off my jeans. You can BET that the hotel chain is getting a letter from me once our stay is over. Not only were both of the machines for laundry not working, but one wasn’t marked, so I’m stuck with soapy clothes and a trip to a coin laundry five blocks away.

Oh, and that a/c issue? Our thermostat is set on 10 degrees C. I should have icicles coming off my nose at that temp. Instead, it’s barely cool, and the hotel’s solution was to give us a fan to make it through the night. A freaking fan?! I’m way hot, and I don’t mean just from the broken a/c, either.

I absolutely hate issues like this, and it’s inexcusable when you’re paying close to $150 a night for your room. The fact that the staff had an apathetic “oh well” attitude about everything makes me even more upset.

We’ve booked the rest of our hotels for our trip to Canada this month, and it’s a relief to have that over and done with. Because we’re going with my mother and the kids, and booking 2 rooms everywhere, and we’re going to be gone for over a week…well, it wasn’t as easy as it normally is when I book a hotel room. Instead of me being in charge, we had to get the approval of 3 adults on each hotel, and it had to have laundry facilities so we don’t need to bring 2 weeks worth of clothing, and a pool for the kids.

Luckily, we found something that would fit our needs in each of the cities we’ll be staying in - Toronto, Montreal, and Niagara Falls, and online, all of the hotels looked just perfect. I’m hoping they’re as good in person!

We’ve booked one hotel for our 8 night trip to Canada next month. (Note to self: trip is only 3 weeks away - get moving on booking other hotels!) We’re still debating on using Priceline for our 3 night stays in Toronto and Montreal (if anyone has a recommendation for a great downtown neighborhood to stay in for either city, let me know!) but we knew we didn’t want to gamble with Priceline for Niagara Falls. We wanted a hotel with a great view of the falls, and we wanted a big name brand. We ended up booking rooms at the Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview and because my mother is coming with, we snagged a substantial AARP thanks to her membership with the group. Score! The hotel is connected to a casino (I love the slots!)and has a gorgeous indoor pool with a great slide to keep the kids busy.