Tag Archives: seasonal travel

In Search of Spectacular Holiday Light Displays—Part 2

You’d have to be a real Grinch not to enjoy seeing thousands of twinkling lights illuminate a cold dark winter’s night. Heck, half my neighborhood is already awash in holiday wattage. I’m not kidding. There’s even one house a few streets down that has two inflatable snowmen in the yard and the cutest display of mini-Christmas tree lights bordering its walkway, but on the front porch sits five pumpkins a haystack and two corn stalks. If you don’t feel like going all out to string lights around your own home then pack up the kids and hit the highway. Hundreds … Continue reading →

Family Travel—Taking a Trip to View Amazing Holiday Light Displays

There are those who complain about people who festoon their homes with Christmas decorations well before Thanksgiving. Not me. I love seeing holiday lights twinkling on cold, gloomy days when the sun is already setting at 4 in the afternoon. Our neighborhood, nay, the entire downtown area is sparkling with seasonal wattage. (It could be because our local holiday parade takes place tomorrow night.) And we’re not the only ones. Cities from coast to coast have their holiday light displays up and running. From Florida to Denver, Chicago to California, America is wired to host holiday travelers who love viewing … Continue reading →

Thanksgiving in Massachusetts

Traditionally, when a child takes off for college you expect him or her to return home during breaks to spend the holidays with family and friends. That’s not the case with my former colleague. I ran into Dan and his wife this afternoon at the grocery store and learned that they will be flying east in a couple of days to meet up with their daughter at her school. (Hence, the missing turkey in their shopping cart.) Dan, his wife, and two sons are heading to Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley for Thanksgiving. The scenic section of New England is located about … Continue reading →

Old Fashioned Hawaiian Holiday

I know we haven’t even eaten our way through Thanksgiving yet, but it’s no secret most people already have their holiday travel plans set in stone. If you are one of the lucky ones who plan to spend the holidays in paradise you may to add the following traditional Hawaiian Christmas event to your to-do list. This year on the Big Island of Hawaii the H.N. Greenwell Store is set to revive some local holiday customs during a series of special events called “An English Christmas in the Hawaiian Kingdom.” Henry Nicholas (H.N.) built the 1,000-square-foot structure located in Kealakekua … Continue reading →

Travel Updates: More Unique Turkey Day Travel Destinations and No More Lost Luggage

For the past few weeks I’ve been providing alternative destinations for those of you who are fed up with spending Thanksgiving Day passing the potatoes to your pea-throwing younger cousins and having to share a sofa bed with your second cousin’s snoring Saint Bernard. This next Turkey Day destination will have you flying far, far away from Aunt Lucy’s creamed corn—-all the way to the other side of the Atlantic. Italy is a great place to celebrate this all-American holiday with some new friends. Specifically at the Bauer Hotel in Venice. That’s where you’ll find Francesca Bortolotto Possati, the owner … Continue reading →

Seasonal Travel: Spending Thanksgiving in New Mexico

My parents met and married in Albuquerque, New Mexico and subsequently spent a number of Thanksgivings in the land of hot air balloons and roasted chilies. They now live in the land of pineapples and big surf. Hawaii is a popular holiday destination, but you’d be surprised at how many visitors descend on New Mexico during the long Thanksgiving weekend. Many hotels and resorts in the area are offering Thanksgiving packages, which include elaborate turkey spreads, but it is New Mexico, so don’t be surprised if your meal features a Southwestern accent. Common holiday dishes such as green chili and … Continue reading →

Ready, Set, Ski!

Aspen, Vail, Stowe, Breckenridge, Lake Tahoe, no matter where you gear up to hot dog downhill it’s likely you will have a lot of company in the coming weeks. Ski towns from California to Maine are bracing for the onslaught of ski bunnies and their snow loving partners. I grew up in Hawaii, where skiing is limited to the rare winter days when Mauna Kea gets enough of the white stuff to cover its lava rock surface. Which makes it hard to believe that my brother is such an avid skier and snowboarder. Each year he travels from Hawaii to … Continue reading →

Untraditional Turkey Day Destinations

If you are tired of spending Thanksgiving passing the potatoes to your pea-throwing younger cousins; horrified at the thought of having to share a sofa bed with your aunt’s drooling Dalmatian or can’t hack having the Turkey Day football game once again interrupted by a family sing-along, then you might consider the following options: FLORIDA Residents in St. Augustine, Florida celebrate Thanksgiving in September to commemorate a feast held more than 440 years ago between Spanish colonial settlers and native Timucuan Indians. But, local restaurants roll out the red carpet in November for visitors who want to dig into traditional … Continue reading →

Is There Still a Way to Save on Holiday Travel?

That depends on how and where you plan to spend the holidays. If you are plan to take a plane to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving or Christmas you may be out of luck. According to travel agents, the average person books a flight 85 days in advance, up from 81 last year, and there are only 19 days until Thanksgiving and 51 days until Christmas. And even more bad news, in the past few weeks, several airlines have raised their fares. Travel experts say frugal fliers bought their tickets early for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. But, don’t despair, there … Continue reading →

Unique Thanksgiving Travel Destinations

In my previous blog I mentioned that not everyone is planning to load up the family to go over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house for a lavish turkey spread this Thanksgiving. In fact, some families forgo the entire conversation-over-cranberry sauce tradition all together and opt for an extended holiday weekend shushing down the slopes in Colorado or feasting on pheasant in Hawaii. If you are looking for alternative locales to spend your Thanksgiving holiday consider some of these options: LAS VEGAS The glitz and glam of Sin City may be the antithesis of grandma’s chatskie-filled dining … Continue reading →