Chris Around The World: Your Guide to Value Luxury Vacations
Unique, chic, boutique: Vacations for Sophisticated Travelers
This is the August 2012 offering for our desktop calendar series - always free and available for iPad and iPhone too! Get your August 2012 Desktop Calendar Wallpaper! This photo of the Napa Valley was taken from 2,000 feet, during an early morning hot air balloon ride. September is the start of harvest season in California wine country [...]
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Earlier this year, I wrote a story for USA TODAY’s Green Living Guide about LEED-certified hotels. As I did my research, I was pleasantly surprised to find that one national park property, the Cavallo Point Lodge in Golden Gate National Recreation Area, had reached Gold certification. I resolved to check it out in person as [...]
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This week, I’m serving as a paid spokesperson for Hilton HHonors’ Seven Tickets to Paradise Sweepstakes. The contest, open to Hilton HHonors members through Aug. 31, features seven prize packages to destinations ranging from Bali to Palm Springs to a location of your choice. I previewed one of the prizes, the “Your Ticket To Dine,” in Napa [...]
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This week, I’m serving as a paid spokesperson for Hilton HHonors’ Seven Tickets to Paradise Sweepstakes. The contest, which is open to Hilton HHonors members, features seven prize packages and ends on Aug. 31. I previewed one of the prizes, the “Your Ticket To Dine,” in Napa Valley this past weekend. Napa Valley has been [...]
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For my final Four Seasons LA stay, my husband and I got in our car and started driving west out of the city, all the way to Westlake Village which straddles Los Angeles and Ventura county. While I’ve driven up the Pacific coast to Malibu and Brentwood, I had never been as far inland as [...]
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Many people don’t know that the Beverly Wilshire, made so famous as the hotel in Pretty Woman where Richard Gere wooed bubbly prostitute Julia Roberts, is part of the Four Seasons portfolio. The company has managed the legendary property, which has housed everyone from Elvis Presley to Warren Beatty to John Lennon to Barack Obama, since [...]
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California Dreaming month continues with a look at some Los Angeles luxe, appropriate for Oscar Week. When I was in southern California last month for the LA Times Travel Show, I partnered with the three Four Seasons properties in the Los Angeles area, spending a night at each one so I could compare and contrast [...]
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One of my favorite lodging trends in recent years: The appearance of the luxury bed and breakfast, one that has the sensibilities of a boutique hotel with the personal touches that you’d find in a small establishment. I have very definite ideas on what a good bed and breakfast looks like, which come from too [...]
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My California Dreaming series continues with a look at Big Sur. This stretch of coastal California has inspired writers, travelers and thinkers for more than a century. Authors such as Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac found inspiration in the forested coast, which was sparsely populated until the famed Route 1 became a state highway in [...]
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“California Dreaming/On such a winter’s day.” One of the best things about moving to the West Coast has been my newfound proximity to California. At the Los Angeles Travel Show a few weeks ago, I learned that California is the number one state that American leisure travelers want to visit. It seems to be for [...]
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