After being hit by a handful of major hurricanes over the past two years, the islands of the Caribbean Sea are finally getting a bit of good news… The deadline to require American citizens to use passports for travel to the Bahamas, Bermuda and all other countries has been formally extended to December 31, 2006.
I met Walt Disney as a kid in Anaheim. But though I was in the Magic Kingdom, I never imagined that I’d dive in his aquarium in Orlando, Florida one day in the future. My secret entry key was Walt Disney World’s EPCOT DiveQuest Program. Limited to eight certified divers per day, it’s a pleasantly-packaged,…
When Pierce Brosnan called my friend Brent Black to order one of the world’s finest Panama hats, Brent silently smiled, pumped his fist, then took the order in stride. After all, Brosnan wasn’t the only big shot Hollywood star to request a customized chapeau from Brent’s Panama Hat Company of the Pacific, headquartered on Oahu,…
My sister Jill and brother-in-law Jonathan discovered this fantastic, year-old bistro in West Los Angeles. Called Nook, it’s a great little place that seats about 50 folks. We were served bowls of boiled peanuts for appetizers. Owner Brian said, “If you don’t like them, it lowers your expectations for the entrees.” These hot, soggy peanuts…
Back in 1834, the city’s first hotel opened its doors to world statesmen and global travellers. Now, after a year of costly renovations, the legendary Hotel des Bergues Geneva has reopened as Switzerland’s first and only Four Seasons Hotel. Located in the city center on the shores of beautiful Lake Geneva, your room may offer…
For world-class museums, my home town of San Francisco has an embarrassment of riches. I’ve long loved the SF Museum of Modern Art and the recently rebuilt Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Now, they’re joined by the totally revitalized, copper-clad M.H. de Young Museum, which reopened in the heart of Golden Gate Park in…
Boston has hundreds, if not thousands, of historic buildings, so it’s refreshing to find a new-fangled boutique hotel like The Onyx –– a one-of-a-kind Kimpton Hotel with an energy, personality and pulse of its own. The Onyx Hotel offers luxury accommodations in the neighborhood featuring the TD Banknorth Garden (Fleet Center), Faneuil Hall and North…
When a concert takes place on the same floor where the San Jose Sharks host hockey games, “cool” is the operative word. And cool best describes the 36-song, 2-encore, 2 hour, 40 minute Paul McCartney concert we witnessed last night that’s still giving us a buzz. Though he’ll be 64 next year — and though…
Mrs. Paul McCartney, AKA Heather Mills McCartney, is the Goodwill Ambassador and Patron of Adopt A Minefield. Thanks to a new partnership between AAM and Von Dutch, when you buy a purchase of a ‘No More Landmines’ T-shirt, you’ll help spread awareness of the global landmine crisis and raise much needed funds to clear landmines…
Vagablond can’t necessarily get if for you wholesale, but if you want to find a Jewish museum in Rio, kosher pizza in Sao Paulo, a monument to Golda Meir in Montevideo, or kosher tacos in Mexico City, check out “A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean & South America” by Ben G. Frank. Like your…
We just love the robustness of The Seagate Pocket Drive, a easy, compact way to carry up to 5GB of files, music, photos, video, and more. These elegant, palm-sized drives can fit in your pocket (hence the name), yet they safely store much larger files than the smaller 512MB or 1GB portable drives you’ve seen…
What single word best describes Smart Travelling? This travel boutique in an alley in Berlin’s hip Mitte district, is intelligent… brilliant… savvy… and just plain smart. It’s a Web-based service that features information about 24 Western European cities with memberships starting at 19 Euros annually. Its bi-lingual (German/English) site says: “Smart-travelling is devised for determined…