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April Birthdays
for our
ActiveTravels members!
Michael Bailey
Leland Brandt
Julia Brickell
Frances Cooke
Eli Dain
Kimberly Davis
David Ferry
Andy Friedman
Mitch Glassman
Spencer Goldman
Thomas Hardy
Katherine Jakubowski
Lisa Knocke
Abby Lass
Olivia Liao
Malcolm McGraw
Peggy Morrison
Tess Myers
Jessica Nielson
Gerd Schmidt
Sharon Sevransky
Matthew Snider
Simon Todreas
Please tell us yours
if we don't have it!
Do you want expert travel advice and inspiration from an experienced and prolific travel writer?
Would you like your very own travel agent who knows you and your travel profile and can make certain that your vacation time with family and friends is well-spent?
Vacations are precious investments of time with your loved ones.
Trust ActiveTravels to provide:
exceptional suggestions on all kinds of destinations
personally-tested travel itineraries customized just for you
an experienced travel agent who can oversee every detail
someone to be
there for you
before and during your trip to ensure all goes smoothly
to find out more!
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Editor's Letter,
April 2017
April is always one of the busiest months of the year for us as members book upcoming summer and winter travel. We try to get back to all requests as quickly as possible and we appreciate your patience. We've also been traveling quite a bit to see firsthand the destinations, resorts, and tour operators we like to recommend. Lisa just returned from Queensland and Melbourne, Australia, which she reports on in our main feature. On our last trip to Australia, we were stuck inside a small hotel in Cairns for 3 days as a cyclone barreled down the coastline. So, of course, the worst cyclone to hit Australia in 6 years happened in Queensland while Lisa was there again. Thankfully, the eye of the storm was an 8-hour drive to the south so it didn't alter her itinerary. Unfortunately it did cause some destruction to southern Queensland. We're also headed for a weeklong trip to another popular destination, Greece, later this month with a highly reputable tour operator from New York, Heritage Tours. We'll describe our findings in our May newsletter.
In our Travel Tip column this month, we want to remind members to please think of us for all your travels, including cruises and guided trips with the likes of Backroads, Abercrombie & Kent, and Lindblad. We're a full-service Virtuoso-aligned travel agency that can often get amenities like shore excursions and spa treatments thrown in at no additional cost. Also in this issue, we list our favorite properties in Maui, discuss deals in St. Barts in the shoulder season, and talk about the art scene in Houston for our Quick Escape column.
H
appy travels,
Steve & Lisa
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News from the Road:
Queensland & Melbourne, Australia
There are many perks to being a travel advisor. First and foremost, we get to help people celebrate milestones in their lives, bond with their families, enjoy their honeymoons and anniversaries, and explore the world expanding the boundaries of their everyday lives. We are so thankful to be able to do this work.
Another perk is the fam trip. What's that you may ask? Tourism agencies, hotel representatives and tour operators are often inviting us travel advisors to leave our desks behind so we can experience the destinations, hotel rooms and excursions we sell to our clients firsthand. When I saw the fam trip to Australia offered by Air New Zealand and Tourism Australia, I quickly applied and happily was chosen. This was a trip to Queensland, home to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, as well as a trip to Melbourne, a cosmopolitan city on the southern coast. As this was a Virtuoso fam trip, we were going upscale down under all the way from helicopter rides to luxury lodges to fine dining and Australian wines.
After a long journey of countless hours (well, actually I did count and it was 24 hours in flight total to get to Lizard Island, Queensland, from Boston), I literally kissed the ground (more like sandy beach) once I hit terra firma. Lizard Island, an island in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef off the Queensland coast, was my first stop. As a cyclone threatened the southern part of the Reef, we were far north so thankfully safe and sound.  The island has two lodging options: the luxury property called Lizard Island, or camping. Luckily, I was staying at the former! The island boasts 24 powdery white sand beaches, a national park and the most exquisite turquoise blue water. The lodge offers 40 luxury suites, a pool, a spa and a water sports program where you can plan a scuba trip to the famous Cod Hole, snorkel right from the beach to experience the giant purple-lipped clams, r ent a dinghy to explore the island and sign up for day long reef excursions for fishing, diving and snorkeling. Worthwhile is a hike up to Cook's Look, the highest point on the island, to get a panoramic view of this paradise. If you're looking to truly experience the reef and get away to your own tropical island, this is the place!
 Daintree Rainforest was next on our itinerary. We flew an hour to Cairns, and then drove along the coast to get there. On our way, we stopped at the hokey, but oh so fun, Hartley's Crocodile Adventures, and I held a koala bear (like a 50 pound ball of fur), fed kangaroos, pet a wombat named Molly (fat and friendly!) and fed raw chicken to crocs. No crocodile wrestling for this tourist! This is a must stop if you're heading to this part of the world.
After about an hour's drive past fields of sugar cane and gorgeous mountains, we turned in to Silky Oaks, our next luxury lodge nestled into the rainforest. Built along the Mossman River, this property offers 50 tree houses all with balconies equipped with hammocks overlooking either the river or the forest. When I was there, the humidity was about 100% and the temps very high due to the effects of the cyclone further south. So, a dip in the clear, clean and cool river was unbelievably delightful. They have yoga near the
river as well as inner tubes to use to cruise with the currents.
All of their gourmet meals and excellent wines are served open-air style with the sounds of the rushing river as background music. During our time
here we took a helicopter ride over the Mossman Gorge and enjoyed a magnificent sunset sail from Port Douglas, a funky coastal town nearby with great restaurants, pubs and shops.
 Our time in Queensland quickly came to an end and we flew three and a half hours to Melbourne. It was culture shock arriving here and experiencing the city energy with its traffic, quicker rhythms and throngs of people. Nevertheless, I immediately fell in love with this place. We stayed in the luxury hotel, Crown Towers, which overlooks the river and neighboring skyscrapers. Here we met our travel agent colleagues and tourism representatives and learned so much about all the regions of Australia:
- New South Wales where Sydney and the Blue Mountains reside
- The Northern Territories-think outback, Ayers Rock all the way up to Darwin
- Tasmania-yes, you can indeed find a Tasmanian devil here
- Victoria, location for Melbourne and the wine region of Mornington Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road
- South Australia where Adelaide and Kangaroo Island can be visited
- Western Australia's Perth and the exquisite nature of the Kimberleys
- And, Queensland, which I had learned about first hand just days before
Our last day was a special one with our guides, Dingo and Hugo, from Localing Tours. They brought us to a wildlife center, showed us beautiful Mornington Peninsula, along the coast, where the temps are perfect for wine production, and cooked us a "barbie" on a beach on Phillip Island. Last, but certainly not least, we strolled to the beach where the spectacular nightly parade of penguins emerge from the ocean to feed their young on shore.
If you have any interest in a trip to Australia, believe me, it's worth the countless hours to get there! Now I have great contacts to call all across that glorious country. Ask me all about it!
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Hotels We Love:
Maui, Hawaii
Maui is America's magical island destination, an enchanted land where the extraordinary becomes ordinary-whales breaching in turquoise waters or a ukulele player strumming on the beach as sunset streaks across the sky in shades of amber. Visit the 10,023-foot dormant volcano, Haleakala, preferably as early as 3 am to see the sun rise, and then bike all the way back to sea level. Or hike though bamboo forests to the island's many pristine waterfalls and snorkel in protected waters to go eyeball to eyeball with neon-colored fish and sea turtles. Here's a sampling of our favorite properties for clients:
The southernmost property on Kaanapali Beach, Hyatt Regency Maui spans 40 acres of beachfront with nine man-made waterfalls and a pool that resembles a water park with a swim-up grotto bar, rope bridge, kids-only adventure pool, and 150-foot lava-tube slide that keeps teens occupied for hours. Spread out among three towers, the resort's spacious rooms have huge marble bathrooms and private lanais with glorious views of the West Maui Mountains. An excellent destination for travelers who want a slew of activities without having to stray far.
Enter the orchid-filled lobby and see the big blue Pacific outside and you'll instantly know you're in Maui. For the price of a regular room at the neighboring luxury resorts, you get an entire suite here. Each unit in the all-suite hotel has a kitchenette, living room with sofa bed (great for kids), spacious bedroom, marble bathroom (including deep soaking tub), and large lanai with views of the Pacific. The two- and three-bedroom beachfront villas are perfect for families or couples traveling together. Each two-story unit has its own gourmet kitchen, washer/dryer, and private plunge pool just steps away from the white sand. The resort's Polo Beach is public, but feels private and secluded.
Nestled in the center of quaint Hana town, the 66-unit resort wraps around Kauiki Head, the dramatic point where Queen Kaahumanu was born. All of the accommodations here are wonderful, but the Sea Ranch Cottages (adults-only, except over the holidays) are downright heavenly. These duplex bungalows face the craggy shoreline, where horses graze above the rolling surf. Floor-to-ceiling sliding doors open to spacious lanais, some with private hot tubs. Book your stay here a la carte or all-inclusive; the latter includes three meals, snacks, and a treatment in one of Hawaii's nicest spas. Ride horseback past waterfalls, try stand-up paddling in the bay, or take a tour of a nearby tropical fruit farm.
Perched majestically above D. T. Fleming Beach, the Ritz is a vast property where you can while away weeks without leaving the grounds. The accommodations feature dark wood floors, plush beds and couches, marble bathrooms, and private lanais overlooking the landscaped grounds and mostly undeveloped coast. Additional amenities include several superior dining options; a 10,000-square-foot, three-tiered pool; Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ambassadors of the Environment center and kids' program; a fitness center; and the 17,500-square-foot Waihua Spa, with steam rooms, saunas, whirlpools surrounded by lava-rock walls. Ritz's signature events include the Celebration of the Arts in March, a weeklong indigenous arts and cultural festival, and the annual Wine & Food Festival in June, two events worth planning your vacation around.
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Deal of the Month:
St. Barts Discounted During Shoulder Season
One of the best bargains in travel happens every April 15th, when prices in the Caribbean drop dramatically until high season picks up again in mid-December.
Spring is a great time to visit. Unlike Central America, where the rainy season rears its ugly head in the spring, the Caribbean gets very little rain this time of year and temperatures hover in the mid-80s. So the islands continue to tease us with their bright sunshine while many of us are still dealing with a cold and often damp April and May.
Even tony St. Barts, which conjures up images of billionaires on mega-yachts, has discounts this time of year. A junior suite at that gem of a Relais & Chateaux property, Hotel Le Toiny, that set you back 2245 Euros per night over the Christmas Holiday reduces down to 950 Euros a night come April 1st and 650 Euros a night on May 15th. Prices at glamorous Eden Rock are cut in half from January highs once you reach late April. So if you ever wanted to experience the exquisite beaches and top-shelf service of St. Barts, this time of year is far less exorbitant.
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Tried & True Travel Tips:
The Advantages of Booking Your Cruise or Guided Trip with ActiveTravels
Many of you know our work designing Dream Day Itineraries, independent and very detail-oriented trips all over the globe. But don't let that sway you from having us book cruises or organized trips with well-known outfitters like Backroads, Lindblad, Natural Habitat Adventures, and others. Not only do we have great working relationships with all these tour companies (in the case of Abercrombie & Kent and Austin Adventures, we know the owners), but ActiveTravels is a Virtuoso-aligned travel agency. By being part of Virtuoso, we receive many extra benefits for our clients like free shore excursions, private cocktail hours with the captain, and spa treatments on cruises. For organized trips, we check and see that the people already signed up for the trip you requested are a good mix of ages for your family. We also offer invaluable expertise from our own first-hand experience so we can tell you if we like one locale over another. Finally, the tour operator might throw in something like a discounted group rate or free transfers to and from the airport. So please think of ActiveTravels for all your travel plans!
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Quick Escape:
Houston Art Scene
I was thoroughly surprised at how much I enjoyed Houston. I spent some time there en route to Australia (Air New Zealand flies daily nonstop to Auckland, New Zealand, and then on to Australia). I've always wanted to visit the art museums here because many wealthy art collectors, often due to fortunes made in the oil industry, have enriched Houston's museums substantially. I had 24 hours and I packed in 3 museums and a great dinner at Underbelly with my cousins.
If you go to Houston, you've got to take some time to see the
Rothko Chapel. I've never seen anything really like it. In this large non-denominational chapel are 14 large-scale paintings by Abstract Expressionist painter, Mark Rothko. It's a very sacred space where people go to meditate and experience these profound art works. N
 ext to it is the
Menil Collection, a magnificent array of buildings beautifully curated with art from Africa to the neon art of Dan Flavin. I especially loved the Surrealist rooms and beautiful sculpture throughout the building.
Not too far away is Houston's amazing,
Museum of Fine Arts, also definitely worth a visit. Housed in several buildings, their collection is wide-ranging and truly impressive.
 I especially enjoyed the Impressionist paintings. I also visited their special exhibition on Ron Mueck to see his super-sized and incredibly life-like sculptures.
How to get here? JetBlue and Southwest fly nonstop from Boston to Hobby Airport and United flies nonstop to IAH. I got around the city easily by Metro and Uber.
Let
ActiveTravels know if you'd like to check out some art and fun times in Houston any time soon!
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