“Save Big: Vacation Deals for Families” plus 2 more |
- Save Big: Vacation Deals for Families
- The greatest family vacation ever ...
- RCI and The Registry Collection to sponsor the 2010 Thailand Property Awards
| Save Big: Vacation Deals for Families Posted: 06 Aug 2010 07:09 AM PDT Aug. 6, 2010, 2010 If your kids are too young to be worrying about pencils, books, and teacher's dirty looks, think about planning for a vacation instead. For families with preschoolers, fall is the very best time of year to grab a getaway at a top family resort. The back-to-school season has always offered a bang for your buck. When school kids clear out and prices come down, it's easier to land not only a room but a super deal. In fact, many resorts now promote autumn as a time for preschoolers -- not only with lower prices, but with special events and activities created just for wee ones. Here's a sampling of destinations rolling out the red carpet for the under-5 crowd this autumn: Winnetu Oceanside ResortWhere: Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Why: Because this exceptionally kid-friendly resort (see our review) is at its most divine when crowds are gone but the ocean water is still warm. Rates dip after Labor Day (and plummet a week later), letting families save more than 50 percent compared to peak summer prices. A great list of complimentary perks makes this resort a standout. For starters: Help-yourself bike rentals, fitness and yoga classes, and a parent-and-toddler activity program through mid-September. Beaches ResortsWhere: Four Caribbean locations. Why: Because this chain of kid-friendly all-inclusive resorts (see our review of Beaches Boscobel) is heaven for the preschool set, thanks to its partnership with Sesame Street, a super daycamp and terrific waterplay areas. Through the end of November, the "WonderFall" season delivers a line-up of special events, including live stage shows with Elmo, Big Bird, Gordon, and Abby Cadabby. Best reason to book: You can save up to 65 percent on stays of at least three nights. Smugglers' NotchWhere: Jeffersonville, Vt. Why: Because this award-winning family ski resort (see our winter review) offers fantastic active vacations year-round. From Sept. 6 to Oct. 11, the "AutumnFest Vacation" package allows families with small children to get in a good mix of family time and adults-only time, thanks to an exceptional children's program (infants through 5-year-olds), a nice roster of adults-only hikes and walks, and many family-together activities. Pay for three nights and get the fourth for free. Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| The greatest family vacation ever ... Posted: 05 Aug 2010 09:08 PM PDT ... would first and foremost be devoid of vomit. Leaving would feel like a foot rub for fettered feet. The neighbors would be counted on to feed the cat. In fact, they could have the cat. You would finally admit you hate the cat, all of you, as you pull down the road. You would be pointed to a vanishing point that would hold the promise of archeological discoveries of ancient times when you knew how to boogie. Leaving would be like the first sip of cold beer after digging a ditch. Heads would extend out from open windows even if a cop were on your tail, even if traveling by air. But you would not be traveling by air, would you? No. You would be traveling by car, far enough to feel like an adventure, but close enough ... close enough ... close enough for what? You would wish to avoid feeling as if you and your family were on the lam. If you started pointing to places on maps, places you cannot pronounce, then you would need more than a vacation, you would need a new life, and there's nothing relaxing about creating a new life. The kids would vomit a lot. Maybe you would travel on an unfamiliar road where the townies don't make you feel like a water buffalo in a koi pond, like you're breaking and entering. You would imagine gleefully that vacationers from elsewhere are now traveling along your road back home feeling the same thing. If it's a familiar road, it would have strange shops you would look forward to visiting each year, because they all sell exactly the same thing, like maybe huge, blow-up flotation devices at wildly discounted prices. And each year you would wonder aloud if the shop owners get into fist fights at the quarterly chamber of commerce meetings or maybe the shops are all connected by an underground tunnel system owned by one man, a very strange man. The road wouldn't have big box stores, because big box stores cause you distress, a distress you hope to pass on to your offspring. If the road does have big box stores, together with the kids you would imagine you have a dashboard-mounted laser gun that can make big box stores disappear. The laser would emit a comforting, low-grade hum, like sending a fax to Kingdom Come. All gone. Then, this giant, tree-covered green toupee would fall to the earth and take their place. And you'd toss in a few cows to hold it all down like paperweights. All in all, it would be a clean operation. No one would get hurt. You would agree that GPS will never be any fun until it can direct you to places you never knew existed. Like maybe a left into a roadless swamp where you meet a pack of pixies who share tiny cups of who-knows-what, but it's tasty. You would bid them farewell. They would push you back onto asphalt. You would remark how, pound for pound, pixies must be the toughest creatures on earth. Come on, would you please be serious! No, not just yet. You would make jokes about going to an exclusive beach resort where cocktail blenders serve as double agents to drown out the distant noise of civil uprising. Seriously, would you be serious! Someone would make jokes about leaky tents. Wait! "Let's go camping!" You would promise to pack a wine screw. You would be unanimously shot down. You would not wallow in self-pity. The talk would turn to a beach vacation. You would be fearful the children would imagine a scene from Berenstain Bears, all of you bounding down from a cedar-shingled beach house and jumping into the water without another soul around. You would worry about unrealistic expectations, gazillion-dollar rentals. An isolated beach would require Hollywood-style site preparation, maybe a neutron bomb. You would realize your dark thoughts of laser beams and neutron bombs serve as unimpeachable proof of your need for a vacation. Leaving would feel like a monsoon to a dirt-burrowed family of African lungfish. You would depart before dawn. You would wind up at a motel somewhere half a mile inland in Rhode Island or something, a motel where the seagulls poop all over your car and you don't care, and you'd find a lobster joint where everything is stupendously expensive and you don't care, and the kids would swim in the indoor pool because it's raining and they don't care. And two weeks home, you would finally download your photos and you would see yourselves all hamming it up for the lens, and you would think to yourself how much you really like these people and how, generally speaking, the fact that you're a stupid clod is heavily offset by the realization you're one lucky guy. It's the cat, the cat's the problem. Felix Carroll is a former staff writer for the Times-Union. His column runs every other Sunday. Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| RCI and The Registry Collection to sponsor the 2010 Thailand Property Awards Posted: 06 Aug 2010 01:16 AM PDT | Ensign Media Co. Limited, the organisers of the Thailand Property Awards, is delighted to announce that RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange, and The Registry Collection, the world's largest luxury exchange program, as sponsors for the 2010 event. The Thailand Property Awards are widely recognised as the oscars for the kingdom's property and real estate industry. This year's event – the fifth – has already seen a record number of nominations. The winners will be revealed at a gala ceremony on Saturday, November 6, at the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok, which will be attended by over 500 leading figures from the property industry. Eunice Yap, Vice President, Marketing & Affiliate Relations of RCI, said: "We're both pleased and proud to be associated with the Thailand Property Awards. Thailand is an important market for our brands, and for the timeshare and fractional ownership industry." In a reflection of the rapid growth in the industry, the RCI Best Shared Ownership Development award will also be presented for the first time at the 2010 awards and has attracted a wide range of nominations from across the country. Terry Blackburn, Managing Director of Ensign Media Co. Limited, said: "Having the world's largest timeshare exchange organisation as a sponsor for this year's Thailand Property Awards is testament to the strength and reputation of the event. Timeshare and fractional ownership is a growing trend in Thailand, and to have a globally recognised and respected company on board is wonderful." About Ensign Media With offices in Bangkok, Phuket and Singapore, Ensign Media Co. Limited is the organiser of the Thailand Property Awards, as well as publisher of the market-leading monthly regional magazine Property Report South East Asia. About RCI RCI is part of Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the European leader in vacation rentals, with exclusive access for specified periods to more than 65,000 vacation properties in approximately 100 countries. Wyndham Exchange & Rentals is comprised of vacation exchange, including RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and provider of travel services to businesses and consumers and The Registry Collection program, the world's largest luxury exchange program; vacation rentals, including Endless Vacation Rentals, Hoseasons, cottages4you, Novasolฎ, Cuendetฎ and Landal GreenParksฎ, and other renowned vacation rental brands, through which vacationers can rent a variety of property types, from city apartments to villas; and NorthCourseฎ Leisure Real Estate Solutions, a research and consultancy firm providing advisory services to the global leisure real estate industry. Wyndham Worldwide Corporation is one of the world's largest hospita lity companies with leading brands in lodging franchising, vacation ownership, vacation rentals and vacation exchange. About The Registry Collection The Registry Collection program is a global network comprising over 30,000 members and more than 130 affiliates on five continents. More than 175 properties are available through The Registry Collectionฎ program and are either accessible for exchange or under development. As the world's largest luxury exchange program, The Registry Collection program provides members with access to an elite global network of the very finest vacation properties at some of the world's premier destinations, as well as personal concierge services that are available 24-hours a day. From condo hotels and high-end fractional resorts to private residence clubs and fractional yachts, The Registry Collection program facilitates exchanges around the world and redefines the vacation experience for owners and developers. The Registry Collection program is offered by Wyndham Exchange and Rentals, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the European leader in vacation rentals and one of the Wyndham Wo rldwide family of companies (NYSE: WYN). Contact: Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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