Tag: trip planning
Secrets To an Extraordinary SE Asia Holiday
SE Asia. I’ve been there. Maybe you’ve been there, too. But I doubt that any of us had a trip like Authentic Luxury Travel contributor Larry Kessler. For this San Diegan, the “luxury” is always meeting local people and making authentic connections. Larry is just back from SE Asia, where every day presented a new […]
Trip Planning Help Just For You
Trip planning making your head spin? I feel your pain. Even though I’ve been planning trips for myself and others for a long time, I still spend hours sorting out the options. It doesn’t help that I’m somewhat obsessive (ok, strike somewhat) about finding the perfect lodging and figuring out ways to avoid crowds of […]
Air New Zealand, Santa & Our Fabulous Trip
Air New Zealand made it possible for my husband Richard and me to enjoy four wonderful weeks of New Zealand summer. We left Los Angeles on December 24, 2015 and came back on January 21, 2016 – and it was all terrific. As I’ve mentioned before , I’ve spent a lot of time Down Under […]
Japan – Restaurant Reservations for Foodies
Japan is a wonderful destination, but not an easy place for authentic travelers. We can’t just rent a car and drive around on our own. If we wander off the beaten path, it’s challenging to use local signage to find our way back. In addition, the resident population is very polite, but most people are […]
Bargain Airline Tickets From Santa
Airline tickets: if you’re like me, shopping around for the best airfares is not your favorite thing to do. I mean, could it be more confusing? You have to research a zillion carriers, times of day, days of the week, seasons of the year, and – now – even specific seats within the plane. Seriously, […]
Amsterdam Hotels – Tips From Travel Journos
Amsterdam hotels? Really? In addition to writing about travel on this site and elsewhere, I help travelers plan their trips. Of course, I can only do this if I am well acquainted with their destination – which explains why, over the years, I’ve planned more trips to New Zealand (my home-away-from-home) than any other country. […]
Amazon River – Cruising Peru in Style
Amazon River cruising didn’t sound all that appealing when my friend Nina first mentioned it to me. In fact, just the words “Amazon River” conjured up visions of someone in a grungy boat swatting at flies and dodging Anacondas. However, I sat up and took noticed when I clicked on the link that Nina sent […]
Machu Picchu – How to Avoid the Crowd
Machu Picchu has been on my bucket list for a long time but, as I said in a post on this site four years ago, I have an usually low tolerance for being herded around like a tourist. “But a visit to Machu Picchu doesn’t have to be like that,” travel expert Nina Fogelman assured […]
Zambia Safari – Hippos & Crocs & Kudus!
The first night of our Zambia safari I awakened to a familiar grumbling noise and issued my usual plea: “Rick, please stop snoring!” “It’s not me,” my husband whispered from a moonlit corner of our tent. “It’s the hippos in the river. They’re really making a racket.” I sat up and listened to the chorus […]
Ancestry Travel – Fixing Your Family Tree
Ancestry travel – think of it as authentic travel on steroids. You wander off the beaten path looking for “missing” family members and, in the process, you make connections with local people and learn about your cultural DNA. It doesn’t get more authentic than that. My trip to Italy to research my roots took me […]
Thanksgiving Travel With Airbnb
Thanksgiving travel plans still up in the air? The winter holidays can be challenging for authentic travelers. On one hand, we want to share the time with family and close friends. On the other, we’d like to have a great travel experience. If “over the river and through the woods” is sounding less than melodic […]
Santa Fe Opera – Musical New Mexico
Santa Fe Opera had been on my bucket list for years, and I finally got there last July. I’m happy to report that it was everything I’d hoped for and more. BTW, what I’d hoped for included an authentic travel experience (as well as world-class opera). As I’ve mentioned here before, two of my favorite ways […]
Best Santa Fe Hotel – New Mexico
Which is the best Santa Fe hotel? For a fairly small city (less than 150,000), Santa Fe offers a great selection of places to stay. This reflects the special fondness that many travelers have for the destination and – to a lesser extent – the fact that Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico. […]
Authentic Barcelona Hotels – Regional, Regal
Authentic Barcelona Hotels was contributed by Barcelona Experience. If you’re headed to Spain, you’ll find this and their earlier guest post very helpful. Barcelona is a city where combining luxury and local can be difficult. In this post, we’ll explore the intersection between regional culture and regal accommodation. Many of the city’s grand luxury hotels […]
