Our tree is loaded down with skiers from Colorado, shells from Florida, sailboats from Maine, ferries from Washington state, flip flops from Hawaii, monkeys from Costa Rica, Victorian queens from England, fish from Caribbean islands, Disney characters from Orlando…you get the idea.
I’m at the year-old Montage Deer Valley spa—35,000 square feet indoor lap pool, separate mens and women’s facilities with steam room, sauna, whirlpools and more, a private sundeck with radiant heated floors and spectacular mountain views and a big fitness center.
Eileen was interviewed by FoxNews.com about the best holiday light displays for families to visit around the United States.
Meet Park City Mountain Resort’s new crop of Snowmamas, chosen from applicants by Park City Mountain resort officials from around the country. The website has become the go-to place in the industry to help moms make trips to the snow easier and more fun.
As we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the attack, the question is one of many in the updated and first-rate Junior Ranger Program for the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument that helps children make meaningful connections during a visit here.
Now the resort wants to make sure all moms—all women—make the most of their time here. To that end, they’re establishing Ladies Club—a two-hour session that starts at 10 a.m.—to give moms enough time to get their kids to ski school or older kids out the door.
Maybe buying ski boots isn’t that big a deal. But it says something about my desire to invest in myself instead of everyone else in the family for a change. And every season, I say I’m going to hang up my skis because I’m not having fun out there—certainly not when I try to keep up with my family, experts all.
When it comes to cookies, it’s not just Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster who’s singing the praises. C is for cookies, candy and Christmas as twelve inns in New Hampshire’s Mt Washington Valley open the doors to hundreds of holiday revelers.
No I’m not dreaming of an effortless holiday gathering that could never be real — at least in my world. I’m actually wide awake in Jamaica, enjoying a pre-holiday moms’ getaway with my three oldest friends from grade school at the most unusual all-inclusive resort I’ve ever visited.
There’s something to be said for creating a new holiday tradition with no drama, especially when new young friends are part of the equation. We were joined by 12-year-old Enesi Domi, who we got to know last summer when he spent some time at our home through the Fresh Air Fund.
The best thing we can do when taking to the road this winter, especially with kids in the back, is be prepared. Make sure your cellphone is charged and the relatives know what time to expect you.
I can’ t stop thinking about Delta when we return to our Bluefields Bay villa overlooking the sea served breakfast—a traditional Jamaican concoction of saltfish with vegetables cooked in coconut milk called Rundown.
Eileen “skypes” with Fox25 News in Boston on traveling with children on planes during the stressful holiday season.
Wolde Kristos is a man with a mission—and a vision. He hopes to bring the sleepy Jamaican town of Bluefields Bay into the 21st century—tourist wise.
Eileen is interviewed by Travelocity’s Roaming Gnome on the Window Seat Blog
Our driver Percy Baldwin first takes us to the Black River—at 44 miles the longest navigable river in Jamaica. We’re only going to cruise for about an hour down the pristine river where Crocodiles and birds live and mangroves grow.
See how many travel preparation errors you can spot in this holiday tale, then check your answers and find out how things might have gone more smoothly at InsureMyTrip.com.
Welcome to Bluefields Bay Villas—the most unresort-like resort I’ve ever visited — in Jamaica, about an hour and 15 minut4es drive from Montego Bay in the small community of Bluefields Bay.
Honestly, I don’t know how we all do it over the holidays — with a smile no less — even when the guests are oh-so-annoying, the visiting toddler grinds cracker crumbs into the carpet, the tween refuses to eat anything she’s served and the uncle falls asleep on the couch, snoring loudly.
This isn’t any ski resort. For one thing, there is only one lift and no bathrooms–just an outhouse. Apres ski means a beer or a coke in the chilly tent that serves as a base lodge. It’s heated by a wood stove.
Where you sleep, eat breakfast and meet other travelers, after all, can be just as memorable as what you’ve seen that day and that doesn’t necessarily mean the hotel has to be the most expensive one in town either. It could be a hostel, or even a tent…
It is pitch black and we are kayaking through red mangroves, trying to dodge the roots, on our way to the Bioluminescent Bay Laguana Grande at Las Croabas, Fajardo in Puerto Rico—one of three on the island, I learn from our guide Joel from GSI Adventures.
Eileen’s guest blog “Traveling with Grown-up Kids” now posted on Four Seasons’ Have Family Will Travel
Eileen is interviewed by FoxNews.com on the topic of coping with visits to or by the relatives over the holidays.
Snow resorts around the country are pulling out all the stops for families this winter with everything from alpine coasters (Park City Mountain Resort, Breckenridge) zip lines (Crested Butte, Colo., Big Sky, Mont.) and family festivals (Sunday River, Me., Mount Snow, Vt.)
Eileen’s blog about traveling safely with babies on airplanes is posted as a guest blog on CheapOair.com
All my plans for this week have gone awry. The freak snowstorm that struck the Northeast over the weekend knocked out our power in Connecticut and we have no clue when it may be restored. But thinking back just two short months, I determined that when plans go awry on vacation, it’s not always a bad thing.
Whatever the reason, it’s not too late to turn Thanksgiving into a mini vacation with the kids. You’ve already got half the week off from work and school anyway. Tell the relatives you’ll see them at Christmas or, if you like them enough, invite them along.
Everything on a plane — including coffee pots — has to be restrained during takeoff and landing and in times of turbulence–everything, that is, except young children sitting on a parent’s laps.
Disney employed more than 100 local consultants to advise them on everything from storytelling to music to architecture. Local fish and produce are served at the resort restaurants and children can learn to snorkel with Hawaiian fish in the artificial Rainbow Reef.