Fall is my favorite season. It gives you the opportunity to get away (particularly if you didn’t get a summer vacation) for a fraction of the cost of a summer vacation and usually the weather, nature and cultural activities are at their best. There is so much opportunity to get away in Fall to enjoy all that the season has to offer.
Fall Foliage Tours
Whether you drive yourself or take a tour bus, there’s nothing quite like seeing the changes of the season reflected in the changing color of the leaves. Of course, some places have better color than other places, and the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont are considered some of the best areas of the United States to take a fall foliage tour, with the Kancamagus Scenic Byway in New Hampshire known as one of the best places in the world to see spectacular fall foliage.
But, New England’s not the only game in town, as awesome fall foliage can also be seen in such places as the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, Lost Maples Natural Area in Texas and Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.
You can drive your car, hike, ride a bike or let someone else be your guide on one to 8-day tours.
Halloween Celebrations
It used to be that Halloween was reserved only for the kids. Not anymore. Halloween has become a big adult holiday as well, with Halloween celebrations being held for adults in most major cities. Some cities, however, have become must-visit Halloween spots: New York City, West Hollywood, and Las Vegas.
New York City:
For 33 years New York City has played host to one of the largest public Halloween celebrations in the United States with New York’s Village Halloween Parade, where anyone in costume is encouraged to join bands, puppets, and dancers for a parade in Greenwich Village. The Halloween parade is so popular that is has been chosen by Events International as “The Greatest Event on Earth on October 31,” as well as having been ranked 3rd by Citysearch as the best event in New York City.
West Hollywood:
This Halloween celebration takes place on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, which has a large gay and lesbian population. The celebration usually lasts several days, with such events as “Doggy Costume” contests for you pet pooch, a Drag Race (in high heels), and a costume party on Halloween night, which is billed as the “largest adult outdoor Halloween event in the world.”
Las Vegas:
Let’s face it; Las Vegas is fun any time of the year. But, for those who love Halloween and an occasional trip to Vegas, a trip to Las Vegas on Halloween is double fun. Not for the timid is the “Fetish and Fantasy Halloween Ball,” celebrated on October 27 in 2007. It’s been happening for 12 years now, and has earned numerous accolades, including being named as “One of the Top 10 Events in the World” by the Travel Channel and “One of 5 Events to Attend Before You Die” by Maxim Magazine.
For those desiring something a little tamer, many of the casinos have special Halloween celebrations, and there’s always the “Haunted Vegas Tour” you can take, which is a 2.5-hour tour of Las Vegas’ favorite haunted locations. The tour starts at the Celebrity Room at the Greek Isles Hotel & Casino and runs every Saturday through Thursday. Call 702-737-5540 for more information.
Thanksgiving
While many people stay home for Thanksgiving, or travel back to their hometowns to celebrate with family and friends, some people like to travel for Thanksgiving, sampling Thanksgiving feasts and traditions in other parts of the country. Where might you like to travel this Thanksgiving?
Plymouth, Massachusetts:
Plymouth was the site of the first Thanksgiving, so naturally it’s a place you might want to consider for your Thanksgiving celebration. You may want to arrive the weekend before Thanksgiving to take part in the “America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade” and “New England Food Festival.”
New York City, New York
You’ve watched it on TV, now experience it live. Get away to New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and join over two million people who line the streets watching the festivities. If you’re not into being up close and personal with crowds, get a hotel room along the parade route and watch it from your upstairs room.
San Francisco, California:
No Pilgrims here, but what you will find are superb restaurants, such as the Carnelian Room, fifty-two floors above the city. But, the real reason to come to San Francisco for Thanksgiving is what happens after Thanksgiving – shopping! And, no place does shopping better than Union Square in San Francisco, which is block after block of great shopping experiences. Stay in a hotel in the Union Square area and you can shop, drop off your goodies, and shop some more.
The above, of course, is just a tiny sampling of fall getaways. Just be sure to take it easy after your trip, you want to be fully rested for your winter getaway.
Who knows what Sigismondo Malatesta, the famous 15th Century Lord of Rimini (and original ‘renaissance man’, as described by American poet Ezra Pound), would make of his city were he to return today.
Apart from the obvious differences between the renaissance city (many significant parts of which remain, for example Malatesta’s castle) and that of the 21st – i.e the presence of skyscrapers, electrically powered street lights, and the ever present motor vehicle – one thing would perhaps strike him above all, the move to the seaside.
In Malatesta’s time Rimini and its defences were decidedly inland, running around what is considered the centro storico today. Malatesta, on coming to power, embarked on a huge building programme, which included the famous Tempio Malatesta – the first, and one of the finest examples of neo-classical architecture in Europe – and his huge, and at the time thoroughly modern fortress, the rocca malatesta. His city, though, was built primarily on top of the existing city’s site – that is to say on the site of the Roman city of Ariminum, founded in approximately 286 B.C. Existing roman monuments, including the famous Ponte di Tiberio and Arco d’Augusto(which remain impressive monuments today) were incorporated into his city, all of which – even given the retreat of the sea over the centuries, were inland from the beach.
Strolling around today’s city, Malatesta would find, at least during the summer months, a gravitational pull towards the expansive sandy beaches that would probably puzzle him. In his day the notion of lying on the beach for the day, with an occasional swim to cool off, would have seemed particularly strange, if not downright dangerous. The beach was a place for brigandry and smuggling, away from the protection of the city’s defences. Let’s not forget, as well, that in Malatesta’s time cities like Rimini were often at war with neighbouring city states. Throughout his lifetime Malatesta was in continuous conflict with powers like his neighbour Federico da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino, or indeed the Pope (Pius II, for example, excommunicated Sigismondo in 1460 declaring him a heretic). Sunbathing and sea bathing would not, perhaps, have been high on the average citizens’s priorities at the time.
So when did Rimini start to change, to become a town that is, for Italians (and increasingly tourists from around the world), synonymous with sun, sea, and sand? Professor Feruccio Farina, of the University of Urbino, in his fascinating study of the history of seabathing in Rimini – Una costa lunga due secoli (Panozzo Editore) – gives us a portrait of one of the first foreign tourist bathers to dip her toes into Rimini’s gentle waves. Her name was Elisabeth Kenny, and she was the young Irish wife of a Roman noble. She’s recorded as having visited Rimini in August of 1790 (over 300 years after the death of our Sigismondo), and stayed for over two weeks to benefit from the sea waves and air.
Some cities bring to mind the word “empire” – Paris, Saint-Petersburg… Without a doubt, Vienna would be at least the third.
You don’t even have to know the city’s history – you’ll understand everything from the first sight. Its all about the pomposity of its architecture and the spaces between its buildings. It’s just like in the Japanese painting, where untouched spaces are no less important than the image itself – this way, they stimulate the flight of fancy. Here, in this city, grand voids between huge buildings will fill your mind with some ideas. That is why empty space is not something you regret about.
The city of waltzes, parks, baking and wine – that’s what Vienna is. The capital of Austria is a truly cosmopolitan city. In the course of many centuries different nations that inhabited the city’s territory shared their cultures and traditions with each other. That is the reason why local people have such an intriguing and sometimes cynical character.
In approximately 500 BC the Romans chose a settlement on a Danube river as a place for their frontier city, “Vindobona”. Since then the city, now called Vienna, played a principal part in European history. This is the place from where Austria grew into a powerful empire. The capital became even more magnificent during the rule of the Hapsburg dynasty. Those days are gone, but local people still follow historical traditions. Moreover, local masters of the past left a huge cultural heritage to the future Viennese generations.
In 18th century Vienna got popular all around Europe as the city of rich culture, especially music. Great musicians, such as Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Bruckner and Lanner lived and worked here, and their music is still performed at concert halls all around the world. And in the end of the 19th century the city’s artists and architects, such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Joseph Hoffman, Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos committed cultural revolution which opened a new page in history of experimental and radical arts.
Still, Vienna is a Baroque city. While tourists scrutinize golden statues and churches with rosy-cheeked cherubs, wander around the treasure-filled museums, or while away their time in one of the inevitable cafes, they get the feeling that splendour and richness are all around them. This pomp looks like delicious whipped cream – the citizens’ favourite Schlagobers which adorns many Viennese cakes.
The Viennese style is really pompous and flowery: white horses prancing by the sounds of an elegant music, rich drapery adorning local monuments, beautiful decorations embellishing the city’s strict houses, gilded Johann Strauss statue standing on a grave among the greenery, passionate music by Richard Strauss; geometric mosaic on ornamental canvases by Gustav Klimt, slow measured melody of mechanical clocks. This majestic, attractive and magic city enchants its guests with its charm and aristocratic elegance. This is the place where waiters still bow as if greeting Hapsburg prince. The waltzing city. Vienna is never in a hurry and it would be best if you were not hurrying as well – this is a good way to feel the true spirit of Vienna.
It was a dream some years ago, specially for the price. Things have begun to change, and something that began for more than 5,000 euros (7,250 US dollars) is now a reality for a bit more than 2,000 euros (3,000 US dollars). As the airlines industry has grown and the sky has been progressively “released” to new competitors, fares have gone down all of a sudden and now the dream to make a Round the World trip is pure reality.
The thing is… where to begin with? Sometimes it can be tricky enough to plan a trip to one single country, and now those guys are telling you that they have nearly 1.000 airports available to land and you need to choose between all them. Well, that can be pretty tricky and I am really not going to help you in that. Seriously, this is your choice, and there are no real recommendations, just follow your dreams.
Another thing, is choosing which is the best provider either in price and quality of services to choose when going for this adventure. There is a need to understand that a round the world trip is not something provided by an airline alone but by alliances of airlines instead. The 3 big ones in the market nowadays are Star Alliance, One World and Sky Team. I am going to introduce you to the three of them and let you choose the one that fits best your needs.
Star Alliance puts together 841 airports in 157 countries. Air Canada, Lufthansa, Thai, Air New Zealand, Scandinavian Airlines, United, Singapore Airlines, US Airways, Austrian, Spanair, Swiss… these are some of the most important airlines they work with, making a total of 17. They allow you a maximum of 15 stopovers, which they consider stays in one city that last more than 24 hours, and you can travel a maximum of 39,000 miles.
Regarding the fares, they will depend on the class you want to travel in and the number of miles you do, from 26,000 to 39,000, divided in 4 levels of pricing. The only problem is that they don’t offer exact numbers in their web-page and you need to plan all your route, enter your personal data, and then access to a screen where the price will be calculated. The interactive system to plan your trip is very good but I find it a big mistake to do not give any fare estimate.
On the other side, One World has an offer of 10 different airlines. American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and LAN are some of their best members. Dragonair, considered the best airline in China, joined them recently on the first of November. Even if they have less airlines than their competitor Star Alliance, One World has managed to cover 700 airports in more than 150 countries.
Furthermore, they have two different options for the world tour. One uses this basic airlines and another one, called Global Explorer, for an extra cost will allow you to use airlines that are not members of their alliance. Duration of the trip goes from 10 days up to 12 months, so you have complete freedom to decide depending on your availability
Regarding the price, it will depend on the number of continents you visit and the class you want to travel in. Considering the economy class, fares will vary from 3,900 dollars for the 3-continents route (2700 euros) to 5,300 dollars (3650 euros) for the 6-continents trip, using the non-extended airlines option.
Finally, Sky Team is not left behind at all, with some of the biggest European airlines such as Alitalia, Air France, KLM and Aeroflot. Also offers the rest of the biggest airlines in the world that the other alliances do not include, with names such as Aeromexico, China Southern, Continental Airlines, Delta and Korean Air, totaling 11 plus 3 associated airlines. With 841 cities in 162 countries, it has possibly the widest range of operations.
The situation is the same regarding the time allowed to travel, varying from 10 days to 1 year, and they offer 3 different options depending on your needs, flexibility and pricing. Your choice, as well as with Star Alliance, can vary between 3 and 15 stops along your route. The offer includes 3 price levels for 29,000, 34,000 and 39,000 miles, and also depends on the class. Taking an example with economy class, we could make the 29,000 miles trip for 3450 US dollars (2380 euros), for 4420 dollars the 34,000 miles world tour (3,049 euros), and up to a maximum of 39,000 miles that will cost 5500 dollars (3800 euros) approximately.
As you can see, the decision is not really easy. After all, my best recommendation would be to choose the alliance depending on your dream destinations. Plan your trip before looking at what they offer, make a selection between 3 and 15 cities that you would like to visit, draw the lines in a world map, and then take a look at which one of the 3 alliances is able to bring you to the most of your destinations. The price variance exists, but the strong competence between the three of them makes the difference too little as to take it into account. Plan the trip of your dreams and choose simply who wants to take you there!
About the Author
Author Dani Alonso.
Planning a European trip or a Round the World? I can help you at: http://the-dream.ws
