Paris Around

Posts Tagged ‘Insider’

To visit Paris is to stay in a hotel, but to truly experience Paris as a Parisien, there’s no other choice but to stay in an apartment, something countless visitors to the City of Light have discovered over the last decade or so. 

After all, Paris is one of those rare destinations where sophistication is a way of life, regardless of budget. Who hasn’t read Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and longed to recapture the romance of just sitting in one of the countless cafés lining the avenues and grand boulevards of the city, sipping a cup of café au lait and talking about art? Or doing more than simply visiting the postcard-ready landmarks, but really digging in and exploring the places most tourists avoid but that the locals adore?

Staying in a vacation apartment gives you access to all of that, affording you an interaction with the locals that you just can’t get when you’re staying in a hotel. Once you have the building access code, it seems as if you are afforded entry into a whole new level of Paris. 

Dick and Demaris Mills learned this during a visit a few years ago, when they inadvertently locked themselves out of their apartment. The building’s concierge wasn’t available until the next morning, leaving the Mills temporarily homeless. A neighbor, one they’d never even met before, handed them the key to her apartment and asked only that they not let the cats out. 

The Mills had been visiting Paris for many years, enjoying stays at some of the city’s most luxurious hotels. But the Francophiles realized that to experience the real Paris, they had to live like the locals. So, five years ago, they made the switch to apartments. 

Likewise, Sam Spektor and his wife Ann have become apartment converts, although their reasons are more practical. “We didn’t want to have to eat all our meals in restaurants,” explains Mr. Spektor. “We wanted to shop and cook some meals at ‘home.’ We also wanted more space than a hotel room gave us, and didn’t want the ‘hassle’ of a hotel.” 

Those “hassles” include things like room service and housekeeping, deal-breakers for some travelers, as is access to spas or fitness facilities. The idea of being without them prevent more than a few travelers from considering a vacation apartment.   Read more...

The last time I was in Mexico, so was everyone else, or so it seemed. But it is possible to travel to Mexico and enjoy a white sandy beach and some peace and quiet at the same time. All you need to know is where (and, in some cases, when) to go.

When to Go

November to April is widely regarded as the best time to visit. The summer months can get pretty hot. September and October is the peak of hurricane season, which actually stretches from November to June.

Keep in mind that the month of March tends to be very busy on the Mexico beaches with high school and college students on Spring Break. If it is a quiet vacation you want, you will also want to avoid the time around Christmas and Easter, as well as July and August.

Where to Go

There is a lot more to Mexico, and the Yucatan peninsula, than the city of Cancun.

Here are five favorite destinations that offer memorable Mexico vacations. Each of these spots can be reached by flying into Cancun. So if you would like to get a taste of the big city resort and then set out on the less traveled path, you will have the best of both worlds.

1. Isla Mujeres. Just 8 miles across the bay from Cancun, Isla Mujeres is a peaceful fishing village with restaurants, shops, and small, charming hotels. In fact, the whole island is cozy: The island itself is less than one mile wide and about five miles long. Downtown Isla Mujeres stretches only about six blocks. The signature turquoise waters and white sandy beaches make for great snorkeling and scuba diving. You can rent kayaks, snorkeling equipment and other gear right on the beach. Other activities to enjoy during your stay at Isla Mujeres include fishing, sailing, and swimming with the dolphins.

2. Riviera Maya stretches down the peninsula from Cancun to Tulum. Here, you will find white sandy beaches and water sports of all kinds, including scuba diving along the Great Maya coral reef, the second largest barrier reef system on the globe. Divers, and snorkelers may be rewarded with the sight of water life ranging from sea anemones, sponges and sea cucumbers to starfish and sea urchins, as well as underwater caverns. Sport fishing is a big business in Riviera Maya, as well. Other activities include golfing, spa going, and eco touring at the various ecological reserves in the region. Two highlights: the Xcaret EcoPark and the Sian Kaan bioshphere.  Read more...

Whatever the budget for a trip or vacation, most people would like to save a little – or a lot – of money when booking hotels, airfares and other trip necessities.

At Travel-like-a-pro.com, we specialize in helping people save money when booking their trips and vacations, and here are a few of our favorite tips for booking a hotel and making the reservation as smooth and affordable as possible:

Search for hotels or resorts of your choice by using online travel-specific search engines such as expedia.com or orbitz.com. These sites contain powerful engines which will do the legwork for you in looking for the best rates to be found online. They do the comparisons for you, and are fairly flexible so that you can search by your priority, such as price, star rating or proximity to attractions. Use your travel agent if you have a good relationship. It pays to develop and maintain a relationship with a good agency, as you will then become a ‘preferred’ customer of theirs, and can take advantage of the best pricing available. They may even have an online or physical mailing list they can put you on to be notified immediately of great deals. Join the Last minute Club or some similar travel savings club. These organizations often have blocks of tickets and hotel rooms and can offer better rates because of this. They also have buying power with hotels and airlines because they frequently send them business, and thus can offer you savings over retail, especially, as you might expect, on ‘last-minute’ trips. Once you have narrowed down your choices, consider calling the hotel/s yourself. Be straightforward and polite, and ask if there are any discounts you can take advantage of, and ask if they can do any better, offer you an upgrade – anything they can do. Many hotel clerks have confided that they have the authority to offer complimentary upgrades or discounts to clientele, but they will not do so unless they are directly asked. S/he who asks, receives! Try calling two of your top choices and mention that you are down to these last two choices, and see what the best offer is…sometimes a little competition (without threats) can induce a reservation employee to do a little better for you.
Get a Travel Agent ID Card. This is a tool your travel agent would not appreciate you knowing about, but it can easily be done, and you will save many thousands of dollars on hotels, airfare, car rentals and more over your lifetime. According to a one successful businessman, ‘My wife got a Travel Agent ID several years ago, and it has paid for itself many times over. We’ve saved thousands over the years and it was definitely a worthwhile investment.’

With these tips, and those found in the Travel Industry Secrets resource guide available at Travel-Like-A-Pro.com, you can be the envy of all your friends and save more of your money for spending on fun things while you are away, by never paying inflated retail travel rates again!

Now that you’re enjoying the comfort and convenience of your Santa Barbara vacation rental home, what’s next? How do you plan to spend your time in Santa Babrara? Where can you mix and mingle with the locals? What you need is a Santa Barbara native to give you the kind of useful insider tips only local knowledge can give.

Whether you are interested in dining, seafood, shopping, art, ocean, hiking, antiquing, wineries or farmers markets, we’ve got you covered.  And to get your custom-tailored vacation tips, contact your Santa Barbara vacation rentals concierge.

Local Area Guide for Santa Barbara Vacation Rental Guests: Insider Santa Barbara Travel Tip #1 – Sunday Treat: Every Sunday afternoon Cold Springs Tavern, a tucked away restaurant/bar on the way to wine country, features live music, a colorful assortment of characters and the best tri-tip sandwiches in town. Take Hwy. 101 to Hwy. 154, drive up the mountain to the top, then one mile down the valley side turn toward Stagecoach Road. Then take a direct onto Stagecoach Road and go down the canyon for about 1.5 miles to the Tavern.

Local Area Guide for Santa Barbara Vacation Rental Guests: Insider Santa Barbara Travel Tip #2 – Beautiful Beach Combing: Butterfly Beach in Montecito is one of the prettiest beaches in town. Take the Olive Mill exit from Hwy. 101 and take Olive Mill west toward the ocean, Olive Mill becomes Channel Drive. After you pass the Four Seasons Resort on your right, begin looking for parking.

Local Area Guide for Santa Barbara Vacation Rental Guests: Insider Santa Barbara Travel Tip #3 – Enjoy a Seafood Feast: If you want to create a seafood feast at your Santa Barbara vacation rental home, go to Kanaloa Seafood for the freshest, highest quality fish available. From Hwy. 101 take the Garden exit up to Haley, take a right on Haley, another right on Quarantina, and another right on Gutierrez. Kanaloa is located at 618 E. Gutierrez, on your left hand side.

Local Area Guide for Santa Barbara Vacation Rental Guests: Insider Santa Barbara Travel Tip #4 – The Happiest Happy Hour in Santa Barbara: The Boathouse restaurant on Hendry’s Beach offers a great happy hour. Watch the surfers and the sunset while you wash down your pulled pork sliders with a cold beverage. Take the Las Positas exit and head towards the ocean, continue straight until you hit the T in the road, and take a right at Cliff Drive and pull into the parking lot on your left. Web: http://www.sbfishhouse.com  Read more...

Get the most out of your exciting holiday in this fabulous city, pay attention to some sound travel tips from those in the know.

Arriving in Rio at Christmas time may sound like the holiday you have always longed for, but only adequate planning and some key bookings made really early on in the year will ensure you get to truly enjoy those main festive days, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. Whatever your budget, your age or the number in your travel group, your time, money and opportunity will be wasted if you have to spend hours in travel agents or tourism offices once you are in Rio, trying to get from A to B.

If this is your first time in Rio city and you want to spend only 2 or 3 days taking in the “must see” tourists sights before heading off to famed festive resorts outside the city such as Búzios, Petrópolis or south along the Costa Verde to Paraty, then forward booked accommodation in all resorts and pre arranged transport to and from is vital. Pressure is always on accommodation in resort towns at this time of year, some bookings are made a year in advance, for peace of mind; don’t even think about chancing it once you get there. Unless you have driven the motorways in Rio or Sao Paulo like a local, hiring a rental car and driving to your out-of-Rio destination any time from mid December to late January is a crazy idea. Traffic gridlock (for hours, really) in unaccustomed Rio summer heat, getting lost because you can’t read those vital road signs is just so easy to do. Depending on your budget, a tour package with transfers included, with English speaking driver, or a taxi and bus ride with dictionary in hand, will get you there safer and faster.

Dress for the heat, the sun and the crowds appropriately. Carry at least a litre of bottled water with you when out walking locally and when travelling to and from your resort destination in buses or tourist vans. Keep your carry on bags, backpacks and last minute souvenirs to a minimum size and weight. There is never enough space for both you and your bags to be comfortable on board.

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