Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

July 25th

Movie Stars Play Poker in Las Vegas

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In addition to all of the card tables and cash games that are constantly going on in Las Vegas, there are also numerous poker tournaments that feature some of the top professional players as well as extremely talented celebrities from other fields, such as the film industry. Poker is popular with people from all walks of life and it has definitely caught on with the Hollywood crowd and movie stars. Ben Affleck is known for his fondness of the game as is Jennifer Tilly, who happens to be dating Phil Laak , who is one of the top players of the game.

Popular card games like blackjack and Texas Hold’em have gained enormous mainstream popularity and online casinos have made playing the game in your own home with people from around the world possible and common. However, live tournament and cash games will always be popular and many of the professionals, and even amateurs, prefer them. And Among all of its distinctions and claims to fame, Las Vegas will likely remain the most popular poker and gambling city in the country, and possibly even the world. And the Las Vegas hotels will always be full of movie stars, rocks stars and pokers stars, as well as people like you and me.

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July 3rd

Alligators Galore in Miami

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If you only have a few hours in Miami, Florida, but would like to experience the famous Florida Everglades, then you’re in luck! Coopertown Airboat Tours , is your ticket to into the Everglades! Located at 22700 Southwest 8th Street, only 11 miles west of the Florida Turnpike on US 41 and not far from a five star hotel Miami that can accommodate you in case you decide to stay the night.

Coopertown, itself is home to a population of 8 human residents, scores of alligators, one restaurant with down-home style cooking such as frog legs and gator tail, an educational center, and of course a fleet of Coopertown Airboats. You’ll find the Airboats to be fast and exhilarating, plus you’ll enjoy the witty and knowledgeable Florida Everglades guide, who will take you on a personalized, educational tour covering about 9 miles of swamps and alligators. You’ll learn how alligators can grow up to 19 feet and weigh up to 1,000 pounds, and have a typical life span of 35 to 50 years.

First, you’ll go into the vast open saw grass, where you’ll see why the Everglades are referred to as a ‘River of Grass’. Then you’ll be taken through a Hardwood Hammock, which is a small island of solid ground, then into the Everglades National Park and stopping at alligator holes, plus other glade wildlife habitats. Your guide will take you to see the Purple Gallanule, which has been voted the most colorful bird in Florida, plus you’ll also see the endangered Everglade Snail Kite as well as herons, turtles, grackles, and raccoons.

After the Airboat Tour, you’ll relax and enjoy a meal at the Coopertown Restaurant as you hear some fascinating stories and history of the area. If you have some extra time, check out the Alligator Exhibit, which gives you a chance to take a closer look at these thrilling creatures, like a 14 foot alligator! Coopertown’s Airboat Tours let you see how alligators live in their natural habitat in the Florida Everglades.

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June 28th

Latin Food in Atlanta

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Atlanta is an amazing city with a very spectacular social scene. There’s a vibrant night life here that’s written in the rhythms of the cultural pulse. This makes for an eclectic story that’s still being told, and is something that’s always under construction. Visitors are drawn to be part of the scene, to witness it, and invariably find themselves involved in the writing of it. The draw is in the music and the food, but the comfort offered at an Atlanta, USA hotel certainly doesn’t hurt a bit.

Deep in the South, and in the center of urban activity, there are plenty of choices when it comes to a great night out. The clubs and pubs offer lively entertainments, and the restaurants have innovation and history at their disposal. There are a number of excellent soul food places, and there’s also a wide variety of Latin food available, too.

Places like Eclipse di Luna offer Latin entertainment and tapas in a very chic atmosphere. They have two locations in the city, and do tend to get busy as the evening wears on. It’s a great place for the very beginning of a night out, but it’s also a fantastic location for a snack later on. The entertainment is a wonderful and welcome reminder that the music doesn’t stop in Atlanta.

For Cuban specialties, Coco Loco is a more down-to-earth spot. The prices are very reasonable, and the quality is excellent, with food served up by chefs who know their Cuban cuisine. Black beans and rice are always a favorite here, and there are plenty of good reasons why. It’s also possible to have a full-on meal, with beef, chicken, and magnificent seafood offerings. In case it feels too much like home, that’s no problem. They have free wi-fi, too, for those who like to relax and hang out.

There’s plenty more, too, and the annual Degustar , Latin American food festival held every year in early May puts all the great restaurants on display.

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June 24th

Custom Maps For All

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There are a number of different reasons that you might need a map. While there are only a few of them that require you to use the full map. For example, when using a street map you are really only interested in the roads that get you to where you are going. When looking at a california map of the fault you may be only interested in looking at the areas that have to do with where the earthquake happened , or where you think it is most likely to happen next but the rest of the map is really useless space. This is why there are now a number of sites that offer custom maps. The problem with most of the free ones is that unless you are looking to recolor your maps and nothing else you will still end up with a large amount of un-used space. If you want to you can use this as a visual aid, but if it is worth the investment and will be something that you will need to be using for a long time, getting a nice custom map can be really nice.

There is another reason why people would want custom maps made that that is for business purposes. This tends to come in a few variations. One of them is a map of the business itself. Taking into account the buildings and the main areas that people may want to be able to find their way to. There are a number of companies that have had these maps made of their company such as the Biltmore in Phoenix . The maps are given to guests to help them find things like the pool and even their rooms. Another reason you might want a custom map for a company is to show all the locations in an area where the business is located and how to get to them. This allows customers to be able to find the nearest location to them and head over there. If you want a custom map of you own there are a few good places to look into getting one.

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June 18th

Tours for the Rest in New York

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New York is unusual and therefore it comes as no surprise that there are a number of tours that don’t fit the usual get in bus and drive around town model. Not that there aren’t plenty of bus tours as well, but New York has a number of interactive tours for people of all interests. The tour doesn’t have to be full of boring history to be considered a tour and these tours show that nicely.

If you find that you would rather be in a local pub getting drunk than taking a tour, why not do both . It is actually a fairly popular type of tour to pub crawl with a number of other people who are new to the city and would like to try all the beer they can. You can choose from exploring the pubs, or exploring the microbreweries in a specific area. For the most part these tours are always walking tours so that there is no risk that there will be any kind of drunk driving. If you like beer and history there is even a tour for that, where you can learn about the history of beer in New York, see what things were like when some pubs opened their doors and taste classic beer recipes.

New York is known for the food carts and there are a million different types of food in New York. Over the years New York has been a landing place for immigrants and many of them have stayed. In many places of the world street food is an average and normal part of life so it stands to reason that it would be here as well. Because of this it also stands to reason that someone who is feeling adventurous might want to take a walking tour of the food carts in an area around the luxury hotels. New York City has all kinds of restaurants and the food stalls are no different.

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June 9th

Ford Theatre Season in Washington DC

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A short distance from the Mall in Washington D.C., travelers will come across the Ford Theatre , the nation’s most famous theater, famous largely for infamous reasons dating back to 1865, which operates to this day as a theater and museum to the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. While this is the site where John Wilkes Booth shot a president, it remains an active theater, and is a fascinating place to visit not only for those who love history, but also theater. Designated a national historic site, the theater continues to produce plays each year and tickets for its 2010-2011 season will be available for purchase in August, 2010. The upcoming season consists of four plays:

Sabrina Fair, written by Samuel A. Taylor, will be performed from October 1st to the 24th. This play features a twist on the Cinderella story, focusing on the daughter of the Larrabees’ chauffeur. She returns from Paris and enchants the Larrabee brothers; originally ignored as a child, Sabrina now discovers suitors all around her, including a handsome playboy named David, a person she has always liked. The play explores the question, in essence, about whether or not this Prince Charming is actually right for her.

Another treatment of a classic is presented from November 20th to January 2nd, when the Ford Theatre presents Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with an adaptation by Michael Wilson. This familiar tale of Scrooge and ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future stars Edward Gero, who has received past acclaim for Scrooge in a production that the Washington Post called “musically high-spirited” and “infectiously jolly.”

Horton Foote’s The Carpetbagger’s Children makes an appearance from January 21st to February 13th in 2011. The play is a series of vignettes that explores family secrets and small town life set during the South during the time of Post-Reconstruction following the Civil War. Foote is a playwright who has also won the Academy Award, as well as the 2002 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics New Play Award for this particular play.

Rounding out the season is Liberty Smith, with music by Michael Weiner and lyrics by Adam Abraham. This is a musical about the American Revolution where Liberty Smith, a childhood friend of George Washington and an apprentice to Benjamin Franklin, weaves his way through American history, not too unlike the title character in the film, Forrest Gump.

If you’re visiting over the course of next year, whether it’s with friends or one of the city’s four star hotels, Washington DC provides excellent entertainment, including the Ford Theatre, which may be visited both as a functioning theater and/or as a museum to one of the most transformative moments in the nation’s history.

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May 11th

What to Do When You Visit Melbourne

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Melbourne, Australia is one of the country’s great cities. That’s simple enough to say, and it’s actually even easier to support, or demonstrate with examples. There is an abundance of great cultural attractions, entertainment options and recreational activities that captivates tourists from across the world and satisfies city residents throughout the year. Some of the best hotels in Melbourne will have great information and various resources to assist with deciding what to do and then accessing it either through transportation or tickets while you are there. This is a tremendous benefit for any tourist, though the following paragraphs will also help you make some initial decisions by providing insightful ideas on what are some of the best things to do while you’re there.

Most people who visit Melbourne will be interested in exploring some of the city’s nightlife offerings. And not only is this an expected aspect of your trip, it is also recommended. The various clubs and bars offer everything from dance to live music and also quite little whole in the wall places that are perfect for quiet conversations and romantic evenings.

Meanwhile there are other great options and many of these are available during the day. One thing you don’t want to do is enjoy the nightclub scene so much that you are unable to do anything during the daylight hours. The Carlton Gardens are one of the city’s points of pride and they attract hundreds upon hundreds of visitors every year. The Eureka Sky Deck 88 is definitely a stop you will not want to pass up or miss as it offers some of the most outstanding panoramic 360 degree views of the city and countryside that are available. The Melbourne Zoo is another great place to visit during the day this is also extremely popular with families. Some of the highlights from the zoo include the African elephant exhibit and the rainforest. These are just a few of the places you will definitely want to visit while you’re in Melbourne, though there are numerous others as well.

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April 30th

Theatre in San Francisco

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San Francisco is well known for many of its cultural attractions. Even some of the streets and neighborhoods in this city are famous in their own right. It is only fitting that it is also one of the major theatre towns in the country and it draws some of the top theatre professionals from across the world. In addition to the number of major theatres that host Broadway touring productions there are a great deal of others that produce original works as well as some of the greats from the popular canon. Whatever you happen to be looking for, you will be able to find some great theatre during your stay in a hotel San Francisco . In addition to that which is available in the city, the East Bay has numerous other companies that produce quality shows every year.

Some of the current and upcoming Broadway productions that are enjoying runs in San Francisco include Wicked, which is being performed at the Orpheum, West Side Story which will also be hosted by the Orpheum and The Color Purple which will run for four days in November at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. These are just a few of the popular tours that will be coming through or are in town or across the Bay.

In addition, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre is currently presenting the world premiere of Girlfriend with music and lyrics by Mathew Sweet and book by Todd Almond. This show was directed by Les Waters. Upcoming on the theatre’s schedule is in the wake, by Lisa Kron and is directed by Leigh Silverman. Other Bay Area productions include Round and Round the Garden at the American Conservatory Theatre on Geary Street in San Francisco. The play was written by Alan Ayckbourn and this production was directed by John Rando.

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April 2nd

Los Angeles Double Take

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When I was in Los Angeles for the very first time, I was already 25 years old, and the only reason I never set foot there is because it hadn’t occurred to me that I might be missing something. The lure of beautiful hotels was something that my rich and pretty friends would chase after, but I couldn’t think about these things. I was a dedicated installation artist, and the world was my canvas, and film of any kind was a spit in the face of all that was good in the world. Installation was everything, it was my definition of the world, and my definition was everything. I didn’t know that was a Hollywood sentiment until it was too late to be pure.

For a long time, though, that’s how I saw it. It was something I’d decided before I could really think it through, and I said it enough so that I felt tied to it. Even though I was working in some circles where friends were making movies, I would always condescend to them and tolerate their company. They might think film wasn’t dead, I would think, and someday they’ll understand. Eventually, drawn by the idea of making something I could save for when I turned forty, and didn’t want to do this anymore, I went to Hollywood to give in. Of course, the giving was one-sided, they didn’t really care about the gift.

But I did get to see some people I’d always thought about. John Cusack was interesting enough, and could probably be convinced to be in one of my installations, or might donate money from his charity. Or there was also Miranda July , whose films crossed over from the gallery/performance art realm into indie cinema. These were people I would hang out with in L.A., I thought, and for me, seeing someone at a video store or in a car driving by counts as hanging out. Being able to stretch your definitions to fit your reality is very important in this town.

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March 23rd

One London Loop

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If you catch a train and get to the Grand Central Station in London you are one step closer to one of the many loops of sights you can take in this dense city. For the first time visitor of London this is a good place to start because it gets you to see the Westminster Abby, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben along with Buckingham Palace along with a few other popular sights along the way. This loop can be done in an afternoon while suffering from jet lag in need be. Take it from someone who as done it before. What can be seen in London in only one day. We pulled this off and caught a show in the theatre district.

Anyway, Buckingham Palace is as impressive in person as it is on Television. It is one of the most visited places in the city with thousands of travelers, from all over the world, surrounding it most of the time. The beautiful gardens that lead up to the palace gates is also a nice place to relax. There is a heart warming dedication to Princes Diana on the ground outside the gates. For those who lost her from afar, seeing her memorial will touch your heart all over again. There are certain parts of the palace that can be visited by travelers, just check the schedule before you go.

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben are a must see. How many movies have we seen those landmarks in? The latest one would be the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. This is the home of the House of Lords and the House of Commons right along the Thames river. They have held meetings on these grounds since the 13th Century. It has fallen a few times with fire and bombings but the buildings that stand today have been there since the 1870s with some interior changes. It was actually a palace before being used for important government use only. The Palace of Westminster was the center of it all during the reign of early Kings. The history of the building is long and interesting so read up on it before you go. It will make seeing it up close even more interesting.

Across from the Parliament you will find the Westminster Abby which stands in all of its grandeur. If your going to be in this area you may just find a London hotel near by. This will make your trip more enjoyable not having to travel to far to see these and many other historical sights.

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