Travel Tips

Small Shops and Centers make great Stops along the Way

Now we’ve come to my favorite pastime: shopping. I really couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk about the awesome stores, malls, and shopping centers that abound in Seattle Washington. The shopping alone is enough to garner a visit in my opinion, even without the many other wonderful things that this city has to offer.

Whether your shopping interests lie in art, clothing, shoes, chocolates, or wines there is plenty here to keep you busy for quite some time. Just keep in mind that you will either need room in your luggage or to ship your new purchases home. There are also weight restrictions for luggage if you are flying so you want to be careful about how much you plan to bring with you. A good thing to find before your shopping trip would be a UPS Store or a Mailboxes Etc from which you can ship your purchases home.

The first great shopping place in Seattle is Pike Place Market. This market has a history as rich as the city itself. It has seen immigration, internment, and many other processes over the course of the last century. Be sure to find out more of its history while you are there. I like Pike Place because you can get fresh foods here that we often do without while on vacation. This isn’t a place to shop for souvenirs so much as it is a place to shop for your next meal.

If you are shopping for artworks or antiques, then Pioneer Square is definitely the place to be. On the first Thursday of each month, Pioneer Square sponsors a gallery walk that begins at 6:00 pm. Shops, galleries, and restaurants stay open later and hold an art walk. This is truly a great place to shop for gifts, goodies, and ideas. I hope you have a great deal of fun in the process.

I have been a lover of books since I was a very young child. I can think of few things I would rather by for my children or myself than a good book or two. In fact, I generally have a rather difficult time limiting my purchases to one or two. With all the amazing bookstores around the country, I have found the Elliot Bay Book Company to be one of the most enjoyable. If you get the chance, I highly encourage you to check this store out. I believe you will very much enjoy what you see here.

Seattle also has plenty of malls that offer the typical mall anchor stores and even several specialty and high-end stores. I tend to shy away from those in search of stores and shops that are much more intimate and cozy. I know that not everyone feels the same and these giant mega malls are a great deal of fun for many who travel. I just can’t bring myself to work up much excitement while on vacation for something I can do at home. Perhaps I’m strange.

My hope is that I have given you a couple of ideas for shopping that you might not have otherwise noticed among the many options for your spending dollars while in Seattle. Take the time to look around at the small storefronts rather than the big flashy signs that are often so eye-catching. The smaller stores will offer something much more than the bigger chains ever will, personal service. It is becoming a lost art in today’s society but I’m hoping that by frequenting businesses such as this we can see a comeback.

There are so many wonderful things to do and see in New York City. It’s hard to imagine that in a lifetime someone could possibly manage to get to them all. The problem is that many of them sound like so much fun it’s hard to choose between the men and select the few. The best solution for me is to stick with things that can’t be done at home. Playing in parks for the most part can be done at home. While none of our parks compare to the many available here, it can still be done at home without traveling thousands of miles in order to do so.

The same can be said for watching movies, fishing, hiking, riding bikes, and roller-blading. While getting exercise is great, there will be plenty of walking while in New York and I can actually roller blade when I get home, right? But if you like doing those things, why on earth would you deprive yourself of doing them simply because the locale has changed? If anything you will have a new shot of scenery to enjoy, new sights and sounds, and perhaps you can get your family, up, out, and active right along with you.

In addition to the physical activities there are so many wonderful shows that can be seen on and off Broadway, there are also some wonderful opportunities to dance yourself as well as to watch others dancing. You can make music and listen to the beautiful sounds that others have made. You also have the wonderful and unique ability to choose from so many bookstore and antique shops. There are literally thousands of things you can choose to do and see within the course of a day in New York City, many of them free and some of them are actually freeing.

It is so important that we remember when vacationing what the actual purpose of a vacation is-to renew ourselves in our commitments to our families, our mates, and our work. In doing this we are supposed to come back refreshed and renewed ready to face the challenges that await us. Find something freeing to do while on vacation. Let your hair down and enjoy the ability to dance without worrying about who might see. Sing karaoke in a tavern, act silly with your kids and go walking barefoot on the beach with flowers in your hair. Remember what it was like to be young and have fun for the sake of having fun and most importantly, remember how to smile.

Your New York Vacation should remind you, if nothing else how fleeting life is. The skyline of this great city has forever been changed and that is something we can never forget, it is not something we need to dwell on, but it is something that should really make us think when we remember it. We should seize each moment with our friends and families for the opportunity it is to not only be blessed but also to be a blessing in return.
Use your vacation as an opportunity to read to your children, sing to your mate, hold hands in the rain, and fall in love with each other all over again. Be romantic and sweet and hold the door open for him. Be silly and make up rhyming songs and tell your children often just how much you are enjoying playing with them and remember all of these things when you return home. That is when you will find that you are truly blessed.

New York City offers a virtual treasure chest of fun things to do for teenagers. This age group is generally the most difficult to please and appease while vacationing. They are too old for the kid stuff and too young to appreciate some of the more ‘grown up’ entertainment and of course, they don’t want to look like they’re having too much fun. From amusement parks to cyber cafes, from bookstores to malls and video arcades, to sporting events and sporting complexes New York City is a city that was almost made for teens to enjoy.

The trick to enjoying your New York City vacation while ensuring that your teen enjoys his or her time in the city is compromise. Agree to go watch the skateboarding in the park if he or she will suffer through a museum with you. You just might find that you each find something to enjoy about the other’s activities. There are so many wonderful things to do and see in New York. You don’t have to pay a lot of money in order to have a good time as many of these wonderful events are offered free or for very little cost. You can also purchase passes that allow free entrance to certain city attractions for one low fee. You will find that of the freebie offerings there is usually something that will appeal to various members of your family including your teens.

Compromise is a good idea on any vacation with friends or family and it teaches your teens an important lesson-their opinion matters to you. They also learn to compromise, to share time and experiences, and to think critically. They are forced to weight all the things they would like to do and select the things that matter most to them to do. This is a very good thing for people to learn as early as possible and will be an invaluable lesson, as they grow older and eventually begin making their own decisions in life as well. I even try to offer the younger children a voice in what’s going on. I offer age appropriate choices and allow them to select the one that matters most to them.

Teens are often very hard to please or predict and their wants can change between the time it takes to open a pack of pop tarts and the time it takes to actually drop them in the toaster. Be aware of this when making plans with teens and go with the flow. You do not have to let your teen rule your vacation but by allowing him or her a voice in the decision making process you might all learn some important and interesting things about each other.

Girl teens are often easily distracted by shopping-while New York City has some of the trendiest boutiques you may want to see if you can talk her into some of them any consignment or secondhand stores that abound. You can call it ‘vintage clothing’ if you must in order to get her in the doors but you can score some awesome deals on clothes that look barely worn if that and she’ll have some nice additions to her wardrobe for a fraction of their costs if new. There are also some wonderful outlet malls in NYC as well. The trick with shopping any of these stores is to know the prices of things. Some things are excellent bargains while others are not so much.

Teen boys will have a grand time at places such as Game Time Nation where they can play video games for endless hours. You can even try playing games together if you’re brave enough. Fair warning offered here, teens are brutal in their victories and you will never live down your failures in the video game arena with them so study up before hand.

The most important thing to remember about vacationing with your teen is that you’d like them to have some fond memories of your time together, even during their teen years. Take care that you are including them in your plans rather than making their plans for them. It is time they are let into the decision making process to some degree even if it’s allowing either or options or asking them to list a few things they’d like to do and you selecting from those. If you’re having fun it is quite likely that they will eventually join in.