Tag: New Orleans

Popular Vacation Spots that are perfect for the Holidays

Many people get time off over the holidays, and they want to make the most of that time. There are plenty of places where you can spend the holidays enjoying a lovely vacation. Disneyland and Disney World are among the busiest places on holidays, including Christmas day. People of all ages find the magic kingdoms to be a delightful place to make memories for the holidays with their entire family.

Since Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday, many people find themselves with a four or five day weekend over that period of time. Going to Las Vegas is a great place to spend this holiday as it is always alive with action 24 hours per day. You will also find plenty of restaurants in Las Vegas that offer you the best Thanksgiving Day meal you have ever been a part of.

Las Vegas is also one of the most popular locations for New Years Eve. The entire strip is shut down from traffic and people are dancing, drinking, and having a good time in the streets. Many people compare it to the activities taking place in New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

Spring break is a very popular holiday for the high school and college crowds. They often choose to spend that time at various beaches including those in Florida and California. Hotels are over run with these people having parties all night long and then spending their days at the beach.

Most of these beaches host fabulous activities during spring break to make sure people keep coming back year after year. Live music, dances, and various contests are just a sample of the different contests you can enter. Since spring break falls differently for various schools, these beaches are often full from the second week of March until the very end of the month.

Surprising someone you love with a fun vacation to another country or a part of the world they have always wanted to see is a great way to share the holidays. Imagine waking up Christmas morning in Spain or Paris instead of at home. There are plenty of great places that you can see during the holidays so dont limit your options.

The down side to traveling to popular vacation spots for the holidays is that they are in demand. That means you will likely pay more to visit them during that time of year than normal. You will also need to make your reservations early or you will find that all the flights or the hotels have sold out and you wont be able to spend the holidays there.

Take a look at various vacation package deals to help you save as much money as possible when you take a vacation over the holidays. Most package deals for travel include your airfare, hotel accommodations, and a rental car if you want one. You can also choose to add tickets for shows or events you want to take part in.

Once you have decided where you want to spend the holidays, you can start comparing prices. Find out what your local travel agent can offer you and surf the internet on your own. Dont forget to look in the travel section of the newspaper or to take advantage of advertisements you get in the mail. For many people the ability to be able to take a vacation over the holidays will depend on the price they are able to get the trip for.

There will also be more people to deal with at that particular vacation spot over the holidays in most instances. If you dont like being a part of a large crowd or you hate to wait in line, you will want to prepare yourself for these issues while vacationing over the holidays. This way you can focus on having a great time instead of getting stressed out over such issues that you have no control over.

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Take the Family With You

Business travel can be rewarding, interesting, profitable and broadening for the business traveler. But there are some downsides to the life on the road especially if you must travel for business often. Besides the occasional airport delay or layover and the ever present issue of how weather affects your business trips, it is always hard to say goodbye to your family as you go out of town to accomplish the mission of your business trip.

For many business people, one solution is to take their family with them on business trips if the nature of the trip will accommodate such arrangements. Few would deny the road weary business traveler the joys of having family with them on a challenging trip. And for your family, not only does this mean more time with you, it can be a big adventure for everybody involved.

Taking your spouse on a business trip is entirely different scenario than if you are planning a trip to include the spouse and children. In that your spouse is an adult, can rent a car and plan a day without help and mold his or her schedule around yours, a spouse can be a huge plus to you because you have that familiar face to greet you in the hotel room when you return from your business affairs of the day. And there is a strange vicarious enjoyment to be had as you are working hard to know your spouse is taking in the pleasures of the local area which you will hear about that night.

Taking the kids on a business trips gets to be more of a logistical challenge and there are some real limitations to the kind of trip that will work as a full family outing. One of the big factors in determining if this trip is a good one for the whole family to enjoy is location. If the trip is to a popular destination such as Orlando or California where your spouse and children can find plenty to do each day, then its a good situation for bringing the family along.

Other locations that make great choices to include the family are historic and memorable cites such as New York, New Orleans, San Francisco or some of the great overseas destinations like London, Paris or Rome. If the children have your spouse to guide their tours, those trips with you can be events to remember and tremendous learning experiences that they will be talking about to their grandkids decades from now.

Obviously, the time of year for your business travel is a determining factor on whether the children can tag along. Summer business trips work well for such plans but if your travel will interrupt the childrens school schedule, it usually is not feasible to include them. Now in a case where there is significant educational benefit to the trip, there may be some concessions to be made to the children out of school if they will gain valuable experiences from the trip.

But all of these factors, including just including your spouse on the trip will hinge on one important factor that only you can determine. And that is how much time you will be able to spend with the family when you are working and traveling. It is well known that business travel also frequently means long yours and then business dinners and negotiations that can go into the night. If you are going on a trip that such dedication to the task is necessary, its best not to bring the family. It does them no good to come along on an exciting business outing only to find themselves never seeing you until the flight home. They will feel frustrated and you will wonder what value there was to the expense and trouble of bringing them if you could not enjoy them except to kiss them good night in their hotel beds and good-bye in the morning.

But if all of the factors fall into place, taking the family along on an occasional business trip can take a humdrum trip and put some real fun into it. So keep your eye on that business travel agenda you have. There may be a few junkets where the family would fit in nicely.

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Hot Dogs and Pizza

Any attempt to really come to appreciate the amazing sightseeing that is possible in America would have to include stops in some of the countrys truly great cities. For some reason when we think of outstanding cities of America, we tend to drift to the coasts. And to be sure from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle to the west to New York, Boston and Washington to the east, there are some amazing American cities on those two coasts.

But to neglect the Midwest entirely and not include some of the great cities in the center of the country would leave out some of the most amazing experiences you might have on your sightseeing tour. In fact, of all the Midwest cities, Chicago Illinois can give any city on the coasts a run for their money.

But Chicago is very much its own kind of place, unlike even the urban cities of the east coast. Chicago has its own lore, perpetuated by movies and television just as much as LA or New York. But the thing to remember about that kind of lore is that the movies didnt invent that kind of excitement. It was already very much a part of Chicago and film makers just like making that part of their movies.

When we think about Chicago, it is easy to think of the great food there. The famous Chicago Style Hot Dog or Chicago Pizza has become such a renowned taste treat that it is imitated often, but never repeated. That is because a big part of the great tastes of Chicago comes from actually BEING in Chicago when you eat these delicious meals. So if you include Chicago in your sightseeing plans, you may want to put the diet on hold for a few days so you dont miss some tastes that can only be had there.

But there is so much more to see and enjoy in a big international city like Chicago. Of course if you are a baseball fan, to catch a Cubs game in season is an experience of a lifetime. In addition to that experience, Chicago has many world class things to see and do not the least of which is an art museum that can stand its own next to the great museums of New York or Washington.

But if you put in a full day of sightseeing all around Chicago, you might need to rest up because the Chicago night life is not to be missed. The music of this great city is world renowned. The famous movie The Blues Brothers is based on the wonderful diversity of Jazz music that grew up in the Chicago music scene. In fact, in the world of Jazz aficionados, Chicago is put right up there with New Orleans as one of the great spawning grounds of the uniquely American music of Jazz.

And while we are on the subject of entertainment, there is a little improvisational comedy group called Second City that has made its home in Chicago for some fifty years. Second City can boast some of the biggest stars in comedy that got their comedic training in Chicago. In fact, to a large extent the Saturday Night Live troupe drew and continues to draw extensively from the talent developed in Second City. Some of the alumni include John Belushi, Billy Chrystal, Dan Ackroyd, John Candy, Eugene Levy and many, many more.

Chicago is very much a melting pot of great American culture. From the architecture to the food to the museums to the jazz and comedy, there are few cities in the country, even in the world that can give you as great a sightseeing experience as the great city of Chicago, Illinois.

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