The couple’s guide to Valentine’s Day hotel packages

by Jessica Festa on

It’s always fun to do something a little special for Valentine’s Day, and staying at a luxury hotel can definitely add an air of romance to the occasion. And because we know every couple has a different idea of romance, here is a guide based on your “couple personality” to help you decide where to spend this Valentine’s Day.

Nature-loving couples

Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island
Amelia Island, Florida

The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, is a romantic hotel in general, with ambient restaurants and activities for couples like cooking classes, bike tours, wine tastings, and picturesque hikes. There is also a nightly “Beach Lovers Fire by the Dunes” where couples can snuggle with blankets, hot cocoa, and binoculars for star-gazing in front of a beach bonfire. For Valentine’s Day, couples can opt for the “Romance Package”, which includes accommodations, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries upon arrival, breakfast for two, a rose-petal turndown service, free parking, and late check-out. Rates begin at $379 per night. Call 904-277-1100 to book.Couples who love food and wine

Geneva on the Lake
Finger Lakes, New York

Geneva on the Lake is situated in the perfect location for those who love celebrating with delicious cuisine and free-flowing vino. The area is home to culinary trails, farm-to-table dining experiences, and over one hundred vineyards. During the month of Valentine’s Day, Geneva on the Lake is helping to enhance the wining and dining experience even further with a “Romantic Valentine’s Celebration” package, which includes accommodation in a suite that overlooks Seneca Lake and the Seneca Lake Wine Trail, two elegant wine glasses, chocolates, a full breakfast, a bottle of locally produced wine or Fuji apple juice, a candlelit four-course dinner with live music, and, if you stay on a Friday, a wine and cheese reception. Rates begin at $330 per night. Call 800-343-6382 to book.

Eco-conscious couples

Shore Hotel
Santa Monica, California

The Shore Hotel is an environmentally-friendly, luxury property right on the beach. They are LEED-registered, use local materials for building as much as possible, and recycled 50% of their construction waste, among other initiatives. During the entire month of February, the property is offering a “Pink Goes Green” package that includes accommodations, two bicycle rentals to use for your entire stay, a 60-minute couples massage at Tikkun Spa, a bottle of organic champagne or wine, and a $50 credit to The Lobster Restaurant, the on-site seafood eatery. Rates for the package start at $469 per night. Call 310-458-1515 to book.

Couples who love public displays of affection

Affinia Hotels
New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C.

Affinia Hotels, a boutique hotel chain with multiple properties in New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C., is offering a “Kiss & Tell” package from now all the way until December 31, 2012. The package includes accommodations with upgrades (if available), a list of each city’s most romantic kissing spots, Affinia signature “Kiss Me” mints, a “Kisses Goodnight” turndown service that includes Hershey’s kisses, and a split of champagne. To make the package more fun, the hotel is asking couples to take kissing photos around the cities and post them to the Affinia Facebook page and the Affinia Twitter account. Prices start at $139 per night in New York and Washington D.C. and $149 a night in Chicago. Call 866-246-2203 and say the word “KISS” to book.

Wedding-obsessed couples

The Pop-Up Wedding Chapel at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada

Whether you’re looking to get married for the first time, renew your vows, or just trying it out for a day or two, The Pop-Up Wedding Chapel at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas offers a variety of wedding-inspired packages. Each includes a 20-minute ceremony, Molla Space eraser rings, and Sofia Coppola champagne poppers. Note that all packages are faux until you add a $150 legal binding fee.

For those who are looking to quickly seal the deal, there is the “Hitched in a Hurry Package” ($80), which includes the wedding ceremony, a photo booth photo, and a gift bag. Couples looking to get a little more out of the experience can opt for the “On a Whim Package” ($125), which will give you the wedding ceremony, a silk flower bouquet, two photo booth photos, six cans of champagne, party favors, a t-shirt, two cake tops, and a gift bag. And, for those couples who want to really go all out, there is the “Going to the Chapel Package” ($195), which includes the wedding ceremony, silk flower bouquet, a bottle of Sofia Coppola Champagne (swanky!), two photo booth photos, party favors, six cake tops, two t-shirts, Marquee Hotel nightclub guest list access for four people, and a gift bag. Call 702-698-7640 to book.

Couples with sex on the brain

Canyon Ranch Hotel & Spa
Miami Beach, Florida

Let’s be honest; for most couples, romance isn’t just about chocolates and tropical sunsets. And because Canyon Ranch Hotel & Spa understands this, they’re hosting a “Sensuality & Sexuality” week from February 13-18, 2012. Not only will you be able to relax on the beach with your partner, you’ll also be able to learn how to heat things up in the bedroom (don’t worry if you’re single, as there are solo tips, as well). Some of the classes guests can partake in include:

  • Get in Touch with Yourself- Learn how to bring back and ignite sexual passion and vitality
  • Swap the Blue Pills for Dumbbells- Learn how to use exercise to increase sexual performance
  • Position Yourself- Couples will learn strengthening exercises that will not only work your muscles but also help you achieve unique and pleasurable sex positions
  • Keep It Up (for men)- Dr. McGee gives the men insight into how things like nutrition, relationships, stress, exercise, and everyday activities can affect sexual performance
  • Forty Beads Talk with Carolyn Evans (for women)- The ladies will learn a new method that will help transform their relationships

Rooms start at $605 a night. Call 800-742-9000 to book.

Rustic and adventurous couples

Blackberry Farm
Walland, Tennessee

Blackberry Farm is a luxury resort housed in a renovated farmhouse situated in the hills of the Smoky Mountains. From February 10-14, 2012, the property is hosting an array of romantic activities, some of which include a romantic confections baking demo, horse-drawn carriage rides, aphrodisiac tasting menus, spa treatments for couples, private fly fishing lessons, and adventure sports like kayaking and white water rafting. Rates start at $695 which includes all meals. Call 865-984-8166 to book.

Snow bunny couples

L’Auberge de Sedona
Sedona, Arizona

L’Auberge de Sedona is a luxury property situated on Oak Creek as well as in the midst of picturesque red-rock mountains. Through March 15, 2012, the property is offering couples a chance to experience the natural beauty of the area by hitting the slopes with their “Snowmance” package, which includes two-nights accommodation in either a guest room or fireplace and private patio-equipped luxury cottage, ski lift tickets to Flagstaff Snowbowl for each day booked, and a $75 credit to use for food and drinks or the spa. Prices start at $265 for a guest room and $320 for cottage. Call 928-282-1661 to book.

High-roller couples

Fairmont Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

For couples that like to live life in the fast lane, a stay at Fairmont Chicago will give them the chance to spend this Valentine’s Day lavishing in expensive tastes. From February 10-14, 2012, the property is offering a $100,000 “Romantic Getaway Package”, which includes your own butler throughout the stay as well as a Presidential Suite featuring a rose petal trail from the foyer to a bed of six dozen red roses. The package also includes a $10,000 gift card to Saks Fifth Avenue in Chicago that will give sweethearts access to their exclusive Fifth Avenue Club, allowing for personalized shopping, doting slaes attendents, and the ability to shop during non-regular hours. And if you’re not feeling like a baller already, you will also receive a Marshall Pierce & Company 18 karat white diamond and sapphire necklace. Back at the resort, the high rolling continues with a lavendar and rose petal-filled bath for two, strawberries, Cristal Champagne, a ninety minute in-room couples’ massage, breakfast in bed each morning, as well as two fine dining experiences, one being a Chef’s Table-for-Two at the on-site Aria and the other being at your choice of hotel in Chicago. Call 312-565-8000 to book.

Couples who can’t get enough chocolate

Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead
Atlanta, Georgia

From February 1 up until Valentine’s Day, the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, is offering a Valentine’s Day package that includes accommodations, breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, chocolate, champagne, a rose-petal turndown service, and overnight valet parking. Along with this, there is a calendar of chocolate-inspired activities for couples. Some sweet selections to expect include a Chocolate Afternoon Tea ceremony ($34), a chocolate desert-ladden brunch ($59), chocolate and wine pairing sessions (included), candy making classes ($125 per couple), and 50-minute chocolate spa treatments ($155-$290). Prices begin at $299 per night and the chocolate activities can be purchased a la carte. Call 404-237-2700 to book.

Vagabond Tales: The strange food of Vietnam

by Kyle Ellison on

Apparently, there are no sharks left in Vietnam.

This is not a scientific fact. It’s based solely upon the opinion of my dive instructor in Nha Trang, a trendy resort town in southern Vietnam. While you may initially think this is a good thing, the sad reality is that sharks are one of the most threatened animals in the undersea environment and the vast majority pose no threat to humans whatsoever.

The instructor claimed he hadn’t seen a shark underwater in over 8 years, a fact which led me to speculate as to why. Was the water warmer? Had their food moved further offshore? Had he just not been looking?

The answer, it would turn out, wasn’t as much of a mystery as I was making it out to be.
“Because we eat them all” he nonchalantly mused. “Vietnam, Korea, China, eat all the shark. No more shark.”

While I knew that shark fin soup was a much sought after dish in the Far East, I didn’t think it had reached such dire levels where a trained professional who goes into the water actually looking for them hadn’t encountered one in nearly a decade.His answer did nothing to surprise me, however, as the Vietnamese are renowned for eating absolutely anything; sharks, dogs, birds, snakes, cats, starfish-it’s all just food. Of the Vietnamese, a Cambodian friend of mine once quipped that “the only thing with two legs they don’t eat is a human, and the only thing with four legs they don’t eat is a table.”

I ruminated over this as I examined an oversized glass vase in the dive shop which had been stuffed with dead snakes and black ravens. A curious sight to be sure, the dead animals were soaking in a brackish looking liquid I was informed was rice wine, the final product of which was meant to be an aphrodisiac so potent it aroused women to uncontrollable levels and kept men “strong” all throughout the night. Much of this information was gleaned from an elderly Vietnamese woman communicating solely in hand gestures, a somewhat awkward state of affairs concerning the subject matter.

Regardless, later in the day as I flopped backwards overboard at the outset of my dive, I soon would realize that the Vietnamese don’t just eat anything, but they also will eat anywhere.
As I mentioned in my Vagabond Tales column on roasting marshmallows over Guatemala’s Volcan Pacaya, one of my favorite aspects of global travel is the refreshing lack of liability found in many parts of the globe. This is why it came as no surprise when 15 minutes into the dive we found ourselves inside of a cave 60 feet below the surface, a place where most US based operators would never take beginner divers (though I am a PADI Divemaster, my two mates from New Zealand were only on their second dive ever).

For those of you who have read my blogger profile here on Gadling, you have an idea of what happens next. Navigating his way through the cave with four hesitant divers in tow, a large shellfish suddenly caught the eye of the instructor. Seeing as this is Vietnam and you eat whatever you can find, it obviously meant this was feeding time.

Giving us the signal for “stop and wait”, our instructor hastily grabbed a medium-sized stone from the sand bottom and crushed the mollusk in a Neanderthal-esque display of force. Then, like an orangutan sharing its meal at the zoo, he divvied up the flimsy white meat and offered us all to have a taste, which is how we found ourselves eating raw shellfish, underwater, in a cave, in southern Vietnam.

To answer the question of anyone paying attention, yes, eating underwater is hard, but it’s not impossible. You take a deep breath in, remove your regulator (which is never done outside of the skills test when you first get certified), place the food into your mouth, reinsert the regulator, and attempt to breathe and chew at the same time.

So yes, there are no more sharks in Vietnam, some Vietnamese eat dogs, and if they find a shellfish underwater, there’s a good chance they’ll eat that too.

**Disclaimer: The author does not condone multiple elements of this story, including, but not limited to, tampering with sea life while diving, attempting to eat underwater, removing your regulator under any circumstances, fermenting dead ravens to make sex juice, embarking on a $15 scuba dive in the first place, or discussing politics with a Vietnamese man who’s been drinking, which although it’s not included in this tale, simply serves as a general warning**

Want more travel stories? Read the rest of the Vagabond Tales here…

Is the British pub an endangered species?

by Sean McLachlan on

The figures are in for 2011 and it’s more bad news for the British pub. An average of 14 a week shut down, and Oxfordshire alone lost 35 this past year.

The pub is an institution. More than just a place to drink real ale, it’s a place to see friends, get out of the house, do the pub quiz, and watch football.

My family and I spend every Easter and summer in Oxford, and while we aren’t big drinkers, the pub is one of our regular destinations. Our local is The Fir Tree, which has a great Sunday roast and friendly atmosphere. They even allow well-behaved children like my son.

When I’m in Oxford I’m usually researching in the Bodleian Library. After a few hours of poring over old manuscripts I need a break, so I head across the street to The White Horse, familiar to Inspector Morse fans as Morse’s favorite watering hole. Usually I bump into several other researchers there and The White Horse has been unofficially designated the Bodleian Library slack-off pub!

British pubs are an institution, now under threat from a number of factors. High beer taxes make a night out expensive, and cut-rate supermarket booze is drawing many drinkers away. Also, the demographic of many neighborhoods is changing, with some areas filling up with immigrants who don’t drink, or who at least don’t drink in public.

It’s a shame so many pubs are disappearing but I don’t really see how that trend is going to be reversed. The government isn’t about the lower taxes, and the economic crisis is making more people stay home. If you’re coming to this part of the world, however, make sure to visit some pubs. You’ll find a genial atmosphere, good drinks, historic buildings, and interesting local tales. The White Horse is more than 300 years old and during renovations a “witch’s broom” was found in the rafters. Nobody would touch it so it was boarded up and is still there. Other pubs have stories too, including ghosts, visits by royalty, and of course acting as backdrops to movies and TV.

So go drink at a pub. Saving a cultural icon has never been so much fun.

Photo courtesy flickr user calflier001.

Secret supper prohibition-era restaurant pops up in Vancouver, Canada

by Jessica Festa on

For three evenings only, Swallow Tail Canada will once again be hosting their Secret Supper Soiree in Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. While guests can expect a classy 1930’s-inspired underground bar, murder mysteries, transportation in a timeless double decker bus, and tastings of wines that are not available on the market, they will not know the location of the speakeasy until the night of the event.

The creators of the prohibition-era pop-up event are telling guests to meet at Pacific Central Station and from there will be picked up and taken backwards in time. To make the event more realistic, participants are also being asked to wear their fanciest speakeasy attire. Once at the secret location, a five-course tasting menu by Chef Andrea Carlson of Bishops as well as one Pims Cup and three wine tastings from local wineries will be offered.

Says Chef, Sommelier, and Owner of Swallow Tail Canada, Robin Kort, “I used to be a swing dancer, so I’m really enamored by the 1930s and that whole speakeasy era. It embodies what Swallow Tail is, too. It’s underground, exclusive, and secret. I like that vibe.”

Dates for the event are January 21, January 28, and February 4 at 4PM. Click here to purchase tickets.

Life in Japan, from sushi’s perspective

by Jessica Marati on

In Japan, conveyor belt sushi, or kaiten-zushi, is the equivalent of a burger joint or taco stand: a cheap, quick dining option for people from all walks of life. At kaiten-zushi establishments, small plates of sushi, sashimi, and other Japanese specialties are placed on a rotating conveyor belt. Diners select multiple plates to make themselves a meal, and the bill is tallied at the end based on how many and what kinds of plates were consumed.

The conveyor belt can also have additional uses, as this travel video recently posted to YouTube shows. In it, a group of Western tourists places a digital video camera on the kaiten-zushi rotating conveyor belt in an unnamed restaurant in Japan. The camera makes its way around the room, capturing the atmosphere of the restaurant and earning smiles, laughter, and curious glances from its patrons and staff. The video, simple in its capture, offers a rare glimpse at everyday life in Japan, from sushi’s perspective.