11 Winter Escapes That WON’T Leave You Bored

by Willy Volk on

Even if you love chillin’ at the beach thiiiiiis much, sometimes the thought of sitting on the beach for a week doesn’t sound like much of a vacation. While it’ll probably be fun…it doesn’t seem very exciting. And sometimes an exciting vacation is just what we need to get the blahs out of our lives.

If you need to get the blahs out of your life, Concierge has a ton of gnarly adventure ideas to jumpstart your blah-bashing vacation planning. For example:

  • Abseiling in the Dominican Republic
  • Snorkeling with whale sharks in the Galapagos
  • Safariing in Sri Lanka
  • Biking through Kauai
  • Bonefishing in the Florida Keys
  • Hiking Chile’s Atacama desert

And those are just a few of the great ideas on the list. Admittedly, many of the ideas seem a bit costly, but you can easily take one of the ideas and tweak it to fit your budget. For example, instead of heading to Chile, you could always go hiking in Big Sur.

Adventure Travel for Skill-Seekers

by Karen Walrond on

City Slickers, anyone?

Call it a new trend in adventure
travel:  instead of seeking thrills, these adventure-vacationers are seeking skills.  The New York Times is
featuring an article about travel organizations that help holidaymakers not only relax, but learn skills such as
surfing, skiing, even dressage of Andalucian horses.

"Many of our clients want to get out of their
ordinary lives so they can really concentrate on a skill or improve their basic skills," said Ellen Vanuga,
marketing manager and ride consultant for Equitours (ridingtours.com). The company offers instruction-based
horse-riding tours in the United States, Britain and various countries in Europe.

Another company, Access
Trips, does similar tour planning for everything from snowboard instructions, to mountainbiking tuition to, hopefully
soon, cooking and photography.  Geared for adults aged 20 to 45, the company doubled its business in the first
year of operation, and is scheduled to triple in 2006. 

Sounds like a great trend — and we’ll
definitely be looking into tour companies like this for future holidays.  Doesn’t this sound like a great way to
get teenagers into the thought of a cool family vacation?