Daily Pampering: Unlimited wine for ladies at Sugar Ridge Antigua

by Annie Scott on


Sugar Ridge Antigua wants to host your “Girlfriends Getaway” and is totally trying to entice you with wine. I feel okay with that, don’t you?

Ladies booking the Girlfriends Getaway package, a four-night all-inclusive, will get two one-hour massages per person, free breakfast, lunch and dinner (none of that “choose two meals and suffer” nonsense), and unlimited wine and house beverages. If you’ve ever wanted to do a trip with your gal pals but felt you would all eat and drink yourselves into the poor house, you should jump at this!

So, what are you going to do while you’re not drinking wine (or, let’s face it, while you’re drinking wine)? Well, you can lounge by the infinity pool above — which also has a view of the ocean, but I liked this shot of the rolling green hills better — or your can put down your glass and take the complimentary shuttle to the white, powdery sand beach, head to the Jolly Harbor Marina for boating excursions, tennis, squash and golf, or go on a historical trek to Nelson Dockyard and Shirley Heights.

The cost is reasonable for all it includes, at “$1,120 per person for a single occupancy room and $920 per person for double occupancy for a minimum of two rooms.” The offer is valid for travel through September 18, 2010.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk – Catalina Island

by Stephen Greenwood on

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk, episode 20 – Click above to watch video after the jump


This week we have an extra special episode – it’s Aaron’s birthday and we’ve decided to surprise him by going to one of Southern California’s best escapes for diving, watersports, and all things adventurous.

Located 22 miles southwest of Los Angeles, Catalina Island has a rich history as a private island and as a tourist destination. On the couch, we’ll talk about some of the many people who have claimed ownership to the island and why Avalon’s iconic casino isn’t the gambling type, and how Catalina is looking to boost their tourism industry once more.

Stay tuned as we take you zip-lining, scuba diving, show you Avalon’s newest hotel, and finally settle some leftover golf wagers from Orlando. Enjoy!


If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

Subscribe via iTunes:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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Links
Interested in escaping to Catalina? Book your passage on the Catalina Express from Long Beach!
Where to stay – Avalon’s recently renovated Pavilion Hotel.
What to do – take a ride on Catalina’s brand new zip line course!
Love to scuba dive? Check out Catalina Scuba Luv.




Hosts: Aaron Murphy-Crews, Stephen Greenwood

Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea

Philadelphia’s Loews Hotel offers VIP tickets for Cleopatra exhibit

by Amy Chen on

If you’re set on seeing the Cleopatra exhibit in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute, save some time and money by booking a hotel package that throws in a pair of VIP museum passes.

Regular admission to “Cleopatra: the Search for the Last Queen of Egypt” can cost up to $29.50 per ticket, but the two VIP passes (which are undated and untimed) are actually worth more than the combined $59 face value. Since these front-of-the-line tickets are currently only offered through hotel partners, being able to skip the line is literally priceless.

Details: This Loews Hotel package, which starts at $189 per night, includes one night in a deluxe room at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, two VIP passes to the Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Institute, and access to the Fels Planetarium (worth an extra $15.50 per person). The VIP Cleopatra package is valid until Jan. 2, 2011, when the special exhibit closes.

[Image Credit: Lisa Godfrey/The Franklin Institute]

The mystifying trail up the Uetliberg

by Annie Scott on


It was a ludicrously foggy day when I rode the train up the Uetliberg and embarked on the trail to Uto Kulm. The Uetliberg is a Swiss mountain known as the “Top of Zürich,” crowned with a 236 foot tower which you can climb for panoramic views of Zürich and beyond — unless it’s half as foggy as the day I was there.

Uto Kulm, pictured hazily below, is a hotel and restaurant adjacent to the tower. Normally, it offers pretty fabulous views as well, or so I’m told. When I was there, it was so foggy it looked like the blinds were drawn. I had a fine feast of a dinner there; while the main courses were unremarkable, my companions and I were all wowed by the delicious and complex desserts — and certainly satisfied.

Not that I’m complaining about the fog. No. I was still enchanted by the trek due to the unusual and haunting statues by Bruno Weber, a Swiss fantastic realist, which were made all the more mesmerizing by the thick clouds surrounding them. If you go to Zürich, no matter what museums you plan to visit, you have to see these statues.
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Bewtiching statues like the ones shown above towered over us, leading us up the final steps to Uto Kulm. Never before had I felt so like I was in an ancient land (or perhaps a Tolkien novel), despite the fact that the “sculpture way” was just completed in 2003. The strange creatures and majestic scale tickled my imagination, bringing to mind the ruins of various cities and civilizations past — perhaps this is similar to what those crumbling statues once looked like.

Bruno Weber is a living artist who, among other things, continues to expand and add sculptural elements to his house in his hometown of Dietikon to this day. The house of Bruno Weber is well-known by the Swiss as a magical place to visit. If you go there, you must also head to Skulpturenpark in the same town, which is said to be full of awe-inspiring sights.

His project on the Uetliberg took 12 years to complete. I hope it will be there for archaeologists to explore hundreds of years from now.

My trip to Switzerland was sponsored by Switzerland Tourism, but the ideas and opinions expressed in this article are 100 percent my own.

How to buy cheap Broadway tickets this fall

by Amy Chen on

Catching a Broadway show may be a quintessential New York experience, but a pair of orchestra tickets can easily cost as much as your hotel room.

If your travel plans are flexible, consider waiting until fall to take advantage of Broadway.com‘s latest promotion, which reduces ticket prices for groups as small as eight people. (Group discounts are typically for 15 or more people). Round up some friends and family, and these discounts could knock 20 percent to 50 percent off the regular price of orchestra and front mezzanine seats.

Here’s a sampling of what you can save with Broadway.com/groups discounts this fall.

La Cage Aux Folles (the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical Revival, Best Actor, and Best Director)
Price: Orchestra seats normally cost $132.50. With the small-group discount, you could save 40 percent and watch it for a more affordable $79.50. This price is valid for shows from Sept. 7-Oct. 7.

The Addams Family (starring Broadway legends Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane)
Price: $69 mezzanine seats A-K for Tuesday-Thursday performances; $49 student mezzanine seats F-N for Tuesday-Thursday performances. Book by Aug. 27 (or 4 weeks in advance) for performances Sept. 1-Nov. 11

Mary Poppins and The Lion King
Price: Get 20 percent off regularly priced tickets for groups of 8 to 14 people. Earn a free ticket for groups of 15 and more.

But with half-price tickets available at the TKTS booth in Times Square, does booking in advance really save you money?

I checked in with Carl Prince, executive vice president of Broadway.com/Groups, who was candid about how his company’s fall promotion measures up to the competition.

Can you explain how these prices might compare to TKTS deals?
TKTS is a good way to go if you are not with a group, you don’t care what show you see, and you don’t mind giving up an afternoon to wait in line. If you wanted to see a show with a September Special, say Mary Poppins, you should definitely go ahead and buy it in advance because it might sell out prior to the performance and therefore not even be an option at the TKTS booth. Prices could be lower at TKTS, but it’s a complete gamble.

Is your seat availability better than TKTS?
Another gamble. At the TKTS booth, they sell whatever inventory is left. Because of that, simple logic tells me the seats will not be as good at the last minute as when they are bought in advance with a September Special.

Has Broadway.com/Groups offered these specials before?
Not really. As of now, this is a once-a-year opportunity. September Specials are a way to sell tickets in advance for a time period that has tended to be slower in years past.

Details: Visit Broadway.com/groups/septemberspecials to view the discounted group rates.
Tip: Before you book, it’s worth comparing prices with other discount sites, such as Theatermania.com.

[Photo Credit: Amy Chen]