For centuries, the island of Phuket was a stop on a trade route, where merchants and travelers from all over the world made stops, however the nature and the hospitality of the locals, and the wealth and beauty of the natural world, had those travelers and merchants stop permanently.  Therefore the cultural mix of foreigners over the many years, has given the island the cultural diversity that exists there today.  Early immigrants were as diverse as Buddhists, Malaysian Muslims, Traders from the Arab countries, Chinese, Sea Gypsies, Indians and all the countries of Europe.

The geography of the island is equally diverse, from some of the most beautiful beaches of Thailand, to the dense jungles and mountains.  Tours are available, in all manner of travel.  To find a hotel to suit your desired location on the island, go to www.phuketbeachresorts.com, where you will find exactly what you are looking for.  One of the most famous locations for touring, is the bay of Phang Nga.  Here you will experience the island from the water, aboard the eco-friendly transportation of the kayak.  This is a peaceful get-away, one that will take you past some of the most wondrous elements of the natural world, through caves and karsts of limestone, you can experience either in the day time tours or the night time star light tours.

For others it is an elephant trek through the mountains and the jungles of the island that provides them the adventure they are seeking.  Although for some, a long ride atop an elephant can prove to be a bit uncomfortable, so there are many guided hikes, either walking tours or jeep safaris which will lead you deep into the heart of the jungle and all of the wonders to be found there.  While there is much to see in the city itself, it is always refreshing to get out into the nature of an island that is so rich with natural beauty, and in Phuket, it is one of the best ways to fully embrace the island experience.

So, arriving after the New Years was the wrong time to buy Broadway tickets in New York.  We purposely came here to see ‘Shrek’, but that’s now closed, and we thought it was doing pretty good, after all it was on it’s 441st performance, which is notable, if not admirable. We then thought, well let’s try seeing ‘White Christmas’, which we knew had a limited engagement, but we found out that it’s limited engagement was over sooner than expected.

We knew that ‘Finian’s Rainbow’ just opened, but we didn’t count on it closing the day we arrived! It just opened and it had great reviews! What’s going on? We did manage to get tickets for Matthew Broderick’s latest, ‘Ragtime’, but we hear the shows only staying open due to Matthew being in it, that he’s the only drawing power. We are here too early to see the opening of ‘Come Fly Away’, a Frank Sinatra and Twyla Tharp inspired musical; that will open in March and we would really like to see some of the ‘American Idol’ show, but they won’t be here until April.

We wondered that if, all these marvellous shows can’t stay open on Broadway, then we should plan to see any production as soon as it opens. Right now, the only stable shows on Broadway are ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Wicked’, and we seen both productions several times already, but then again, who knows, maybe they’ll be on their last performances if this economy doesn’t turn around soon. We also realized that we have cut back on how many production we see in a year. We used to see as many Broadway and off Broadway productions as we could fit into in one year, but both our places of work have cut back on our hours and our pay, until things pick-up. It’s just sad, really, that Broadway shows close down due to the economy and not because it’s a fantastic show to see.

Corey couldn’t make up his mind over what he wanted to do first. He agreed to travel with his mom on a business trip to Washington DC, and normally he resisted going with her because there usually wasn’t anything for him to do. However, when he was presented with the opportunity to spend four days in one of the luxury hotels DC he really couldn’t resist. Not only did that particular trip sound incredibly exiting, but his alternative was to stay with his aunt because his older brother Steve would be working nights that week. And it wasn’t that he didn’t get along with his aunt, he truly loved her. It was just that she didn’t own a television, and as mundane and superficial as that might seem, Corey couldn’t imagine spending a whole four days without being able to watch any baseball games.

So, it was settled. Corey would go with his mother to Washington and she thought ahead to make reservations to tour the White House and the Capital, but other than that she decided to wing it and also to let Corey decide his own agenda while she was at work. This was a new element in their traveling structure. It had been at least two years since her son had agreed to go with her and Corey was thirteen now and his mother felt he was ready to make some of his own travel attraction decisions. At first Corey thought this meant he could roam around the city and do what he wanted while his mother was in meetings, but of course that was only unrealistic positive thinking. Instead, his mother was willing to drop him off at a secure place for an hour or so, but really meant that he could pick some of the places they would visit together during her free time. In addition to some of the standard tourist attractions they attended a dance performance on Saturday morning given by the National Theatre. It was his mother’s idea, but Corey had a great time and maybe even enjoyed it more than she did.

So, for my first night in New York City, my friend took me to dinner for some spag bol and then we got a glass of wine afterwards. It’s so true what they say about New York, it never sleeps! It seemed like I could get anything at any time of the day, or at night for that matter. My friend made sure I made it back to one of the New York luxury hotels where he so kindly booked for me since I had no idea which hotel would suit my needs. He picked a perfect hotel. When he walked me to the lobby he told me to get a good nights sleep, because tomorrow he has tickets for us to see Kylie and then after that, he’ll take me top see a few more bands. But, before we go, he wants to take me the the Bronx zoo.

I thought when I came out here to visit him, he’d take me on the usual touristy tours, like the Statue of Liberty and some other hot spots, but that wasn’t the case. He made me feel very relaxed and ready for anything he might surprise me with.

Oh, I have to say I got to see Miranda (Helena Christensen) from ‘Sex and the City’ at a pub we entered, she was leaving and she offered us the table she just was sitting at! I couldn’t believe that she really is that skinny and pale. We just happened to ‘bump’ into her. What a thrill!

We had somewhat of a difficult time negotiating the streets, because there was this massive parade down 5th Avenue, it was Columbus Day. I had no idea New York loves to celebrate Columbus, but they do. But, what I really had no idea about was that I got to participate in the parade! My friend arranged for us to ride on the cars that had some official of the city in it. I’ve never been in a parade before, and let me tell you, it was so much fun. All I did was wave and all these people lining the streets wave back as if you’re someone important. It was so thrilling! What a unique surprise my friend had for me when I thought we were going to the Bronx zoo.

I think I’m going to have to come visit New York more often, and see what other surprises my friend will have for me.

Salt Lake City, Utah has a great number of impressive cultural attractions, landmarks and beautiful features. It is comfortably situated against the backdrop of fabulous mountain scenery. Audiences from all over the world were able to enjoy shots of the gorgeous geography in 2002 when Salt Lake hosted the Winter Olympics. That was an amazing year for this city and all of the hotels Salt Lake were filled to capacity during these historic competitions. The motto for these games was Light The Fire Within, which continues to serve as an appropriate saying for the city and residents of Salt Lake.

At the time of the 2002 Olympics, Salt Lake was the largest and most heavily populated area to host them. This record, however, was surpassed in 2006 when they took place in Turin. It will again be beat in 2010 when Vancouver will host these honored games. The winter Olympics are much different from those that occur in the summer and most of the observers have their favorite sport and competition for both. They also support and adore favorite athletes and Olympic champions frequently become national sports starts and heroes. Some of the most popular games associated with the Winter Olympics are figure skating, cross-country and Alpine skiing and bob sledding.

Figure skating has been part of the Olympic games since 1908 and has been an official part of the winter games since 1924. The number of entries for this event are fixed by a quota, which is set by the International Olympic Committee. The singles events for both male and female include 30 performers each and the doubles 24 couples and 20 in pairs. Bob sledding made its official debut in the 1924 Olympics with the four-man event. The two-main even was added eight years later and women’s bob sledding was not added until 2002. Each game series every participating country is allowed to enter two sleds in each race category. There are strict Olympic standards and guidelines regarding the size and weight of these sleds.

The Christmas decorations are stored away, and everyone has just about recovered from two months of holiday celebrations which lead up to the grand-daddy of parties, New Years Eve.  Now cities throughout the country can go back to their traditional, their smaller celebrations, festivals and events.  Baltimore luxury hotels throughout the city are gearing up for the arrival of tourists for such smaller but well known occasions that occur in their city during the month of January.

So if you happen to be traveling through Baltimore on business, or taking a post holiday vacation, these are some of the events that are taking place that you may find interesting. The tenth annual parade and celebration in honor of Martin Luther King takes place at noon on January 18.  Then the next evening beginning at 6pm the doors of the Charles Theatre will open and allow the first six hundred people in for free.  This is an annual free movie night presented by the City Paper.

Also on the night of January 19th, one of the rituals of winter in Baltimore is in honor of their favorite son, writer Edgar Allen Poe.  This is the night when just previous to sunrise, a cloaked person visits the graveyard at Westminster Hall where Poe is buried, and drinks a toast.  This person is in fact known as the “Poe Toaster” The figure has been seen, walking using a cane with a silver tip, and leaving three roses on Poe’s grave, along with the Cognac bottle missing the contents of just that single toast.  This has been going on since 1949.  While spectators do show up, no one has ever seen the face of toaster, however it is believed that the original poster died in 1999, and passed on this ritualistic responsibility to another disciple before they passed away.  Along with the roses and the Cognac, sometimes the toaster leaves a note as well.

For a less spooky celebration, the days of January 21 through 24, the Annual Baltimore Boat show takes place.  More than five hundred different motor boats, yachts and fishing boats will be on display.  This happens every year at the Baltimore Convention Center.  And then at the end of the month and flowing into a bit of February, the city celebrates the Baltimore Winter Restaurant Week. This is a great time to be in the city as most of the restaurants will offer package deals, allowing the opportunity to experience the culinary delights of the finest chefs at a price that is extremely affordable.  As you see, even though the holidays are over for the year, there is still much fun and celebration to be found throughout the month of January in the delightful city of Baltimore.

I grew up on the East Coast and was lucky to go on several field trips to the Statue of Liberty when I was a little girl. But, now that I’m married and have two children, I haven’t made it a priority to take them to see the statue when we go back to visit family. It just didn’t seem like an interesting draw at the time and there was too much else to do. Then, when it was closed to the public after 9/11, the statue completely dropped off our radar.

Then, in July, it was announced that the Statue of Liberty was re-opening to the public, I decided that it was time to take my family to New York and let them experience the importance of the statue. It took some planning on my part, making reservations at a New York boutique hotel, and booking tickets. The only way to get to the statue is by ferry and that costs $12.00 for adults and $5.00 for children. The tickets will also let us visit Ellis Island and Liberty Island. It cost me an additional $3.00 to venture up the crown. This tickets are for specific dates and time; the children need to be 4 feet tall and must be able to walk up all the 354 steps and walk back down; there’s no elevator. They limit groups to 10 people at a time, which makes for 3 trips per hour and 240 people allowed each day, so booking this trip was the tricky part, but I managed it quite well.

We were one of the first people on the ferry the day of our outing. We had to wait about an hour before we got our turn to climb the stairs inside the statue. We took full advantage of using the free ranger guided tour, which we were glad we did, because this way we didn’t have to read all the panels with information, all we had to do was listen and climb. Before we started our climb, we had to check in and they provide lockers for us to stash all our belongings. Basically, we could only take a camera and a cell phone. No food or drinks, so I made sure my children were well hydrated before the climb.

My children, two girls, were so thrilled with the tour!  Before we started the climb to the crown we visited the museum, another perk of the Crown tickets, which hosts full scale replicas of the Statue’s face and foot! Amazing site, the toe was bigger than my seven year old daughter! My entire family made it up to the crown without any problems and no complaints. The view from the crown is stunning.

When we got back to our hotel, my two girls told me that when they have children, they will arrange to take them to see the Statue of Liberty. I almost cried.