Bed & Breakfasts and Alternative Lodging
Girls’ Weekend
Jul 25th
Nearly every year, the women of my family come together to enjoy a weekend of fun and relaxation. No menfolk, no counting calories, no rigid schedule or rules. We’ve been doing this since my daughters were young, and now the girls of their generation (who were all too young to come along on those first excursions because — another requirement — there is no whining or being taken care of on these trips) are young mommies themselves. They have come to discover the joys and blessings of leaving kids, husbands and responsibilities behind for a few days of just hanging out with the girls.
Perhaps we are unique, but our group is blessed with very little drama and a bountiful appreciation for each other. A quick wit and the ability to laugh at oneself are hallmarks of each of us, whether daughter, sister, aunt or mom. Usually, we find a big house at the beach or a lodge in the mountains to rent for a long weekend, and a dozen or more of us will trickle in over the course of a Friday (depending on work schedules and the distance from home). We bring along beverages and goodies of choice, perhaps a game or two, and a store of family news and chat to share. There are always those who stay up late and others who rise early and get the coffee on; those who head out for a walk in the cool of morning and those who prefer to just find a cozy corner to curl up in with a good book.
That is the charm of a girls’ weekend: Everyone is comfortable with doing her own thing without pressure to take part in any group activity, but there is usually at least one other person prepared to join you when you want company for a shopping excursion or a little outdoor activity. We share cooking duties or, more often than not, let someone else do the cooking for us with take-out or a restaurant meal. Most of us are avid readers, so there are often lively book discussions as well.
This year, for the first time, the venue for this much-anticipated event was held in a family home . . . mine, to be exact. It gave me the opportunity to share our new place with a bunch of my female relatives, most for the first time. With cute shops to peruse in nearby Grants Pass, Ashland and Jacksonville; outdoor activities galore; and an assortment of other avenues of entertainment, ours seemed to be the right place to host our gathering. Today, seven of us enjoyed an exhilarating (and wet) jet boat ride on the Rogue River (a nice way to spend a 100-degree afternoon) while the rest partook of a little shopping and a leisurely lunch in historic Jacksonville. Tonight we shared Lemon Drops and dinner together, followed by a new event, a book swap where we traded off our favorite reads with each other. Tomorrow we’ll enjoy brunch and a shower for my niece and her first baby before everyone (except me, of course) returns home.
We’ll all come away from this time together refreshed and recharged for our daily lives and responsibilities. We will also have tightened the bonds that tie us together through blood or marriage, thankful to be part of this loving and lively family.
– Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editorÂ
A B&B Suggestion
Feb 10th
I recently stayed at the Pineapple Hill Inn Bed and Breakfast in New Hope, PA. I have previously stayed there a few times while in town for Global Traveler business. While I always enjoy my stay at the Pineapple Hill Inn, I would like to offer a suggestion for B&Bs nationwide.
B&Bs usually have some sort of historic theme, and I can find no real reason for this. I would like to see a B&B break format and go with a different theme. I think the historic decor could be dropped in favor of a sports motif. The quaintness wouldn’t have to be lost either. For instance, in the Boston Celtics room, there could be some old black-and-white photos, some hand-stitched likenesses of famous Celtics and a green and white Celtics color scheme. Men would love this (or at least like it more than the usual historic stuff).
I’m not suggesting having old game films available to watch (although that would be cool). There are plenty of nice sports items which could fill a room nicely.
If you think sports would be too much, maybe you’d like a vacation decor. There could be rooms dedicated to Paris, Rome, New York and maybe even Las Vegas. The rooms could be filled with tasteful souvenirs and lovely artwork from each city.
Other possible themes could be classic TV, the Golden Age of cinema or music. The possibilities are endless. If you’re still stuck on history, you could do rooms in 20th-century decades, filled with things from the specific decade.
The intimacy and romanticism never has to be lost, no matter the decor. What makes history intimate or romantic anyway? Any theme could be utilized, while still maintaining the “feel” of the historic B&B if it is done properly.
Hotels are always trying new things to set themselves apart and ahead. Why must B&Bs be forever stuck in history?
– John Wroblewski, distribution specialist
Notes from a Student Abroad
Feb 7th
If you’ve been reading my blog over the last few months, you are aware that my younger daughter, Jenny, has been traveling in Europe the last three weeks with a group of fellow nursing students. They have now settled in the picturesque town of Guildford in Surrey, England, to begin their one-month study of community health issues and some practicum experience. Jenny really enjoyed her whirlwind tour of several cities on the Continent but now seems equally pleased to be somewhat settled for a while in one place with a room to herself. I thought I’d just share a few of her impressions of the places she visited along the way and a few lessons she and her friends learned on this, their first big travel adventure on their own.
It doesn’t take much snow to foul up transportation in London. One inch brought havoc to the rail lines, closed the runways at Gatwick for several hours and caused them to rebook on a later flight to Madrid. The girls from Chicago just couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.
Loved Madrid, the Prado Museum, Plaza del Sol and . . . sangria! Also fell in love with Barcelona (I have yet to talk to anyone who’s gone there and doesn’t) and wants to return. After cold and snowy England, the girls loved the sun in Spain.
Jenny celebrated her 22nd birthday in Paris, preferred the Musee d’Orsay over the Louvre and learned a valuable lesson: Check to be sure the site you want to visit is open before you take the time and expense to go there. The group trekked out to Versailles on a Monday only to learn the palace is closed on Mondays (and the grounds, in January, are rather subdued).
Roman men can be charming at any age. On their first evening in the Eternal City, the ladies enjoyed the chivalrous attentions of their “older” waiter (For all I know, he was only 35. Ah, perspective!), and the bartender bought each one a rose from a roving vendor. St. Peter’s was impressive; but Jenny found the colors in the Sistine Chapel to be much brighter than she expected, and the Creation of Adam to be smaller than she thought it would be (again, perspective!).
Squeezing too many cities into too few days along with certain train schedules can lead to frustration. Upon arriving in Florence, the group found that there were no remaining seats available on the train they planned to take from their next stop, Venice, to Munich. Instead, they would have to take an overnight train north, leaving them less than 10 hours in Venice. They never even took a vaporetto to see St. Mark’s Square — sacrilege!!
Food and transportation expenses gobble up the euros; so do entrance fees (and drinks at the hostel bar??).
The Wombat’s hostels in Munich and Berlin offered great, free (except for the tip for the guide), half-day walking tours of those cities, full of great information. Dachau touched Jenny deeply: “I don’t think it is possible to explain how I felt when we were standing in the gas chamber. The evil that existed is unbelievably horrific.”
Be sure you get on the right train. The trek from Munich to Berlin took all day and five trains to accomplish; it should have been one train and a few hours. At least the snowy countryside was pretty!
Based on all the other things Jen has said or written to us thus far, I would venture to say that her greatest lesson is how much there is yet for her to see and learn, and what a great teacher travel can be.
– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader
Travel Plans
Nov 21st
My younger daughter, Jenny, is preparing for study and travel abroad in the new year, and so her focus for the last several months has been on where to go, how long to stay in each place and how to get there. Being a child of the Internet age, she has of course done extensive research, visiting numerous travel websites, plotting various itineraries and comparing fares to get the most out of her time and money. Bright and detail-oriented, she has tackled the task with gusto and not a little pleasure, but one aspect of the trip has made planning it more than a little challenging: she will be traveling with seven other girls.
Last spring Jenny learned she would be one of 12 senior Loyola nursing students to serve her community health clinical experience in Guildford, a small city located in Surrey, southwest of London. Four days a week for over a month she will get a first-hand look at Great Britain’s public health service. On long weekends and before and after that term she plans to get in as much travel on the British Isles and the Continent as possible. For two-plus weeks before her study starts, several of her nursing friends will be visiting a slew of cities. Starting in Madrid, they’ll go on to Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Munich and Berlin.
Just hammering out that itinerary took some effort, as you can imagine trying to accomodate the wishes of eight young ladies might. When it seemed no one was moving to start nailing down flights and accomodations as this fall term ticked away, Jenny went into full travel agent mode and spent hours finding the most efficient and economical links between cities and options for overnight stays. Frustration struck when, just days before the girls were to gather, credit cards in hand, to book their intercity flights together after agreeing on the details, one of the group finally decided she wanted to explore other options. What about train travel? (More expensive than flying, overall, Jen had already found.) Do we really need to worry about reserving hostels in advance when we’ll be traveling in the off-season? (With eight of us? Are you kidding!?) More than anything, Jenny was more than a little upset that at that late date someone had finally decided to jump in after she had spent so much time and effort on behalf of the entire bunch.
Everything was put on hold for another week as a few of the girls went off to a Student Travel Agency office and came back with an alternate plan that added another city and some Eurail travel — and at least $400 to the bill. The benefits were that the agent would be able to book and reserve all their travel and accomodations at once and bill each traveler separately. Jenny graciously (well, okay, I heard some grumbling) decided she’d just go along with the new plan. She did warn me, however, that if there was any complaining during their travels from the others about not having any money to spend on food or shopping, she might find it difficult to bite her tongue.
Her dad and I have mostly sat back and observed this process, offering a sympathetic ear and only a little advice. We know that all of this is part of learning to be a world traveler, and although Jen has been fortunate to travel abroad twice already, this is her first experience at taking the reins herself. My hope is that once all the bother of nailing down the mundane but necessary details of the trip is done, she and her friends will be able to really enjoy each destination and each other as they explore these new places together.
– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader
