Last week I had a very quick trip to Mexico City to meet up with Global Traveler’s representative, Fernando Palacios Oaxaca, a great guy and a real champion for GT. It was a fantastic trip and I stayed at the beautiful, and brand new, St. Regis, perfectly located on Paseo de la Reforma, right on the circle of the statue of the Angel of Independence. On Sundays, Paseo de la Reforma is closed to automobile traffic to encourage pedestrians and bicyclists.

One of my meetings while I was in Mexico City was with Adolfo Crespo, senior vice president of customer service and corporate communications, with Mexicana Airlines. Adolfo and I had begun communicating when the readers of Global Traveler selected Mexicana “Best Airline in Mexico” in 2009. We discussed the exciting menu changes that Mexicana has made to its menu under Master Chef Enrique Olvera (featured in Global Traveler’s ‘BonVivant’ November 2009). We also discussed the exciting wines from Mexico that Mexicana added to their menu under Sommelier Sandra Fernandez. While we were talking with Adolfo, he arranged a meeting with Sandra at her restaurant Tierra de Vinos in Mexico City.

It was wonderful to meet with Sandra while she introduced us to the oldest vineyard in the Americas, Casa Madero (1597). Casa Madero has several wines on the menu exclusively created for Mexicana - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tempranillo blend and Chardonnay Chenin Blanc. In September, Mexicana will serve wines exclusively planned since 2006 for Mexicana to celebrate the country’s bicentennial. Only 200 cases will be made for Mexicana and Sandra will have 100 cases for her shop/restaurant.

It is worth a visit to Mexico City, to take in the culture and enjoy some fine Mexican wines!

-Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

My well-traveled daughter, Jenny, was back in Chicago for just five days after her Europe sojourn  before she and her good friend Emily took off for their final spring break trip. The two seniors gave themselves a graduation gift (with a generous kick-in from Mom and Dad) of a five-day trip to New York City. It was a first-time trip to the Big Apple for both, and they were extremely excited to experience as much of the city as they could. Her trip triggered memories of my own college graduation trip to New York with my roommate Diane, 30 years ago.

Jenny believes one of the best parts of the trip was their accomodations at the Duane Street Hotel in the TriBeCa neighborhood. She had had her fill of youth hostels and the YMCA after her two months overseas, and she and Emily spent plenty of time researching to find a nice place that could accomodate their budgets. Located conveniently not far from Wall Street and the financial district and in a trendy area with great restaurants and shopping, the Duane Street Hotel sounds like it would meet the needs of both business and leisure travelers. The girls appreciated the fact that they could hop on the subway just two blocks from the hotel  and get to the myriad sites on their extensive list of “to-sees.” With only 45 guestrooms, this was a good choice for them, and they found the staff friendly and very helpful with tips and directions. They also appreciated the property-wide free Wi-Fi, warm cookies available 24/7, plush bathrobes in the room and a spacious, well-appointed bathroom.

I got a kick out of Jenny’s Facebook posting on her first morning in New York: “You know you’re in NYC when: they are filming Law & Order right outside your hotel.” Another New York moment (on the other end of the thrill scale) was spotting rats on the subway platform, but it seems everything else was pretty much a thumbs-up. Both girls were moved to tears at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum (just blocks from their hotel) but were glad to have experienced it. They also visited MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, took the ferry to Liberty and Ellis islands, stopped in at a jazz club on the Upper West Side and saw The Lion King on Broadway. They wandered around Little Italy, compared New York pizza with the Chicago variety they know well and, of course, enjoyed the shopping (”Mom, no sales tax on clothes!!!”). One disappointment: They weren’t picked up by Cash Cab.

Arriving back in Chicago late Friday night, Jenny now looks ahead to her final months of school. She will graduate not only with her formal degree but also some great real-world experiences gained on her travels. Best of all, she’s grown in confidence in herself and her ability to navigate a big new city (even if she mistakenly ends up in Brooklyn at some point!) and has gained a grand appreciation for the world and its peoples. 

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

Aside from baseball season, we are currently in the midst of my other favorite sports season of the year — March Madness. I hail from an alma mater pretty well recognized for its basketball program, Syracuse University. My freshman year in college was the year of Carmelo Anthony as he led the Syracuse Orange (then Orangemen) to its first NCAA Championship. Talk about exciting!

I still follow the basketball team fairly closely now, and this was a great season to be a fan. SU finished the season ranked No. 3 in the nation with a 28-3 record. At one point, we were tops in the nation. Our home game against Villanova was the highest-attended college basketball game in history. Yesterday was disheartening. After a double bye in the Big East tournament, we lost to Georgetown yesterday and had a scare when mainstay Arinze Onuaku left the game due to a knee injury. Luckily, it looks rest will do the trick and Onuaku should be back in the game for the NCAA tournament.

So, now I look forward to Selection Sunday. Go Orange!

– Kim Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive

Are you an adventure traveler? I saw a piece of news on the TV about a new adventure idea called skyaking. It’s jumping out of a plane in a kayak. While the visuals looked awesome on TV, I am not jumping out of my desk chair to try this one. So perhaps I am not an adventure traveler.

However, I believe adventure travel can be defined in many ways. Each month GT features an “Adventure Add-on” destination article, ranging from eco-tours to trekking the mountain peaks of the Andes. Personally, I think the pictures accompanying the article are stunning. But I’m quite happy reading about and looking at them from the pages of GT.

On the other hand, I am one to get on a plane and go anywhere off the beaten path. I believe it’s just as adventurous to go to a politically unstable environment as it is to jump out of a plane. One opportunity involving sport and travel that I would take advantage of, if it came my way, is heliskiing. Jumping out of a helicopter is a little more manageable for me than an airplane, especially since there are fresh tracks to be skied that have yet to be touched by another person.

What’s your idea of adventure travel? Don’t forget to take a look at GT’s auction to see what prize suits your adventure needs!

– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

Yesterday we headed down the road about 30 miles to Ashland, Oregon, home to the highly regarded Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Southern Oregon University and, this weekend, the 6th Annual Oregon Chocolate Festival. Because I am one of those people who believes that chocolate should be a separate (essential) food group, you can be sure that I was not going to miss this event.

More than 30 vendors offered tastes and sale of their products at the lovely and historic Ashland Springs Hotel (formerly known as the Mark Antony), just steps away from the OSF theaters. The entire town was focused on the chocolate event this weekend: Friday night the monthly First Friday Art Walk included chocolate goodies in many of the galleries, and all weekend theater-goers could enjoy 50 percent off their evening show tickets by mentioning “chocolate” at the ticket windows. (We weren’t able to take in a show this year but will have to keep that in mind next spring!) Able to devote just a few hours on Saturday, we nonetheless made good use of our time and had our fill of all manner of chocolate and chocolate-related goodies.

Four local wineries offered tastes of red wine varietals and blends as well as sweet dessert wines that paired nicely with the baked goods and truffles on hand. Rogue Ales offered samples of their Chocolate Stout, and Organic Nation Spirits provided sips of organically produced vodka and gin — distilled right in Ashland. All of the companies represented at the festival are genuinely Oregon-based, and many hail from the southwest region; a heartening thought: I don’t have to travel far to get a chocolate fix or something delectable to go with my favorite vice!

I noted a couple of interesting variations on your typical chocolate decadence. Two vendors offered raw chocolate confections: no sugar at all, but sometimes flavors such as ginger or chiles were added. The idea, I guess, is to get the nutritional benefits of chocolate without those added, processed calories. And Missionary Chocolates out of Portland creates dairy- and gluten-free truffles; their creations are a feast for the eyes and the palate!

Several local restaurants participated in a Chocolate Dessert Competition, and this presented a nice opportunity to the crowd of sweet-lovers. Plates of the contested items were available at a silent auction, with proceeds to benefit a local food bank. Although we didn’t place a winning bid, it was great to see some truly extravagant presentations and make a note of a place or two where we might drop in for a special dessert some evening in the future.

Once we’d had our fill of chocolate (hard to imagine, I know, but it is possible) and the crowds, we took advantage of the sunny, warm, early spring afternoon and strolled Main Street for a bit of window shopping. Ashland is a charming town with plenty of fascinating shops which appeal to its flood of play-going visitors, and we’ve barely begun to plumb what it has to offer. I’m sure we’ll be back over and over again — especially if the chocolate is out!

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader