planning a cross-country road trip

 

I reported the news in my last post that we are moving from Berkeley, CA to Asheville, NC. Claire and I will be driving cross-country, visiting some places both old and new to us along the way. Here's our tentative itinerary. I'd love to hear your suggestions about places to visit or site inspections to make during our journey — message me on Facebook.

Beverly Hills, California — We begin with a drive down the coast to Los Angeles where we'll spend a couple of days with my daughter who lives there — Virtuoso hotels in LA and Beverly Hills.

Sedona, Arizona — Famous for its red rocks, I think I may previously been near Sedona, but I've never spent any time there. I see this as a great opportunity for some landscape photography — Virtuoso hotels in Sedona.

Santa Fe, New Mexico — I actually spent a month here during the summer of 1991. A very interesting small town with wonderful Native American art and culture and great Mexican cuisine — Virtuoso hotels in Santa Fe.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma — It will be a long slog across the Texas panhandle into Oklahoma, a state I've never before visited. I'm thinking of staying at the 21c Museum Hotel en route.

Little Rock, Arkansas — Another state I've never visited, we're interesting in seeing the Clinton Library. The Capital, the Virtuoso hotel in Little Rock, is apparently closed for renovations, so we'll stay at the DoubleTree.

Nashville, Tennessee — I've never been to Nashville, the home of the Grand Ole Opry. We may stay at one of the Virtuoso hotels in Nashville or possibly The Joseph, a Luxury Collection property.

Asheville, North Carolina — Our new home in this beautiful city surrounded by mountains, Asheville has been called the Berkeley of the East. 

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copyright (c) 2020 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member.

devastating fire at The Address Downtown Dubai

A terrible New Years Eve fire engulfed The Address Downtown, a luxury Dubai room hotel with 196 rooms spread over 63 floors. Located next to the Dubai Mall, this was one the hotels most requested by my clients visiting Dubai. The Address Downtown was one of ten Virtuoso hotels in Dubai.

Many questions remain unanswered including the number of casualties and the cause of the fire. Apparently the exterior of Dubai's high rise towers built before 2013 were clad in flammable aluminum-polyurethane paneling. News reports indicate a number of injuries, including a fatality possibly resulting from a heart attack.

Our thoughts go out to those impacted by this devastating fire, especially to those who were injured and to the hotel's employees whose jobs and livelihood have literally gone up in flames this New Years.

copyright (c) 2016 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

top 10 gardens in Europe

The Chelsea Flower Show is celebrating its 100th Anniversary, and in commemoration of this event, Abercrombie & Kent has just published this list of the top 10 gardens in Europe. In fact, A&K has four itineraries featuring gardens — two in England, one in The Netherlands and Belgium, and on in Italy.

Here's the top 10 list:

1.    Monet's Garden, Giverny, France
2.    Generalife, Alhambra, Granada, Spain
3.    Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore, Italy
4.    Gardens of Versailles, île-de-France, France
5.    Powerscourt, Dublin, Ireland
6.    Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, France
7.    Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, The Netherlands
8.    Highgrove, Tetbury, UK
9.    Villa D'Este, Tivoli, Italy
10.  Hidcote Manor Garden, Chipping Campden, UK

Interested in a garden tour with all the arrangements made, or prefer me to book your Virtuoso hotels (with the exclusive value-added amenities I can offer as a Virtuoso travel consultant — upgrades, free daily breakfast for two, and other perks) while you plan your own tour? Just drop me an email.

top 10 gardens in Europe (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2013 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Austria & Germany | next year's big trip

Old Town Salzburg across the Salzach River, by Jiuguang Wang (Wikimedia Commons)

It's never too early to start planning your next big trip, especially with the scarcity of frequent flyer award seats. My advice is to grab your award seats 330 days in advance, when they first become available, then fine tune your itinerary around the flights you're able to get. That's what I'm doing! Here's what's in the planning stages for my trip.

Vienna, Austria is a city on the banks of the Danube River with over 27 castles, 150 palaces, and 100 museums. The Schönbrunn Palace, former summer palace to the Habsburg rulers, is Vienna's most visited tourist attraction. There are five Virtuoso hotels in Vienna.

Salzburg, Austria is the birthplace and home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arguably the greatest of the Classical composers, and there is even a chocolate treat named after him, the Mozartkugel (a core of pistachio, marzipan, and nougat coated in milk chocolate). There are two Virtuoso hotels in Salzburg and a third Virtuoso hotel 10 miles to the east in a beautiful country setting on Lake Fuschl.

Munich, Germany, just an hour from Salzburg by train, is the capital of Bavaria. Munich was founded by a Benedictine order of monks (from which the city derives its name). We should be arriving at the very beginning of October and Oktoberfest. Also nearby Munich is the concentration camp of Dachau. There are three Virtuoso hotels in Munich.  UPDATE: because of Oktoberfest and scant availability of hotels during our dates, we'll probably have to substitute something for Munich.

Berlin, Germany, a short flight to the north, will be the culmination of our trip. My son previously spent 7 days in Berlin and reported that it's not enough time to see and do everything. The Berlin Wall, once the icon of the Iron Curtain, was demolished in 1990. I'm looking forward to a day trip to visit Potsdam. There are four Virtuoso hotels in Berlin.

What is a Virtuoso hotel? Virtuoso is a luxury travel consortium with nearly 1,000 five-star luxury hotels around the world. As a Virtuoso travel consultant specializing in luxury hotels, I can provide free amenities at each of these hotels, including free breakfast for two every day and other valuable perks. I will visit each of the 14 Virtuoso hotels in these four cities during the course of the trip and will be able to offer first-hand advice when you plan to visit Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, or Berlin. Click here for my google maps of the Virtuoso hotels in 45 different destinations around the world (also listing the Virtuoso amenities you can receive).

Virtuoso hotels (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2012 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Bellagio Las Vegas | lakeview rooms worth it!

I attended my fifth TravelMart ten days ago in Las Vegas. The first four times, we stayed in a regular Deluxe Room at Bellagio Las Vegas ... a nice enough room at 510 square feet ... but not much of a view. Looking across Tropicana Avenue at Caesar's parking garage is not necessarily an inspiring experience.

This time we were given a Lakeview Deluxe room - and the experience was wonderful. The video above was taken from room 24642 in the Spa Tower and gives an idea of the Strip View we enjoyed. Every 30 minutes during the day, and every 15 minutes after 6 p.m., we were treated to the sight of Bellagio's famous water show - with the music playing on one of the channels of the TV in our room. Lakeview rooms sell for a premium over a standard Deluxe rooms, but the extra $50 per night is worth it, transforming a perfectly comfortable hotel room into a very special experience of the Strip at night.

Bellagio is one of over 850 Virtuoso hotels around the world. Book through a Virtuoso luxury travel consultant to receive a daily breakfast credit for two and an $85 lunch credit at Olives, along with a 10% discount from the published room rate of the day.


Bellagio Las Vegas (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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hotel upgrades at time of booking

When you can get a guaranteed upgrade at the time of booking, it's a great deal for you. It simply means you get more value for your money. Pay for a smaller, lead-in room and get a free upgrade into a larger room. Pay for a Garden view room and get to enjoy a room with a view of the Ocean. Or pay for a Deluxe guestroom and enjoy the spaciousness of a Suite. A guaranteed upgrade is an automatic discount over the rates that everyone else has to pay.

Listed below are Virtuoso hotels that graciously offer "upgrades at time of booking" — and offer, in addition, complimentary daily breakfasts and other valuable amenities. To get your guaranteed upgrade at any of these hotels plus free breakfasts and other perks, just make your booking through a Virtuoso travel consultant.

UNITED STATES

Canyon Ranch — Tucson, AZ

Fairmont Scottsdale — Scottsdale, AZ

Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain — Paradise Valley, AZ

Capital Hotel — Little Rock, AR

Clift Hotel — San Francisco, CA

Four Seasons — San Francisco, CA

Mandarin Oriental — San Francisco, CA

Montage Resort — Laguna Beach, CA

Montage Beverly Hills — Beverly Hills, CA

Grand Del Mar — San Diego, CA

Vail Cascade Resort — Vail, CO

Four Seasons — Palm Beach, FL

Ritz-Carlton South Beach — Miami Beach, FL

Halekulani — Honolulu, HI

Mauna Lani — Big Island, HI

St. Regis Princeville — Kauai, HI

Park Hyatt — Chicago, IL

Boston Harbor Hotel — Boston, MA

Canyon Ranch — Lenox, MA

Inn and Spa at Loretto — Santa Fe, NM

Mandarin Oriental New York — New York, NY

St. Regis New York — New York, NY

Park Hyatt Washington — Washington, DC

EUROPE

The Goring — London, England

Ritz London — London, England

Grand Hotel — Eastbourne, England

Hotel Le Bristol — Paris, France

Adlon Kempinski — Berlin, Germany

Hotel Die Hirschgasse — Heidelberg, Germany

Regent Berlin — Berlin, Germany

Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome — Berlin, Germany

Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski — Munich, Germany

Hayfield Manor — Cork, Ireland

K Club — Kildare, Ireland

Hotel Brufani Palace — Perugia, Italy

Ca' Sagredo Hotel — Venice, Italy

Aquapura Douro Valley — Lamego, Portugal

Lapa Palace — Lisbon, Portugal

Reid's Palace — Funchal, Madeira

Hotel Baltschug Kempinski — Moscow, Russia

Gleneagles — Perthshire, Scotland

Barcelo La Bobadilla — Loja, Spain

Claris Hotel — Barcelona, Spain

Badrutt's Palace — St. Moritz, Switzerland

Beau-Rivage — Geneva, Switzerland

Dolder Grand — Zurich, Switzerland

Widder Hotel, Zurich, Switzerland

ASIA

Island Shangri-La — Hong Kong

Peninsula Beijing — China

Ananda in the Himalayas — Uttaranchal, India

Fullerton Hotel — Singapore

Sukhothai — Bangkok

AUSTRALIA

Lyall Hotel and Spa — Melbourne

CANADA

Fairmont Banff Springs — Banff

Fairmont Empress — Victoria

Fairmont Chateau Whistler — Whistler

CARIBBEAN

The Cove Atlantis — Nassau

The Reef Atlantis — Nassau

Half Moon — Jamaica

MEXICO

Villa Montana Hotel & Spa — Morelia

ARGENTINA

Iguazu Grand Resort — Puerto Iguazu

Park Hyatt — Mendoza

Virtuoso travel consultant (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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the Virtuoso hotels of New York

Virtuoso is a luxury travel consortium offering the best values in luxury travel for upscale travelers. Before booking any of the Virtuoso hotels of New York, consult a Virtuoso travel consultant to ensure that you are receiving the best possible value for your stay.

The Google map below shows the location of the twenty-one Virtuoso hotels in Manhattan. Click on one of the blue "dots" to bring up the exclusive amenities available to Virtuoso guests in 2011.


View Larger Map

Why book through Virtuoso instead of just using the Internet?
3 reasons:

1. Room upgrades. Some of these hotels offer Virtuoso guests an exclusive upgrade at the time of booking. That means, you're guaranteed a room that is larger and/or has a better view. At all of the others, you will be upgraded at the time of check-in if a room in the next category is available.

2. Free breakfasts. Ordering breakfast in a luxury hotel is an expensive proposition, even if all you want is a cup of coffee. Expensive breakfasts are a thing of the past at Virtuoso hotels. You gou get a complimentary breakfast just by booking through a Virtuoso travel consultant.

3. Extra amenities. These differ by property, but you might receive an complimentary High Tea, discounts off spa services, cocktails and appetizers, or food and beverage credits... just a little something extra to let you know you're a special guest.

Competitive rates. You will typically pay the same rate — or better — than other guests staying in the same room. With Virtuoso, you simply get the best value. Click here to request a no-obligation quote.

Virtuoso hotels of New York (search here on Google)


copyright (c) 2008 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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