it happened at the Belvedere Hotel, Mykonos

This is a short film about a couple, Natalie and Ryan, who first met on the island of Mykonos, fell in love, and got married. As the years pass, Ryan becomes distracted by the demands of work and forgets their wedding anniversary. Natalie leaves their home in New York, the only hint of her whereabouts being a cryptic message on her computer screen ... follow the wind. In just eleven minutes, you can experience the whole story.

The Belvedere Hotel on Mykonos produced this film in 2015 to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Now, five years later with no one traveling due to the coronavirus, many hotels are doing a very creative job of marketing ... since there's nothing else to do. The Belvedere has re-released the film.

Take a look, see some of the sights of the Greek island of Mykonos, and discover how the story turns out. Then, perhaps put Hotel Belvedere on your bucket list as a beautiful place to reconnect with the person you love.

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. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Australia | bucket list trip

Sydney Bridge & Opera House (c) 2019 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Australia is a bucket list destination for me. I've been once already, traveling with a group of travel advisors. I enjoyed amazing experiences — viewing hundreds of marsupials at Wolgan Valley, a koala in a tree on Kangaroo Island, sailing under the Sydney Bridge during a private cruise of the harbour. While my travel colleagues were all busy drinking wine, I was in the stern of the boat snapping photos, including the one above, one of my favourite travel photos ever.

But the Great Barrier Reef was not on my previous itinerary. As it's a place my wife has always wanted to see ... when I was presented with the opportunity to spend three nights at Lizard Island, I grabbed the chance! Here's the trip I've put together:

Cairns, the Pullman Reef Hotel — We fly from SFO to SYD, then continue on to Cairns. We're spending a night at the Pullman Reef in a Junior Suite, hopefully the one with the view down Trinity Inlet toward The Pyramid and Bellenden Ker Range.

Lizard Island — One of two Virtuoso resorts on the Great Barrier Reef (the other being qualia) Lizard Island is an adults-only 40-villa resort. Guests have access to 24 private beaches with a motorised dingy provided for complimentary use, or book diving trips to nearby Cod Hole.

Silky Oaks Lodge — a luxury eco lodge high above the Mossman River set within the Daintree Rainforest. Guests enjoy one complimentary Rainforest hike during their stay, and there are opportunities to explore the Great Barrier Reef from Silky Oaks.

Longitude 131 — I've heard amazing things about this tented camp in the Australian outback. With just 15 luxury tents, guests at Longitude 131 enjoy seclusion as well as direct views of Uluru (Ayers Rock) from their tents. I'm looking forward to photography at dawn and sunset.

Bamarru Plains — Finishing up our "wilderness" time with a safari, Bamarru Plains is found near Darwin on the northern coast of Australia. This will be my first time in the Bush. Bamarru Plains has one of the largest crocodile populations in the world, and the annual migration of over one hundred thousand magpie geese is supposed to be amazing.

Park Hyatt Sydney — Last time in Australia, I stayed at the Four Seasons Sydney in a wonderful Premier room facing the Opera House. This time, I'm looking forward to ending our trip at the Park Hyatt Sydney. Practically under the Sydney Bridge, Opera rooms at the Park Hyatt directly face the famous Sydney Opera House. Nothing is better than a room with an iconic view!

Though my trip is more than 7 months away, much of the pleasure of travel is the anticipation that builds when looking forward to a trip.

copyright (c) 2019 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or

one of life's guilty pleasures ...

Leafing through travel catalogues is one of life's guilty pleasures. Pictured above is the cover of the new 2019 Backroads catalog. Backroads is one of my favorite travel companies — featuring active vacations that involve strolling, walking, hiking, biking, or multi-sport trips (depending on your own preferred activity level). There are lots of great travel catalogues out there — from companies like Tauck, Abercrombie & Kent, Butterfield & Robinson, Lakani, Globus ... and so many others. We work with them all!

Here are several good ways to use travel catalogues... 

(1) Use your travel advisor to book one of the trips. If you come across a trip that excites you, that jumps off the page, your first call should be to your travel advisor. We can book the trip for you (for exactly the same price), but we'll do even more. We know you. We understand your travel preferences. We can help you choose among different trips that might appeal. And we can make sure everything about your vacation is coordinated — your pre- and post-trip plans, even your air if you need help with that.

By the way, if you want to call the tour company first and get a certain date "on hold," that's fine. Then immediately call or write us to take over that booking.

(2) Get ideas for your bucket list. When looking through any travel catalog, you'll see LOTS of trip you'd like to take. When I perused the Backroads catalog this morning, I was inspired looking at the pictures, marveling at the scenery, reading the descriptions of all the fun things I could do in those places. Reading travel catalogs are a great way to develop your personal bucket list.

Then make an actual list and share it with us! We'll keep it in your file (so you won't lose it!).

(3) Personalize one of the itineraries. Maybe one of the trips really appeals to you — but there are changes you'd like to make. Perhaps you'd prefer to travel on your own; the idea of traveling with a group of 12, or 18, or 38 doesn't interest you. Look at any itinerary as a starting point, the first draft of what will ultimately become your own bespoke itinerary.

When you're ready to plan that bespoke, once-in-a-lifetime trip, just get in touch.

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

are fast track tickets worth it?

no lines at dawn (c) 2018 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Questions like this come up frequently on travel forums: "Are Fast Track tickets worth the extra cost?" This is what a recent visitor to fodors.com was wondering about. He's heard about the L-O-N-G ticket and security lines at Europe's most popular attractions. Is it worth paying extra to avoid the long lines, he wonders?

Here's how I calculate the cost/benefit ratio.

(1) Think about a typical trip to Europe. Add up the cost of your airfare and hotels, trains and transfers. You're spending thousands of dollars on your bucket list trip. For the sake of argument, let's assume the trip costs $5,000.

(2) Let's make another set of assumptions: you have six full days on the ground and spend 8 hours a day sightseeing. This means your trip costs about $104 for every sightseeing hour.

(3) If you've seen the lines at Europe's popular tourist destinations, you know can easily waste hours of your precious time doing and seeing nothing. Each wasted hour costs you $104.

Now, let's consider the value proposition of the Paris Pass. It includes unlimited travel, zones 1-3, on the Paris Metro, RER, and buses. It includes a Museum Pass, covering entrance fees at many of the most popular museums and attractions in Paris. (Benefit: you don't have to stand in queue to buy tickets). You also get Fast Track entry at the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, and Centre Pompidou.

If you plan to maximize your museum visiting over the days of your Museum Pass, it won't cost you a euro more — but even if you enjoy a very leisurely vacation, it's totally worth paying to skip the ticket lines.

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

where in the world in 2018?

I begin 2018 very thankful that I have the opportunity to pursue my vocation! Being a luxury travel advisor, my job requires me to learn about destinations and research hotels on behalf of my clients. I invest considerable time and funds flying to distant places and doing site inspections. Why?

Whether you have questions about hotels in cities like Paris, London, or New York or resorts in Hawaii, Bora Bora, or the Maldives, I've most likely been inside the very hotels you're thinking about. We can discuss their location, the room product, but especially their "look and feel." What do you prefer? Traditional or contemporary? Boutique or larger hotels? Formal or laid back? Minimalist or elaborately decorated?

Or you may be wondering about why to visit a region or country. It helps me immensely to have visited that country and seen its attractions with the assistance of experienced guides. How could I describe the valleys of Bhutan without having personally traveled from Paro to Thimphu, to Punakha, to Gangey, and to Bumthang on the twisting and sometimes muddy road that winds its way across the country from west to east. I am so thankful to Amankora for introducing me to Bhutan.

Vietnam has been on my bucket list for a long while. I've heard so much about the culinary adventures it affords ... and having watched Ken Burns' documentary on the devastation Vietnam War, I'm looking forward to connecting with the Vietnamese people who have become our friends. After touring Hanoi, I'll experience two resorts — Four Seasons Nam Hai and Amanoi — before finishing in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

Myanmar was formerly known as Burma and has been in the news of late in a not-so-favorable light. I will be traveling with A&K Myanmar and will visit Yangon and Inle Lake before spending three evenings cruising aboard the Sanctuary Ananda. I really don't know what to expect, but landscape photography is a passion, and I'm sure I'll have many opportunities to indulge. My time in Myanmar ends with a day visit to Belmond Governor's Palace in Yangon.

Seoul, Korea ... Our overnight flight from Yangon arrives Saigon at 7:35 a.m. A&K has arranged a morning tour of Seoul — Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village, followed by lunch at a local restaurant — before our 4 p.m. flight back to San Francisco.

Paris ... though I've visited many times, the hotel scene in Paris is constantly changing with new openings and renovations. On my way to Vienna, I'll stop off in Paris for more hotel site inspections. I'll be staying both at the newly renovated Crillon (now a Rosewood Hotel) and with my good friends at the Plaza Athenee (a Dorchester Collection property). I'm especially looking forward to a site inspection of Hotel Lutetia which has undergone an entire renovation and which, I predict, will become a highly popular Virtuoso hotel on Left Bank. And, of course, no trip to Paris is complete without a scoop of ice cream at Berthillon.

Vienna ...  I'm returning to Vienna as a participant in this year's Brownell 1887 Club trip. The group is being hosted by the Ritz-Carlton, Hotel Imperial, and the Bristol ... and I'm also interested in seeing the new Park Hyatt and Kempinski properties which weren't open during my previous visit. Oh ... and I may taste a torte or two!

Budapest ... Continuing on to Budapest, I'll be enjoying my second stay at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace. I'm also looking forward to seeing the Ritz-Carlton (formerly Le Meridien). Of course, there's more to experience in Vienna and Budapest than hotels, and our visits are being curated by our friends at Exeter Travel.

The Cotswolds and London. Though I've been "in" the Cotswolds and been driven "through" the Cotswolds, I've never really experienced this area of England. Another bucket list trip, I want to stay in a few picturesque towns, wander their streets, enjoy some scenic walks, and become familiar with its opportunities (taking advantage of the expertise of another travel partner, Celebrated Experiences). I'll finish up in London with stays at two hotels I've previously visited but at which I've never stayed, 45 Park Lane (Dorchester Collection) and ... a hotel still to be finalized.


So I begin 2018 with three big trips already planned and the possibility of surprise opportunities that might "come up." I highly recommend planning ahead — if you wait until the last minute, there will be less availability, the best guides will already have been booked, and award flights harder to find. That's why we're here, to help you turn your bucket list into the trip of a lifetime. 

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

a bucket list for United Methodist tourism

Interior of the New Room, the first Methodist Chapel - released to the public domain 

United Methodist Communications has published a bucket list for Methodists, seven sites every United Methodist should see. I have listed those seven attractions as well as the closest hotels where we can offer extra value amenities.

1. England — The New Room (pictured above), located in Bristol, England, is Methodism's first meeting house. Stay at the Royal Crescent Hotel in the city center of Bath where we can provide Virtuoso amenities.

In London, make plans to see Wesley's Chapel and House, and in Epworth you can tour the Epworth Old Rectory where John and Charles Wesley grew up. Our closest partner hotel to Wesley's Chapel is Four Seasons Ten Trinity Square where you can enjoy Four Seasons Preferred Partner amenities.

2. Philadelphia — St. George's United Methodist Church is the oldest house of Methodist worship in continuous use in America. Its congregation has been meeting at that location since 1767, the church building itself dating from 1769. Francis Asbury preached his first American sermon here in 1771. The closest Virtuoso hotel is the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, just six miles distant.

3. Ocean Grove— God's Square Mile at the Jersey Shore. A camp meeting was founded here in 1869, and thousands come during the summer to worship at the 6,000 seat Great Auditorium whose pipe organ has 11,000 pipes. Though no luxury hotels are found in Ocean Grove, consider the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in neighboring Asbury Park.

4. Washington, DC — the United Methodist Center is the only building on Capitol Hill not belonging to the government. Visitors can take self-guided weekday tours and attend worship each Wednesday at noon. The Mandarin Oriental Washington DC is less than two miles away.

5. Nashville — the Upper Room Chapel attracts visitors to the global home of United Methodist ministries focused on spiritual development. Worship is held each Wednesday morning, and admission to the museum is free. The Hutton Hotel is just a half mile away.

6. Zimbabwe - Africa University, in operation since 1992, the university's mission is to mold students from dozens of African nations into educated leaders for the church and for the world. The closest Virtuoso hotel is a safari lodge, Singita Pamushana Lodge.

7. Baldwin, Louisiana - Sager Brown Depot is the distribution center for relief supplies and the hub for UMCOR missions. Tours are available by appointment, and you can see and touch relief kits that are on their way to aid disaster victims around the world. There are four Virtuoso hotels in New Orleans, about two hours to the east. Best months to visit are between November and April.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

saving money is a powerful motive...

our expert guide from Journey Mexico added so much to our visit of Chichen Itsa

Saving money is a powerful motive when shopping on the internet, but as strong as the impulse might be to click on the lowest price for a product or service, it doesn't always make sense. This is especially the case when:

(1) you do not know (or have someone to vouch for) the vendor
(2) you're purchasing a non-commodity item

If you're planning that bucket list trip, shopping for the absolute lowest price is not a good idea. Here's a true account of a trip to Cuba shared by a colleague. A client wanted to plan a tour for a small group, and my colleague quoted a package from a trusted vendor. The group planner, thinking the quote was too high, decided to save some money by booking everything online.

The trip turned out to a disaster. While their accommodations were ok...

(1) The guide he booked online never showed up.
(2) There was no one to contact for recourse.
(3) Communications were difficult.
(4) One member of the group suffered an illness during the trip.

Because of the difficulty with communications, two members of the group left Cuba and returned home early. Maybe they had saved a few hundred or thousand dollars. But because they were "shoppers," buying solely on the basis of the lowest price, they lost the entire investment they had made in their highly anticipated trip.

The alternative is to plan travel with a trusted travel advisor who, in turn, works with recommended and fully vetted suppliers with a track record of providing great service. You will pay more. But here's what you can expect in return.

The best guides. Guides are not a commodity item. While most guides are perfectly adequate (with a few who are unreliable and/or horrible), there will always be a select group of absolutely terrific guides who will take your trip to the next level! What are your specific interests? Whether you want to explore Cuban history, architecture, music, art, rum, or cigars, you can be paired up with a guide whose expertise matches what you want to experience.

Another consideration: do you have kids? Some guides are terrific working with young children. Others are best with an adult audience. How are you going to figure out on your own which "internet guide" to book?

A workable itinerary. Google is a great resource, but it is not a travel advisor. You can get lists of the "ten best things to do" in any destination, but that can't substitute for local, expert knowledge. What day is the museum closed? In what order should I see things? How long should I anticipate spending at each attraction? How long does it take to get to the next? Such information can help you pace your day. But more than this, what hidden treasures await, what authentic experiences unknown by most tourists because they do not show up on the "top ten" lists?

Things can go wrong. While we don't like to think about it, the unexpected does happen (like a broken arm). When you slip and fall, how valuable it is to have a trusted in-country supplier with a 24/7 telephone number who can help you manage the problem.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

The Great Wall | skip the crowds

Great Wall of China - Jinshanling Section (c) 2011 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

One of my greatest travel thrills ever was going to the Great Wall of China. One of the seven wonders of the world, actually walking on the Great Wall was an experience that words cannot adequately express. Being there and seeing it with my own eyes was the best part of my 2011 trip to China.

But it makes a big difference what part of the Great Wall you visit. Most tourists see the Badaling section. Because it's just an hour from Beijing and accessible by bus, it attracts crowds. LOTS of crowds. It's a zoo. Compare my photograph of the more remote section (above) with the photo below of the section closest to Beijing. (This is where most tour companies take their guests).

Badging Section of the Great Wall, public domain photo from commons.wikimedia.org

Which experience do you want? It's a bucket list item, and you'll probably make just one visit to the Great Wall in your lifetime. Make it count!

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Australia | first time? many times?

I visited Australia earlier this year, but this You Tube video from Tourism Australia has me ready to go back. It's an easy trip with non-stop flights to Sydney from Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas and Honolulu. I was able to use United miles to fly business class on United's Boeing 787 Dreamliner — highly recommended. It's a l-o-n-g flight, but the Dreamliner's lie flat seats, higher air pressure, and diverse entertainment possibilities let me travel in comfort. Just one tip when flying United: bring your own travel pillow, as UA's supplied pillow is too thick and stiff for comfort.

Even better than the flight is the destination. Sydney is a gorgeous city with stunning views. At Wolgan Valley, I saw numerous kangaroos and other marsupials. And nothing surpassed the luxury and sea vistas at Kangaroo Island's Southern Ocean Lodge.

Australia is as large as the United States, and I have two outstanding items on my bucket list — (1) snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and (2) staying at Longitude 131º to see the iconic Uluru.

We will work with you and our travel partners in Australia to orchestrate the bespoke vacation of your dreams. Just drop us an email, and we'll help you Discover More ... Down Under.

copyright (c) 2016 by Ourisman Travel 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.

travel and terrorism

http://www.hemenwaystreet.com/2012/08/wild-precious-life.html?showComment=1348280588715

[Note: the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804 early this morning happened subsequent to the publication time of this article].

Terror strikes infrequently and randomly, and that's the essence of its horror. There's no predicting when or where a psychopathic individual will attack, and every incident becomes a cause for worry. Different folks, of course, respond differently.

But I'm not going to stop traveling! Traveling and travel photography are the passions of my life, and I always proceed with the assumption that "lightening doesn't strike twice." Terror depends on unpredictability. Once it's hit a certain place, I believe that place becomes the safest place in the world for quite awhile, as the authorities there are on full alert while the terrorists go back into hiding.

Travel Weekly contains an insightful article by Richard Turen. He cites some interesting statistics about terrorism, starting with the fact that (in 2011) only 17 U.S. citizens were killed by terrorist acts (and that figure includes civilian deaths in war zones). Here's his [abridged] list of the statistics about how unlikely an individual is to die from a terror incident. Statistically, you're...

6 times more likely to die from hot weather
8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer
404 times more likely to die from a fall
1,048 times more likely to die in a car accident
23,528 times more likely to die from obesity

But here's an even more important reason to keep on traveling and doing the things we love. We have, in the words of Mary Oliver's poem, one wild and precious life to live. We go around just one time on this magical experience called life. If you wait until all risk is gone, you ensure only one thing: that you'll never make it to Paris, London, Bora Bora, or any of the other places on your bucket list!

Travel the world ... and Discover More!

P.S. — the artwork at the top of this article was created and copyrighted by Sarah Morgan Shepherd. 

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.

now that your taxes are done...

Now that your taxes are done, how are you going to celebrate? A lot of CPA's will take the opportunity to leave the office and take a trip tomorrow. Everything ready to be filed with the IRS has been electronically transmitted, and extensions have been filed for all everyone else. It's the perfect time for accountants to take a week or two off for some rest and relaxation.

It's time to reward yourself, too! Today you filed your returns (or your extensions), so now is a great opportunity to consider your bucket list ... and decide how you want to invest your refund.

But when you travel, be sure to claim all your deductions.

• Are you getting complimentary breakfast for two?
• Are you getting a $100 food and beverage credit or spa credit to use during your stay, or a free airport transfer?
• Does the front desk offer you an upgraded room when you check in (assuming one is available)?

If you can't check off all those boxes, you're leaving money on the table... and tens of thousands of luxury travelers make that mistake every day. It's easy to make a reservation yourself through a hotel website or an OTA, but a Virtuoso travel consultant will get you everything to which you're entitled (just like an experienced CPA can actually save you money on your taxes): complimentary daily breakfast, upgrades if available, and an additional credit typically worth $100 or more.

Drop me a line if you have any questions!

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.

Tiger's Nest | to climb or not to climb?

Tiger's Nest, Paro, Bhutan — photo by David Ourisman (c) 2014, all rights reserved

The Tiger's Nest is to Bhutan as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the number one attraction that comes to most people's minds when that destination is mentioned. And as you can tell from the caption on the picture above, I climbed it. This morning, in fact. Then this afternoon, I enjoyed one of the best (and most badly needed) massages ever — a 90 minute Bhutanese Holistic Massage at the hands of Wang in the spa at Amankora Paro. But I'm getting off the subject.

Should you make the climb to visit Tiger's Nest or not?

Why you may choose to. This is a site of deep religious significance in Bhutanese culture. Legend has it that Guru Padmasambhava, the eighth century monk who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan, meditated in a cave at this site for three years, three months, three weeks, three days, and three hours. A monastery — known as Paro Taktsang — was built over this cave in 1692. It is the cultural icon of Bhutan, and if you're the type of traveler who likes to check items off your bucket list, you'll definitely want to make the visit.

Why you may choose not to. Although we were told that it was a gradual climb to reach the cliffside monastery, don't believe it. It is a strenuous two hour hike, ascending 900 meters (nearly 3000 feet) from a starting elevation of 2500 meters (over 8000 feet) above sea level. Fortunately, we took the climb on the last full day of our stay in Bhutan, so we were fairly acclimated to the attitude. Add to this the fact that you're sharing the narrow and rocky path with quite a few tourists (and horses) going both up and downhill. You can hire a horse to make most of the climb for you, but the downside of horses on the path is that hikers must be vigilant in spotting horse manure. (And, actually, my heart went out to the horses who make the round trip three times a day).

My advice: know yourself! Are you in good enough shape to undertake this hike? Do you enjoy this kind of physical challenge? I met a fellow Amankora guest in the spa after the hike; he and his friend had made it to the top in just an hour, so there are definitely people for whom Tiger's Nest is a must do!

Iconic but not essential, if you're not sure you want to tackle Tiger's Nest, this will not detract from your visit to Bhutan. You'll enjoy hiking through the Kingdom's scenic mountain valleys, visiting its impressive dzongs and temples, experiencing its unique culture, and sampling its wonderful cuisine. Even if the climb is not your thing, Bhutan still has much to offer the active traveler.

copyright (c) 2014 by David Ourisman LLC. As affiliates of Brownell Travel, we can provide our clients with Virtuoso amenities and amenities from other Brownell preferred hotel partners including Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, and more. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

top 10 unique journeys in Europe

idea #1 Simplon-Orient Express Train from London to Venice (other journeys available)

Sometimes the journey is as fascinating as the destination. The luxury travel company Abercrombie and Kent recently published this top 10 list of some unique journeys in Europe. I've never done any of these either, although I have booked the Orient Express train for clients. Any of these on your bucket list?

1. Simplon-Orient Express Train from London to Venice.

2. Glacier Express train from Zermatt to St Moritz

3. Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostock

4. River Cruise on the Danube

5. Royal Scotsman Train across Scotland

6. Rome to Sicily by Rail

7. Zurich to Milan by Rail

8. Drive past the fairytale castles of the Rhine Valley

9. Train journey between Paris and the Cote d'Azur

10. Cotswold Way on foot


Contact your luxury travel consultant to book the Orient Express, or any of the other journeys. We can suggest five star hotels at either end of your journey and provide exclusive amenities during your hotel stays, all at the best available rate.


Orient Express train (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. .

1000 Places to See Before You Die | contest

1000 Places to See Before You Die, first published in 2003, is now out in a full-color second edition with the following additions:

• new countries are covered
  
• experiences are revised with cohesive day-trips in mind
  
• photographs are full-color
• interactive iPad app

I had two responses while making my first perusal of this book.

(1) It reminded me of lots of the wonderful places I have gone. It was fun reading the book, as it allowed me to relive some of my favorite trips.

(2) It got me excited about going to some places I have never been. 1000 Places to See Before You Die is the ultimate resource for building your personal bucket list. Here's the link to an excerpt.

I think the iPad app is a really useful feature. With twelve hundred pages of useful content, the book is too thick to carry around with you when you travel. That's the beauty of eBooks.

Here's your chance to win a free copy in the 1000 Places to See Before You Die contest. The publisher will provide three free copies for readers of Travel Horizons. To have a chance to win, send me an email describing the following:

(1) What is next big trip you want to take?
(2) What draws you to this destination?

Please include your mailing address, as the publisher will mail the prize directly to the three winners.

Rules: I am the sole judge and will pick and publish the three winning entries (keeping the author anonymous, unless you want a byline). My criteria are highly subjective! I'm looking for travel ideas that intrigue me and great writing. Extra points for both good grammar and spelling.


1000 Places to See Before You Die Contest


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.
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don't be a last-minute travel planner

It's probably too late if you want to make any BIG plans for Labor Day weekend (although I did make one last-minute booking last night for a client who will be spending the weekend at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas). However, if you'd like to be vacationing somewhere during the Christmas and New Year season — and you don't already have reservations — now is the time to do some serious dreaming...

Are you drawn to the beach, to the mountains, to a romantic countryside inn, or to a vibrant city? Do you want to stay close to home - or fly to a far-off destination? Many resorts have minimum stay requirements over Festive Season, and many of the best properties are wait-list only at this point ... but the longer you wait, the more limited your options will be! The holidays are not friendly to last minute travel planning.

Summer is already over! What's on your bucket list for this fall and winter?


last minute travel (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2011 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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