Quickly wanted to share a timely article on Flu and your health on a plane by Mark Gendreau, M.D.,  posted on CNN Health.

Basic points are these:

• Carry hand sanitizer and wash your hands, wash your hands.

  Before and after eating, using the restroom, touching the overhead bin, etc.

• Turn the overhead air vent to low and point it so that airflow is slightly in front of your face.

• Use a surgical mask and bring an extra one for anyone near you.

Please read the full article on CNN Health.

Filed under: Air Travel, General, Health and Safety | No Comments »

… Found ‘em on Facebook!

My fun friends Bill and Julie recently enjoyed a little Washington DC getaway.

Bill got the inside scoop (he always does) and posted some terrific dining recommendations on Facebook. Of course, I  pounced and asked if I could share them here!

Bill and Julie’s Washington DC Dining Recommendations

Old Ebbitt Grille A MUST SEE!

Favorite of presidents since 1856. Truly a landmark in DC, as historic as visiting many monuments and memorials.
675 15th St, NW, PH: 202-347-4800.
Located in Downtown DC, just steps from the White House. Excellent seafood, steaks, American favorites;  one of the city’s best oyster bars; four full-service bars, good value, and top-notch service! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night, Sat and Sun brunch. Check out Oyster Happy Hour M-F 3-6 and 11-1, all raw bar items 1/2 off!

Bill says: We had Valentines Day at Old Ebbitt Grille. We walked in and could not find anywhere to sit … I asked a bus boy where there might be a small space for the two hungry souls from Cleveland …”Steve,” he asked the bartender,  “do you have a small table to seat our distinguished guests?” We sat down at a most wonderful table. The manger, Jenna Velella, came by quickly… read our minds on wine and presented a wonderful South African red… which we loved. We had a great time that night and we made a good friend in the culinary world of DC, Jenna.

Clyde’s of Georgetown

3236 M Street, NW, Ph 202-333-9180
Lovely sister restaurant to Old Ebbitt, much smaller, located in Georgetown. Menu a little more contemporary. Sunday is Half Priced Wine Night.

Bar Pilar

1833 14th St NW Ph. 202-265-1751
Near Cork (see below) this Mediterranean Tapas restaurant is a REAL neighborhood spot for people in the Logan Circle/U Street area. Small, but worth the wait. The food is excellent - all small plates, but you can really load up on delicious stuff. Wine selection is smaller than Cork but always unique and a fabulous beer selection - lots of local and micro stuff - is always available.

Cork Wine Bar

1720 14th Street, NW Ph. 202-265-2675
Carries an exceptional selection of international wines. Offers flights and tasting options for many wines. Serves delicious small plates and excellent cheese and charcuterie.

No reservations? Here’s a strategy tip:
The good thing about Cork is that if it’s a long wait you can walk down 14th street to Bar Pilar and check their table status. There’s also a place that just opened called Posto on 14th street, good Italian, you could check their wait.

Dino

3435 Connecticut Ave, NW Ph. 202-686-2966
Perfect combination of good Italian food and good wine. The menu is awesome - all regional Italian with options to do big plates, small plates, cheese, charcuterie, meat, fish … all very good. The owner’s two loves are Italian food and wine.  Dino is a neighborhood spot in Cleveland Park, which is a pretty, residential neighborhood away from downtown, but not as casual as Bar Pilar and Cork. It combines a good restaurant with a good wine bar feel well.

Sonoma

223 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Ph 202-544-8088
Great neighborhood spot on Capital Hill. Wine bar and restaurant, focused on naturally-raised and local ingredients, and the best American and Italian wines. Cheese, charcuturie, salads, wood-oven pizzas, wood-grilled fish and meat, well-executed pasta dishes.  It’s sister restaurant, Mendocino Grill, is located in Georgetown.

Tenpenh

1001 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Ph. 202-393-4500
The best place for pan-aisan cuisine. The food is superb and the wine list is lengthy. Located downtown near the Ebbitt with a beautiful dining room.

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Over the past year or so, I’ve become a big fan of Hotels.com.

I’ve tried most of the major travel booking sites — Expedia, Orbitz, Skoosh, Travelocity, Kayak, etc. And each one has their advantages. I particularly like Kayak.com, an aggregate travel search engine. They search multiple other sites for deals and display the results for you to compare.  I’ll write a separate post about them soon.)

Stand out features for Hotels.com include:

• Awesome customer service. With real live people.

  (Remember customer service?)

  I’ve had to call hotels.com several times for customer service — usually involving a change in my plans. Each time my call was answered promptly, the representative was courteous and knowledgeable, and my problem was resolved.

• Risk-free bookings. Hotels.com never charges a change or cancellation fee, so many* bookings are fully refundable.

  (*Note: However, an individual hotel listed on Hotels.com might offer special non-refundable rates, or have a change or cancellation policy they impose and require hotels.com to pass on. The hotels.com website makes that very clear and easy to see under “view cancellation policy.”)

  I can vouch for this — I actually did have to change my plans twice, and my refund was taken care of promptly.

• Welcomerewards: One free night (up to $400 rate!) at any partner hotel for every 10 nights you book with hotels.com. No blackout dates. No restrictions.
  

  I’m up to eight nights — can’t wait to book two more nights and try this out!

• Price Match Guarantee.

  After booking, if you find a lower rate, Hotels.com will match the price and refund the difference. And they’ll do it right up to the property’s cancellation deadline.

A lot of vendors are offering something like this now, it’s great for peace of mind. No need to worry about missing out on a better deal after you book.

By the way … in case you’re wondering,  I am not a hotels.com affiliate or anything!

(Although I might look into it.)  I’ve just had great luck with them, and wanted to pass that along to you.

Have you used Hotels.com? Or got your own favorite hotel booking sites? Please share! Leave a comment in the box below.

Carol

Filed under: Budget Accommodations, Budget Travel, General, Hotels, Travel Booking Sites | No Comments »

Now’s the time to book a getaway  …

Seems like every time I check my inbox or open the newspaper, there’s more news of airfare sales and hotels discounts. Just today, the business section of my local paper reported that airlines have slashed ticket prices to their lowest levels in years.

The article quoted one of my Favorite Links, Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com: “The prices that they’re offering right now are meant to get people off their couches and onto their computers.”

And with occupancy rates plummeting, hotels are offering great deals too. In addition to lower room rates, you’ll find they are offering valuable “extras” like food and drink credits, free breakfast, free internet, and lots of “third night free” deals.

Looks like many of these discounted fares and rates are extending into spring and summer — so if you can possibly manage a getaway, now’s the time to go hunting for deals!

Here’s hoping you can Go … Have Fun!

Carol

Filed under: Air Travel, Budget Accommodations, Budget Travel, General | No Comments »

I just noticed a post on ZagatBuzz* with suggestions where to eat after visiting the newly-reopened Museum of Arts and Design in NYC.

*ZagatBuzz is the blog for Zagat.com, the online presence for Zagat Survey, publishers of the renowned guides based on consumer ratings and reviews for restaurants (and now hotels, nightlife, shopping, and more.) A terrific resource which I use all the time; check it out at Zagat.com, and/or look for their published guides at your bookstore.

In it’s previous version — the American Craft Museum — this was one of my favorite NYC museums.

It was not too demanding, there was always at least one interesting, unusual and sometimes off-beat exhibit; and I could generally breeze through in an hour (ok, so sometimes I’m not that deep!)

I understand the new location — in the controversially-redesigned “lollipop building” at 2 Columbus Circle — features twice as much exhibition space, a Tiffany-sponsored contemporary jewelry gallery, plus fantastic Central Park views.

I can’t wait to check it out, then follow one of ZagatBuzz’s suggestions on where to eat after!

And if you get there before I do, please share your experience with your Lipstick Getaways’ girlfriends.

Just leave a comment in the box below, or email me at carol@lipstickgetaways.com.

Filed under: General, New York City | No Comments »

A terrific insider tip on the best days to shop for airfare deals showed up in my inbox today, courtesy of the FareCompare.com weekly newsletter.

(FareCompare, created by Rick Seany, is one of my very favorite resources for insider air travel info.)

Based on years of tracking airfare changes and looking for patterns, Rick says the best time to shop online for airfare is:

Mondays 3 pm EDT and continuing through Wednesday.

That’s the period when airlines tend to file and match sale fares. Then apparently the sales end on Fridays, plus the airlines often hike the fare on Thursday afternoons — so weekends will usually be a bad time to shop!

You’ll definitely want to check out both FareCompare.com and Rick’s blog, RickSeany.com, for a wealth of more insider info and deals.

And let me know if this airfare shopping tip seems to work for you! Use the comment box below.

Carol

Filed under: Air Travel, Budget Travel, Deals, General | 1 Comment »

… and other cool info culled from today’s NY Times Sunday Travel section.

Seemed like today’s issue was filled with Big City Fun tips and ideas I just had to share with my Lipstick Getaways girlfriends! New York City, Boston, Toronto, and other cities were all covered today.

NYC Boat Trips

Where River Views Are From the River by Seth Kugel. Fun ideas for seeing Manhattan and its waterfront (and the current installation “New York City Waterfalls” by Olafur Eliasson”) by boat — everything from a $150 trip on the Moet & Chandon America II (includes a Champagne toast, of course), to the free Staten Island Ferry.

Boston: Cool Fashion and Eats Near the new Institute of Contemporary Art

Foraging: Boston Achilles Project by David Kaufman. All about the artsy new fashion boutique Achilles Project, featuring modern men’s and women’s clothing … plus art shows, kung fu flicks, Wiis, xbox 360’s, W-Fi .. and a restaurant, Persephone, featuring modern American cuisine. I’m actually headed to Boston on Wednesday, will try to squeeze in a visit here.

Toronto: Travelers’ Favorites

Toronto: Readers’ Picks Culled from user comments on the Time’s travel section Web site. Where to stay, where to eat, what to do.

San Francisco: Valencia Street, new happenin’ area

Hipster Hunting Ground by Gregory Dicum clues us in on the hip shopping, eating, and lounge-ing on San Francisco’s Valencia Street, yet another formerly-gritty, now urban-cool destinations.

Hope you’re all having a terrific summer!

Go … Have fun!

Carol

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$20 for first checked bag, or free? Priority seat selection? $5, $20, $109, or free? Oversize bag? Meal charges? Beverage charges? And on and on …

The dizzying array of extra airline fees keeps growing and changing by the hour, it seems! Let me share a handy tool that just showed up in my inbox:

Airfare expert Rick Seany, one of the founders and CEO of FareCompare.com (an essential airfare comparison tool, check it out), recently posted a handy U.S. Domestic Airline Fee chart on his blog, RickSeany.com.

Rick compiles the fees charged by all the domestic carriers and displays them in one easy-to-read chart, updated frequently. Take a look at the chart, and while you’re there, browse thru Rick’s blog, and check out FareCompare, one of my favorite sites for at-a-glance airfare comparison, discount first-class tickets, and valuable insider travel tips.

And sign up for Rick’s newsletter, full of airline travel tips and insider info — it’s one of the few newsletters I actually read!

Filed under: Air Travel, Budget Travel, General, Travel Tips | No Comments »

Just back from a terrific week in Boston!

I drove there with my daughter, helped her get settled into her first apartment as she starts a summer internship there. Then left the car with her (do not try to drive in Boston proper!) for several more days on my own for Lipstick Getaways research.

I’m just about to dig in to writing some detailed Boston content (so keep checking back in the Plan A Trip section), but thought I’d post a few quick notes here first.

In no particular order:

• Excuse me while I gush: I discovered San Miguel shoes on Beacon Hill!

  These are the most amazing shoes I’ve ever worn! Incredibly comfortable (I wore mine right away, and every day the rest of the trip!) … genuinely stylish (I had several women ask me about them) … AND affordable (under $100).I had never heard of San Miguel shoes, but apparently they have a cult following, and … wait, you know what? I just realized I have way too much to say about these shoes. I’ll need to write a separate post about ‘em asap.
  
  For now, let me just say I found my San Miguel shoes at Core de Vie, a wellness movement studio at 40 Charles Street in Beacon Hill, which had just opened up a retail shop, selling a variety of “things we are passionate about” (said the owner): favorite yoga-type apparel, lovely body care products, candles, etc., as well as the glass art work of the owner’s husband.

  You can also order a wide range of San Miguel shoes online from Outersoul.com (I just ordered three more pairs!).

• The South End, just a few blocks south of the Back Bay, is my new favorite neighborhood.

  For a stroll, cobblestone streets (see “San Miguel shoes” below), beautiful, well-tended brownstones, excellent dining, a little fun shopping, great people-watching. Fun, hip area which is still very friendly and “neighborhood-y,” and way less crowded and hectic than Newbury Street (which I still like too!)

• The North End

  A lively, genuine Italian neighborhood, is definitely worth a visit at least for dinner, the bakeries, and gelato; plus a few cute shops.

• Boston Duck Tour

  You see ‘em all over, so I finally checked out this narrated historical tour of the city in WWII amphibious vehicles. I can report that yeah, it’s touristy, but still well worth doing! Not a must-do, but you won’t regret it either. (However, if the weather is fine and you are able to walk, I’d go for a guided Freedom Trail tour instead. A little more history, a little less show-biz.

• Faneuil Hall: Don’t bother.

  Mentioned in a recent MSN Travel article on “The World’s Worst Tourist Traps”, so I thought I should see for myself. (Times Square was listed in the same article, and I do think it’s fun to go there at least once at night, just to gawk.) Gotta say, they were right. It was awful. Faneuil Hall may be where the American Revolution was plotted, but now it’s just a crowded outdoor mall, food court, and tacky souvenir shop. I have no idea why everyone goes there.

• Harvard Square in Cambridge

  Spent a few hours there with my daughter on a Sunday afternoon. Easy to get to by subway, definitely worth a visit (but not a must-do) for some interesting shops and restaurants, or if you want to do a walking tour of Harvard.

• Beacon Hill

  Another great neighborhood for a stroll, a little shopping (that’s where I found those shoes!), and dining. Liked it last trip, still liked it this trip.

• Newbury Street

  Folks say it’s getting too crowded and expensive … and yes, I suppose it is … but still worth checking out, especially if you haven’t been.

More details on all the above, and more, coming soon. I will write them up and post them for you in the Plan A Trip section.

In fact, going to get started on that right away, after lunch!

Carol

Filed under: Boston, General, QuickNotes, Trip Notes | No Comments »

Wow, we are all thinking about gas prices now, aren’t we?

I hear more and more folks talking about consolidating our errands, carpooling, riding their bikes — and more than ever, I grit my teeth when I smugly park my Prius next to a Hummer (or just yesterday — two Hummers next to each other! What are these people thinking?)

So it looks like I was ahead of my time here at Lipstick Getaways!

As many of you know, I am all the public transportation on our Big City getaways.
Of course I was mostly coming at it from a stress-reduction point of view. Who needs the stress and buzzkill of trying to drive, and navigate around an unfamiliar city, while dealing with traffic and parking? I don’t know about you, but I do enough of that in my everyday suburban life!

That’s why you’ll see that pretty much every destination covered in Lipstick Getaways will be a city with decent mass transit.
And for each city, I’ll do my best to give you the info you need to use the subways, trains, and buses.

A confession: I am now pretty confident with subways, but still a little reluctant to ride the buses. For some reason, bus route maps seem a little more confusing; plus the bus goes so slow. But I’m getting over it — a bus ride came in real handy in Chicago and in Atlanta — and determined to do better. Just last night at dinner, my college daughter told me she rides the bus all the time in Boston – so I will check that out when I’m there next week.

Do you use public transportation when you visit a big city?

If not, tell me why not — do you feel subways and buses are unsafe? Is it just too confusing? Do you drive, or mostly take cabs?

I’d love to hear your comments and feedback — and any helpful tips and info you have on mass transit in your favorite city! Just use the Leave A Reply box below, or email me, carol@lipstickgetaways.com.

Thanks, and go have fun!
Carol

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