tale: joint post with Kendra Thornton - Doing Vegas Family Style & Road Warriors Weekend in Hong Kong

hi all!


i hope you are having a great weekend.  i have a special treat for you today.  for the past couple of weeks i've been working with the wonderful Kendra Thornton on a joint post.  for those of you that don't know Kendra is the former director of communications for orbitz.com and is now a full time stay at home mom of 3 in chicago.  we've got a two part post of you today.  Kendra starts out by giving some tips on "Doing Vegas Family Style" and i'll follow it up with "a road warrior weekend in hong kong."  i hope you all enjoy, and please be sure to check out Kendra's website at www.thorntonpr.com. 

Doing Vegas Family Style

Las Vegas is a great place to visit, over and over again. With the myriad of restaurants to try and things to do in and out of the city, each trip is a treasure all its own.

1. Detect and Deduce: My Personal CSI Experience

We can't always get out of the house to have date night. To make up for this, we have started having date nights in, watching CSI. You can't even imagine my excitement when I found out that the MGM Grand has a live CSI Las Vegas experience. It's such a neat atmosphere, and the creators went all out on the design. We really enjoyed being on the case at CSI Las Vegas. 

2. Dive in With Dolphins 

Another unique Vegas experience is getting to be a dolphin trainer for a day at The Mirage. Participating in this program we got up close and personal with Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. The whole family got to interact with a family of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins. In addition to getting hands on with them we learned about how the dolphins are cared for, dolphin health and what is coming up next for dolphins in Vegas. It was a very educational experience for the kids and we even forgot we were in the desert that day!

3. Dare to Fly

While heights aren't necessarily my thing, I do really enjoy seeing the Vegas strip from the sky with Maverick Helicopters Las Vegas. From the beginning to the end of the trip we are treated like VIPs, the pilot always greets us warmly, indulges our desire to take some pictures with him outside the helicopter, and helps me forget that I'm a little intimidated by heights. Once we're airborne, he explains where we're going and what we'll be seeing and lets us ask all the questions we want about Las Vegas. We all get fitted with headsets and that lets everyone feel involved and official. This is a great day trip for the whole family, one the kids still talk about. 

4. Dine, with Wine

There are so many good places to eat in Vegas; I have a hard time narrowing down where to start. Since I always love a good steak with a glass of red wine, I usually want to go to SW Steakhouse at the Wynn. The water show is visible from inside here, so everyone is mesmerized while we wait for our meal. Meals in Vegas can get expensive, but they are worth every penny. Both the atmosphere and the food are divine!

The Las Vegas experience is truly unique, and somehow every trip is different than the one before. Las Vegas is one of a kind with even one of kind hotels that cater to any kind of traveler. There's always something new to see and do in Vegas!

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a road warriors weekend in hong kong

For those of you that haven’t been to Hong Kong let me take a quick moment to introduce you to this precious gem.  The “pearl of the orient” is a fantastic international city located in the south of China. This is most certainly an asian city, but with a tremendous amount of global influence.  Activities abound in this fantastic place.  From a myriad of scrumptious restaurants to some of the best shopping in the world I’m sure if you are looking for it, you can find it in Hong Kong.

Not only is there a tremendous mix of cultures and activities here it is simply just a beautiful city.  There are so many buildings lit up with the amazing glow of colorful LED lights that match the unmistakable energy of this place while creating a truly breathtaking skyline nestled between the towering mountains and one of the world’s most busy ports.

You can also enjoy sweeping vista’s of Victoria’s Harbour watching the container ships loading and unloading the world’s cargo in this mecca of trade. 

Shopping
As one of the crossroads of the trading world Hong Kong offers some of the best shopping anywhere in the globe.  From Luxury items in high end shopping malls to affordable trinkets from a small street market you can find anything your heart desires.  

If you’re looking for some shopping malls I recommend you check out Cityplaza, G.O.D, and the Fashion Walk.  Between these three locations you can find anything from the hottest in luxury fashion to knick-knacks for around the house.

Perhaps the hustle and bustle of a local street market is more of your scene.  If it can be bought and sold I’m sure you can find it in one of these locations.  You can find a number of street markets on Hong Kong island but I’d recommend stopping by the Stanley Market and Jardine’s Crescent.

The Peak
I’m sure you recall those sweeping vista’s I was talking about earlier.  Well in my opinion, one of the best places to take in the most breathtaking views of Hong Kong is from The Peak.  You can simply get to the top of The Peak by taxi, but I recommend the unforgettable experience of a ride on the Peak Tram.  At a gradient of anywhere from 4 to 27 degrees the tram climbs nearly to 400 meters above sea level and when you reach the top you can soak in 360 degree views of the “pearl of the orient.”  

Not only can you enjoy tremendous views of the city, there are also plenty of souvenir shops and restaurants you can visit.  One of my favorite things to do is to arrive to the top of The Peak a little bit before dusk and enjoy a quiet dinner in one of the many restaurants while watching the golden glow of the sun set over this bustling city.  An experience I recommend that you don’t miss.

A ferry ride to Macau
Perhaps you’re the type of person that enjoy’s to gamble.  If so, I would suggest hopping on one of the many high speed ferries to take the hour long jaunt over to one of the world’s top gambling destinations, Macau.  Please remember to take your passport, because you will need it to both enter Macau and return to Hong Kong.  And for those of you that like to stay out late these ferries operate 24 hours.

Once you arrive in Macau you can find any number of fantastic hotel & casino’s where you can place your bets and try your luck!  With more money gambled on an yearly basis than Las Vegas you won’t be alone.

For those of you that don’t like to gamble so much you can find some great shopping and dining experience as well.

whatever you chose to do i'm sure you'll enjoy the "pearl of the orient."

happy travels wherever the road may take you.

stay tuned for the next viewfromtheair
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tale: an evening in cologne

hi all,

it's been a little while since my last post...i've got lots of new tips, tastes, & tales from my months of traveling so stay tuned for new posts!

one of the new places i visited this year was the wonderful country of germany.  i spent most of my time in dusseldorf, but one evening i decided to take a little journey about 1 hour to the south to meet a friend of mine for dinner.  my destination was the wonderful city of cologne.

i hopped on the train for the short train ride through the german countryside.  unfortunately for me it was already dark, so there weren't so many sights i could soak in while on the train, but little did i know once i arrived i'd have plenty of amazing things to see.

after a short ride i pulled into cologne station and disembarked my train.  as i got my bearings and walked out of the train station my eyes fell upon an incredible view of the cologne cathedral.  the cathedral is a magnificent medieval structure that will take your breath away.  the construction of the cathedral was started in 1248 and finished in 1880 and when you get closer to take a look you will see what took so long.  as you gaze upon this mammoth structure you will find the most intricate stone carvings covering every inch of the building.  i can only imagine how long it took to carve these masterpieces out of blocks of stone.

after getting my fill of the cathedral (ok i couldn't get enough but i was running late!) i met my friend and we decided to take a stroll through the town to find a restaurant.  we decided to find a nice local place where we could have some delicious german food.

so we started to wander the cobblestone streets looking for our culinary sanctuary.  we strolled through the local shopping area where you could find a variety of different stores but the only restaurants we could come upon seems to be chinese! (i thought this was so strange).

after a 45 minute walk, getting hungry and a bit disappointed we decided to consult with the locals to find a place.  for those of you that don't travel often when in doubt consult with the locals...you'll always get pointed in the right direction.  after speaking with a lovely couple and following their directions through the maze of ancient german streets we came upon a local brewhouse named fruh.

as we stepped through the ancient wooden doorway we were immediately met by the clamor of conversation, the clinking of glasses filled with cold frothy beer, and the tantalizing smell of pork and sauerkraut. now this was exactly what we were looking for!  we grabbed a table and immediately ordered a variety of pork based dishes and of course the local beer which was actually begin brewed by the brewhouse.

our waiter returned in a flash with glasses of the cold elixir we had been craving.  after dropping the beer off he started a little tally on our coaster to keep track of how many we drank! (for those of you wondering it was 21 before we left!) he returned shortly with our smorgasbord of pork dishes that included: pork knuckle, jagerschnizel, wiernerschnizel, and blood sausage.  all of which were spectacular.

after we had our fill of beer and pork we decided to call it an evening.  keep in mind you'll need to cash to settle the bill at this local haunt (no credit cards accepted) but i promise you will leave full and happy!  if you are ever in the area i recommend you stop by and check this place out www.fruh.de

happy travels wherever the road may take you.

until next time..

stay tuned for the next viewfromtheair

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