TRAVEL TIPS FOR TOMATOES
Phyllis Stoller has a BA from Tufts University, an MA from New York University and a Finance Degree from the University of the South Bank, London England. Phyllis Stoller founded and managed for 16 years, the largest tour operator for women in North America. She was voted top in women’s travel by Travel & Leisure Magazine,the first to receive this honor. Phyllis has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, Lifetime TV for Women and others. She is a consultant on marketing to women.
Phyllis now resides in New York City and London, England and is affiliated with ECPS Consulting Corporation in New York. She prides herself on her family: husband, Eric, a ‘keeper’, sons Nick (comedy writer and director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Matt , a progressive political strategist who works with liberal Democratic candidates. Phyllis can be reached at Phyllisnycity@gmail.com.
Past Articles
Last minute travel is the theme for summer basically....
My son called last week to ask his 'travel mom' a question. Where could he go last minute for July 4th weekend. He wanted beach, food,
and preferably East Coast as he works in Washington DC. His request
had a recognizable sub theme, it meant he was going with a girlfriend.
as Matt m generally does not go to beaches alone,eat good food alone or basically travel for fun unless it is with a friend. So my answers on the phone were frankly a bit paltry as I realize this trip is important for him. Feeling guilty that I shunted him off with 'google
last minute sites', this morning I sat down to surf around for good
value last minute vacations for Matt & Co.
Since I am an American Airlines frequent flyer junkie, I do occasionally check their specials and am, of course, on their email list. For peak season, AA specials are limited to more business oriented cities. And in fact nothing came up for travel from DC. Under AA Vacations specials, it all looked either too old: Fairmont Hotels, too young: Disney or too boring: Cancun.
On to Site59 which apparently morphed into lastminute.com- that site was going to be my third choice. I got the following: Boston ( well he went to Harvard and clearly Boston does not connote vacation to Matt), Columbus and Cinncinnati OH, no comment there, and Raleigh-Durham, he is a progressive blogger so could double the vacation up with anti-tobacco entries. In fact the only vacations on this site, were inland, Hawaii or out of the country: Mexico again.
I decided to skip the orbitz/expedia/Travelocity sites and go for smartertravel.com. Here there were again the European and South African deals. But what about Niagara Falls? Could be fun, with The Red Coach Inn overlooking the Falls, mentioned from $89 a night. Cooler weather or at least you can get misted if temps are high. This is wine country and fresh farm quality food is around, with a bit of research. So one possibility within a budget and a drive not flight.
More hunting brought me to About.com, The New York Times owned informational site and, bingo, there it was an article called 52 trips from New York from NY Magazine. The list ended in 2003, but under beaches near NY were two possibilities: Cape May, NJ and Cape Cod.
Cape May, had public transportation, Queen Victoria B&B and Washington Inn, the elegant hotel once owned by Laura Ashley's husband. The Cape May Times is on line with many options for short vacations in this Victorian seaside area. Cape Cod was next on the list, but no public transportation and the long drive made it less appealing. The Hamptons—well progressive politicians do not mix with I bankers.
Last-minute from Travelzoo brought up again Hawaii, Orlando, NY and then overseas. But what a good list of unusual trips, if you probed a bit more. Here I found New York State was promoting Upstate NY resorts including areas in the Adirondacks like Lake Placid. Now here was a goldmine of nearby resorts, some on the water, ranked by area, then by price with enough description to make a choice. And many of the resorts were offering a 3rd or 4th night free through the Summer. So Matt, as this article is for you, why not go to http://www.iloveny.com/summer and hunt around for the cool weather, if not beach then lake, and choose upstate NY.
PS Matt, our upstate NY house has an extra bedroom and bathroom if you decide to break the journey midway. Or should I now feel guilty about popping that idea in this article.
The NYC Insiders Guide
for women who aren't kids
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