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Five Favorite Spring Break Adventures for Families, Checking Out The Caves and Monkeys of Barbados

New Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad and Australian Outback Exhibition at San Diego Zoo
The Latest Changes at Vermont Ski Slopes for the Upcoming Season
Thursday is the annual Boston Ski Show, when I meet reps from ski areas around New England, Canada, and the Western US. Last week’s news that 14 ski areas including Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts, Loon Mountain and Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire, Okemo Mountain in Vermont, and Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine have been sold to a hedge fund manager in New York will certainly be the hot conversation topic, but there’s a slew of other noteworthy topics at ski resorts around the country that I want to discuss this week. We’ll start with Vermont.
The Perfect Paris Picnic
When designing itineraries for clientele headed to Paris, I always tell them to drop their bags off at the hotel and head straight to the Rue Cler neighborhood in the 7th Arrondissement. Purchase a hot out of the oven baguette from a boulangerie, soft reblochon (one of my many weaknesses in Paris!) and harder comte cheese from a fromagerie, some jambon and saucisson from a butcherie, and a pint of strawberries and a bottle of water from a grocer. Then head to the grounds in front of the Eiffel Tower and have a memorable meal. Now that I’ve heard about a new company, Paris Picnic, I might have to make some changes. Paris Picnic does the work for you, partnering with the top artisanal food and wine producers in town, to create a gluttonous picnic basket one can only dream about. Le Classique (priced at 32 Euros per person) includes a choice of wine, baguette, assortment of cheeses, charcuterie, fresh salad du jour, artisanal crisps, mineral water, and dessert. Or you can go for broke and order Le Chic, which includes champagne and foie gras. Paris Picnic will deliver the goods and blanket to any number of picnic spots in town—under Eiffel Tower, along the Canal St-Martin, or the grassy slopes of Buttes Chaumont. Oui, oui monsieur!
Plaza Athenee Turns 100
Sleep deprived after our overseas flight into Paris, my family stepped under the signature red awning into the lobby of the Plaza Athenee and exhaustion was immediately replaced with a deep sense of comfort and relaxation. It wasn’t only the doorman who carried in your luggage. No, it was the man behind the reception desk stating that our room was already available at this early hour, and the nearby concierge, standing at a desk twice as large as the reception area, already helping us with dinner reservations and museum passes. Then a woman escorted us upstairs to our room, a stately suite, where the antique rugs and furniture blended with the latest technology like flatscreen televisions. We opened up the French country windows to see a garden box planted with flowers. To our right was the Eiffel Tower standing in all its glory. Everything was bliss.
Top 5 Travel Experiences of 2012, Spotting Scarlet Macaws Outside of Jaco, Costa Rica
My kids weren’t too pleased to wake up at 6:30 am on summer vacation, but I wanted to be at Carara National Park at 7 am, when it opened. I knew from prior trips to the country that Carara was one of the few places to see that majestic bird, the scarlet macaw. Last time here, I heard a loud noise, only to peer up at a family of four vibrantly colored macaws. That is an image I was hoping to recreate. We arrived early and the gate was closed. In summer, Carara opens at 8 am read the sign. Screw it. The kids were already giving me grief for waking them up, so we sneaked in through the gate and started our hike. An hour later, we were covered in sweat from the sweltering rainforest humidity and had only spotted one very large Jesus Christ lizard. No macaws. We drove back to the hotel and I was bumming big time.