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Summer Family Package at Amanyara

Singapore-based Amanresorts group has announced that their lone Caribbean property, 

Amanyara in the Turks and Caicos, will unveil a new family package this summer called 
“Season of Discovery.” Visit the property from June 1 to October 31 and book the 
Two-Bedroom Pool Pavilion Suite or Villa and you’ll be entitled to slew of family-friendly offerings:
 
• private family movie night in Amanyara’s screening room, complete with popcorn and canapés
• guided family snorkeling trip
• family eco-hike with a resident naturalist from Amanyara’s Nature Discovery Centre
• tailor-made, naturalist-led daily program for kids at the Nature Discovery Centre
• Special poolside ice cream social around guests’ private suite or villa pools. 
 
All rates include breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and families who book a 
stay of four nights in any pavilion, suite or villa category will receive a fifth night free.
 
 

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Favorite Fall Foliage Travels—Traverse City, Michigan

Head to the Traverse City area, a four-hour drive northwest of Detroit (or 1-hour flight from DTW), and you’ll be treated to far more than a fun frolic on a Great Lake. The autumn colors will be out in all their glory. Slow down and explore the region at a relaxed pace on bike or on two feet and you’ll find diverse terrain, from the shaded wetlands of the Grass River Natural Area to the rolling countryside of the Leelanau Peninsula to the steep dunes of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the largest sand dunes west of the Sahara Desert. The towering slopes of sand, some as high as 440 feet, slide steeply to the shores of Lake Michigan. Stroll on the 1.5-mile Cottonwood Trail and the dunes look like bowls of sand that only a giant could drink from. The Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau has put together money-saving Fab Fall specials, combining low room rates with lots of discounts on dining, entertainment and attractions. Have a look! 

 
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Time to Play in the Warmth

As we reach May, it’s time to get out of ski mode and talk about road and mountain biking, hiking, canoeing, sea kakaking, white-water rafting, rock climbing, beaches, swimming holes, road trips, you name it. Email me at goplay@activetravels.com if you have specific questions on an activity or region. In the upcoming months, we’re also going to reconfigure the Go Play section of the blog, changing it from a Q&A type of format to a reference using my 20 years of content. Click on a certain section and you’ll get a wealth of information from all my articles and books on the best outdoor recreation in that area. Thanks again for checking in!

Steve Jermanok

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TripAdvisor’s Not So Trusted Travel Advice

TripAdvisor, which bills itself as the world’s most trusted travel advice, just came out with their listing of the Top 10 Beach & Sun Destinations in the World. Number one on the list is Providenciales, otherwise known as Provo, in the Turks & Caicos. What a joke! I last went to Provo to write a scuba diving story on this Caribbean locale for Islands Magazine. Except for a sublime stretch of beach that was crowded with many overpriced hotels, I found the place to be another one of those scruffy islands in the Caribbean with no mountains, no waterfalls, no tropical allure, no beauty. It’s a culturally void locale where you can pop into the local bar and watch Monday Night Football on TV and feel like you’re back in the States. In fact, my favorite part of the trip was actually leaving the island and going underwater on a far more enchanting dive.

Number five on that same list is Myrtle Beach. This is one of the top beach destinations in the world?! Are you freaken kidding me?! Then there are two locales in Mexico, one in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, San Diego. Sure, they threw in the Cook Islands, Boracay, Philippines, and Byron Bay, Australia, but these are also bizarre choices. The first article I ever sold was on the Cook Islands, so it remains a nostalgic place for me. There’s a nice island trek across Rarotonga, but the landscape is not even in the same league as other South Pacific locales, like the mind-blowing verdant volcanic landscape of Bora Bora or any island in the Marquesas, French Polynesia. As for Byron Bay, it’s a popular place to hang for celebrities, but it can’t compete with the beaches north of Brisbane, like Coolangatta, or the largest sand island in the world, Fraser Island.

This list wasn’t made by any one who can remotely call themselves the most trusted voice in travel.  Judging from the list of locales, many of which are easy flights from the Northeast, I think it was written by some editor in the corporate offices of TripAdvisor in Boston, who has rarely traveled farther than Fenway Park. TripAdvisor is best used as a reference for hotels once you know exactly where you are going. I would never use them as expert opinion to find a stunning beach locale. Instead toss this list in the garbage and take my trusted expert advice, culled from over 20 years of being a professional travel writer. If you want one of the top beach and sun destinations in the world, start with Capetown, Folegandros, Greece, Kas, Turkey, the Gold Coast north of Brisbane, the Big Island of Hawaii, Savusavu, Fiji, Bahia, Brazil, Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, the Seychelles, and yes, Bora Bora!
 

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A Pleasure to Meet Chief Mi’Sel Joe on the Way to Miawpukek

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

Early on in the Adventure Canada circumnavigation of Newfoundland, I found myself sitting next to Chief Mi’Sel Joe, the Saquamaw and Administrative Chief of the Mi’kmaq Grand Council, First Nations community of Miawpukek (Conne River). In preparation for our visit to Miawpukek along the southern coast of Newfoundland, he was spending a few days on board, consistent with his public role in presenting a better understanding of the Mi’kmaq people.

Mi’Sel Joe was born in Miawpukek into a strong Mi’kmaq family; both his grandfather and uncle held the office of hereditary Saqamaw. Since 1973, he has been involved in First Nation Politics, first as a Councilor, and, after the death of his uncle, Chief William Joe, in 1982, he became Traditional Saqamaw and the Newfoundland District Chief for the Mi’kmaq Grand Council. Mi’Sel Joe is committed to preserving the language, culture and traditions of his people, and also to Miawpukek’s economically self-sufficient mandate. Around 800 people live on the reserve, with over 2,000 people living away, and businesses (together with a commercial fishery) lead to zero unemployment. A brand-new school for grades K4-12 opened in September 2017.
 
Last year, Mi’Sel Joe was appointed a member of the Order of Canada "for his leadership in developing and enhancing the well-being and financial vitality of the Miawpukek First Nation." It was an honor to meet him, to visit Miawpukek, and to learn more about how this vibrant First Nations community can be a model. 
 
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Stowe Mountain Lodge Continues to Evolve and Impress

One of the main reasons I gave Stowe top billing in this month’s Yankee Magazine cover story on New England’s top winter towns is due to the creation of Stowe Mountain Lodge. The most sybaritic ski-in/ski-out resort in New England, the 312-room Stowe Mountain Lodge has the feel of a ski lodge in Jackson Hole, especially when you enter the lobby with its towering two-story high ceiling. The resort uses indigenous wares everywhere you look, so there’s real Vermont birch twisting around the columns and Lake Champlain marble on stairs leading to the après-ski bar, Hourglass. They have been on a serious building spree since their inception, creating 36 holes of golf, a stylish spa with heated outdoor pool in winter that rewards you with views of the mountain you just conquered, and the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center. 
 
Having just spent the weekend with the family at the resort, I was excited to see the latest changes. A skating rink has opened behind the property near a branch of the popular Burlington creperie, Skinny Pancake. Behind the skating rink, construction workers were hard at work atop a new building that when complete in March will feature a climbing wall and recreation center for kids, along with 19 new condominiums (all sold out). Next door is another new wooden building with large stone chimney in the center that will soon transform into a wine bar. On Saturday afternoon after a day of skiing, kids were making s’mores around fire pits outside as adults swigged their Switchback Ales at the Hourglass bar. The place was a buzz of excitement as a world class ski-in/ski-out resort should be. 
 
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Say No Mas to Cancun

n 1974, a team of Mexican government computer analysts picked a long sliver of land on the Atlantic shoreline as the country’s next Acapulco. The powdery white sands and turquoise waters, separated from the mainland by a lagoon were ripe for development.  Sheraton, Hilton, and Marriott swiftly built their hotels, soon joined by upscale Ritz-Carlton and the flashy Le Meridien, and Americans took the bait wholeheartedly. Today, Cancun is the number one tourist destination in Mexico. Sadly, however, the Mexicans catered far too much to their northern neighbors. With a Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Café, Outback Steak House, and a McDonald’s or shopping mall on every other block, the 14-mile-long Zona Hotelera (Hotel Zone) looks much more like Miami Beach than any Mexican village. In fact, the Cancun version of the Miami Herald arrives at your hotel doorstep each morning. Roads are often flooded and prices for dinner are exorbitant in a country known for its affordability. 

 
But what really upsets me about Cancun is that a mere hour’s drive is the authentic Yucatan. The mega-resort sprawl on the coast leads to Playa del Carmen, once a sleepy outpost favored by European backpackers and scuba divers. You’ll have to hit the ruins and village of Akumal before you can snag a bungalow on the beach that feels genuine. If you really want to savor a slice of the Yucatan rich with history and culture, head inland to Merida. Here, you’ll find the oldest cathedrals on the North American continent, even a mangrove swamp that is home to a colony of pink flamingoes. South of Merida is some of Mexico’s finest Mayan ruins on the Puuc Route. The rounded pyramid at your first stop, Uxmal, stands majestically on high ground. Kabah is known for its almost maniacal façade of 250 Chaac sculptures that line one wall. Walk past the wild turkeys and brilliant red birds in the forest of Sayil to reach its grand palace. Whatever you do, don’t waste your time in that Disneyesque version of Mexico, Cancun.
 

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