Travel to Martinique this January with Yogaway Retreats

Guest Post by Amy Perry Basseches

If you are thinking how much you’ll miss summer weather come January, consider heading to Martinique, January 13-20, 2019, for a week of sun, fun, yoga, beaches, snorkeling, good food, and great company. Nonstop flights from JFK and Providence on Norwegian Air are cheap (less than $300 RT). ActiveTravels’ friend Checka Antifonario of Yogaway Retreats is organizing a group which will stay at L’Impératrice Village Résidence Hôtelière in Les Trois Ilets, on the southwestern coast of the island. Still part of France, Martinique is located in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The Cultureist wrote an article last year, "5 Reasons Why Martinique Should Be On Your Bucket List," highlighting the fresh fish, beaches, rum, adventure, and Mount Pelee on the island. Throw in yoga with an instructor we know and love and you’ll have a memorable winter escape. I plan on going and hope to see you there!
 

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WOW, Who Knew?

Guest Post by Amy Perry Basseches
 
It’s hard to believe I’m writing a blog praising an airline. Usually flights are the worst part of my travel adventures. They cost a lot, take a long time, are often delayed and connections missed, offer bad food and service, have cramped seating, and (insert your own complaint here). But WOW Air is an Icelandic company you should check out when next flying from the US or Canada to Europe. My family has used them at least twice, due to cost reasons (they were much cheaper!): once from Boston to Paris, and once from Toronto to Berlin. Both times, all flights went without a hitch. WOW’s base is in Reykjavik, which has got to be one of the easiest and nicest airports to navigate and make connections from. Nearly all of the flights land and depart on time. Sure, WOW is “no frills” (you pay for everything as an add-on), but we purchased extra legroom seats on our Berlin trip and were perfectly comfortable. Tip: pre-buy your meal online; it then comes with wine/beer and a bottle of water (versus paying for the water on board). Currently, WOW operates to a total of 38 destinations in Europe, the US, Canada, and the Middle East. They also offer a “stopover” option if you want to stay in Iceland for a few days before returning home. Let ActiveTravels know if you are interested in visiting Iceland, or anywhere WOW flies. 
 
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A Wonderful Week at the Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall

To celebrate our daughter’s graduation from high school in June, we spent a week at an all-inclusive property in Jamaica. We chose the Iberostar Grand Hotel Rose Hall, an adults-only property only a 20-minute drive from the international airport in Montego Bay. I’ve written extensively about the all-inclusive experience in the Caribbean and Mexico, having stayed at over 30 properties, but this is easily one of the finest. Rooms were spacious, with sunken tub, a fridge stocked with Red Stripe, and a large balcony where you could watch the magical sunset each evening over the expanse of beach and ocean. Connected to two other Iberostar resorts, the beach was long enough to stroll. Granted, we were there in the off-season, but there were more than enough chaise lounge chairs on the beach, with or without umbrellas. The ocean water was heavenly, just the right temperature, which was probably the reason we all got too much sun. All the restaurants surpassed my expectations, serving freshly caught red snapper, shrimp, and copious amounts of jerk chicken. Drinks were plentiful and there was waiter service on the beach, a nice plus (try the Jamaican Smile). We loved the entertainment crew, especially Hashtag and Renee, who were always there with a game to play or story to tell about Jamaica. But most of all I relaxed, reading two books on the beach. What a treat! 

 
I plan on relaxing with my extended family (18 in all) at the Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George the next 4 days. I’ll be back on July 13th. In the meantime, keep active.  
 
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Lawren Harris Finally Goes Solo

When the actor Steve Martin first viewed a painting by Lawren Harris, he mistook it for a work by Rockwell Kent. 

         
“I thought it was the best Rockwell Kent I’ve ever seen,” says Martin, punctuated by his legendary laugh. “It was breathtaking.”
 
That was over 20 years ago and soon Martin was in the home of longtime Harris collector, Ken Thomson, purchasing several of his canvases. When Ann Philbin, director of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, saw these paintings at Martin’s house during dinner one evening, she came up with a “wild and crazy” idea. Showcase the mid-career paintings of Lawren Harris and allow America’s version of a modern-day Renaissance Man, Steve Martin, the opportunity to curate the show. The result is “The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris,” on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston though June 12 after a successful run at the Hammer Museum. The exhibition will next travel to Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario in July and afterwards return the majority of these works back to the their respective Canadian institutions in time for the country’s 150th anniversary celebration in 2017.
 
To read my review of the Lawren Harris show at the MFA, please see the latest issue of Everett Potter’s Travel Report.  
 
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3 Great Things to Do On Vermont’s Lake Champlain in Winter

Fish It
If you think ice fishing means dangling a line on some remote pond while extremities turn numb and lips go blue, you’re in for a big surprise. These days, winter anglers can sit in a heated shanty and watch Super Bowl while checking their lines for any nibbles. February and the March are the two best months for hooking landlocked salmon, northern pike, lake trout and bass on Lake Champlain. Rent a shanty from Captain Gill Gagner for $90 a day or he’ll guide you all day for $200, including all fishing gear.

Kite It
Head to Cape Cod in summer and you’ll no doubt find kitesurfers catching air and zipping across the ocean. Now with the help of a good wind, you can glide on iced-over lakes and snow-covered meadows. Called snowkiting, the sport has its annual powwow, Kitestorm, on February 26th and 27th on Lake Champlain. Come with skis or snowboard, boots, and a helmet, and instructors will attach you to a kite and get you started. If you can’t make it to Burlington over those dates, contact Rachael Miller, owner of Stormboarding, for lessons and equipment.

Coast It
Take cross-country skiing and merge it with ice skating and you get the new phenomenon sweeping across the wild rivers and lakes of New England, nordic skating. Equipped with boots that are more comfortable than typical figure or hockey skates, and blades that glide atop the ice much like a speed skater, this Scandinavian craze lets skaters travel great distances at a much faster speed than cross-country skiing. Try the sport in the town of North Hero on Lake Champlain February 6th or at the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, Vermont, on Sunday mornings in February.
 

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Hong Kong Week–Checking out the Prince Edward Neighborhood of Kowloon

We arrived into Hong Kong at sunrise Sunday morning after a 15½-hour direct flight from Boston on Cathay Pacific (great airline which I’ll delve into further on a later blog). We dropped our bags off at the Intercontinental (soon to be the Regent again) and then took a taxi over the Prince Edward neighborhood. There was already a line at One Dim Sum by the time we arrived. They gave us a menu with checklist to fill out and soon we were dining on the first of many delicious har gow on our trip. Afterwards, we walked over to the nearby Flower Market to see row after row of fresh orchids, exotic fare like proteas, and numerous mandarin orange trees that people purchase to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We bought a cute stuffed animal, a pig to celebrate the Year of the Pig, and then wandered over to the Bird Market, where hundreds of parrots, parakeets, finches, and love birds are for sale. The birds were adorable. The food they ate-buckets of crickets, worms, and other assorted bugs, not so adorable. 

 
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Maine’s North Woods National Monument Is Now a Reality

Today marks the official 100th anniversary of the national park system. To coincide with the centennial, President Obama announced yesterday that Roxanne Quimby’s 87,654 acres located just east of Baxter State Park will make the list as the North Woods National Monument. On Tuesday, Quimby’s nonprofit, Elliotsville Plantation Inc., transferred her ownership to the U.S. Department of the Interior. Long a proponent of creating a national park in Maine’s North Woods, Quimby, the co-founder of Burt’s Bees skin care products, has been a contentious figure in the region ever since I’ve been reporting on Maine. In a Boston Globe Magazine story on the AMC entering the Maine woods in 2004, Quimby’s name came up time and time again. Locals were worried that the AMC would restrict land use for snowmobiling, logging, and hunting. That never happened. Instead, the AMC introduced Maine’s glorious interior of vast forest, mile-high mountains, secluded lakes, and long rambling rivers to thousands of people who never heard of it. This summer I had the privilege of joining forces with Northern Outdoors and Maine Huts & Trails to help promote the Maine woods. If creating a national monument helps to promote the region to the world and finally gives the largest chunk of wilderness in the northeast the recognition it deserves, then I’ll happily celebrate with a pint of Baxter Stowaway IPA. 

 
 
 
  
 

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