Key West, Florida – “Quaint” Is the Word of the Day

Bright and early Easter Monday, stocked with water, soda, coffee and breakfast sandwiches we set our sights on Key West from Ft. Lauderdale. After much debate of whether to take 95 or the Turnpike to Route 1 (the often 2 lane highway that takes you from Miami to the Southernmost Point), we settled on the Turnpike. Either way would have been fine, my suggestion is take a look at the traffic reports and go with whichever one looks clear.

TRAVEL TIP: When vacationing to Key West, or any of the Keys, you have several airport choices. Ft Lauderdale, Miami, or 2 airports within the keys: Key West International or Florida Keys Marathon Airport. Ft Lauderdale will 9 times out of 10 give you the best price from anywhere in the country, but leaves you with the longest drive. Keep in mind most find the drive through the Keys a destination in itself, so if you think you’ll enjoy a scenic 3.5 hr drive…skip the more expensive flights into the keys and rent a car from either Miami or Ft Lauderdale.

There are over 4500 Keys, some of which include Marathon Key, Scout Key, Long Key, Grassy Key and of course Key Largo. The views along the drive are supreme, but most of the 180 miles consists of a 2 lane highway which makes the drive a little more stressful when you’re stuck behind someone driving slower than you’d like. But with Key West as your ultimate destination, we just sat back and relaxed, knowing the beautiful weather, views and drinks that awaited us.

We decided on a Bed and Breakfast on the southern end of Duval street, the main street that goes through town, called Avalon. It was the definition of quaint and a perfect place for us and Brian’s parents.

Definition of Quaint: Charmingly odd, attractively unusual, especially in an old-fashioned way.

Everywhere we went in Key West, we found ourselves using the word “quaint” to describe our surroundings; our bed and breakfast, the restaurants, Duval Street, etc. We also found the description “quaint” on handbags, towels and mugs; so we are not the only ones who felt this way.

We also found that a great deal of European families around town, which was quite surprising considering Key West with all its bars busy nightlife and liberal nature, is not the most family friendly Florida Key. We did our own bar crawl of our favorites, kicking it off with Fogarty’s and the Flying Monkey drinks

Next was the Earnest Hemmingway’s favorite, Sloppy Joes, followed by Hog’s Breath and eventually Pat Croce’s Rum Barrel for dinner, watched the sun set at Mallory Square and hit up an Irish bar for after dinner cocktails and a country musician / comedian for entertainment.

The next morning, Brian’s parents walked across the street from the Avalon to The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory which they raved about! Check for coupons which are everywhere, and you should be able to find at least $2 off an adult ticket. http://www.keywestbutterfly.com/

Meanwhile, Brian and I got the four of us tickets to the World Famous Key West Conch Train Tour http://www.conchtourtrain.com/index.htm. The train leaves every 20 minutes from several locations in Key West, and zig zags through historic Key West. The amount of history, stories and get commentary they pack into the tour is truly amazing. The only time the train drivers were silent was during a few multi-block quiet zones. We hopped on and hopped off a few times, picked up a pair of Kinos http://www.kinosandalfactory.com/, handmade flip flops made for men, women and children and only cost $14 on average! I’ve had my pair for 2+ years and while they are worn in, they are still going strong!

A few more Flying Monkey drinks, shopping excursions and a brief afternoon rest back at the Avalon, we made our way to The Half Shell for our seafood dinner. http://www.halfshellrawbar.com/index.html

Everyone choose a different seafood entrée including fish and chips and crab and shrimp, as well as a few appetizers. My personal favorite was the conche ceviche! Sufficiently stuffed, we walked back to the Avalon were we sat on our front porch recapping the day and all the fun we had…sad to have to leave the next morning for the 7 1/2 hour drive to Tampa.

Florida - Part 1

Thank you US Airways for the First Class upgrade once again! Check in was one of the shortest waits in our travel history, as was the security line with the ability to go through the priority line. Unfortunately Brian’s luck brought him to be chosen for the random security search and pat down, and due to my floor length sundress I was patted down as well. My thoughts darted off to the show “Locked up Abroad” where women wore the same outfit I was wearing, only difference is they were carrying 10+ pounds of some kind of white powdery drug. Meanwhile my purse was also being run through the x-ray machine 3x plus a manual search. Surprise surprise, nothing turned up, and we walked off to grab some breakfast before boarding the plane.


I love the US Airways magazines that are offered in the airplane seat holders, they are great travel and business reads. With the US Airways hub being in Philadelphia, it’s not surprising to see all the features of the area, this particular magazine featured Brian’s home hometown of Skippack and a few featured restaurants in Philadelphia. It also included a good deal of golf courses around the US…which I’m not particularly interested in but I’m sure a lot are.

While visiting family in Ft Lauderdale, we decided to stay for the second time at the Ramada: Hollywood Beach Resort in Hollywood Beach a bit south of Ft Lauderdale. The resort itself is pretty outdated but the rooms are clean, prices are good and the resort Beach Bar is well worth the return. We did however upgrade our room category from our last stay to a 1 bedroom suite in hopes that the rooms would be a bit more insulated and quiet in the evenings to promote a better night sleep. At check-in it turns out the only suite room available was a 2 floor loft with the 2nd floor on the penthouse level. It couldn’t have been any quieter! The 1st floor consisted of a bathroom, closet, kitchenette and living area. Upstairs another bathroom closet and bedroom, and an ocean view to top it all off!

A large resort pool, many shops and resort bar O’Malley’s it’s all you need for a nice long weekend vacation. The surrounding area of Hollywood isn’t the most glamorous, but with O’Malley’s there’s no reason to stray too far. We haven’t tried any of the restaurants in the area, but we passed plenty of Seafood Restaurants right by the water which I’m sure are worth a try. Parking was $18/valet or $15 self park for 24hrs. $2/hr for short term parking, or street parking if you’re able to find anything.

Weekend in New York City

Our friend Katja is here visiting from Barcelona and we were very excited to join her in a weekend trip to NYC a few days ago. We chose to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Chelsea, just about 4 blocks from Penn Station. We were also half a block from the 6th Ave Street Fair which spanned 23rd – 32nd streets.

The fair was filled with local artists, crafters and amazing food to name a few. We enjoyed some corn on the cob, pastries, and Spanish Rice, pork and empanadas...yum!!! Katja bought several t-shirts from Rock Star Revolution , who creates and sells t-shirts with original designs, hand drawn and hand screened. We also ran into friends Meghan and Kyle Weber at their table for Ivy Haus Designs , where Meghan was showcasing her vintage and handmade jewelry line. Katja grabbed a handmade necklace and pair of earrings, while my outfit was missing some accessories so I went with a vintage piece and wore it that afternoon!


After a short nap, we had a few cocktails at the hotel bar (any house drink $5 happy hour special) then it was out to meet friends Heather and Kim for more drinks. They had just seen the matinee show of Phantom of the Opera so we met at Times Square and decided on the Hard Rock. Sure it may be a touristy, but it was close, convenient and not priced too bad either! Heather and Kim left for the train around 9pm and we headed off to dinner at Mezzaluna, an amazing little Italian pizzeria Meghan and Kyle had recommended to us earlier that day.
They had mentioned it was small, but thank goodness we went when we did because there was only seating for about 8-10 people! The atmosphere was great and super cozy and very friendly staff. Calamari appetizer, prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella, one veal meatball and pasta and 2 gourmet pizzas later...and a few beers and glasses of wine thrown in there...we were sufficiently stuffed and decided to skip the cab and walk the 28 blocks back to the hotel where we rested up for another full day of exploring the city the following morning.

A quick stop for coffee and a small breakfast, we hopped on the metro to the World Trade Center and Wall street. We then walked across Brooklyn bridge, took a few stops for photos and Katja picked up another hand drawn t-shirt.
By the time we made it to Brooklyn, our feet were begging for a break so we took a seat on a park bench and took out our iphone and used the “AroundMe” app to find a nice restaurant for lunch. At random, we chose The Horse Tavern and it turned out to be a great choice! Being Sunday afternoon the Tavern was offering a special Sunday Brunch menu including an assortment of mimosas and bloody mary’s, but Brian and I decided on a locally brewed Pilsner. Everyone’s meal with delicious and again the service was excellent! On our way out we showed our inner tourist as we asked for directions to the closes metro and snapped a picture of the restaurant from across the street.

We picked up our luggage from the hotel and walked the short 4 blocks to Penn Station. Even though our final destination was Philadelphia, we took the train to and from Hamilton NJ train station which was only $15 per person (one way) opposed to around $100 out of Philly. A good option if you’re open to a bit of a car ride in addition to the train.

All in all a great trip to the Big Apple! We can’t wait to go back and try out even more restaurants, bars and hotels in other areas of the city!!

Where did all the Service Go?

Online Discounted Vacation suppliers can be very appealing and hard to stay away from. Websites like CheapCaribbean.com, Travelzoo.com and even Expedia or Travelocity offer amazing and sometimes too good to be true vacation deals. They lore you in with headlines such as "Jamaica: $299 for 5 days all inclusive plus flight!", but after you add taxes and fees, transfers, flight from the city you actually live in and choose dates that work with your schedule, you're now looking at upwards of $800 per person. Even so, that's still quite a deal! So where's the catch? The resort pictures look nice, the room category is garden view but you're okay with that. So what's missing? One simple word. Service.

Basing your vacation decisions mainly on price is very risky business. I'm not saying any vacation you book through a discounted supplier will turn into an episode of "When Vacations Attack", but the odds are exponentially higher. You can't argue the fact that online searching is the #1 way to get the best deal available, but are you really willing to give up the personal service and peace of mind, just to save a few bucks?

Let's start with the hotel selection:

On Your Own: Have you ever tried looking for an all inclusive resort in Mexico? There are hundreds! And at first glance each one looks just about the same as the next, so you'll probably end up going off of how pretty the pictures look on the website combined with the cheapest price. Or worse yet, you'll get so overwhelmed with all of your choices you'll settle on a resort by playing ini mini mini mo.

Did you know? Resorts know how you booked, and know how much you paid for your room. Believe it or not, the service you receive will often be less than the person one room over if you booked through a discounted supplier and they did not.

With JetSetPilot: By contacting a travel consultant like JetSetPilot we'll be sure to choose a resort that fits your needs, and at the same time we'll keep your budget in mind. We get to know our travelers, what they enjoy and what is important to them in their vacation. This allows us to weigh flight and resort options, and can even lead us to recommending a completely different vacation destination that our clients end up enjoying even more!

Did you know? Resorts want travel agents to continue sending their clients to them, therefore we often have access to those little extras you otherwise wouldn't be offered on other online travel sites, and we pass these offers along to you! In most cases we can get you a room upgrade, concierge service or spa credits all at no cost to you.

How about flight schedules?

On Your Own: You've heard great things about the island of Antigua in the Caribbean and check out a few of the popular online booking engines, Expedia and Orbitz, you find the best price and a decent hotel and book it. But how do you know if you got the best available deal/option? If you don't follow the travel industry news closely, you may not know that American Airlines (AA) only sells their tickets in two places online. AA.com and Priceline.com. You also probably did not know that AA is the 9 times out of 10 the best airline to get you to Antigua, which most likely means you overpaid for your vacation.

Did you know? When traveling internationally your name on the airline ticket must match your passport exactly, including middle names. Most airlines don't let you change the name after you book and it can be a huge pain to try and fix, especially without the support of an agent or consultant.

With JetSetPilot: We have the scoop on all major airlines, how to get the best flight options and unlike the Online Suppliers, we have no problem booking you that AA flight with the resort we previously decided on earlier in our consultation. We're also are up to date on all travel related news including new regulations on passports, carry-on, baggage fees, etc. We save you time, energy and stress by providing you with everything you need to know to make your trip as smooth as possible.

Transfers or Travel Insurance?

On Your Own: Almost every discounted vacation supplier offers some type of transfer service and travel insurance, but how do you know if you can count on them? We heard and read about countless unhappy customers who were stranded at airports when their transfer service didn't arrive and others who were denied refund of their trip when they had purchased "cancel for any reason" insurance.

With JetSetPilot: We only provide our clients with reliable and trusted transfer companies and insurance companies. Our cancel for any reason insurance, truly is cancel for ANY reason. No questions asked. And if there is ever a problem with any of the services we include in your vacation, we're here to make it right. We'll be on the phone immediately to rectify any unlikely issues you have along the way.

Did you know? Want to take a private car or even a helicopter transfer to your hotel? Sure, we can do that! Try researching companies to get you the private transfer of your liking and it could take hours of browsing websites and checking reviews. Or leave it to your travel consultant and we'll take care of it in the same amount of time it would have taken if you went with the standard group van.

Still think saving a few bucks is worth the risk? Booking online is accessible and convenient, but next time you begin planning a vacation think about what you are really getting when you book this way. You may save money, but you certainly aren't saving time or peace of mind. As the old saying goes… you get what you pay for.

First Class All The Way To Mexico!

Great friends of ours, Russ and Katy, honeymooned at the Excellence Riviera Cancun Resort in Mexico 2 years ago and decided to return for their “babymoon” this winter, as Katy is expecting their first child this coming June. Brian and I were looking for a quick getaway, part vacation and part research, so when Russ and Katy opened the invitation for friends to join them we jumped at the chance!

We were looking forward to our winter getaway for months, and as travel agents we highly recommend Excellence Resorts for honeymoons and adult couple/friends vacations, so we were especially excited to experience firsthand their Riviera Cancun resort.

The week before our vacation was a busy one, both work related and otherwise, so when it was 2 days before our departure it was an unexpected surprise when I received an email from our airline, US Airways. After much jetsetting to Europe this past summer and fall, I became a US Airways Preferred Silver Member. One of the benefits of a preferred member is starting 48 hours before departure if all first class tickets aren’t sold, US Airways will upgrade their preferred members and their travel companions. Lucky for us, my email confirmed we were in fact upgraded! Russ, also a preferred member ,was upgraded as well so on Saturday morning dressed in our best we all enjoyed a first class flight with a breakfast and cocktails, and arrived in Cancun by 10:30am.



Our transfers were provided by American Express, and finding them in the crowd of people and other transfer companies was no trouble at all. There were clear signs, friendly agents, air-conditioned vans that weren’t packed to the brim with people.

Excellence has a total of 4 resorts throughout Mexico and the Caribbean. We stayed at the Excellence Riviera Cancun Resort, and the experience was absolutely amazing! Champagne upon arrival, a smooth check-in, and in Russ and Katy’s case they had chosen a room category which included their Excellence Club so they enjoyed VIP check-in and a virgin Piña Colada for Katy :). By 1pm we were all enjoying the cocktail of the day and sun at the bar by the main pool.



The resort had a total of 6 pools with your choice of quiet and serene or loud and exciting. Either way, there was always a chair or pool floaty available (although some people hoarded the floaties). Daily activities included water aerobics, volleyball, and poker to name a few. Personally, I preferred a nice mojito and a chair that was actually located in the pool.

The food top notch! A lot of all inclusive resorts do not have food to rave about, but each and every meal we had was fantastic including the daily breakfast buffet. Restaurants did not take reservations so often there was a wait, but that’s okay because it gave us an excuse to grab another cocktail! The last night we enjoyed a 5 course meal at the onsite Hibachi restaurant.



We didn’t have to leave the resort until 11:30am the day we left, so we were able to soak in some last rays of sun and enjoy a stroll down the beach. We were upgraded to first class again, this time on a 757 which has the seats that actually recline with the foot rests. The meal wasn’t as great as our breakfast on the way down, but I’m not complaining!

All in all a fantastic vacation, and Excellence is here to stay on our list of recommended all inclusives in the Caribbean or Mexico. The service is amazing for everyone, regardless if you're celebrating a honeymoon, anniversary or just celebrating escaping the winter weather back home!

The Vacation Hat

I was sitting at the airport last month and saw a girl sitting near me with this hat on her lap.

Look familiar? You've probably seen something similar for sale at any and every semi-tropical destination. It's the infamous vacation hat! Varying in shape, size and color, sooner or later everyone will give in and purchase one.

Oh, you may hold out for a while, even go through several vacations without purchasing one, but eventually everyone ends up giving in and buys their very own vacation hat. It's one of those things you have to have at the time, but it's really a very impractical purchase. You can only wear it while on vacation (and the Jersey shore does not count), you can't pack it in your suitcase or it will loose it's shape so you're forced to carry it with your carryon, and it will disappear into the back of your closet so that it's nowhere to be found when you go to pack it for your next trip. Which inevitably means you'll end up buying another hat once you arrive at your next destination.

I've been to many destinations where this hat has been made popular, and I finally purchased my very own in Greece on our honeymoon this summer. I was almost talked into an "authentic" vacation hat for €65, but held off until I found similar version for only €15.

So if you've ever thought about adding a new hat to your wardrobe, I do recommend a nice vacation hat. You somehow feel a little more relaxed while sitting under a vacation hat sipping on a sugary cocktail, and it will be a perfect accessory to your other vacation wear of sarogns and cross stitched beach bags. But be aware, if you decide to wear this hat in public back home, expect to hear whispers and see smirks (especially if you wear it around me). There's a time and place for everything folks :)

Upgraded Airline Tickets...Are they really worth it?

This is the second time I unknowingly booked a “Premium” ticket from Paris to Barcelona. Mind you, this “Premium” ticket is not first class and is not business class. It’s the lowest of priority seating you can get, and as far as the actual seats on the plane it just means you’re within the front 15 rows and get a slightly upgraded meal. The seats themselves however are exactly the same as Economy. No word on how much more this “Premium” ticket cost from Economy but I will tell you what perks it offers.

1. You skip the long lines at check-in and security and go right through at a specially marketed section for priority ticket holders. On the perk scale I’ll give this 5 stars.

2. A “Priority” tag on your luggage. Because so many people are considered “Priority” on one level or another, this tag does absolutely nothing and I’m convinced the workers in charge of transporting the bags ignore it completely. Both flights I was close to the last person to retrieve my Priority Tagged Bag. Perk Scale = 0 stars





3. A ticket into the Air France Lounge. Perk Scale = 5 (If you actually use it). During my first trip I couldn’t actually find it to even considering going in, but this time my gate was situated right next to the escalator leading down to the lounge. I thought about it, and call me crazy, but I kind of want to save the experience of the lounge area until I actually deserve it. I’m 26, on a multi-city European business trip experiencing top rate hotels, food, even went to a bbq in the mountains outside of Barcelona at what had to be a 3+ million dollar home. I feel incredibly lucky to be experiencing the things I am, so why not save this one little thing until I actually book and pay for my own first class ticket. A real first class ticket. Similar to my opinion on Louis Vuitton handbags. Sure I can go out and buy one (and a lot of people do), but I want to save this purchase for a time when I can really afford to go drop 1-2k on something and not feel it in the pocket. I’m confident the day will come when I’ll walk into an airline lounge holding my Louis Vuitton…but that day wasn’t today.

Round 3! - Paris & Barcelona

I’m back for another round of jet-setting to Paris and Barcelona! First it was 3 days in the outskirts of Paris, same hotel as last only this time I’ve found several English speaking employees so that has been comforting. (no problem with the toilet this time…knock on wood!).

I’m really starting to feel comfortable here in the Paris office; I’ve gotten used to the schedule and [some of] the people are really nice! Each morning around 9-930am everyone meets in the break room for a morning chat and cup of café. Lunch between noon and 1pm, with most people taking the 5min walk to a small sandwich and salad shop in the nearby mall. 2pm sharp is the second café break. I’ve realized it is not really common to have more than these two cups (or shot glasses) of café per day. It’s more of a social thing and not a means to get a caffeine high, which is a major disappointment to me.

The cups and spoons used for the café are not disposable so each day I would wash my assigned dishes and found my completely random fact for the day. Coffee in the US stains cups, mugs, teeth…you get the idea. The coffee I’ve had in Paris washes clean with just a little water and doesn’t even need soap! So what exactly is the difference between our coffee and theirs? Does this mean their coffee is more healthy? I’ll have to do some research and get back to you…

One of the ladies at the office brought in some homemade canele de bordeaux. It is traditional French breakfast cake that was very tasty and a perfect companion to the morning café. The consistency probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, as it’s very “French” and reminded me of a thicker, baked crème Brule.

I also went out to dinner with a group of the office IT guys, one local French and 3 Spanish who were in town. What an eclectic group we were! The common language was English (lucky for me!) but everyone had heavy accents and were often struggling to find their words. It was a very enjoyable evening as we all got to know one another, discussing our families and cultural background, and most importantly we didn’t talk about work at all! These trips are very work centric, so I night away from colleagues is never a bad thing (sorry guys!).

Tomorrow I fly off to Barcelona, unfortunately the weekend weather doesn’t look promising so I may have to grab an umbrella and spend the days shopping indoors rather than sightseeing. Fine with me!! I actually packed light this time so I would have an excuse to go shopping, and would have room in my bag for the flight back!!

ME Restaurant - Barcelona

While I’ve had very little time to experience Barcelona as a tourist, just living and experiencing the day to day as a native (living out of a hotel) has been quite an experience. When I have some more time to write toward the back end of the trip I will definitely go into detail on the cultural differences between the US and Spain, France, etc. For now, I’d like to stick to the topic of food!

It’s been work, eat, drink, sleep, repeat for one full week. Every lunch and dinner has been fantastic; I’ve had not one complaint. And the dinner we had last night was no exception!

We walked to a place called ME just about 4 blocks from our hotel. Some of my co-workers had dined here on previous business trips and they had been raving about this chocolate desert for days, so we had to go try and get a table. After about 10 minutes of negotiating with the owner, they finally let us in even without a reservation. The food, atmosphere, and service was top notch and the owner actually sat down with us when we ordered to answer any questions we had about the food, and then again at the end of the evening. He was super personable, even to the table of 6 who showed up without a reservation, so I’m sure the service is spectacular on any day.

I couldn’t decide if I should go for the octopus starter or entrée, so I ordered both. And I wasn’t disappointed! We each had a desert; I had goat cheese cheesecake and stole a bit of someone else’s chocolate desert which more than half the table ordered. We also wiped out the restaurant of Albarino wine…we drank 6 bottles!

This honestly was one of the best restaurant’s I’ve ever been to, and the prices weren’t unreasonable. If you ever get the chance to visit Barcelona, this is an absolute MUST!

For information on ME Restaurant, I found this utube video including a tour of the restaurant and interview with the owners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqIxvptawMo

I also found this New York Times Review:
Away from the crowds in the popular L’Eixample area you’ll find this cutting-edge and affordable restaurant, a seven-month-old hybrid of New Orleans, Vietnamese and Catalan cooking created by Thang Pham.

ME Restuarant
Carrer de Paris, 162, Barcelona, 8036
93/4194-933
www.catarsiscuisine.com


ENJOY!

8pm = early bird special

It’s no joke, dinner doesn’t start in Spain until 9pm. Tapas, yes, you can certainly enjoy a tapas dinner at 7pm or earlier but if you’re looking for a real dinner with starter, entrée and desert, don’t expect those restaurants (authentic Spanish restaurants) to open their doors before 9pm.

Last evening we worked in the office until 8:15pm, dropped off our bags at the hotel and headed out for dinner. We arrived at our destination around 8:45 and were the first patrons to walk through the door. At 9:05pm, the doors flew open and tables were full shortly after. How is this possible? How can people afford to have a full dinner, including desert and coffee (and at least 1 bottle of wine) starting at 9pm or later? Simple! Their day prior to dinner looked like this:

9:00 am – employees arrive in the office
10:30am 11:00am– employees leave premises to break for breakfast
1:30-2:30pm – employees leave premises to break for lunch
5pm sharp – employees leave premises for the day
At least 1-2 times within the day, employees gather for coffee and/or a game of cards.

When I find the time, I’d like to do research on the average life expectancy in Europe and I would put money on the average being at least 5 years higher than that of the United States. Stress levels, not to mention cancer and terminal illness, should also be significantly lower. As a psychology student in school, I would love to do a study on overall happiness of Europeans compared to Americans. Even with working 12+ hours days since I’ve been in Europe, the work-life balance is hard to ignore and the work-hard, play-hard philosophy has certainly been put into practice.

** The restaurant we ate at Monday evening was Market Hotel and was fabulous!! A proper dinner with starter, entrée, desert and wine (2 bottles) for 3 people was a total of 90 Euro (without tip). Be prepared, the entrée doesn’t include much of a side, but the meal itself is wonderful. http://www.markethotel.com.es/
Make reservations if possible, for anytime after 9pm. We called about 6 times throughout the day but nobody ever answered the phone, so we arrived at 8:45pm and they gave us a table anyway.