Luxury Travel Review
Exuma excellent for island and beach getaway
Sugar Beach Villa
We were recently in Exuma, one of the out islands of The Bahamas, for a little rest and relaxation. This sleepy chain of small islands had been mostly undiscovered until a few years ago when luxury tourism in the form of exclusive villa communities and a Four Seasons property with a spa and casino onsite opened shop. Now they’re all the rage. And, with good reason.
The Exuma islands are a stone’s throw from South Florida making them easily accessible. It took us much less time door to door from South Florida to reach our rental villa on Little Exuma, the furthest east of the islands, than it has taken us to reach any island in the Caribbean. For more on the charms of Exuma and a fabulous rental villa go to Exuma and Sugar Beach Villa.
Kagga Kamma adds quad bike safaris to activities
Kagga Kamma quad bike*
Kagga Kamma, a wilderness area south of the well known Cederberg mountains in South Africa, recently began offering guests quad bike safaris. A popular weekend getaway for visitor and residents of Cape Town (three hours drive away), it’s near the Ceres fruit growing.
The bikes allow guests to explore parts of the reserve that are inaccessible to normal vehicles. A special track leads visitors to remote rock 200-year old painting sites and scenic places off the beaten path. To learn more about the property read our article at Kagga Kamma
*Photo courtesy Kagga Kamma
New Zealand avocado oil delicious – and good for you
Olivado avocado oil
Photo: Olivado
According to the promotional materials avocado oil is accused of having the highest level of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats in comparison to other oils; and high levels of alpha and beta-carotene, which protect against heart disease and cancer.
It has vitamins and minerals and a generous dose of vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant; twice the amount of lutein as olive oil, which protects against macular degeneration and blindness; valuable omega-3 fatty acids, which help lower blood cholesterol; ounce-per-ounce, it is said to rank highest in monounsaturated fat, vitamin E, folate, potassium, magnesium, lutein, Beta-Sitosterol, and glutathione.
It is made in New Zealand and available in Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States. That all sounded good. What we wanted to know was, did it taste good?
We tried cold pressed Olivado Extra Virgin Avocado Oil by itself with a bite of French bread, in salads blending it with balsamic vinegar and with baked fish and baked herbed potatoes. It is light with a distinctive herbal flavor. Delicious!
U.S. online travel consumer market largest, poised for growth
Online leisure travel growth in 2005
Graphic: eMarketer.com
New York, NY — According to a recent eMarketer study, the U.S. is the global leader in online travel expenditures. Its leisure and non-corporate travel consumers will spend $122.4 billion by 2009, up from $64.9 billion last year, eMarketer projects in its new report, “Online Travel Worldwide: A Mosaic of Separate Markets.”
European travelers spent $35.5 billion online in 2005. And, the Asia-Pacific region, now one-quarter the size of the U.S. market, reaped $15.9 billion in 2005. It is expected to show quick growth in upcoming years.
Demographic studies of travelers in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific region all show the emergence of an older generation of travelers, Baby Boomers (ages 45 to 60), who are healthy, adventurous and affluent, as well as Internet savvy.
“Online travel distributors and marketers who pay attention to these customers and design travel offers matching their interests and needs will reap rewards,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer’s senior analyst and author of the report.
The U.S. is the world’s largest and most mature travel market. Growth is slowing down in the U.S. At the same time, Europe, U.K., France and Germany are approaching maturity, while Southern and Eastern Europe have untapped potential.
The four fastest-growing travel markets over the next four years are China, South Korea, India and Japan. China, with projected travel spending growth of 18.3 percent to 2010, will rise from seventh place to fourth place in personal and business travel spending among the world’s 16 largest economies.
Market research company eMarketer conducts analysis of trends related to e-business, online marketing and emerging technologies. eMarketer aggregates and analyzes data from over 2,000 sources and brings it together in a suite of services offering. For online comfort and luxury travel reviews, visit SimonandBaker.com
Intel survey: vacationers taking, thinking of taking laptops
Photo: Intel
Santa Clara, California — Laptops join swimsuits and sunblock at the top of this summer’s packing list for vacationers, according to the “Intel Unwired Travel” survey(1) released recently by Intel Corporation, the well known computer chip maker.
The survey of U.S. adult computer users commissioned by Intel and conducted by Harris Interactive® reveals that approximately four out of 10 (38 percent) respondents or their families have taken their laptops on vacation and more than half (53 percent) are likely to take a laptop on a future vacation(2).
The top three uses of laptops for vacationers aren’t clearly work-related. The most popular uses were checking or sending personal email (79 percent), entertainment (60 percent) and finding information for vacation planning and activities (48 percent).
Consumers have come to rely on the benefits of an on-the-go, unwired lifestyle on a daily basis. When they travel on vacation they seem to desire the same convenience and freedom.
(1) “A Study about Laptops on Vacations,” an Intel-sponsored online omnibus survey conducted by Harris Interactive® in June 2006.
This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Intel among 2,689 adult computer users (aged 18 and over) within the United States between June 9 and June 13, 2006. Figures for region, age within gender, education, household income and race/ethnicity were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. The data were also weighted on the basis of amount of time spent using a computer (in hours per week).
With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,689 adults one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points. Sampling error for the sub-sample of those who have taken a laptop on vacation (n= 1,252) is +/- 4 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
(2) Fifty-three percent of U.S. adult computer users indicated they are “very likely,” “likely” or “somewhat likely” to take a laptop computer with them on a future vacation.
New photography book showcases hidden Venice
VenicExposed cover
Photo: Contrasto
Who can show off Venice better than a Venetian? Venice born Luca Campigotto presents an insightful nighttime vision of the Venetian lagoon in a new photographic book featuring 65 black and white photographs due out this summer.
In the 120-page book titled VenicExposed (Contrasto, $50) he juxtaposes familiar tourist images of Venice with a noirish perception of the Marghera zone, an industrial district of docks and commerce rarely visited by outsiders. The photos showcase a quiet Venice tourists rarely see because of the locations and the time of night. The result is dreamlike and realistic at the same time. It invites the viewer to visit or revisit Venice in search of these black and white night visions.
“I believe that my images want to speak of places without time, or where time has stopped. Perhaps, a desperate and almost unconscious attempt to take possession of eras in which it was not possible to live. If you look at the photographs, especially the souvenir pictures, basically it is just this that happens: we look at things and persons that we cannot get back. I believe that photography is the supreme tool of nostalgia.”
Campigotto, known in Italy for his landscape photography, treats landscapes as theatre sets. He began his career by dedicating himself to social photographic essays and landscape photography. His work, exhibited in Italy and abroad, is part of private and public collections.
