Get a Free Day at Disney by Volunteering Your Time
Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World, Orlando (courtesy, Walt Disney News)
Disney has just announced a new "Give a Day, Get a Day" program that will reward up to one million people who volunteer a day of service in participating programs with a free one-day admission ticket to a Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort theme park. The program kicks off next year on January 1, but you can sign up now at www.DisneyParks.com.
Interested in giving back when you travel? Visit Away.com's Volunteer Vacations Guide to learn more.
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August 05, 2009
Beach Bytes: Saturday Night Alive in Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale beach (Mark Lewis/Digital Vision/Getty)
Fort Lauderdale is a popular strip of Florida’s east coast just north of Miami and near the Everglades. I probably don't have to tell you that it's got a reputation for big time fun along its 23 miles of beaches, and has lots of attractions for all ages.
But if you think you’ve been there and done that, it’s time to revisit and see what’s new. On the scene this year is a series of block party-like events every Saturday in August, showcasing new venues and improvements around the business district, which have been created to attract new and returning visitors.
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June 24, 2009
Beach Bytes: Best Beaches for a July 4th Celebration
HAPPY FOURTH!: Holiday decorations at a coastal celebration (Liz Mitchell)
It’s not too late to plan a beach trip for the July 4th weekend, when Independence Day is celebrated in thousands of coastal towns throughout the United States. You’ll find the biggest festivals and warmest welcomes—sometimes hot—during this prime summer holiday when Americans celebrate the birth of their country (or at the very least, celebrate a day off from work!). A few suggestions for events follow, and I would be excited to join any of them for fireworks and festivities.
- Visit the coast of New Hampshire for a unique, historical day of festivities. An American Celebration at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth is a fabulous old-fashioned way to celebrate July 4th, offering an opportunity to experience four centuries of New England life. One of the highlights of a New Hampshire summer, this event includes a children’s bike and wagon parade, games and crafts, historic garden tours, live music, living history, hands-on activities, and lots of food.
- Off the coast of Massachusetts, Nantucket's July 4th Celebration includes face painting, watermelon and pie-eating contests, a dunk tank, children's parades, three-legged races, tug-o-war, music, and a huge water fight. Fireworks set off from Jetties Beach, a family-friendly spot on the North Shore.
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June 22, 2009
Miami's Art Scene
LARGER THAN LIFE: An artist in front of his painting at the ArtCenter/South Florida (Karen Chen)
No one really goes to Miami for the art, do they? It's the beaches, the bars, the booze, and the... bikini-ed babes... that draw hordes to South Beach's golden shores. But as I'm always on the lookout for great places to satisfy my culture craving—even when my main objective is to get a tan—I'm happy to report that Miami's actually got an art scene that is alive and flourishing.
One of the coolest places in South Beach—and one of the coolest places I've stumbled upon in a long time—was the ArtCenter/South Florida on the popular Lincoln Road pedestrian mall. We happened upon the unassuming art depot while strolling along the road looking for a place to eat. If you manage to get away from all the hawkers vying for your business at the restaurants, stop in at these collective artists' studios for a break from the crowds.
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June 03, 2009
Beach Bytes: Discover St. Augustine, Florida
The beach at St. Augustine, Florida (courtesy, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches VCB)
One of my all-time favorite beach locales is St. Augustine, Florida. As the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States, it's an obvious choice for history lovers. But the 42 miles of Atlantic beach outside the historic town invite relaxing walks along the shore, water sports, and a sunny slowdown from our normal hectic lives. The friendly town on this northern strip of Florida’s coast welcomes guests year-round. Here are some of my favorite spots around town for lodging and dining.
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May 26, 2009
Top 10 U.S. Beaches: Dr. Beach's 2009 Picks
POT OF GOLD: Hanalei Bay on Kauai, Hawaii (Thinkstock/Getty)
Florida International University's Dr. Stephen Leatherman, aka Dr. Beach, has released his 2009 list of top beaches (note that past winners are ineligible for inclusion). Here are his top ten beaches:
1. Hanalei Bay (Kauai, Hawaii)
2. Siesta Beach (Sarasota, Florida)
3. Coopers Beach (Southampton, New York)
4. Coronado Beach (San Diego, California)
5. Hamoa Beach (Maui, Hawaii)
6. Main Beach (East Hampton, New York)
7. Cape Hatteras (Outer Banks, North Carolina)
8. Cape Florida State Park (Key Biscayne, Florida)
9. Coast Guard Beach (Cape Cod, Massachusetts)
10. Beachwalker Park (Kiawah Island, South Carolina)
Tell us about your favorites in the comments section. My fave U.S. beach is probably the pristine stretch of sand at the bottom of the road in Carmel (amazing sunsets); outside the U.S.—and this one's way off the beaten track—it's Mogushi Beach in southwestern Japan. (For more of Away.com staffers' far-flung beach favorites, check out our interactive Google Map here.)
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May 13, 2009
The Great Known: Top Three Reasons to Become a Serial Vacationer
LEADER OF THE PACK: On the go at Amelia Island Plantation Resort (Alistair Wearmouth)
My mantra for travel has always been pretty simple: experience as many places as I can and have as much fun as possible while there. So it felt like a total cop-out this year when my wife and I decided to go back to the same beach resort, northeast Florida's Amelia Island Plantation, that we visited with our two kids last April. So much for the mantra. As it turns out, though, there are some easily compelling reasons for returning to a place you already know. Here are the three that stood out most on our recent trip.
1. A Savvy Traveler Is a Penny-Saving Traveler: The down economy is kicking up unreal savings throughout the travel marketplace. We scored a package that shaved $40 off the nightly rate on our two-room condo, plus the resort threw in complimentary bike rentals, kids' club activities, kids' meals, and on-property nature tours. Just knowing what we paid the year before made the decision to book a no-brainer. We also learned from other budgetary missteps last year, including organizing a local taxi service to get us to and from the airport instead of the more expensive hotel shuttle ($60 savings) and doing one big shop at the nearby grocery store instead of shelling out for overpriced lattes and breakfast in the resort eateries (mucho dinero saved).
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May 07, 2009
Greater Fort Lauderdale Really Is Greater
Pompano Beach Pier (courtesy, Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau)
Have you ever been to Pompano Beach? It's one of those waterfront towns, perhaps the quirkiest and most colorful of a string of beach communities that make up Greater Fort Lauderdale. And it is pretty great. It's the kind of Atlantic seaside community that put Florida on the tourism map. It's the kind of place that hard-working Americans with families travel to on vacation and then vow to one day retire in. It's like Miami’s South Beach—in 1960.
It’s also one of the great, warm-water dive destinations (80-plus degrees) in the continental United States. No, the coral reefs are not as rich as they used to be, not by any means, but there’s still some biological diversity below the surface. And it’s a great, non-threatening place to learn to dive. The folks that run the dive shops are cool and fun to hang with.
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April 28, 2009
My Top Five Surprises About Miami
Miami Beach, surprisingly devoid of other people (Karen Chen)
For some reason (wait, I know why—it's portrayed this way in all of popular media) I imagined Miami to be the East Coast equivalent of Las Vegas, minus casinos, plus the beach: a celebrity playground with lots of bright lights, and people throwing money around as if it was chump change. But I was in Miami this past week and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found there: a convenient beach locale not very far from home with beautiful public beaches, decent dining options, cool art spots, and an interesting "scene"—all for a rather affordable price, which equal the right ingredients for a good beach vacation if you ask me. Here are some of the nice surprises I found when I visited Miami:
1. The beaches there are awesome. Granted, they might not compare to the "most secluded" or "most exotic" slices of heaven they call beaches in the Caribbean or the Pacific Islands, but for a place you can get to for about $160 round trip, they aren't bad. In fact, they're better than just "not bad": The soft, nearly-white sand is edged by clear, bright teal Atlantic waters. For families, or people who aren't as fond of the ocean as they are of the beach, the warm shallow tide is perfect to play around in, and you don't have to worry about cutting your feet on rocks, coral, twigs, or other debris (not to mention the absence of sea critters that have always contributed to my fear of the deep blue). A nice cooling sea breeze also keeps you from roasting in the sun—though I can't say the same would be true come summer.
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April 17, 2009
Top Ten Places to Live Like a Pirate
AHOY, MATEYS!: The Flying Dutchman at Disney's Castaway Cay (courtesy, Disney)
The Away.com office has been abuzz with pirate talk this week after the somewhat surreal events off the coast of Somalia, no doubt pleasing one of our staffers who is one of the world’s biggest pirate-philes judging from his yearly Halloween pirate fest. But beyond all our swashbuckling pirate wit, it got us thinking about where to travel for some good old-fashioned pirate action—without getting in the crosshairs of AK-47-wielding Somali sea bandits (or indeed sharpshooting Navy SEALs). Here are our top ten picks; tell us if you know any other good pirate hideouts in the comments section below.
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