Part one in a three-part series on “glamping” (glamorous camping).

As I wait at Vancouver Airport to board the seaplane that will take me to the remote Clayoquot Wilderness Resort (a 2008 Smart Luxury Winner) on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, I waver between being nervous and excited. The adventurer in me is thinking of all the fun things that await me out there in the wild and all the stories I’ll bring back home to New York to tell at dinner parties. The cushy comfort-seeker is wondering what possessed me to go camping to boondocks where cougars and bears roam around freely. Then I remind myself that I’m in fact going “glamping” (glamorous camping) in the heart of UNESCO-protected Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve. Not the same thing as setting up camp in the middle of nowhere! Read the rest of this post »

Set amid a striking natural harbor and backdropped by imposing jade-colored mountains, Asia’s hyper-vertical metropolis commands attention from any angle, at all hours. But Hong Kong’s famed views are perhaps best savored over the city’s equally celebrated cuisine.

For a quintessentially scenic lunch, ascend Victoria Peak by tram for dim sum at Tien Yi in the renovated Peak Tower shopping complex. With its lofty panoramas of Hong Kong and the surrounding islands, this restaurant is a must, especially for those accustomed to eating their barbecued pork buns and shrimp dumplings in gaudy Chinatown banquet rooms. Ask to sit next to a window overlooking Victoria Harbour, and you’ll understand why the restaurant’s name means “the pinnacle of the world.” Read the rest of this post »

Instead of hosting another backyard-bbq staycation this Memorial Day weekend, head to Aruba for their 9th annual Soul Beach Music Festival. From May 20-25, the island becomes a tropical Woodstock with five days of concerts and parties held at the Aruba Entertainment Center and popular clubs. The all-star lineup features serenades by crooner Robin Thicke, hip-shaking grooves by Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and Kanye West’s pal, Estelle, plus an appearance by comic Wayne Brady who’ll show off his little-known Grammy-nominated pipes. Special promo: Buy a three-night concert ticket plus express party pass earning you fast-lane access to five after parties for $243 (original price $280) at www.soulbeach.net. Need a room to crash in after the fun? See special packages from three of the island’s best hotels after the jump. Read the rest of this post »

While technically not a traditional cruise, we felt compelled to pass along this piece of information anyway. New York’s Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises will debut two new sailings this summer. Circle Line Queens and Circle Line Brooklyn will begin to set sail within the next month, and to commemorate this momentous occasion they will host an all-day celebration. On Saturday June 20, Circle Line will offer a free block party at Pier 81, with a 1940’s-style carnival, which pays homage to the company that first set sail in 1945. The event will also include a barbeque, merry-go-round, carnival entertainers, and even free cruises to the Statue of Liberty. Both of the new cruises can hold up to 600 passengers and provides commuters with upgraded amenities, while keeping the classic feel on Circle Line intact.

To learn more about Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, click here.

Paris’ popular bicycle rental program, just 18 months old, is already encountering some rather discouraging bumps in the road: “Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen,” reports the BBC. Undeterred, Tel Aviv’s city planners are moving forward with a program that will allow tourists to pick up a bicycle at one of 25 rental stations in central locations around the city and drop it off near their destination. The Israeli Tourism website features an excellent 25k cycling itinerary that guides riders along the seafront, through the old city of Jaffa, and into heart of the “White City” (a UNESCO site chockablock with Bauhaus architecture). Click here to read our post about Tel Aviv’s year-long centennial celebration.

The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City is currently showing “On the Money: Cartoons for The New Yorker,” with around 80 original cartoons published from 1925 through the 1990s that square off with the subject of money and how it defines us (January 23 to May 24). In Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art, in its new Diller Scofidio + Renfro building, is hosting a survey of work by Shepard Fairey, the street artist famous for his now-iconic Barack Obama poster (through August 16). The Guggenheim Berlin is presenting “Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s,” a look at paintings created from photographs, a movement that evolved from Pop Art by artists such as Charles Bell, Chuck Close, and Ralph Going, whose Airstream (1970) is pictured above (through May 10).

From the Feb/March 2009 issue of Sherman’s Travel magazine.

Fabulous Tel Aviv, dubbed the Miami of the Middle East, is easily Israel’s coolest city. Trimmed with gorgeous beaches, loaded with Bauhaus architecture, and populated with smartly dressed locals who have a fierce appreciation for art, cuisine, and nightlife, Tel Aviv is the hedonistic
antidote to historic, heady Jerusalem, which, despite being just about one hour away, is a world apart in every respect. The year 2009 heralds Tel Aviv’s 100th birthday, making the city older than Israel itself (which celebrated its 60th in 2008). Visitors can expect an amped-up festival schedule from April to December with fun events like a marathon through the city, a weeklong book fair, a flower carpet in Rabin Square, and an international film festival. Read the rest of this post »

Perhaps no other artist has cast such a long shadow across this last century than Paul Cezanne. His far-reaching influence can be traced across five successive generations to artists as diverse and prominent as Jasper Johns, Charles Demuth, Max Beckman and Ellsworth Kelly. Cezanne was for Henri Matisse a “benevolent god of painting” and for Pablo Picasso, “my one and only master.”

Appearing exclusively at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Cezanne and Beyond” explores the artist’s extraordinary legacy, bringing together more than 150 works by Cezanne and 18 other master artists whose work he profoundly inspired. On view through May 17, the exhibition draws important connections between the iconic artist’s achievements and those of other celebrated artists right up through the present day. Read the rest of this post »

Now that I’m in a plane en route to Hong Kong, I finally have time to reflect upon Qingdao (pronounced cheeng-dow), a city of nearly eight million people that feels refreshingly uncrowded compared to most big Chinese cities. Located across from South Korea on the Yellow Sea, Qingdao is a rapidly expanding port city known for its pleasant maritime climate, clean beaches, excellent seafood (spicy clams, seafood wonton, roasted squid, etc.), hilly streets filled with German-colonial architecture, massive apartment complexes with idiosyncratic names like Ideal City and International Mansion Settlement, and, of course, a healthy obsession with beer. Fly here after conquering the well-trod tourist trails of Beijing (just one hour and 15 minutes away) and you’ll experience a completely different side of 21st-century China. Discover seven quintessential Qingdao experiences after the jump.

Read the rest of this post »