




Experience the Ship’s Design First-Hand

Redefining ‘River Cruising’

#DreamNowTravelSoon




#DreamNowTravelSoon



Santa’s Forest

#3MonthsTilXmas
#DreamNowTravelSoon

France has the Eiffel Tower. The U.S. has the Statue of Liberty. But the visual shorthand for Japan is not man-made. It’s Mount Fuji.
The Japanese archipelago is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Chains of volcanic mountain ranges form the spine of the Japanese islands, and mountains have assumed immense cultural and spiritual significance over the millennia.
Nearly every population center is associated with one or more mountains, where forests of bamboo, Japanese cypress or maple, and fields of wild flowers like azaleas have provided the Japanese with the opportunity to commune with nature.
Japanese culture even has a phrase: ‘shinrin-yoku’, or ‘forest bathing’ to describe the national practice of interacting with natural spaces and enjoying physical and spiritual benefits. It’s almost always associated with mountain terrain.
Fuji-San

Mount Asama, Nagano


Shiretoko Mountains, Hokkaido

Mount Aso, Kumamoto

Japanese, like mountain cultures the world over, associate peaks, fresh mountain air, and outdoor activity with purity and good health. In the aftermath of a global pandemic, mountain escapes have a special resonance. A trip to Japan focusing on its revered alpine experiences is a spiritual and wellness journey for the times.
#DreamNowTravelSoon

You might be on a cruise in the Caribbean before the holidays.
Cruising in the Americas – that’s the cruise region for the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America - could begin again in about a month’s time, if significant industry developments this week bear fruit.
Testing the Waters in Europe
2 Moves Closer to Cruising at Home
A Travel Industry First: 100% Testing
- Testing: 100% testing of passengers and crew for COVID-19 prior to embarkation.
- Distancing: Physical distancing in terminals, onboard ships, on private islands and during shore excursions.
- Masks: All passengers and all crew must wear masks when physical distancing isn’t possible.
- Ventilation: New strategies to increase fresh air onboard and implement enhanced filters and other technologies to reduce airborne virus spread.
- Shore Excursions: Passengers will have to follow prescribed protocols, and re-boarding will be denied for any passengers that do not follow the rules.
- Medical Capability: Every ship will allocate stateroom capacity to allow for isolation if people do get sick, and will have advance plans in place for shoreside quarantine, medical assistance and safe transportation.
“A pathway for the return of limited sailings from the U.S. before the end of this year.”
#WeWillCruiseAgainSoon

France. Italy. Spain. If you’re imagining traveling again to Europe, you’ll have no problem picturing yourself in any of three independent boutique hotels that have just opened in spectacular historic properties.
All three belong to the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group of over 500 independent and unique hotels in 90 countries. They all have special character and offer themes that are even more relevant in the new world of travel: small size, privacy, and locations that allow guests to get away from crowds of tourists.
Milan, Italy


Loire Valley, France


Matarraña, Spain


We can picture a dream escape in luxury to one of Europe’s most beloved destinations in any of these three new boutique hotels.
#DreamNowTravelSoon

In less than a month, the landscape for Canadian travellers has been transformed.
Back in March, the COVID-19 virus was determined to be a ‘known factor’ and so it was no longer covered by regular travel medical insurance policies. Since then, Canadians who have wanted to travel have not had coverage for expenses incurred if they contracted the virus while abroad.
All that changed just a couple of weeks ago. With much of the world learning to manage the pandemic, and commonly-accepted safety practices to help prevent the spread of the virus, one of the next key events necessary for a resumption of travel happened:
Travel medical insurance covering Canadians in the unlikely event they contract the virus away from home.
Once the first company announced coverage, it became a landslide. At press time, there are now no fewer than 6 options for Canadians to ensure they’re covered. Here are the highlights:
Air Canada Vacations: 1st COVID Travel Insurance in Canada – With Limits
WestJet: 1st COVID Insurance Available on Air-Only Bookings to Specific Destinations
Manulife: 1st For-Purchase COVID Coverage in a Standard Travel Medical Insurance Policy
Air Canada: follows West Jet, Offering No-Charge COVID Insurance for Air-Only International Travellers
Sunwing: Matching Competitors in No-Charge Coverage
Comparing COVID Insurance: Apples to Oranges
Insuring a Return to Travel
While some Canadians may still not feel comfortable travelling yet, like any other travel/medical insurance, COVID-19 insurance is a responsible way for people who choose to travel to be protected against unforeseen expenses.
#SafeTravelsSoon

The kids are back to school (whatever that looks like this year for your nearest and dearest), but on the calendar, summer isn’t quite over – yet. The Autumn Equinox – the first day of Fall – arrives this year on Tuesday September 22, so we still have a couple more weekends of ‘summer’.
You may not have done all the traveling you wanted this summer, but you can catch up now in spirit. Serve up an celebration of summer travel with a party in your backyard full of summer flavors from beloved American hot weather destinations.
1. Pensacola, Florida: Grits à Ya Ya
Along Florida’s Northwest Coast, Pensacola is home to The Fish House, the restaurant behind the unique and delicious Grits à Ya Ya, created by Chef Jim Shirley. A combination of grits, a southern staple, heavy cream and lots of smoked gouda cheese, this is comfort food like no other. This delicious dish is sure to be a hit with your guests!
“In 1998 I developed this Fish House favorite during the Mardi Gras season. Mardi Gras, properly celebrated, can sometimes last for days. Recognizing the toll this marathon celebration had on my friends, I created this fare that not only provided sustenance but tasted great, too. Since then we've whomped up hundreds of thousands of dishes of my favorite child. Enjoy it at home with this recipe.”
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
The smoked Gouda Grits
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb Dixie Lily grits
1/4 pound butter
1 lb shredded smoked Gouda cheese
The Ya Ya
8 strips applewood-smoked bacon, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced shallots
3 tablespoons butter
White wine
1 lb peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
1 portobello mushroom cap, sliced
1/4 cup diced scallions
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 cups heavy cream
3 cups smoked Gouda cheese grits
PREPARATION
*For dietary restrictions or preferences, you can make this recipe shellfish-free if you replace the shrimp with 1½ lbs of an assortment of your favorite mushrooms, chopped.
First, make your grits. Run the chicken stock into a thick-bottomed saucepan and turn on high till it boils. Mix in the grits and stir like crazy. Reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cream if you need more liquid. Then tumble in the butter, add creamed corn, drizzle in the rest of the cream and stir till it’s all in the family. Then shake in the shredded cheese and stir very well till it’s all nice and smooth.
While your grits cook, bring a large saucepan to medium heat. Add bacon and cook for about 3 minutes, then add garlic and shallots. Saute and then add butter and a splash of white wine. When butter is half melted, add the shrimp. When the downsides of the shrimp become white, flip them and add mushrooms, scallions and spinach. Saute for 2 minutes. Remove the shrimp. Pour in heavy cream and let simmer while stirring. When reduced by 1/3, add salt, pepper and hot sauce. Return shrimp to sauce and combine. Spoon the sauce and shrimp onto heaping mounds of cheese grits.
2. San Antonio, Texas: Seafood and Quail Paella
This 300-year old city that originated as a Spanish mission and colonial outpost is now the second-largest city in Texas and the Southern US.
It’s one of only two American cities designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy and it’s easy to see why. If you're in the mood for some ‘Tex-Next’ dining, this seafood and quail paella - a twist on the traditional Spanish dish in an ode to the city’s heritage - created by Chef Steve McHugh of Cured should hit the spot.
“Experience the taste of Spain, with a San Antonio flavor in your own kitchen. This paella is meant to be enjoyed with family, friends and good wine.”
Serves 20
INGREDIENTS
1 ¼ cups extra virgin olive oil
Healthy pinch of saffron
Healthy pinch of red pepper flakes
Healthy pinch of paprika
2 lbs quail legs
2 lbs smoked Spanish chorizo
4 tablespoons shaved garlic
1 diced & roasted red pepper
1 sliced jalapeño
2 cups Sofrito
3 cups escargot
4 cups mussels
3 cups large shrimp
8 cups Bomba rice
4 quarts chicken stock
Salt
Pepper
Large cooked white beans
Pickled serrano peppers
½ cup preserved lemon rind, sliced thin
½ cup peas
Pea sprouts
PREPARATION
*Although paella traditionally includes and is most delicious with seafood, for dietary restrictions or preferences, you may wish to switch out the shellfish with cubed chicken and chunks of your favorite barbecuing sausage.
Heat your oil in the Paella pan. Sauté the chorizo and the quail. Turn the heat down to medium, add the saffron, red pepper flakes, garlic, red pepper, Sofrito and jalapeño. Sweat the vegetables until they are translucent in color. Add in Bomba rice, mix well. Add mussels, and shrimp. Arrange the ingredients in a nice pattern across your entire paella. Add in chicken stock, and allow to simmer until the rice is cooked, and most liquid is gone. Continue cooking until the bottom of the paella forms a Socarrat, or crust (this is the key to a delicious paella!).
FINISH & SERVE
Garnish the top with preserved lemon, pickled serrano peppers, white beans, peas and pea shoots. Serve hot to your loved ones.
Share your finished product using #TexNext and tag @visitsanantonio!
3. Hawaii: The Mai Tai
Often mistaken as Hawaiian, tiki is actually imaginary, made of a collection of romanticized concepts of Polynesian and South Seas culture, including humanoid teak carvings, coconut shell bikini tops, grass skirts, pineapples… and powerful cocktails featuring pineapple, coconut, rum, and other tropical flavors. Tiki and tiki bars have become shorthand for ‘Pacific Island getaway’ and they abound in Hawaii.
A staple in any tiki bar, the Mai Tai is the perfect Summer drink - or your drink of choice during a visit to America’s Pacific island state. You’ll be carried to Hawaii’s clear blue waters after your first sip of this fruity concoction.
Serves 1
INGREDIENTS:
1 oz spiced rum
1 oz coconut rum
1 tsp grenadine syrup
2 oz pineapple juice
2 oz orange juice
PREPARATION
Combine the rums, grenadine, and juices in a cocktail mixer with ice. Shake and strain into a glass of ice. *Party Tip: make these up a pitcher at a time with a bucket of ice and garnish handy.
SERVE
Garnish with wedges of fresh pineapple on a skewer topped with a cherry.
With these 3 recipes delivering up the taste of travel for a late-summer get together, dress in your most festive summer wear, soak up the last of the season’s sun, and enjoy, dreaming of your next summer weather vacation.
#TravelAgainSoon
Recipes and images courtesy of
· And the respective restaurants/chefs referenced.
Copyright BestTrip.TV/Influence Entertainment Group Inc or Rights Holder. All rights reserved. You are welcome to share this material from this page, but it may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Why?
Change at United Airlines
Delta Airlines
American Airlines
Alaska Airlines
Then There Were 5
Not Onboard - Yet
#WeWillTravelAgain

You might call it bucking a trend.
Atlas Ocean Voyages is debuting, even during the global pandemic that currently has all cruises put on pause.
The new cruise line’s first ship is ahead of schedule to launch in July 2021. World Navigator will be the first of 5 new ships for the new cruise line. All 5 ships will be sailing by 2023
Adventure meets Luxury
Perfect for the Post-COVID World and Lovers of Luxury – and the Environment
- Safe, clean and green expedition ships, beginning with 2021’s World Navigator, carry up to 196 guests and feature
- 98 luxe suites and staterooms,
- all with an ocean view and most with a private balcony,
- multiple dining and sipping venues,
- a mud room for small-boat embarkation,
- jogging track and exercise room,
- pool/spa,
- outdoor viewing with heated seating,
- theatre

One of the most inclusive cruise lines


An Incredible Inaugural Year of Itineraries: World Navigator Sailing in 2021
- 7- to 24-night itineraries in the Holy Land, Black and Mediterranean Seas in the summer 2021,
- followed by 9- to 13-night itineraries in the Caribbean, South America and Antarctica in winter 2021/22
Black Sea: Summer, 2021
Holy Land: August-September, 2021
Italian, French and Spanish Rivieras: Autumn, 2021
Antarctica and South America: November, 2021 – February 2022

#DreamNowTravelSoon

Globus: Small Group Discovery Tours
Monograms: The best of two touring styles, now with off-season and closer to home options
Insight Vacations: Small Private Group Option
G Adventures: Book Your Bubble Collection
Butterfield & Robinson: Singular Stays

Abercrombie & Kent: Luxury Small Groups, Private Stays, Chartered Yachts and Planes and New Tailor-Made and Road Trips close to home
These new and innovating touring options meet the new expectations of travelers by going small in a big world still waiting for you to discover.
#DreamNowTravelSoon




#DreamNowTravelSoon
Top 3 Travel Destinations to Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the End of WW2 in the Pacific

Pearl Harbor National Memorial
Hawaii, USA
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Kanchanaburi, Thailand


Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
Hiroshima, Japan

#DreamNowTravelSoon

Holland America Line Changes the Name of its Newbuild and Designates it the New Flagship
A Legacy Continues
Rotterdam VII
Inaugural Season: the Mediterranean, Baltic and Norway
#DreamNowTravelSoon

Could cruising be done safely?
The System Worked
So if you’ve been missing cruising, too, this news from MSC should give you hope you’ll be safely back at sea soon.
#WeWillCruiseAgain

'HOME SWEET HIVE'



WILD BEE 'HOTELS'
CANADA
- Fairmont Royal York - Toronto
- Fairmont Waterfront -Vancouver
- Fairmont Chateau Whistler
- Fairmont Empress - Victoria
- Fairmont Vancouver Airport
- Fairmont Le Château Frontenac - Québec City
- Fairmont Palliser - Calgary
- Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth - Montréal
USA
- Fairmont San Francisco - San Francisco
- Fairmont Washington D.C.
- Fairmont Copley Plaza- Boston
- Fairmont San Jose
- Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa - Sonoma, USA
- Fairmont Dallas
- Fairmont Olympic Hotel – Seattle
- Fairmont Orchid - Hawaii
INTERNATIONAL
- Fairmont Southampton, Bermuda
- Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club - Mount Kenya, Kenya
- Fairmont Mayakoba - Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
- Fairmont Le Montreux Palace - Montreux, Switzerland
- Fairmont Yangcheng - LakeSuzhou, China
- Fairmont Beijing - China


BEE SUSTAINABLE

#DREAMNOWTRAVELSOON

Golf Cruise on the Mississippi River
Cruise line: American Queen Steamboat Company

Golf Cruise in the Heart of Europe on the Danube River
Cruise line: AmaWaterways

Golf Cruises Around the World
PerryGolf on Azamara


#DreamNowTravelSoon

In a travel industry first, Emirates is covering its passengers for COVID-19 expenses.
Would COVID coverage influence your decision to travel?
#SafeTravelsSoon


#WeWillSailAgain

We should be watching the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Olympiad right now.
But COVID has changed the history of the Olympics along with so many other features of our lives. Tokyo 2020 retains the name, but the dates have changed.
Originally scheduled to take place from July 24th through the second week of August this year, Tokyo 2020 now opens on July 23rd 2021. They are the first Summer Games to be postponed instead of cancelled due to an international crisis.
- Sumo was first mentioned in writing in the 700’s, but pre-historic wall paintings show sumo’s roots in ritual dances for good harvests;
- Matches are held in a 15-foot wide clay ring;
- Far from colliding and rolling around on the floor like the Western party game, sumo wrestlers try to force their opponents outside of the ring in full-contact, ritualized movements that are considered a martial art;
- Sumo wrestlers are required to wear their hair long in a waxed topknot, in an historically Samurai warrior style;
- In the ring, they wear 30-foot long belts (not diapers!), tied in the back, that the other wrestler can latch onto to throw his opponent out of the ring;
- Matches begin with a powerful crouch and charge that use the wrestlers’ great size to full effect;
- There are no weight classes in sumo, so the bigger wrestlers can get, the better! Sumo wrestlers consume specific, traditional foods – up to 20,000 calories every day, or 10 times what an average person needs! – to gain and maintain weights in excess of 300 pounds. In modern sumo history, 3 famous sumo wrestlers have even weighed in at over 600 pounds!;
- Even today, other customs and traditions of sumo are very linked to Japan’s ancient Shinto religion, including the throwing salt to purify the ring.
#DreamNowTravelSoon
Change #WorkFromHome to #WorkFromTheBeach with a New, 1-Year Remote Workers Visa for this Island


Health and Safety in Barbados

Streamlined Visa Process
#DreamNowTravelSoon



#DreamNowTravelSoon
Are Disney Parks Re-opening? And A Taste of Disney at Home with a Recipe for a Favorite Disney Treat

Masking Up and Other New Health Measures
Disneyland
Disney World
Disney Parks Churro Bites Recipe

- 1 cup water
- 8 tablespoons butter
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups vegetable or canola oil
- ½ cup sugar
- Combine water, butter, salt, and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon in 1 ½-quart saucepan over medium heat. Bring pot to rolling boil.
- Reduce heat to low.
- Add flour and stir vigorously, cooking the dough on low heat for a few minutes as the mix forms a ball. Remove from heat and let rest and cool for 5-7 min.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and stir until combined. Set aside.
- Heat oil in medium skillet or 1-quart saucepan over medium-high heat or until temperature reaches 350˚.
- Spoon dough into piping bag fitted with large star tip. Pipe 1-inch strip of dough over saucepan, cut with knife, and drop into hot oil. Repeat until churro bites fill saucepan with room to fry.
- Fry churro bites until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon or mesh spider strainer.
- Drain churro bites on paper towel.
- Mix sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon in medium bowl. Toss in churro bites until coated. Place on serving plate and serve with favorite dipping sauce.
#DreamNowTravelSoon

Unprecedented Partnerships

Europe’s New Cruising Guidelines
1. Bubble Cruises

2. Small Ship and Luxury Cruises
(Especially with new, ‘bubble’ itineraries or private islands)
3. Cruises to Nowhere

4. Remote and Expedition Cruises
5. Big, Mainstream Ships
#DreamNowTravelSoon

Texas

Idaho

Washington State

Oregon

British Columbia, Canada
Michigan

Ontario, Canada
#PlanNowTravelSoon
Get the Travel Tips
Get The Savvy Traveler Newsletter
Things we blog about
Places we've blogged about
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Africa, Anywhere
- Africa, Anywhere
- Alaska, Usa
- Algeria
- Amsterdam-zuidoost, 07, Netherlands
- Anaheim, Ca, United States
- Andorra
- Antarctica
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Antwerp, Vlg, Belgium
- Arctic Ocean,
- Aruba
- Asia, Anywhere
- Asia,
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Australia
- Austria
- Avignon, 93, France
- Bahia, Brazil