Mastering The 10-Day Vacay

[trip style = any]

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"To go or not to go, that is the question." - Trish

How many vacation days you get is one thing, maximizing them for travel combining weekends and national holidays is another. It's not out of the question to take a six-hour flight to NYC for a four-day weekend, so why not consider a longer, international flight for a 10-day trip? If your choice is to stay or to go---staying because 10 days just isn't long enough---the obvious answer is GO. The trip will just look a little different.

The Buffet Vs. The Tasting Menu I'm sure we'd all like to travel buffet-style, s-l-o-w-l-y savoring our way through the appetizers, salads, entrées, desserts and cheeses; but commitments, time and work projects get in the way. Instead, think of the 10-day vacay like a five-course tasting menu; it's concentrated, enchanting, and leaves you satisfied without being over full. Plus, an extended week allows you to see the world without a leave of absence, using all your vacation days, or taking a toll on your life at home.

A Thailand Tasting Menu For example, at the end of March I'm taking a 12-day trip to Thailand: two weekends, five days off work and two national holidays. Learning the hard way, bouncing around every few nights in my past travels, I'm going to maximize the trip style = beach + sun experience and minimize fatigue by choosing one destination {from which I can do day trips} within driving distance of Bangkok.

Mastering The 10-day Vacay - Fly direct or make as few connections as possible. - Choose flight times that help stretch your time on the ground. - Minimize travel within your destination---especially air travel. - Choose a base and take day trips vs bouncing around to multiple destinations. - Avoid changing hotels every two nights. Make a three-night minimum rule. - Pack light, with less time on the ground, every second counts.

[photos taken by @tripstyler in Australia]

Roam+Board :: Postcard Inn At Holiday Isle

[trip style = beach + sun]

{Editor’s Note: We haven't been to this newly revamped hotel, but this Florida Keys property is on our list.}

What Transplant a whimsical Nantucket cottage onto a prime, shore-front plot along a hundred mile chain of small islands, and the result is the Postcard Inn At Holiday Isle. With a beachy colour scheme---headboards and benches wrapped in rope, whitewashed wood plank feature walls, driftwood-base lamps---this property re-imagines the family vacation destination without skimping on design.

Fifteen acres of private beach, two pools, fishing, diving, snorkeling, water sports and the world famous onsite "Rumrunner" tiki bar make this trip style = beach + sun spring break spot a win-win with every member of the fam.

Where Islamorada, Florida Keys, about a 1.5 hour drive from the Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Key West airports.

When December to May is high season with agreeable temperatures and droves of winter escapists. June through October are the transitional months with a rainier forecast, which also happens to coincide with hurricane season. November and May are the travel sweet spot: warm temperatures and fewer crowds.

Who/Why You want a Caribbean experience---balmy weather, laid back locals, world-class above- and below-surface water activities----without traveling too far or leaving the US.

Cost From $230/night in high season. If you're traveling as a family, ask for a room with mini fridge and microwave. A $15 per room/night resort fee covers self-parking, wifi, etc...

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More Roam+Board Nira Alpina – Switzerland Rockhouse – Jamaica Hotel Bellevue – Near Seattle Rolling Huts – Methow Valley {WA} Golden Rock Inn – Nevis The Ace NYC – New York The Viceroy – Palm Springs Sorobon Beach Resort – Bonaire From ice hotels to Anna Wintour’s steal-of-a-deal holiday escape, find all featured R+B properties here.

[photos via PCI beach resort & marina]

Tech Tuesday :: Informed Hotel Booking

[trip style = any]

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One of the biggest travel time wasters is fretting over what hotel to book, getting stuck in research mode comparing features, price, location, etc.

Have you been there? I have, and it results in hotel decision paralysis. The worst case scenario---like shopping at the dual-winged multi-floor Macy's NYC---is you get overwhelmed by the options and give up.

Over the past year, Kayak's been working on a series of solutions for "hotel research purgatory", with the latest of three launching last Thursday. Now, when you research a hotel on Kayak, there are three hotel recommendation check boxes in the left column for filtering results by Trip Advisor reviews, Frommer's or Budget Travel picks. Check one box, or all three for super filtered results. {Trip Styler Tip :: As of Friday, March 9th, Kayak added Jetsetter and Travel+Leisure recommendations to above list as well.}

It's like having a friend or hotel expert from Frommer's or Budget Travel help you decide which hotel is the right fit for your trip style = ........

How It Works

1. Go to kayak.com and enter a destination and date range.
2. Once the results appear, click one of the hotel recommendation filters on the left column.
3. Search results are then filtered based on recommendations from your selection{s}---Frommer's, Budget Travel or 60,000 million+ Trip Advisor ratings---rendering a massive list of possible results, manageable AND informed.
4. Further constrain results by filtering price, stars, location and hotel brands.

Hotel research crisis averted.

More Tech Tuesday STOP, Are You Using A Promo Code? Trading Airline Points The Six-Week Rule For Buying Airline Tix Dashboard To Wall Hotel Tonight

[img via kayak]

KinderHop :: Intro To Keryn

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On behalf of the entire Trip Styler editorial team, we're excited to welcome Keryn as our newest columnist. Her topic will be kids 'n travel, aka KinderHop, which will publish on the third Monday of every month.

I met Keryn last summer in Vancouver at a massive travel blogging conference, and she dazzled me with stories of taking her baby on more than an in-flight snack pack's worth of domestic and international jaunts. She was a traveler before kids and has maintained this wanderlust with her family of three---soon to be four---jetting off or road tripping once monthly! Since then, we've kept in touch and I've followed her Seattle-based travel blog about traveling with kid{s}. I'm looking forward to bringing this travel go-getter's perspective and expertise to the TS crew, which even had her taking multiple road trips in her third trimester! To kick things off, a formal introduction:

"Never think a trip is impossible. The hardest step is the first step out the door. After that it just gets easier." - Keryn

1/ Former day job? Production manager at an art book production house in downtown Seattle.

2/ Current day job? Mom, playmate, family travel agent and explorer of all things that can entertain a mom and toddler for a morning out of the house.

3/ Number of kids? One 2.5 year old boy, Dek, and another little one on the way at the end of April.

4/ First flight with your son and where? Dek was 3.5 months old when we flew from Seattle to Philadelphia for the holidays. Our longest flight was when Dek was 14 months old from Seattle to Hong Kong for my business trip. In that same trip we did an add-on and flew to up to Beijing for a week of fun.

5/ Have your top trip styles changed with kids? We favour trip style = beach, urban and budget conscious with or without kids, and prioritize travel even more with kids than we did before! It is our guaranteed, uninterrupted family time. Work and life get in the way too much.

6/ Rent a condo or stay in a hotel room? We rent a condo or house whenever it is more affordable, which is most of the time. If it's a quick weekend trip we will grab a hotel room or a suite. This summer my husband is pushing for trip style = camping!

7/ Last few trips, and upcoming travels? Over the last four months we've been to Whistler, Victoria, Hawaii, Orcas Island and did Asia in the spring. Looking ahead, we're trying to do New Hampshire this summer and a big trip to Europe in the Fall {London, Switzerland, Italy and Sicily are in the works at the moment.}

8/ Traveling with kids is awesome because... They make you stop and really look at where you are. No one can slow you down like a toddler, but that is not a bad thing. Instead of rushing through 15 sights on a trip, you get to invest in and learn about 5-10. Travel stress goes way down and you learn to move at a different and much more enjoyable pace. You are supposed to be on holiday after all, you should enjoy it!

"If it's horrible, you can always come home." - Words Keryn's dad imparted as she embarked on her first international trip at 16.

[photos via keryn]

Harrison's Secrets

[trip style = active & adventure + sightseeing]

Yesterday we took a trip style = spa + weekend getaway to Harrison Hot Springs for a cozy and rejuvenating escape. Beyond the springs, travel down some of area's country roads to pick up award-winning cheese and fresh-roast coffee, or meander down the Harrison River to view t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d-s of bald eagles in their natural habitat.

Harrison's Secrets Sturgeon Fishing And Eagle Watching Huddled around a heater on a BC Sport Fishing Group jet boat, I asked owner Tony Nootebos if his 22-boat operation catered mainly to men. I assumed reeling in 5-11ft dinosaur-era sturgeons was the ultimate mancation---ok, it is. Turns out ladies like it too, accounting for 21% of his clients, some of whom come for stagettes. During the late-fall/winter grab the binocs and eagle watch! This year, over 400,000 salmon spawning drew in excess of 4000 eagles. It was a party! Know this: - BC Sport Fishing group uses a barbless hook to catch, tag and release sturgeon, working in concert with the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society. - Some boats are specialized for wheelchairs! - Open everyday but Christmas.

Farm Fresh Cheese When local cheesemaker Debra Amrein-Boyes of The Farm House Natural Cheeses was asked to send three cheeses to the White House as a gift to Obama, she obviously cleared her schedule. Within a 12-minute drive of Harrison, this family-run, working farm, makes cheese that pushes the boundaries of non-confrontational cheese with goat gouda, quark and 20+ other varieties. Know this: - Open Mon - Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. Closed January, Easter Sunday, Dec. 25 & 26. - Buy in Vancouver at les amis du FROMAGE, Whole Foods and Save-On-Foods.

Fresh-Roast Coffee, And Pottery Learn what it's like to live and work off the land by a family of artisans. At The Back Porch, Lynda sells her recently spun pottery and Dan uses his circa 1919 flame roaster to churn farmer-friendly, organic and shade-grown beans. Roasted daily, far, far away from any Starbucks! Know this: - Open Wed - Sun 11 - 5. Closed December 25 to March 1.

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More IMG_FRI Bora Bora Portlandia Honolulu Urbanesque Coffee Shop in Bellevue, WA

[eagle photos by Tony Nootebos, all others by @tripstyler, taken while a guest of Tourism Harrison]