Roam+Board :: Jumeirah Zabeel Saray

[trip style = luxury + beach + sun]

{Editor's Note: I know it's been awhile since I've done a Roam+Board, and I've got a list taller than the Burj Khalifa lying in wait. The first R+B of 2013 goes to---opening the envelope---a resort I was a guest of (and HIGHLY recommend) while in Dubai last month.}

What There are times when photos overhype a hotel. This is not the case for the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, completed in January 2011. The scale, stature and sizzle of this 405-room resort sends you into a Nirvana-like state with every glance---and that's just the lobby. Oversized silk drapery, regal velvet seating, Anatolian carpets, triangular arches and ornate chandeliers {the size of my living room} grace the space.

Situated on the Western Crescent of Jumeirah Palm Island, every room has a view. Dripping in more velvet and fine everything, the bedrooms also shine on the inside. Gold-leaf walls provide the backdrop for my evening throne which makes the intricate wooden cutout above the bed glow. I go to sleep dreaming about serenading the Middle East atop a flying carpet.

Yet, I almost miss the bed because the bathroom is so decadent; it stops me in my tracks. Clad in light grey marble, the vanity is decorated with a pounded copper sink and lit by twin and twinkly Moroccan lights. Two stairs lead to the bathtub, and into another world. Big enough to bathe a baby elephant, the bath area is a room unto itself topped in a golden dome. I consider sleeping in the tub one evening---because I can.

The rest of the property---which you can see featured in MI4---is the city below your throne's perch. Twelve restaurants, a spa, a beach, an infinity pool and a 29-seat screening room provide substance and distraction in your Ottoman-inspired kingdom.

Where Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a 40-minute drive from Dubai's Airport {DXB}.

When It was 26-degrees C when I visited in early December, so you can imagine summer is s-c-o-r-c-h-i-n-g---it's the desert after all. Visiting in the winter, spring and fall means less sweating and more savoring.

Who/Why Dubai is SO international it's as common to eat beside a relative of Dubai's ruler {Sheikh Mohammed}, as it is to lounge at the pool beside a Brit, Russian or Japanese.

Cost Rates start at $250 per night and include WiFi. Note: it's a 20-minute drive to leave the man-made palm island, but taxis are cheap. In fact, a common local saying is "gas is cheaper than water."

More Dubai Dubai in 30 Photos SEA ---> DXB Nonstop, Flying High With Emirates First Look :: Dubai

[photos taken by @tripstyler except lead photo, courtesy of the hotel]

KinderHop :: International Views On Family Travel

[trip style = any]

KinderHop is published once monthly and written by Trip Styler’s Seattle-based kid ‘n family writer, Keryn.

Not everyone can be or wants to be a traveling family like ours. Some families prefer to stay home or take short domestic trips. Each of us has our own style, but is this a personal preference or does it run deeper? Is it really a cultural thing?

As I have crossed the globe with my little traveling tribe of men, I’ve noticed travel is a priority for many families across the world, especially in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. While traveling through Europe this past fall we met other families on holiday for the weekend or their mid-semester break. Their escapes weren't seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It was just something they did, and the parents didn’t think twice about bringing the children with them.

1/ Aside from the fact that many countries in the EU are close together, why do Europeans hit the road and friendly skies more  than their contemporaries in North America? Emiel who hails from the Netherlands and writes Act of Traveling thinks it’s because “living in such a small country we really depend on trade. In the early days---I'm talking 15 and 16th century---the Dutch sailed the world in order to explore and discover. We had big dreams for our small country. Traveling is in our genes.”

2/ Education has also played a large roll in how former jetset individuals and couples are now tackling travel as a family. Theodora of Escape Artistes was born and raised in the UK, but is now living the life of a digital nomad. She makes it work as a freelance writer, and home schools her son from destinations like Egypt and Laos. She says, “In the UK longterm travel is fairly normal; it's very common to take a GAP year before starting university, and spend a year traveling the world. Seizing the internet era, we continued this trend and set forth."

3/ Bethaney of Flashpacker Family was born in New Zealand and has been exploring ever since. “It's culturally ingrained in every New Zealander to head to the UK for a year or two after university. We call it our OE or Overseas Experience. The only way to visit Europe when you live so far away is to basing yourself there for an extended period. After doing my OE, I was hooked. Now that I have a family, I use the same mentality: pick a home base abroad and explore from there."

4/ Michelle of WanderMom is an expat from Ireland living in Seattle. She believes that it might be the familiar holding some families back. “When you come from a small country you learn not to expect normalcy when you travel. Before Ryanair I can't think of a single Irish travel brand I'd see outside Ireland. As a result you'd expect local customs and standards when abroad. I see many American friends expecting the familiar while traveling, which makes it more difficult for them to travel comfortably outside the US.”

Whether you believe it is a cultural trait or personal preference, you can never go wrong when you decide to pack up your family and show your kids the world by hostel or hotel. You will open their eyes, broaden their horizons and introduce them to their global contemporaries. Even if you only make it to the next city, state or province, showing your children pieces of the world is more than they ever knew before.

More KinderHop Time Zones, Jet Lag & Kids Transitioning From Couple To Family Travel Back to School Seattle Shop ‘n Stay How To Keep Kids Occupied On A Plane Family Road Tripping Tips How To Pack Less With Kids In Tow Family-Friendly Big Island Making Hotel Rooms Work With Kids

[photos by via each family]

JUST #$%^&*^ GO

[trip style = any]

In a month where most people are thinking about what they'd like to change or accomplish in the year ahead, I find myself confronted by the fact that there's never a convenient time to travel. Life at home a-l-w-a-y-s beckons. Add to this getting stuck on a hamster wheel of trip research and your trip style = ??? gets stalled in Swiss-mode, aka neutral territory.

----> Hello, my name is Trish, and I have a problem: failure to take off.* *which I realize sounds crazy coming from me, but I can get so wrapped up in researching that the big trips I dream-plan either never happen or I take years to get there.

I want to admit this problem---and I realize there are WAY bigger woes in this world---at this early juncture of 2013 because I think other people might suffer from it too. Failure to take off is defined in two parts: a} pondering a trip and never taking it; b} 90% planning a trip yet taking forever {read: years} to commit.

Carpe Diem and just #$%^&*^ go! Commit to a night or two of planning---as in, make a date of it---and then hit the commit button. The first step is the hardest, but remember: there's always time to fill in the blanks leading up to the trip. When my husband and I finally committed to Thailand last year {after months of planning} one of the hotels we wanted wasn't available. But here's the thing: there's always another hotel, another area to discover, another... whatever. If there's one thing I've learned as an over-planner and over-researcher, it's this: when we hold our travel loosely, magic tends to happen.

11.07am, December 28, 2012: I'm currently dream-planning a few trips for 2013, but I find myself stalled, stranded in a virtual airport of options.

7:09pm, January 1, 2013: I'm committing to a trip to South America, either Argentina or Colombia, and I'm just in the process of gathering my last few airline points so I can fly there and back biz class. YOLO {you only live once}.

[photo by @tripstyler]

On The Trip Styler Radar

[trip style = every one!]

On the heels of putting New Year's resolutions into action, here's what's on the Trip Styler flight crew's radar for 2013 travel. True to form, we've covered almost every trip style!

From weekend jaunts to epic trips, what travel plans are you dreaming into reality this year?

Heather - Fashion Friday I ended 2012 with mai tais and surfer boys on my very first trip to Hawaii. It's true what everyone says---it just smells good there! I've been keeping the dream alive and keeping my skin soft ever since by lathering my body with coconut oil. This year I'm heading to Europe for a few weeks of adventure in Spain and Croatia's Dalmatian Coast.

Leah - Healthy On The Road My 2013 travel radar is filled with hot and cold. On the warm front, I'd like to hit up Thailand with my hubby---combo of development work and relaxation. On the cool front, I'd like to take a solo getaway to Tofino, BC with my dog Zuzu and stay in a cozy little surfer shack.

Keryn - KinderHop Our new year started off with a quiet bang as we became beach bums in Kauai---the first trip to Hawaii for the newest member (baby Ty) of our traveling tribe. Later in the year we hope to explore my ancestral roots in England, Scotland and Ireland with a whole lot of weekend trips and a beach holiday in North Carolina's Outerbanks this summer thrown into the mix.

Lauren - Travel Beauty We are heading to Los Angeles (our former residence) in January for a much-overdue trip! Can't wait to see friends and family, eat at some of our favorite restaurants like Il Pastaio, M Cafe, and Izaka-Ya, go to Malibu, see a movie at the Arclight, hike Runyon Canyon and shop at the Grove and the Beverly Center. We're also planning trips to Palm Springs, New York and Florida!

Nicole - Jetset Jingles Aside from my Christmas jaunt to La Quinta {Palm Springs} and my bound over to Maui for New Year's, I'd really like to go to Europe this summer. I'd love to explore Ireland and Croatia and re-visit Spain and Italy. I'm also pining for some extended weekend trips to Chicago and New York in the Spring. Oh, and I can't forget about my annual trip to the Coachella Music Festival in April. I'm all over the map {pun intended} for 2013!

Trish - Chief Trip Stylist I've been dying to gaze at Scandinavia's world-leading design for the past five years, so I've decided this is my Scandi-year. On the complete opposite side of the world, Tahiti is calling my name {when isn't it?}. After just spending some downtime in Palm Springs, I'm headed to Tofino, BC in a few weeks for some winter stormwatching and hopefully a {chilly} surf session. Other destinations on my radar: Oahu's North Shore, Hawaii's Big Island, Quebec's winter Carnaval, Toronto and Argentina.

[photos by @tripstyler @stoikie @walkingontravel @heatherlovesit]

Healthy On The Road :: Toned In Transit

[trip style = any]

When she’s not training clients or being trained by her dog Zuzu, Leah writes Healthy On The Road, published the first Wednesday of every month.

Oh, the places you’ll go; oh, the places you’ll move!

Movement: “the act or process of changing place or position or posture.” {via Merriam-Webster}

Change of place is a no-brainer when traveling from A to B. Unfortunately, a lot of that change is accomplished while you sit or stand still in a car, cab, plane, train or tuk tuk. Consider how many hours it takes to get from home to hotel on a short-haul from Vancouver to LA---let alone a long-haul from North America to Asia! Not all time meandering needs to be mindless. Use transit time to tone!

Maybe you already seize these opportunities to do some squats on the spot or wind sprints in concourse A without a care in the world what your fellow travelers think of you {if this is you, I salute you}. However, if you prefer flying below the radar {pun intended}, I've found a great app that will help you sneak in some moves enroute.

Isometrics {for iThings; free} is dedicated to low-impact exercises that can be done anywhere. Tell the app what area you want to work on or where you are and it'll send some moves your way. Every exercise comes with a description, how-to photo---more real-world than something you'd see in Shape Mag---and a timer to track reps. Described as “an entire gym, fitness plan and personal trainer in the palm of your hand”, I'd say it packs a 2013 punch. *Android-ers, check out: Office Exercise

More Healthy On The Road Every Day Is A New Day Eat In Technicolor The 15 Minute 54321 Workout {you can do anywhere!} Keeping Fit In Hotel Hallways The 20-min Exercise Itinerary Healthy DIY Plane Snacks Hotel Room Exercises {You can do in your underwear}

[photo by @tripstyler]