Come January 14, 2013, the Cuban government will no longer require exit visas and invitation letters from foreign nationals for Cubans to leave the country. What that means is that for the first time in 52 years, Cubans can leave their country. This is good news that I know my friends in Cuba, and especially those abroad, will welcome.
The Queen’s Theatre production of Les Misérables is a thrilling musical experience that has been shared by thousands of 
theatre-goers over the course of many years. Indeed, the show has seen over 10,000 performances in London, over 3000 of them at the Queen’s Theatre.
Based on the classic novel by Victor Hugo, the musical stage production of Les Misérables has been delighting audiences all over the world for over 25 years. Written by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel and Herbert Kretzmer, the play follows the story of convict 24601, Jean Valjean, over the course of two decades. Over the years, Valjean attempts to redeem himself for his past crimes by becoming a respectable pillar of the community, a fair-minded employer and a loving father, all while being persistently followed by Javert, a man of the law whose strict beliefs allow no room for mercy or compassion.
Continue reading “Highly Acclaimed Musical of the Year – Les Misérables”
Devon House is a Georgian style mansion that was built in 1881 for George Stiebel, Jamaica’s first black millionaire. Though having a German Jewish father, Stiebel’s mother was black and in photographs, he appears to have more of his mother’s color. Stiebel was born in 1820.
When he was 20, Stiebel’s father, Sigismund, gave him start up money to buy a ship which he used to transport cargo between North and South America. Eventually, he acquired two more ships and became involved in the lucrative gun trading. This landed him in jail in Cuba.
Continue reading “Devon House Jamaica”
Hanover is Jamaica’s second smallest parish after Kingston & St. Andrew. It was created out of the neighboring parishes of Westmoreland and St. James on November 12, 1793.
Hanover got its name for George I, who was from the House of Hanover. Lucea, its capital has been known as Sant Lucea, St. Lucia, and St. Lucea.
There’s an interesting story about Lucea and its clock tower. According to the story, Germany gave a clock to the people of the island of St. Lucia. Unfortunately for the St. Lucians, the captain of the ship that was taking the clock from Germany confused the name and landed it in Lucea instead. Continue reading “5 Reasons to Get Out of Negril and Explore Hanover Jamaica”
The Oakton House, a stately wooden structure caught my eye. Located in Half Way Tree, Kingston, it’s a stone’s throw from the Old Courthouse that I wrote about a few posts ago.
It was probably built in the 19th century, during the height of Jamaica’s Georgian period (1702-1910), but no records have been found to show who the original owner was. Continue reading “Oakton House Jamaica”
I have a confession: I’m not big on theme parks, but most of my relatives are. So when we had to choose a city to hold our family reunion a few years ago, we looked for a location that had activities that everyone would enjoy. Orlando fit the bill.
It was probably the easiest decision we made as a family in all the years we’ve been organizing our reunions, and serendipitous for me as that year, I was running the Walt Disney World Marathon, one of the annual racing events that takes place on the property.
Orlando is a hit not just with our family. Fifty-one million visitors agree annually, making this central Florida city the top Family Spring Break destination in the US.
It’s easy to understand why Orlando is so popular. With several different properties, from the Walt Disney World Resort’s four theme and two water parks, to Universal Orlando, Seaworld and Legoland, there are entertainment options that are appropriate for every age group.
Everyone in our party agreed on Disney World, the sprawling 20-acre complex just outside of the city where two of the main attractions, the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center greet 38 million visitors every year.
The Disney staff helped us plan our reunion to coincide with the time of my marathon weekend in January. It was perfect as there are fewer people at Disney in January than in the summer, when we usually have our reunions.
Given its size and the number of attractions, we had to agree on a plan for how we’d spend our seven days at Disney so that everyone would enjoy the entertainment they preferred and all 35 of us would still have our ‘together times.’
We stayed at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas. With its African safari theme, it was a hit with the younger ones and even with the adults. Staying in the same hotel, made it easier to gather up the early risers for breakfast together and head out before the park got too crowded.
I wasn’t prepared for the lines, which for most of the popular activities, were long. Fortunately, they moved along quickly but with more people out and about in the afternoons, everything slowed so we knew then to take the little ones back to the hotel for afternoon snacks and naps. We saved the evenings for dinner and conversations.
After a week of family togetherness, it was my time to shine. My race started with a bang, literally, as dozens of fireworks lit up the still dark sky on race morning. It was the most spectacular race start I’ve ever had! Throughout the course, several cartoon characters from Mickey and Minnie Mouse to Goofy and Snow White greeted us and cheered us along. They definitely took my mind off the miles I had to run and the growing ache in my feet.
After the celebration, I joined my family a bit sore but with a definite sense of accomplishment, for our last night’s dinner together and reunion close-out. Everyone said they’d return to Orlando to enjoy more of the city outside of Disney World.
There are several flights to Orlando from most major US cities, Canada, the UK and Europe. A variety of accommodation options, from hotels, resorts and vacation rentals make this an attractive place to visit whether you are traveling with a family or group or with a loved one.
If you’re planning a trip to Florida, be sure to check out the theme parks and all the other attractions that Orlando has on offer.
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Jamaica was voted the Caribbean’s Leading Destination at the 2012 World Travel Awards Ceremony for the Caribbean and the Americas at Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa on September 14th.
Jamaica took home several other awards including “Caribbean’s Leading Airport” (Sangster International Airport), “Caribbean’s Leading Cruise Destination,” “Caribbean’s Leading Villa Resort” (Round Hill Hotel), “Caribbean’s Leading Meeting and Conference Center” (Montego Bay Convention Center), and “Caribbean’s Leading Meeting and Conference Hotel” (Half Moon).
Other winners include St. Lucia (“Caribbean’s Leading Honeymoon Destination”), Tobago (“Caribbean’s Leading Hotel – Coco Reef Resort”), Necker Island (“Caribbean’s Leading Private Island”), and St. Vincent (“Caribbean’s Leading New Hotel” – Buccament Bay Spa & Resort).
Rio de Janeiro won the award for “South America’s Leading Destination,” while Cancun was voted “Mexico & Central America’s Leading Destination.”
The “North America’s Leading Destination” award went to Las Vegas while New York City was voted “North America’s Leading City Break Destination,” and American Airlines “North America’s Leading Airline.”
South Africa was the big winner at the WTA Africa ceremony with awards including “Africa’s Leading Luxury Hotel,” (Saxon Boutique Hotel, Villa & Spa), “Africa’s Leading Luxury Train” (The Blue Train), and “Africa’s Leading Safari Lodge” (Shamwari Game Resort). South Africa Airways and Abercrombe & Kent were among the organizations voted finest in their fields. Marrakech took home the award for “Africa’s Leading Destination.”
Dubai earned honors as the “Middle East’s Leading Destination” while Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace copped the “Middle East’s Leading Luxury Resort.”
In addition to the Turks & Caicos ceremony, others were held in Nairobi and Singapore. Europe’s event will take place on October 6th at the Conrad Algarve in Portugal. The winners of these legs will go head-to-head in the WTA’s Grand Final, which is set to take place at The Oberoi, Gurgaon on 12th December 2012. Read more about the winners here.
The World Travel Awards (WTA) was launched in 1993 to acknowledge and recognize excellence in the global travel and tourism industry. Now celebrating its 19th anniversary, it is regarded as the very highest achievement that a travel product could hope to receive.
Having travel insurance should be a no brainer for those of us who travel. But most people don’t think of it until it’s too late.
Take my friend, Jessica, for instance. On her first trip to Africa, she arrived at her destination only to find that her luggage had not. For two weeks, all she had was the clothes on her back, a few items given to her by others on the trip, and some personal articles. Her suitcase went on its own adventure. Following her return home, she had to produce receipts for the contents but received a check from the airline that only covered the cost of a new suitcase.
In the grand scheme of things, a lost suitcase is a temporary inconvenience. But what if my friend had become ill and had to be hospitalized, or worse, evacuated home? Without travel insurance with appropriate coverage, her trip and her finances would definitely have been ruined.
Why then are we so cavalier about travel insurance?
One of the reasons we give so little thought to travel insurance is because we believe it will be prohibitively expensive. But at a cost of a fraction of the actual price of the trip, it’s a small amount to pay for our peace of mind.
There’s also, I suspect, the expectation that vacations will be perfect interludes where nothing bad ever happens. Ironically, it’s also the time when we’re most likely to venture way outside our comfort zones and engage in activities we’d probably never do at home.
According to Britain’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), 10 Brits have been hospitalized abroad every day this year. Last year, the figure was 70 a week.
And so far this year, there have been 13 cases of young Brits falling from balconies while on vacation. Unfortunately, 3 lost their lives while others ended up with very serious injuries.
Because of this, the FCO along with the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA – The Travel Association) are now campaigning jointly to help prevent further incidents.
But it has to go further than that. Of 2,000 people surveyed by the Foreign Office, 48% revealed that they did not realize that they would be responsible for their medical expenses if they became ill abroad.
The situation isn’t better in America where the United States Travel Insurance Association (UStiA) found that since the summer of 2010, one in eight adults have had their travel plans changed because of natural disasters. Of that number, only 29% had travel insurance.
To further underscore the importance of having travel insurance, it is one of the requirements for obtaining a Schengen visa.
So how much coverage should you get? Whenever I buy travel insurance, I make sure to have medical coverage, including provision for evacuation in the event of an emergency; trip cancelation and interruption; lost, stolen, delayed, or damaged baggage or personal effects; missed connections and flight delays. I’ve also bought coverage in case my hotel or airline becomes insolvent while I’m on my trip.
Thankfully, I’ve never had to file a claim but knowing that I was protected was worth the additional expense.
So whether we’re making plans for that Caribbean vacation, the trip around the world or to take the kids to see their grandparents, we should always include travel insurance to the budget. Can you afford not to?
The St. Andrew Parish Courthouse is located in Half Way Tree and is popularly referred to as the Half Way Tree Courthouse. Built in 1807, this Georgian style building has louvered windows and a closed verandah.
It was damaged in a storm and repaired in 1882, then repaired several times after. Miraculously, it escaped damage in the 1907 earthquake.
The Courthouse was the setting for the trial of Alexander Bedward (1859-1930), a preacher and a Black Nationalist after whom the Revival movement, Bedwardism, the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church, was named. Bedward spoke out against the government and was arrested and tried for sedition. He was committed to the mental asylum at Bellevue, where he died.
The St. Andrew Parish Courthouse was listed by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust on their register of historic sites in 1957 and declared a national monument in 1985.
This is a elegant building that I hope the Jamaican National Heritage Trust will restore and make it open to the public once again. In this part of Kingston, there are several other historic buildings including the St. Andrew Parish Church, which is just next door to the Courthouse.
The St. Andrew Parish Church was founded in 1666, just after the British captured Jamaica from the Spanish in 1665, making it one of the oldest on the island. (More on the St. Andrew Parish Church in a later post.)
Another example of Georgian-style architecture is the Secretariat at King’s House.
This building is now used as an office.
This is my submission to Travel Photo Thursday, which is organized by Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox. Be sure to head over and check out more photos from locations around the world.
Whenever you decide to book into a hotel in London, the first thing you’ll consider is the location. This is everything when you want to be sure you spend as much time exploring and as little time getting from A to B as possible. St Ermin’s Hotel in central London is popular for this reason, situated as it is close to St James’ Park. However it isn’t the only reason a stay here is an experience in itself.
As soon as you walk into St Ermin’s Hotel you’ll realise why it is much loved by many people. Everywhere you look there are fine details that make this hotel a refined and comfortable choice to stay in. From the beautifully carpeted hallways and rooms to the relaxing chairs and the antique books filling the walls of the library, you’ll certainly be in for a thrilling experience.
There are special and attentive details to look for in other ways as well. For instance if you happen to be staying in one of the spacious and appealing suites we have to offer at St Ermin’s Hotel, you’ll be able to make use of the Club Lounge. This is where a tempting buffet breakfast can be found each day, along with the day’s newspapers. What better way could there be to start the day?
Many people look for a hotel that provides a tempting restaurant as well. You’ll certainly get that at St Ermin’s, as the Caxton Grill is close by. Whether you want a light meal or something more substantial, you can be sure of finding just the right dish at the right time.
The hotel is also used to catering for all kinds of guests. There are those in a hurry to make a business meeting, who like the convenience of the Wake & Take breakfast from the hotel lobby. And there are those who are in London to enjoy the sights it has to offer. Whichever group you fall into you can be sure of enjoying the surroundings the hotel is known for.
From the stunning welcome you get as you approach the hotel itself, to the staircase that sweeps up to the first floor, you’ll notice the finest details in every area of the hotel.
You can eat your meals in beautifully modern surroundings, and relax in stunningly appointed rooms. Everything has been taken care of in these four star surroundings, so whatever you get up to during the day you can be assured of returning to a relaxing, calming and laid back room to enjoy a good night’s sleep.
If the highlights are in the details, you can be sure of seeing many highlights as you settle into the hotel for your stay in London. St Ermin’s is a hotel you’ll want to come back to over and over again, so make that first booking today and you’ll see what there is to appreciate.
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