Atlantic City's First Gay Nightclub Opened

It's about time Atlantic City!  A new club called PROHIBITION has opened at Resorts, as a tie-in to their gay-themed show, Believe - Divas in a Man's World.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/B3/20110506/NJENT/305060045/Resorts-opens-AC-s-first-gay-nightclub-casino

Benefit for Marriage Equality/Anti-Bullying

My partner, Alan George, and I are once again proudly Executive Producing the Garden State Equality Annual Legends dinner, a gala benefit for Marriage Equality and Anti-Bullying, taking place June 25, 2011.  It's a fabulous night of entertainment with a star-filled lineup at a glorious venue on the Hudson River facing the Manhattan skyline.   What could be better on a summer night! An  unforgettable evening not to be missed, all benefiting very important causes.

http://www.gardenstateequality.org/legends2011/index.html

New Site Lets You See if Your Room Has a View

Love the new website "Room77", which details everything you want to know about a hotel room and the room category, from square footage comparisons and bed types, proximity to an elevator, floor plan layouts, image views from the room's window, as well as useful tips and commentary about the hotel and it's location.   It's a start up site and their initial database consists of hundreds of major hotels in North America like NY, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston, Denver and more.  Look for more leisure resorts and international destinations to follow.  What a great way to see in advance what your room is going to face.  A beautiful view or a parking lot!
http://www.room77.com/

Fascinating Civil War Travel Event with Filmmaker Ken Burns

We can always count on the wonderful tour operator, Tauck World Discovery, to create amazing life-seeing travel experiences, and now they’ve created a trip that  will no doubt thrill history buffs with an exclusive five-day Civil War event being hosted by 12-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns in and around Washington, D.C., May 22 to 26.

The one-time Civil War event will be highlighted by Tauck-exclusive experiences, including private access at a number of historic venues and a keynote address from Burns during an interactive evening with the filmmaker. The Tauck/Ken Burns event coincides with this year’s 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and a PBS rebroadcast of Burns’ groundbreaking film “The Civil War” slated for early April. The Burns film has been honored with more than 40 major film and television awards.

Each full day of the Tauck/Ken Burns event will examine a different facet of the Civil War, with attendees splitting into groups of 15 to 30 to experience a series of private, interactive guided sightseeing modules related to that day’s theme. Themes to be explored on selected days include “The Meaning of Freedom,” which probes the role of slavery leading up to and through the Civil War in special visits to the Frederick Douglass House and the African-American Museum of the Civil War, and on a walking tour of historic U Street.

Other themes include “Lincoln’s War,” which examines the 16th president’s remarkable leadership, complex personality and enduring legacy in private tours of Ford’s Theatre, the Library of Congress, and Lincoln’s newly opened summer cottage, the personal retreat he frequented during his presidency. “The People’s War” ventures outside of Washington for a guided tour of the Manassas battlefield in Virginia. Like Burns’ films, each day’s theme will be explored “from the ground up,” emphasizing the human drama and deeply personal experiences of the people, from common foot soldiers to national figures whose lives were impacted by the Civil War.

The event will also be highlighted by three exclusive after-hours evening events, each hosted in a different historic building after it has closed to the public for the day.  The premier gathering for many guests, however, will be the interactive evening with Burns inside the National Archives. The evening will include a keynote address on the Civil War and its legacy from Burns, an opportunity for guests to meet and chat with the filmmaker, and private after-hours viewing of the Rotunda. Following cocktails and dinner, attendees will conclude the evening with a memorable nighttime visit to the Lincoln Memorial.

Prices for the event are from $3,590 per person, double occupancy, plus air. Included in the price are airport transfers, most meals, admission to all sites and attractions, local guides, ground transportation, all evening programs and entertainment, taxes and luggage handling. Guests can select lodging from four historic five-star hotel properties in Washington, D.C., including the Willard Intercontinental, which hosted both Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant in the 1860s. One hundred years later, Martin Luther King Jr. completed his “I Have A Dream” speech in the Willard the day before his historic rally on the National Mall. Other choices for accommodations include the St. Regis, the Hay-Adams and the Fairfax at Embassy Row. Availability for this Tauck/Ken Burns Civil War event is limited.   Call me for more information and to reserve your place.

"Sound" Advice

Have you heard my spots on the radio? As "The Travel Expert" on KJOY and four other Long Island, New York radio stations, I am informing listeners of the benefits of booking with a professional travel agent.
Listen here:

Spot A (30-seconds)

Spot B (30-seconds)

Spot C (30-seconds)

3 Most Common Mistakes Travelers Make:

Or Why You Should Trust a Professional Travel Consultant to

Assist With Your Trip Planning Needs

Mistake #1 – Booking a trip on the internet because “I Can Do It Myself”.

Yes you can.  The internet is the greatest library resource in the world and although making travel arrangements might be something accessible and what you might do every now and then, for a professional travel consultant it is a full-time occupation and one that is usually borne out of a passion and wanderlust for travel and cultural experiences.  The scope of what a dynamic travel consultant can do to create and enhance a trip is extraordinary.  What do we do as consultants?  We listen. We confer with you about your interests, hobbies and personal tastes. We ask details about your previous travels to give us a greater understanding of what you may have liked and what you didn’t, to better prepare our personal suggestions and recommendations. The more we know about what excites you in travel, the more insightful and personalized your travel experience will be. We create complete itineraries, including those that require the most detailed travel planning and arrangements. We do this with an expertise that is developed from experience and passion and we execute superior results in the most cost-effective manner. We attend seminars and ongoing training about destinations and travel suppliers to always be in the know.  We travel the world with our clients in mind, and chances are we have personal first-hand knowledge of the places you want to visit. 

Mistake #2 - Booking a trip on the internet because you think doing it yourself gets you a better deal than a professional travel agent can get.

This myth gets my top prize for what the internet has presented in duping the consumer to believe.  The fact is the benefit of working with an experienced, reliable travel professional will only ENHANCE your travel experience in every respect. Speaking for our agency, not only can we obtain the most competitive rates, we often find additional savings through our contracts, programs and affiliations and provide many benefits one would not get booking on their own, as we do cost and value comparisons from all our technology, supplier and personal resources to save clients time and money. Perks to our travelers vary depending on the trip type but can include complimentary hotel upgrades, free breakfasts, onboard cruise credits, free pre-or-post cruise hotel stays, special car rental rates, savings on select air travel and so much more.  With global relationships, clout and buying power with travel suppliers worldwide, all of those benefits are passed on to the client to create an experience that far surpasses what the consumer would obtain by booking themselves in cyberspace. With our vast relationships with resorts and hotels worldwide, our clients are recognized by hotel managers who take extra care just knowing they are valued clients of Leaders In Travel.

Mistake #3 - Booking a trip on the internet thinking you’ll never have problems where you’d need live help and an advocate to assist you. 

While we all hope to believe that “nothing will happen to me” and smooth sailing will always be in store, life happens and issues arise that make us change our plans, cause delays, work related issues, weather, emergency, medical and so on.  Your travel consultant is about SERVICE.  First and foremost, our #1 goal at Leaders In Travel, is to exceed client expectations each and every day.  I cannot express the countless “Thank You’s” we as travel consultants receive from appreciative clients who we help assist get to their destinations as quickly as possible during weather problems, while others may be stuck at the airports for extended periods of time.  Or when clients may have an emergency need to cancel or change plans and are within certain penalty periods and we their advocate go to bat often getting the kind of results they could not get on their own.  We’ve gotten calls for help from travelers who made the mistake of booking on the internet what they thought was a “luxury” hotel from its photos or from what they read in one of those “opinion type sites” - only to find out it was in actuality a dive when they went to check in.  You really never know what you are getting into with the internet.  Some sites that look reputable might not be so after all as scams abound.  Then what do you do?  What you can trust in with confidence is that from the initial booking process, while you are away and well after your welcome home, a professional travel consultant is there for you every step of the way to consult, plan, guide, enlighten, provide value and access, troubleshoot and help resolve any and all matters on behalf of a valued client. 

Have you been to Avenue Q?

Eight years into its run with a 2004 Best Musical Tony Award, a stint in London, Las Vegas, on tour worldwide and a journey from its origins off-Broadway, then to Broadway, and now back to off-Broadway, Avenue Q remains one of the most entertaining, witty, fun-filled shows in town.

With theater my greatest passion, along with travel, I am usually attending a show a couple of nights a week. Last Wednesday I made a return visit to Avenue Q (which I first saw in previews July 2003), now comfortably settled at its home at one of my favorite theatre spaces, New World Stages.  If you haven't seen this wicked little musical, which, in fact, beat "Wicked" in the Tony race for best musical, you are SO missing out on a fantastic evening.

This amazingly talented cast performs their roles and masterful puppetry in a seamless blend.  Avenue Q is the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who comes to New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account. He soon discovers that the only neighborhood in his price range is Avenue Q; still, the neighbors seem nice. There's Brian the out-of-work comedian and his therapist fianceé Christmas Eve; Nicky the good-hearted slacker and his roommate Rod - a Republican investment banker who seems to have some sort of secret; an Internet addict called Trekkie Monster (with one of the show's most hilarious musical numbers); and a very cute kindergarten teaching assistant named Kate. And would you believe the building's superintendent is Gary Coleman?!? (Yes, that Gary Coleman.) Together, Princeton and his newfound friends struggle to find jobs, dates, and their ever-elusive purpose in life.  It's a laugh-out-loud, raunchy, riotous and endearing journey you take with these characters ...with catchy, bouncy tunes and brilliant lyrics that will live on in your memory long after leaving the theater.   See the show and you'll certainly know what I mean.  

My partner Alan and I met the cast following the show...check out some of the pics and vid clip below.

To my readers, use this exclusive code AQBLOG12 to get tickets for as low as $55!  Valid through 5/26/11.   Don't miss it - you'll be glad you went.   New World Stages is located 340 West 50th Street, New York.  Go to the box office or call Telecharge at 212-239-6200.

Rod, Jonathan Root (who plays him) and me

My partner Alan, with Trekkie Monster