Laurie's light travel travel tips

"Georgia on my Mind" was Ray Charles' classic hit, a tune so captivating and warm it felt like a day at the beach. This writer had the pleasure of even hearing him sing it live at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel in the early '90s. And many artists have sang it since, from Michael Bolton to Willie Nelson, all evoking the same type of passion and enthusiasm visitors to the Peach State have enjoyed. While Georgia is multi-varied, with the allure of sexy Savannah justaposed by the pastoral towns leading to Atlanta, it's homogenous in both mood and mindset. People are welcoming, food is delicious (especially the peaches!), and business is hopping here. First stop, Hotlanta Something for every traveler exists in Atlanta, but for my money a good first stop is the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum. "Gone With The Wind" is the highest-grossing movie of all time, and the book has been beloved by generations. Enjoy a guided tour and see where Mitchell, who w...

Responsible tourism is not only about taking an organic approach to travel, such as "using outhouses and sleeping in a yurt," but according to the PR for NightSwapping , which bills itself as the new player in the home-stay accommodation industry, it means getting back to basics. Why run one's credit card and rack up debt, not to mention mounds of paperwork and regret, when we can just hit "send" and share our homes? Everyone's heard about AirBNB , but it's not the only entity to cash in on the marriage between low budget and high adventure. Launched over a year ago, NightSwapping now welcomes some 10,000 new members every month, touting a 'back to the roots' way of travelling where no money changes hands. It all reminds this examiner of that scene in "The Holiday," in which Kate Winslet's character e-mails Carmeron Diaz's character - or maybe that's the wrong way round - and they end up swapping homes. I'm in. At Ni...

This article originally appeared on Examiner.com, Feb. 5, 2015. It has been lightly edited. California's Yosemite National Park made international news in January when two climbers successfully "free climbed" El Capitan's "Dawn Wall". The park had also made some sad news in Aug. 2013 when the Rim Fire scorched thousands of non-touristed acres. However, for those of us who grew up in the Golden State and had the pleasure of vacationing at Yosemite, it is much more than a news story. It's the memories made at Tuolomne Meadows with our romantic partners, the excitement of seeing wildlife race across our paths, the hikes up to Lower Yosemite Falls or the breathtaking sunsets over Half Dome. For anyone planning the quintessential bucket list vacation, Yosemite should be one, two, and three on your list. If you go nowhere else this spring, visit this gorgeous national park. Ah-wah-nee nice place to stay Jim Nash, a retired teacher from Stockton, Calif. ...

Moab, Utah is the kind of location one doesn't forget easily, even 45 years after visiting, and living where one is taught to believe that only the coasts are relevant. Bah, humbug. The Southwest is where it's at - not only for intrepid adventurers seeing to rappel down cliffs, whitewater raft, horseback or hot balloon ride, but for the poets, the seekers, the be-ers. For this is a soul-enriching slice of the country, a place where Americans can proudly say, "This is ours." TOURISIM SPIKE IN MOAB According to Moab Adventure Center's Brandon Lake - an ideal monicker for a guy who specializes in outdoor trips - tourism in the Southwest has spiked in recent years, "specifically in Moab. We’ve had, continually, new hotels popping up. There are 10 under construction right now, all because of this incredible demand. " The "influx of people" in the Moab area, which is three and a half hours south of Salt Lake City and not far from the Colorado bor...

Whether you're flying to San Francisco for the weekend or London for the winter, there's only one airline to consider. And if this sounds like an advertisement, that's fine; no one is paying me to praise this marvelous party-in-the-sky (as I once tweeted after my flight). It's too perfect. From the moment you climb aboard, the soft purple and blue LED lights in the aisles immediately transport you. It's at once romantic and hypnotic, space-age and new age, all rolled into one. You'll feel like someone is about to meet you for a cocktail, but you won't know who until you find yourself marrying them in Reno a week later. Once, on a Virgin flight from London, the steward actually sat down with this examiner and just chatted me up for several minutes. The flight was fairly sparse, and I had needs (chatty needs) and he obliged. That's the point: Virgin flight attendants are intuitive, not robotic. They won't push in-your-face drink carts if you need to d...

This article originally appeared on Examiner.com, Feb. 12, 2016. If you've turned on your radio, TV, laptop, iPhone, OR brain over the past couple weeks you've been inundated with, you guessed it, promos for Valentine's Day! As if anyone with a beating heart (woops!) could forget, February 14 is Valentine's Day. Awwww. This reporter remembers many-a memorable Valentine's Day. In reverse chronological order, the maladies included: • the year I dumped my sweet boyfriend for the young hottie I worked with (yes, on Valentine's Day) • the year a boyfriend in LA ate a dinner I made for him, loaned me $100, and lied to me about his marital status • the year I wrote an article about trying to lose weight (again) so I could just gain it back with all the chocolate I would be given. But then, there are the sweet memories, too: • the year my live-in boyfriend picked flowers for me and wrote a poem (the poem may have come later; memory's a bit foggy) • the year my f...

The Specialty Food Association's 2017 Winter Fancy Food Show ended on a high note today, say organizers, with the announcement of top innovations. With over 80,000 products on display from 1,400 companies, creativity and new tastes were everywhere and it wasn't easy to select a top 10, says the Association. But here are a handful of the notable introductions in the uber-tasty-and-healthful world of "fancy" foods: Bee Free Honee – Bee Free Honee, Booth 306. Owner Katie Sanchez grew up on an apple orchard with a father who was a beekeeper. She came up with the recipe for this vegan honey made from apples by accident while trying to make apple jelly. Years later when learning about the decline of the bee population she revisited the recipe as a business idea. There are currently four flavors: Original, Mint, Ancho Chile, and Slippery Elm. Blue Planet Chocolate – Superfoods Chocolate Squares, Booth 5711. An Ohio-based chocolatier started a new line of 70%+ dark ...

In the midst of a very serious afternoon, I received yet another press release but this one struck my attention. It said: "SEND WINTER PACKING!Escape to the top island in the Caribbean AND save 20% with winter specials." Now, I've been visiting South Texas, where it's in the high seventies. Old Man Winter is back home in Connecticut, and rumor has it, global warming hasn't made this much of a winter anyway. But all of that being said, I'm hep to try out this swanky beach "house" and of course, hit up the destination. Here's what the Beach House PR said: "For the last five years, the Turks & Caicos was named the Caribbean’s leading beach destination by the World Travel Awards, and there is no better base for exploring this stunning island than Beach House and Blue Haven Resorts, two properties part of the boutique Turks and Caicos Collection. Blue Haven Resort is one of the newest luxury property on the island, and until mid April gue...

New Orleans is one of the most misunderstood cities in America. Mention the name to someone who's never been there, and her first quip will be about women taking off their tops and drunks in the street. Yet funny enough, no one seems to "go there" about places like Piccadilly Circus in London or Times Square in New York, two lively cesspools of human debauchery. NOLA is like the mirror you picked up when you were in your best mood. The reflection is both flattering and untrue. There is no place like it because once you've moved outside the city limits, say driven to Barataria Bay for a cruise, passing the shrimp boats and the humble gas stations along the way, you are reminded that the Big Easy really is an enigma. So come for that this Mardi Gras season. If you are sick of the election, the transition, the utter orangeness of it all, NOLA will satisfy your entire color palette. Here's the scoop. The official Parade Schedule has been published. Highlights inc...

Travelling to Europe is but a dream for many, yet it needn't be. And too many people flock to organized tours when a solo journey offers deeper rewards. How else will you be asked for directions in French when you have decided, spur of the moment, to walk from the 10th arrondissement all the way to Musée d'Orsay? And in this moment overhear how the natives actually pronounce "oui" (it's more like "weh!"). You will need some tips, though, and lodging is always a good start. In that spirit I offer two hotels across the pond - one in Paris and one in Vienna: Hotel De L'avre 21, rue de l'Avre, near Gare de Montparnasse train station. E-mail: hotel.delavre@wanadoo.fr; Phone: 1-866-599-6674. Cozy, out-of-the-way yet accessible to La Tour Eiffel, I highly recommend this boutique hotel for anyone on a budget or just fans of courtyards and quiet breakfasts outdoors. Une chambre-double-sur-rue (a room for two on or facing the street) is about 164...

The Mardi Gras season kicks off in New Orleans Friday, January 6th, known as Twelfth Night. Parades will continue through Mardi Gras Day on Tuesday, February 28th. The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau shares that Carnival season "welcomes more than one million revelers to the streets of New Orleans, generating more than $840 million for the local economy each year." Laissez les bons temps rouler, y'all! The Krewe of Rex chose the colors of Mardi Gras in 1872, with purple representing justice, gold representing power and green representing faith. Visit New Orleans any time of year and you'll find these colors strewn about the city, from tossed beads hanging from trees in the Garden District to the trinkets hawked in the French Quarter. To celebrate the season, make sure to buy a king cake! More than 500,000 king cakes are sold each year in New Orleans between January 6th and Fat Tuesday, and another 50,000 are shipped out-of-state via overnight courier. ...