Travelsmartplanet

When it’s time for ultimate luxury for the night in Florida, you have the schizophrenic options at the Boca Raton Resort & Club of the dazzly new beach property or the authentic Florida golf resort (2 courses) with a water taxi or bus to take you to and fro.

You’ll never go hungry with 14 restaurants to choose from – Lucca Italian and Morimoto Sushi bar to Serendipity with those famous frozen hot chocolates.

The ocean is in your face when you walk in beachside and the uber-friendly bellhops make you comfy with a tour and room info. There is white shirted help on the beach for chairs, umbrellas towels or blue shirts for food or drink brought right to your blanket.

Spa Palazzo is modeled after Alhambra and is indeed palatial (44 treatment rooms) with arches, carved stone, marble and mosaics and yet very modern with the the pool’s underwater music and waterfall whirlpools. There’s Sam Snead’s tennis program, a marina for boating and fishing, butler service, camp Boca and baby sitting for the kiddies and if you’ve ever had the yen you can learn how to play croquet.

Location: 501 E. Camino Real
Tel: 888-543-1277
www.bocaresort.com

On Saturday Sept 10th, My husband and I will be on Radio Centre-Ville’s Centre-Ville Consumer show with Beta Wayne.

Tune to 102.3  between 12:30 p.m.  and 1 p.m. and you’ll hear about our experiences in Holland and Flanders, Belgium in May. It will be the full half hour of conversation between us.

www.radiocentreville.com

Tags: Belgium, Beta Wayne, Centre Ville Consumer, Flanders, Holland

A lot has changed in Yuma over the last century – but one thing that hasn’t is the reliable sunshine that favors this southwestern town an average of 350 days a year. In fact, back in the day, Yuma hotels boasted that they offered “free board every day the sun doesn’t shine.” Now, in honor of Arizona’s Centennial celebration, the whole community will renew the historic offer for twelve months beginning August 1.

“Since Yuma is America’s sunniest city, we think that this is a perfect way to shine a light on our climate and celebrate a century of hospitality,” said Susan Sternitzke, executive director of the Yuma Visitors Bureau. “It’s a natural – literally.”

True to the original promotion, the new “free board” campaign will provide complimentary meals at participating restaurants for registered guests of participating hotels. An officially sunless day – “Code Gloom” – will be declared by a committee of YVB staff, board members and meteorologists as of 5 p.m. and announced to the public when hotels place a life-sized cutout of an umbrella-toting Yuma Mayor Alan Krieger in their lobbies.

Hotels then will validate and date-stamp “free board” certificates which will be good until 5 p.m. the next day for a complimentary meal (or $10 discount) at variety of restaurants. Other area businesses are coming up with tie-in specials, discounts or giveaways, with free tastings at the local winery and complimentary admission to the historic Yuma Territorial Prison park and museum already among the offerings that’ll brighten sunless days.

Is picking up the tab for what could be a party of thousands a big gamble to take? Sternitzke says no, pointing to the Guinness World Record recognizing Yuma as the sunniest place on earth – with bright skies prevailing a mean of 4,055 hours of a possible 4,456 hours every year, or 91 percent of the time.

Yuma’s also prominent in the “weather extremes” tracked by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Climatic Data Center, earning number one slots not just as “sunniest,” but also driest (3.01 inches per year), least humid (annual average 22.5 percent) and having the fewest days with precipitation (16 per year average).

All that data has given at least one hotel the confidence to take the idea even further, with a special rate that will award a free room “every day the sun doesn’t shine.” The cost is the same as the regular room rate, explains Jeanine Rhea, general manager of the Hampton Inn, but comes with a “sunshine guarantee.” You’ll have to book two weeks in advance. “Sunshine is the default setting here,” Rhea said. “We’re pretty certain that what we’re risking in comp room nights will be outshined by the warm feelings we’ll generate.”

So how many days a year – if any – actually pass in Yuma without at least a glimmer of sun? Despite all the statistics, no one is quite sure. But when it comes to this bright idea for the centennial celebration, gloom just isn’t part of the outlook.

A longtime favorite with sun-seeking snowbirds, Yuma’s population nearly doubles in the winter months, thanks to more than 23,000 spots in RV parks and resorts. The community also offers nearly 4,000 hotel rooms, conference and meeting facilities, and three casinos and of course, its  “cloudy with a chance of tacos” forecast.

www.visityuma.com or call 800-293-0100.

Tags: Arizona, centennial, code gloom, complimentary meal, free meal, free room, Guinness World Record, humid, precipitation, prison, snowbird, sun-seeking, sunniest, sunshine, U.S. Department of Commerce's National Climatic Data Center, winery, Yuma

Who would think you can stop on an exit of I-95 and have bragging rights that you have eaten in a Daniel Boulud restaurant?  At Cafe Boulud at The Brazilian Court in Palm Beach,  you can expect the prices will match the excellence of the presentation, service and the quality of the food. Everythiing is made, cured, cooked or smoked on the premises.

If you want to eat and not drop a bundle, do breakfast. There are typical omelets and porridge and the Boulud Benedict was divine. The restaurant is located in a 1926 hidden gem historical (condo) hotel with 2 courtyards and an iconic fountain in a great location – you can walk to Worth Ave and it’s 1 1/2 blocks to the ocean.

Location: 301 Australian Ave.
Tel: 561-655-7740 or 800-552-0335
www.thebraziliancourt.com

Tags: Cafe Boulud, Daniel Boulud, The Brazilian Court

When you want that perfect vacation that combines calm rejuvenation with the rev of action, then head for Holland. Make Hotel Okura (www.okura.nl) in Amsterdam your home base oasis. Its modernity and cool decor belies the fact that it has been here for forty years and brought high end five-star luxury along with Japanese cuisine to Amsterdam. You can start off  by taking advantage of their jet lag program and then wind down in the pool, Japanese sauna, Turkish bath and health club.

Reaching for the stars, the family grabbed a few Michelin ones – half the ones in the whole city. The two-star Ciel Bleu perches appropriately on the 23rd floor, up in the blue sky with walls of glass, so every seat and every bite is a delightful wonder. Winding down is easy to achieve at the one-star serene Yamazato, set in 15th and 16th-century Sukiya style decor and with views of the Japanese garden to complement the Japanese culinary arts.

We dined at the new canal-facing Serre where some of those Michelin-trained cooks drifted. So for only 34 Euros you can taste the same heavenly cooking with simpler versions of last year’s Ciel Bleu’s signature dishes and more. Our bento box lunch was an artist’s palate of tastes and textures filled with 9 tiny delights (guinea hen in garlic sauce, crispy crab, steak tartare, bulghur, smoked salmon, roasted artichoke, all in sauces, foams and powders. Yum!