Travelsmartplanet

During this year’s holiday season, families will be able to enjoy a festive drive through experience at Daytona International Speedway. The “World Center of Racing” will be transformed with hundreds of light displays into a holiday spectacle, a 1.5 mile long Magic of Lights, using the latest in LED and digital animation technologies specifically designed for this iconic venue.

Experience the holiday spirit drive-through from the comfort of your own car. At every turn, and in every direction, the magical route is overflowing with spectacular light displays and animations. Be transfixed when Santa’s team of reindeer cross in flight above your vehicle, see the sweetest 200-foot long Candy Cane Lane, a delightful Snowflake Forest and even more festivities.

Magic of Lights is a fun and memorable family entertainment. To commemorate the season of giving a portion of every ticket to Magic of Lights benefits the Florida Hospital Foundation.

Location: Daytona International Speedway, 1801 West International Speedway Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Dates: until Dec 31st, 2018
Hours: every night from dusk – 10 pm
Tel: 330-441-4255
magicoflights.com/daytona
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: daytonabeach.com

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In Innsbruck it’s so easy to take the Nodkette train to the cable cars for the out-of-this world views in the Alps.

Tags: alpine, alps, Austria, Austrian Alps, birds eye, blue sky, cable car, Europe, heaven, Innsbruck, mountain, mountaintop, Nodkette, scenic, sightseeing, sky, tour, touring, tourist, Trafalgar, train, travelblogger, view

Right in Old Town you can climb aboard at this spacecraft-looking station for the Nordkette cable car and take the ride to the sky.

Tags: alpine, alps, Austria, Austrian Alps, cable car, Europe, Innsbruck, mountainview, Nordkette, Old Town, old town Innsbruck, sights, sightseeing, sky, spacecraft, station, tour, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, vacation, view

The playground at Crystal World, Innsbruck Austria, is not just for the young. Be prepared get lost in a labyrinth or climb and be a kid again.

Tags: Austria, children, climb, Europe, Innsbruck, labyrinth, outdoors, play, playground, playtime, sightseeing, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal World, tour, Trafalgar, travel tourist, travelblogger, Wattens

The Force Twinkled with him.

Tags: crystal, Darth Vadar, Europe, Innsbruck, sights, sightseeing, sparkle, Star Wars, statue, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal World, The Force, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travelblogger, twinkle, Vadar, Wattens

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Clothing and accessories made out of crystals have captured the imagination of the wealthy for centuries.

Tags: accessory, Austria, century, clothing, crystal, crystal tiara, Europe, imagination, Innsbruck, jewelry, royalty, sightseeing, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal Worlds, tiara, tour, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, trip, Wattens, wealthy

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Even the stairways have something to say at Swarovski Crystal Worlds.

Tags: Austria, colorful, Europe, Innsbruck, rainbow, sightseeing, staircase, stairs, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal Worlds, talking, tour, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Wattens, words

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Look up as you enter the Blue Hall at Swarovski Crystal World, as you never know what might be glittering above you.

Tags: art, Austria, Blue Hall, crystal, crystalline, Europe, Innsbruck, installation, sightseeing, sparkle, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal World, Trafalgar, Travel blogger, Wattens

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The Giant welcomes you to Swarovski Crystal Worlds in Wattens Austria, a free 20-min bus ride from Innsbruck. In 1895 Daniel Swarovski started the company and now it honors his imagination with this gorgeous attraction which is part museum, part theme park and part art installation.

Tags: art, artist, attraction, Austria, crystal, crystalline, Europe, Innsbruck, Museum, sightseeing, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal Worlds, swarovskicrystals, theme park, Trafalgar, Watten

Let’s start with the aim of the Teersi Duniya Theatre group itself, which is to highlight theater focusing on social justice. Different cultures get to take the stage, whether they be Indigenous, Palestinian, Israeli, Armenian, Rwandan, Iranian, Turkish or whatever. The theatre’s goal, as mentioned by their artistic director Rahul Varma, is that we are all one people and it takes stories of everyone else to see ourselves.  Varma says, “the only way to tell stories in a new way is to get new storytellers into the room”.

So Stephen Orlov’s story Birthmark is about families. In writing this, he was asking himself why Jews who founded Israel to end their centuries of oppression were now dispossessing another people that had lived there for centuries. Michelle Soifer, the director, says we have in this play, “two young adults filled with passion and drive…  and the chutzpah to do something about it”.

Canada as a nation is made up of many communities of people who may have been displaced by war and conflicts. Living here in Montreal we have Jewish and Palestinian cross currents. Though families  may have immigrated here and now raise their families in this safe haven, the memories of their living history or those of their parents will always shape them. The children get stuck between the two solitudes: perhaps the need to avenge their families’ past or to just ride along safely here for their future.

Though this is a story of the Israeli vs. Palestinian conflict, it raises the universal problem of parents or caregivers who live with a family member who thinks differently, or even perhaps might be mentally challenged or elderly, and the parent must learn to live with the pain of not being able to fix things (which they might have caused), or even change them.

Natalie Tannous gives a strong performance as a mother conflicted by secrets in the past and fears for her child ‘s future.  Howard Rosenstein is her gentler counterpart, with his own untold secrets and the consequences of not listening to a child. Stephen Spreekmester creates two very different characters, and does them well – one of an observant Rabbi and one of a tough RCMP officer.  Patrick Keeler  as Nelson, the Jewish child finding solace in religion, and Dalia Charafeddine as Karima secretly planning revenge for her parent’s death, give us two very realistic diametric opposites on both sides of this divide.

The simplicity of Sabrina Miller’s set design, using floor squares and wall hangings to identify rooms, walls and doorways was very effective.

We learn that words matter: why do we refer to the Israelis as extremists but the Palestinians as terrorists?

Location: Mai Centre, 3680 Jeanne-Mance
corner: Milton
Dates: Nov 3-18, 2018
Price: $17 – $25
Tel: 514-982-3386
www.m-a-i.qc.ca

Tags: adult, Armenian, artistic, Birthmark, Canada, children, culture, director, families, future, haven, History, Indigenous, Iranian, Israeli, justice, Michelle Soifer, Montreal, nation, Palestinian, parents, people, play, Rahul Varma, Rwandan, safe, solitude, stage, Stephen Orlov, stories, Teersi Duniya, Theatre, Turkish, war