After a long hiatus from "real" traveling due to the pandemic, this past spring my family enjoyed a luxurious weekend stay at the Montage Laguna Beach, a Forbes five-star resort. This Southern Californian hotel is located about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, perched atop a very scenic cliff above the Pacific Ocean. The location is dreamy and makes you feel like you are visiting the French or Italian Riviera. The vibe is laidback yet luxurious.
We all could use a little relaxation right now. I can think of no better place than the Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Virginia, as a quintessential "get-away-from-it-all" destination. Located just over 30 minutes west of Dulles airport, you never would know that you were only an hour away from the nation's capital. Idyllic rolling hills, farmland, and wineries abound in this bucolic landscape, where the Kennedy's and the Obama's have been known to frequent.
When you disembark from a Disney cruise, life is sad – very, very sad. But, when you extend your vacation by one night, you can gently help ease yourself back into the real world…
I booked the Waldorf Astoria for a one-night stay after our seven-night Eastern Caribbean Disney cruise because our flight back home was the day after disembarkation. Rather than stay at an Orlando airport hotel, we wanted to check this place out. We were in for a treat!
Finally – another day at sea! Days at sea are the epitome of what Disney Cruise Line is all about. You can do as much or as little as you want, with no set schedule, if you desire. After two straight days in ports, I was ready for a relatively lazy day… I started my lazy day by gathering various breakfast items from both Cabanas and the Concierge lounge and bringing the food back to our stateroom to eat. Then, I went to the gym, and, afterwards grabbed some lunch to eat in the stateroom (snacks from the Concierge lounge and a sandwich from Flo’s Café). (Yes, if you haven’t figured it out by now, Disney cruises are all about EATING!)
Another year, another Disney cruise – that’s what I like to say! It was August 23, 2018, and time for my family of three to board our JetBlue flight to Orlando, Florida. Two days later, we would be back in heaven, boarding the Disney Fantasy, our third Disney cruise in less than three years.
fotogenic travel 