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Articles Tagged ‘California Vacation’

Film, food, golf and more at this California vacation hot spot

Friday, May 1st, 2009

California vacations By Lena Katz

Most parts of the country are just catching a first glimpse of spring, but in the desert, it’s in full and glorious bloom — which means if you need a quick dose of Vitamin C, the ideal weekend getaway is a golf/spa or art/food Southern California vacation. Here’s 2009 news from the bustling town of Palm Springs and the more laid-back outlying regions of Palm Desert and Coachella Valley.

If you’re a foodie who appreciates a meal deal, definitely book your California vacation for the first half of June: Palm Springs Restaurant Week kicks off May 31st and runs through June 19th. More than 100 participating restaurants in the desert cities will offer up three-course prix-fixe menus for either $24 or $36.

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Save on a California vacation with these local tips

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

California-vacation
By Alina Motin

If you are like me, you’ve grown tired of listening to the networks' constant updates on the severity of the economy. And even though you are conscious about your spending, you still want to go out and enjoy your time with friends and maybe with your significant other. I live in Newport Beach, California, and I think this is a great location for a California vacation. I wanted to share some deals on local restaurants and recommend several affordable hotels that would make for a perfect budget getaway.

Here in Southern California, temperatures range in the 70s all year 'round. This couldn’t be a better place to escape the wrath of the winter (and since I am originally from Chicago, I am very familiar with the sorrows of having to go through those months.)

Deals are to be had in abundance these days. For example, the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach is offering a 3rd night free promotion right now. This beautiful hotel is within walking distance to the famous outdoor mall, Fashion Island. In this mall, you will see a very Newport-like scene — well-heeled people, many enjoying the outdoors with their children, and some bringing their dogs for adventures at the mall. Even if you are not in the mood to shop, walking through Fashion Island is a treat. The Pacific Ocean glimmers in the background, Koi pond — home to beautifully colored fish — is here, and kids can enjoy the carousel ride. There are lots of restaurants offering good deals. For example, the Yard House offers half-price drinks and appetizers for happy hour until 6 p.m. Monday though Friday.

Laguna-beach-hotels
If you want a romantic California vacation, you should probably to stay in Laguna Beach. The Pacific Edge Hotel sits right on the ocean. The hotel has a promotion for 10% off one night or 15% off two nights for stays through May 1.

To enjoy your time here during the day, drop in to see the art at the local galleries and make sure you take a long walk on the beach. At night, go over to Surf and Sand hotel to watch the most stunning sunset.  The hotel has a nice, but expensive, restaurant called “Splashes,” but you'll see the same sunset if you just have drinks at the bar.

After the sunset, head out to Zoolu Café (but you must make reservations there in advance). This is a perfect date place for your California vacation — with a lot of charm and a little bit of romance. The restaurant is known for its swordfish. I recommend getting the blackened swordfish and splitting it (the portions are huge). After your fabulous meal, head out to French 75 just down the street. They have music and a reverse happy hour where most drinks and appetizers are half-off. If you in the mood for a chocolate soufflé, it is to-die-for here.

The rest of your California vacation should be left to chance: to explore, to find things you love, to meet new people. But at the end of it all, you will be wishing you lived in Laguna Beach.

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Alina Motin is an Orbitz market manager in Orange County.

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Bohemian bistro, big-name sushi among new LA restaurants

Friday, February 20th, 2009

By Lena Katz

Los-angeles-hotel There are so many restaurant openings in Los Angeles lately, it leaves me breathless — and would leave you cross-eyed if you tried to count them all on your California vacation. So, here are as many as I can call out in one breath. The best of the bunch (I think), though they’re as different as can be.

Over in Santa Monica, new Fig Restaurant in the Fairmont does an upscale and adventurous take on bistro fare. In addition to standards like steak frites and oysters on the half shell, Fig does sweetbreads, tongue and a delicious venison entrée. Fave salad: anything with “blistered” (i.e. flash-grilled) Romaine. Cheese flights are a fabulous way to try the 75 different hand-selected fromages.

Not everyone realizes that Asian fusion newcomer RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen is the brainchild of the Cheesecake Factory founder…nor should they. The menu is completely different — an interesting combination of Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean and other regional Eastern cuisines. The décor is a glossy and exotic LA version of Ali Baba’s cave, and the music could give Buddha Bar a run for the money. Speaking of money, that’s the only indicator that this place might be a Cheesecake cousin. It’s blindingly obvious that somebody invested some serious money in this business, and did it well. The ambiance is flawlessly executed.

'The ultimate date restaurant'

In Hollywood, nightlife impresario Ivan Kane moves smoothly into the restaurant business with Café Wa S, a sultry Bohemian bistro that evokes 1920s Paris, when every nice lady was having an affair with a young artist or a dissolute European count…Or maybe that was just in the books I read? Anyway. This is the ultimate date restaurant — the only caveat being, the atmosphere (and absinthe drinks) might fool you into feeling much more amorous than you would in a normal environment.

California-vacation After years of playing second fork to Nobu (at least in terms of number of restaurants), sushi chef extraordinaire Katsuya Uechi is expanding at a lightning-fast rate. Katsuya  found his dream partner in club-owner-turned-hotelier Sam Nazarian. Together with architect Philippe Starck, Katsu and Nazarian (or should we say Nazarian’s checkbook) are opening restaurants everywhere from LA Live to Beverly Hills to Studio City, so it's easy to find a location to try during your California vacation.

Not to be outdone, Wolfgang Puck — the original ubiquitous LA celeb chef — is launching new restaurants at LA Live, in San Diego (Asian fusion gourmet room Jai, in the La Jolla theater district), and…well, actually Wolfie’s not exactly focusing on LA these days. He’s too busy opening Five-Sixty at the top of a skyscraper in Dallas.

And finally we go downtown, where — surprise! — yet another nouveau Mexican place joins the fray: Provecho, helmed by former Republic and BOA exec chef Gabriel Morales. Aside from the ceviche bar and adjacent martini bar (! So long Margarita; you were fun when I knew ye), this restaurant is distinguished by its oh-so-upmarket versions of family Mexican recipes. Lobster chili rellenos. Kobe beef tortas. Que rico! 

For American casual fare, the reinvented Cole’s is better than I expected. Neal Fraser was a consulting chef — and Fraser is one of LA’s leading gourmet lights, so anything he touches, even a French dip sandwich, gets a significant quality boost.

Praising the bar

Bars and clubs in Los Angeles have the life span of butterflies (seriously, most are only ‘hot’ for between 6 months and a year), and here are the newcomers I think are most likely to still be around by the end of 2009:

  • First (just because the name is so wicked cool) is Barbarella Bar, a Silverlake joint that planned to be themed after the movie Barbarella, but wound up being merely to-die-for stylish with a promising dancefloor setup.
  • Next, El Bar, the latest excellently seedy hipster haunt by Craig Trager of The Well. It is matador themed — how could you not love it?
  • On the flip side of the spectrum, there are two glossy see-and-be seen clubs to check out: Kress, a gorgeous new venue with a huge rooftop bar decorated in beautiful Crayola rainbow-colored tones that Lewis Carroll would have flipped for; and MYHOUSE, the David Judaken/Dodd Mitchell venture that strives to be fabulously homey — hospitable yet VIP.
  • If you want to stick with fabulously fabulous, try Mitchell’s other nightlife venue of note: The rooftop bar at the Thompson Hotel. Beverly Hills views, gourmet nibbles and a swimming pool…it doesn’t get more LA than that.

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Lena Katz lives on the Left Coast and writes about tropical islands, beach clubs and food, but her heart belongs to NYC.

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New Los Angeles hotels, entertainment spice up a California vacation

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Los angeles hotels By Lena Katz

Recession whah-huh? That isn’t a word that crosses the lips of restaurateurs, nightlife impresarios and hoteliers in SoCal. No matter what else might happen, people expect the newest, best and the most out of a Southern California vacation — and that’s what they’re getting.

The current “biggest, best-est thing” in Los Angeles shop-dine-tainment news is L.A. Live, a downtown development that brings together big-name restaurants, entertainment venues, hotels and residences.

If anything could truly be the heart of the sprawled-out, mysterious downtown district, this would be it.  STAPLES Center pre-dates LA Live, but it also justifies its existence: it was built to provide food, drink and fun for stadium crowds pre- and post-event. Key venues include the reinvented Conga Room, the GRAMMY Museum, Nokia Theater and Lucky Strike Lanes. Restaurants range from Fleming’s to Rock ‘n Fish to Trader Vic’s (coming soon).

Doors open at new Los Angeles Hotels

The setting couldn’t be more different than the Laguna original, but the new Montage Beverly Hills is nonetheless a fitting follow-up to its sister hotel. From the grandiose marble-outfitted lobby to the elegant hush-hushed bar to the distinctive dining venues, this hotel impresses without ever crossing into ostentatious.

If you like to be in the center of the biggest splash, opt to stay at SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, a new luxury Los Angeles hotel located on one of Beverly Hills’ most trafficked thoroughfares. It’s owned by nightlife impresario Sam Nazarian. Famed for his tough velvet ropes and celeb-packed night spots, Nazarian seems to be going for a similar vibe at his first-ever hotel.

Over on Sunset, a former ‘80s rocker hangout has turned into the artsy-chic Andaz. Don’t ask what the name means — just know it’s under the Hyatt umbrella, and still a Hyatt hotel underneath the glass walls and art installations.

There are new players on the L.A. restaurant and bar scene, too. Check back next week for that story.

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Lena Katz lives on the Left Coast and writes about tropical islands, beach clubs and food, but her heart belongs to NYC.

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Fall festival favorites: California to the Caribbean

Friday, October 17th, 2008

key west hotels By Lena Katz

So many nibbles, so few frequent-flier miles. Food festival season is a challenge for any ambitious gourmand. Here are a few of my faves to whet your appetite — from northern California to the Caribbean.

Heat your blood at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, where chile season is in full swing. Located in New Mexico on the Rio Grande, actually on land that’s part of the Santa Ana Pueblo, this hotel has an unexpectedly unique culinary program that draws from Native American traditions and local produce — of which, of course, the chile is a major component. From now through November 30, Tamaya commemorates the chile harvest with a special tasting menu, cooking classes and a special chile mud spa treatment at the Mist Spa. For a more in-depth experience, arrange a tour of a salsa factory or a native blue corn mill.

Over on the California coast, the entire county of Mendocino is donning their waterproof boots and prepping to head into the woods and fields for the annual mushroom season. Porcinis, morels, chanterelles and that rare delicacy, the candy cap, are just a few of the 3000 kinds of mushrooms that grow in Mendocino County. From October through January, Mendo menus will be all about the mushrooms. The high point of the season is Mushroom Festival, which takes place November 7-16 and includes cooking classes, mushroom walks and a wild mushroom winemaker dinner at MacCallum House that’s guaranteed to rank among the best meals of your life.

For Caribbean travelers, a heads-up on NICHE Nevis, which takes place this year from October 17-19. This is a very high-end annual culinary event, with chefs from luxe resorts like the Four Seasons and Montpelier Plantation Inn heading up tastings, dinners, and a final Veuve Clicquot-sponsored gala in which all island chefs participate. Local flavor also gets a chance in the spotlight: don’t miss the Coco Beach barbecue and rum tasting, or the tour of Mansa’s Last Stop, a locally beloved farm and fruit stand.

Finally, Key West‘s annual Fantasy Fest is happening this year from October 16-26. Though this has little to do with food, I’m throwing it in because it sounds like the ultimate in awesome.

"Fantasy Fest is Key West’s answer to Mardi Gras, only much more outrageous," says South Florida travel maven Cheryl Andrews. "It’s a party that goes all Halloween weekend. Every couple years the mayor says ‘Let’s make it family friendly,’ and all the residents laugh and say, ‘Nahh.’"

If you’re at Fantasy Fest, definitely check out a new event taking place at Beachside Resort: Dancapalooza. According to the release, this is a dance-off where people compete in duos or eight-person teams — you pick the music, bust your moves onstage, and are rated on creativity, style and costumes. Like everyone else in the world, I love "So You Think You Can Dance" — and though I probably shouldn’t admit this, I watched 4 solid hours of "Pants Off Dance-Off" on one particularly hungover winter weekend in ’07. Meanwhile my mother is a "Dancing With the Stars" junkie. This party sounds like it has potential to go in any or all of the three directions, and the opportunity to see it live is something no self-respecting heckler should miss.

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Lena Katz lives on the Left Coast and writes about tropical islands, beach clubs and food, but her heart belongs to NYC.

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San Diego hosts Wine & Food Festival in November

Friday, October 17th, 2008

Sandiegofood
Sixty top San Diego restaurants and 160 area wineries will join forces in November for the fifth annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.

The event, which will be held Nov. 12-16 in downtown San Diego and in Embarcadero Bay Park, will feature gourmet food, cooking and wine tasting classes, celebrity chefs and more for one of the largest festivals of its kind in southern California.

The classes will include appearances by Ted Allen of TV’s Top Chef, James Beard Award winner Gavin Kaysen of Café Boulud, Top Chef contestants Brian Malarkey, Bichard Blais and Casey Thomas, and other nationally recognized chefs.

Orbitz customers can receive 30 percent off at participating San Diego hotels along with hotels at other top California vacation destinations.

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Add the Orbitz Travel Blog to your site

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

Travel_blog_widget
Want to add Orbitz Travel Blog features and tips to your own blog or Web site?

We’re happy to share, so we’ve created a collection of  easy-to-use widgets — featuring our latest travel stories — that you can drop into blogs, facebook and MySpace pages, iGoogle readers and a whole lot more.

And if you only want, say, stories about Las Vegas vacations, business travel or gay travel, you can tailor the content to your tastes and interests.

To add Orbitz Travel Blog content to your pages, just choose from any of the links below, design the Widgetbox widget that’s right for you, click "Get widget," and follow the instructions.

You can also take advantage of our RSS feeds with specialized Orbitz Travel Blog content.

Widgets and RSS feeds

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Affordable Orange County: A weekend getaway guide

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Orangecountysunset
By Alina Motin

Temperatures are perfect in Orange County nearly all year-round. I recently moved here from the Midwest and I don’t take the beautiful weather for granted. In the beach areas, you are typically surrounded by affluence like sprawling beach homes and exquisite yachts, but it is possible to enjoy the area economically.

One thing to keep in mind is that you will need to have a car. There isn’t a way to get around the area without one.

Among Orange County hotels, Ramada Limited in Costa Mesa/Newport Beach has great rates on weekends in the fall. The hotel is about a mile away from the beach.

While in this area, make a stop at Balboa Bay Island. This is a walkable, laid-back island. You will notice that most residents have private yachts in front of their homes. You must treat yourself to a frozen chocolate-covered banana here, a treat that originated on the Island.

From the island, take a ferry ride to Newport Beach for $1 (for an extra buck your car comes with you on the ferry). Once on the beach, rent a boogie board or a beach cruiser (rentals are available right on the beach). Sharkeez is a great place for lunch, where you can enjoy delicious fish tacos and margaritas.

For evening festivities, drive about 10 miles north to Huntington Beach. Check-out Savannah for its happy hour special. This is a great people-watching place as it sits right on the beach. Stay for the sunset (some of the most beautiful sunsets are here on the West Coast).

The following day should be spent exploring Laguna Beach, located about 15 miles south of Newport. On your drive down, stop in at the Beachcomber Café for breakfast. This area is preserved so it has retained the ambiance of a 1930s beach resort. The restaurant sits right on the beach and you can enjoy breakfast for about $6-$10.

In Laguna, stay at Laguna Beach Inn. The hotel is near the beach and they offer complementary parking, hot breakfast and wine and cheese reception in the evening. Explore the many art exhibits Laguna has to offer.

In the evening, watch the sunset from Casa Del Camino‘s roof-top bar (across from Laguna Beach Inn). There is a great tapas restaurant, K’ya, downstairs at the hotel. Or you can check-out Brussels Bistro for dinner (a 5-minute drive). Here, you get good, reasonably priced food and of course a great selection of beer. If you’re not ready to call it a night, go to the White House. It’s a laid-back bar, maybe a little cheesy, but nevertheless a fun place for some late-night dancing!

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Alina Motin is an Orbitz market manager in Orange County.

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Gay travel: Top California honeymoon destinations

Monday, September 8th, 2008

Gay_travel_santa_barbara
By Matthew Link

My cousin and his long-time partner got married recently in Pacific Palisades in L.A. Both dressed in white tuxes, with flowers all around, it was such a normal (for lack of a better word) ceremony — so traditional, in fact, that my Mormon aunt and uncle attended it as if it were any other marriage. (These were the same people who voted for California’s anti-gay marriage amendment.) The heavily populated Golden State has helped make same-sex unions, legal here earlier this year, almost ordinary in the U.S. And it’s about time!

So whether you’re hitched or just want to have a honeymoon-style romantic vacation, here are my top 10 recommendations in California (my home state), perfect for cuddling up with your main squeeze.

1. Lake Tahoe –- This turquoise jewel deep in California’s majestic Sierra Nevada range is home to gay ski weeks and a longtime gay lounge. Rent a house or cabin on the North Shore for ideal seclusion.

2. San Diego –- This mellow, friendly city has great gay beaches, several gay-populated districts, multiple gay lodgings, and history and culture to boot. Bring your surfboards to catch some waves at gay favorites Black’s Beach or San Onofre Beach.

3. Santa Barbara –- Art galleries, Spanish architecture, and an affluent, progressive populace makes this a natural choice for a gay honeymoon. Be sure to spend time cuddling on one of the cliff-lined gay-popular beaches too.

4. San Francisco –- You’ll both leave your heart in the gayest city in America, ground zero for California’s gay marriage movement. Stay in cozy Victorian gay B&Bs, eat at excellent gay restaurants, take gay tours, and bask on gay beaches (at least when the fog rolls out!).

5. Palm Springs –- Although known for the sexual temperature of its lavish gay resorts, this queer desert hideaway is home to a number of couple-friendly gay lodgings, as well as elegant Mid-Century vacation home rentals.

6. Russian River -– A favorite getaway for bears and lesbians, this friendly area deep in the woods of northern California is the gayest rural area you’ll find in the U.S., with mellow queer resorts, bars and paddling on said river.

7. Big Sur –- Although it’s the site of recent brush fires (which thankfully didn’t totally destroy it), this quiet yet dramatic area — perched on impossibly sloping mountains spilling into the sea — is home to artsy, bohemian residents, gay-friendly beaches, and even gay vacation rentals.

8. San Luis Obispo — Slowly coming on the LGBT travelers’ radars is this gorgeous oak-filled college town halfway between L.A. and San Francisco, home to many gay businesses and a lovely gay-popular beach cove.

9. Laguna Beach –- This tony, sun-drenched beach town in Orange County has long been a gay getaway. Expect serene coastlines, art galleries, and glistening Speedoed boys.

10. West Hollywood –- Known more for its randy nightlife than romance, L.A.’s queer enclave is nonetheless a tranquil locale (once you get off of Santa Monica Boulevard), with good-looking residential areas, shopping and above-par restaurants.

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Matthew Link is the Editor At Large for The Out Traveler magazine, as
well as a contributor to Newsweek. Having been to over 60 countries and
all 7 continents doesn’t keep him from getting on the next plane away
from his home in New York City.

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The truth about sharks

Monday, September 1st, 2008

Shark
By Suzannah Evans, Oceana

Every summer, familiar headlines creep into the news: stories of sharks terrorizing beaches around the world, sending swimmers racing for shore with the ominous display of a dorsal fin.

The shark’s reputation as a killer was sealed in the public imagination with the 1975 release of Jaws, a movie with imagery so powerful that the original book’s author devoted the rest of his life to dismantling the character he had helped create. The shark in Jaws was a brutal, instinctive killer with a dozen rows of jagged teeth and a taste for human flesh. The bloodthirsty great white has become an archetype so pervasive that even a news story reporting on a harmless two-foot sand shark can’t resist recalling the Jaws mythos.

The reality of shark attacks, however, is that they are few and far in between. Out of hundreds of shark species, only the great white, tiger, bull and oceanic whitetip sharks have been involved in many unprovoked attacks. Since 2003, sharks have killed four people a year on average, according to the International Shark Attack File. That puts your risk of being killed by a shark at 1 in 264 million.

Sharks may not be the relentless killers they’re made out to be, but there is still a victim in shark-human interaction. Humans kill more than 100 million sharks a year, resulting in a steep decline in shark populations around the world.

The biggest threat to sharks stems from an Asian delicacy that has grown exponentially in popularity in recent years: shark fin soup. Often presented at weddings, this thin soup is seasoned with shark fin as a traditional flourish; the fin adds no flavor or nutritional value. Unfortunately for sharks, slaughter for their fins results in an inglorious death: fins sliced off, the sharks are often thrown overboard to die. Shark finning is illegal in many nations, but that doesn’t stop fishermen from killing up to 73 million sharks a year for their fins.

Millions of other sharks are killed annually for meat or a liver oil called squalene that is used in cosmetics, or as incidental bycatch as fishing ships set lines and nets for other seafood species.

Sharks are a vital part of a healthy ocean. Much like wolves in the western United States or tigers in Asia, the presence of sharks indicates a working ecosystem that is healthy at all levels, from microscopic phytoplankton on up the food chain. Sighting a shark, then, should be less a cause for concern than for celebration. Although it wouldn’t hurt to, you know, give it a little room.

Shark myths and facts

  • Myth: Sharks are hungry man eaters looking for any chance to attack.
  • Fact: Sharks have no desire to eat humans. Most of the "attacks" on humans are a mistake, which is why there are so many more bites than fatalities. There are around 350 species of sharks, but white, tiger and bull sharks are the species responsible for the majority of all attacks.
  • Myth: Sharks are all the same.
  • Fact: The reality is just the opposite. Shark species are very different in size, appearance, habitat, diet and behavior. The typical "Jaws" vision is far from the norm.

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