Vacations Blog

Chicago's Navy Pier

Do you have a family?  Is Chicago your kind of town?  Well, you’re in luck.

The Navy Pier, pictured here, is free to the public.  That’s FREE.  It’s Chicago’s most visited tourist attraction and has all kinds of activities and events for travelers of all ages.

The Ferris wheel, a carousel and swing ride bring the boardwalk to life.  The miniature golf course, the Amazing Chicago Funhouse Maze and Chicago Children’s Museum give the area a taste that is strictly Chicago.  Also, stuff to eat.

Visit Chicago.  Take the kids.

UPDATE: Sorry about the Olympics, Chicago.  We still dig you.

Photo courtesy of the City of Chicago

For more family-friendly travel photos visit DeliciousBaby’s Photo Fridays.

Sometimes trade shows are fun.  And sometimes they are as fun as having a cold on a rainy day stuck at home with two little boys under 4 and no daycare.  Lucky for me the LA Times Travel Show held at the Los Angeles Convention Center February 14-15 fit into the former category.  Basically it was a giant room filled with people selling fantasy – if you did not leave that show without the overwhelming urge to hop on a plane to Africa or Utah or Ireland, then you must have serious pteromechanophobia.

Guard at the door

Admission to the show was $10 per person with many discount opportunities published in the paper and by AAA.  Parking was $12.  Hmm.  There was a food court outside the show where the only visible snacks were evident besides the Clif Bar samples at their booth.

Guard of the Clif bar samples (Actually, this is the Big Bear mascot posing with me.) (The BEAR is the mascot, I am the woman.)

I sauntered up and down the rows of exhibitors, reusable tote bag over my arm courtesy of Mendocino County.  Those tote bags were necessary for the collection of the hundred or so pamphlets, brochures, USB drives, business cards, postcards, maps, bookmarks, etc. that I collected.  Not to worry about waste – I will actually use them for future posts here, and when I am finished my children will turn them into art projects.  Go green!

There were exhibitors from every major travel destination that you can think of, and some you would not suspect, like Transylvania.  There were tour companies, river rafting guides, tarot card readers, underwear salespeople (yes, really), seminars by travel experts, performances by dancers or musicians native to some of the lands to which you might travel, and several notable miniature landmarks.

Look kids!  There’s Big Ben!

I attended the show during the last few hours of the last day.  It took me a few hours to make it from one side of the hall to the other, and by the time I got to the more exotic location booths, they were packing up to leave.  Africa Row had this picturesque exhibit of wild animals one might find on safari.  I leaned on the striped quadriped as I checked email on my phone, and someone came up to me and said “Is that your zebra?”  I don’t think I answered, I was so taken aback by the question.

The sign didn’t say “Don’t lean on the animals.”

Coming from a family vacation standpoint, I was looking for information about interesting travel destinations or attractions that are suitable for children.  A few of these were decidedly not so.

This woman runs a burlesque show starring women over 50.

But there were cool ideas I had not thought of before, including Home Exchange , a network in which you can home swap while on vacation instead of getting a hotel room or staying with relatives who have lots of staircases or breakable things.  You can match up with other like-minded families, whose homes are similarly kid-proofed, and save a lot of money.  If saving money is not your issue, you can hire a tour company like Intrepid Travel or Optical Edge Adventures to plan a one-of-a-kind travel package for you, tailored to the ages of people in your family and your travel preferences.

I missed all of the seminars held by respected travel experts like Rick Steves, Arthur and Pauline Frommer and Samantha Brown from the Travel Channel because of my late attendance.  However, I made it there in time to contemplate riding the zip line, for which there had been a 2-hour wait the day before.  It only took me 30 seconds and a glimpse at the precarious rope ladder to help me decide against it.

Instead, I had an immersive experience at the Be a Diver scuba pool where instructors from local dive shops taught novices how to use the underwater breathing apparatus.  They even took underwater digital photos, which I promise to share when they are posted at the Be a Diver website.

All this is to say that I got enough paper in my tote bag to write about here for at least a couple of months, and after going to the Travel Show I can say I recommend it.  If you love to travel and one of these events comes to your area, it’s a great place to gather information, ideas, and discounts, and to sign up to win free trips!

The Radio City Music Hall Marquee

Halloween just passed.  Thanksgiving hasn’t even come yet, but the malls and department stores are decked with boughs of holly and other Christmas decorations and ‘Tis the Season is already playing on the public address systems.

Where else has Christmas arrived already?  At Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  Performances of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes began this past weekend.  Whether you like to get in the mood early or you wait to see Christmas shows until just before the holiday, the time to buy tickets—for Radio City Music Hall or any Christmas event—is now.

Some families go to the Christmas Spectacular every year.  Others go less often.  For others, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.  As for us, my wife and I have taken our seven year-old daughter twice in the past few years.  My daughter loves everything about New York and everything about seeing a show.  To be honest, when we were first going to the Christmas Spectacular I would have preferred seeing something on Broadway.  But, after going to the Christmas show—and seeing how much my daughter loved it—I was so glad we chose it.  Her favorite part of the show, she said, was “the Santas.”  There were a few dozen dancing Santas on stage (with more descending into a screen behind them while Santa explained that he had “helpers” to be in so many places at once.)  My wife and I loved when it actually snowed on the audience—and not just fake foam or plastic but wet snow that actually melted on us.  The second time we all saw the show, my daughter said that her favorite part was the life-size teddy bears dancing The Nutcracker.  She also loved the Rockettes dancing as rag dolls and soldiers.

Several parts of the Christmas Spectacular are repeated each year and new scenes are added as well while others are phased out.  Traditions like the Rockettes’ Parade of the Wooden Soldiers and a Living Nativity have been included every year since the show first opened in 1933.  Appearances by Santa, more from the Rockettes, scenes of Christmas in New York, and other songs and dances fill out a usual ninety-minute performance.  The show isn’t even the only attraction there.  Radio City Music Hall itself is a 1932 art deco movie palace that underwent a $70 million renovation 1999.  Some of its highlights include the original five-ton thirty-two foot high Wurlitzer organ, the largest theatrical curtain on earth, and a twenty-four carat goldleaf ceiling.

Ice Skating in Rockefeller Center

One of the best things about seeing the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall is that there’s also so much else to see during the holidays in midtown Manhattan.  Radio City Music Hall itself is part of Rockefeller Center—home to one of the country’s most famous Christmas trees and a great ice skating rink.  Other attractions within just a few blocks are St. Patrick’s Cathedral, FAO Schwarz toy store, and the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue.  For hotels and dining, options in New York City are endless.  (Seriously, before I could name them all I bet at least one more would open.)  For eating in midtown though, kids would probably love the American Girl Café, Mars 2112 or the Hard Rock Café.  The food is good to mediocre at these restaurants, but it’s not the main attraction—it comes in second to the surroundings.

There’s no denying that New York City is loud and crowded.  During heavy tourist months like December, it’s even more loud and crowded.  But there’s a reason that so many people still love going into the City for the holidays.  With the entertainment, the excitement, the stores and the sights, it’s a pretty magical place to be.

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular plays through December 30, 2008.  See the Radio City Music Hall website for detailed performance times and ticket prices. VIP Packages are also available which include priority seating, a pre-show reception, and deluxe gift bags and souvenir books.

Over the past few weeks, Kango headquarters has been bustling with productivity and anticipation as we eagerly prepare our site for company launch. These are exciting times! As a result of all the aforementioned excitement, my blogging efforts have taken a brief hiatus. Fortunately, it’s not for a shortage of ideas to explore (there are plenty of those floating around), but a lack of time and fully fledged blog focus.

Anyways…I’m back at it and ready to dive into an area of recent enthusiasm – alternative maps (see tourism and ‘made in china’).

Maps organize information. They pinpoint locations relative to one another. James Turner has created the very ambitious and ultra detailed Map of Humanity, where he takes on the task of organizing morals, emotions, and culturally significant figures and events.

click for larger view

In the words of the creator, “It is an attempt to map the last six thousand years of human history and thought upon a theoretical geography to discover a sense of what kind of civilization humanity has attained.”

My thoughts…

- Geographic maps are by definition objective. This map, on the other hand, is subjective and based upon Turner’s religious, political, and moral beliefs. An atheist would disagree with Faith being a sub-region of Wisdom. A British historian would have trouble with the location of Elizabeth I– who had recurring military failures against England’s three primary foreign adversaries of the time- France, Ireland, and Spain– near the sub-region Order.

- To the southwest is “Hedonism”, home to regions like Gluttony, Treason, Delusion, Nightmare and Lies; I suppose Lay, Skilling, and Fastow held Enron corporate retreats here.

- I’m not at all sure why Mexico City and the Forbidden City reside in Fool’s Paradise along with the likes of Babel and Chernobyl; or how Seattle and Philadelphia landed in the region of Wisdom…

- I’d love to go hiking in the Shakespearian Mountains, sail in the Gulf of Maitreya Buddha, or get lost in the Sea of Knowledge.

- Are property taxes higher in Dreams or in Delusion?

This ambitious feat combines human emotion, real and fictional figures and events, and cartography, all joined together with great detail. While my personal views don’t mirror Turner’s, I applaud him for his creativity, myriad of historical references, and fine map making skills. I need to get one of these and chart out a future trip!

Relating to the Map of Humanity…..Where would you like to grow up? Experience your twenties? Retire?

Why don’t people outsource pricey medical operations?

Over the past twenty years, outsourcing has grown from an eccentric decision to an efficient and economic business staple. Companies small and large outsource their accounting, manufacturing, and customer service to emerging economies such as China and India. When a trend (outsourcing) is successful in one industry, it’s natural for it to spread to other fields (medical procedures), or at least attempt to.

The answer to my initial question is they CAN and they ARE…often with very positive experiences.

Although medical tourism is a growing global industry, it is hardly a new practice. Greek pilgrims traveled from all over the Mediterranean to Epidauria (100 miles SE of Athens), the sanctuary of the healing god Asklepios, seeking health. In 2006, roughly 500,000 Americans traveled abroad for major surgeries to countries where the cost of living is comparably lower, but the medical methods and technology are modern. Some U.S companies and insurers have gone so far to advocate their employees and clients become medical tourists, in effort to cut back their own bills. As long as universal healthcare remains a national mystery and a global deficiency, the notion of medical tourism in emerging countries will continue to spread. This is yet another example of the flattening world we live in.

While the AARP article understandably focuses on life threatening procedures (hip replacement surgery, bypass surgery, etc.), medical tourism spans the vainer world of aesthetic treatments (a.k.a. cosmetic surgery).

If you trek to Brazil for discount breast augmentation, must you declare the implants in customs upon your return home?

Caveats
• Routine follow-ups are made difficult, although medical records can be transferred to one’s local physician.
• Support from friends and family plays a large role in aiding the fragile post surgery psyche. Traveling thousands of miles away will inevitably reduce the number of “Get Well Soon” balloons in the patient’s room.
• If medical procedures go poorly, especially tricky aesthetic operations, foreign doctors are not held to the same legal liabilities.

Whether you want to feel younger (hip replacement) or just appear younger (face-lift), trekking abroad to go under the knife gives your savings a rest and affords you another reason to check out a new country. “My trip to Goa was amazing! On Thursday I had eye surgery and on Friday I witnessed the most astonishing sunset I’ve seen in decades…”

Would you ever consider “killing two birds with one stone” by throwing a major surgery into your travel itinerary?