July 2020 – Travel Planning Passion

Book Preview: To Europe with our Teens and Tween

Does planning a family vacation to Europe seem daunting? Although taking a package tour may be a good travel option, it may not necessarily fit your needs. When you are planning a trip for your whole family, a tour may be too expensive, not catered specifically to your family, or may not include the places you want to visit. There are valid reasons why you might want to plan a family trip to Europe on your own, but then where do you start? To Europe with our Teens and Tweens provides guidance and inspiration for planning your own trip.

First, make a list of the places your family would most like to visit. You may narrow the list or choose destinations based upon how many days you are planning to vacation and how long you want to stay in each location. If you are planning to visit a big city, you may want to spend three or four days there. Make sure you don’t plan to visit so many places that you cannot justly appreciate each location. You should also consider how much time you are willing to be in transit from one location to another while on vacation. When we took a family trip to Europe, we spent time in large cities but also spent a couple of days at a time traveling through smaller towns. We flew into London, traveled to Paris, through Germany, and then journeyed to Czechia, flying home from Prague. If you are traveling to several locations, think about what makes sense when you connect the dots. For example, you probably would not want to split time between Norway and South France, although it might be possible. A more logical approach might be to see Norway and Scotland, and then make South France and Italy a future trip. Still another option is to stay in one region or one country entirely. This way you immerse yourself more extensively in that culture and also spend less time actually traveling.

A second consideration is how you will travel from place to place. This is most pertinent if you are going to travel to several countries or regions. For example, if you plan to only see Scotland and England, you might decide to rent a car. However, if you travel longer distances, you will need to consider other modes of transportation. When we took our trip, we rode from London to Paris on the Eurostar high-speed train, took a train to Germany, rented a car to drive through part of Germany, and then took a bus to Czechia. Taking a bus for the last leg of the journey was due to the absence of train service between the towns where we were traveling. In advance, I coordinated all of our transportation. This allowed more time to enjoy being on our vacation and less stress!

While planning transportation, you will also want to be choosing accommodations. Will hotels, hostels, guest houses, or home rentals best suit your needs? The size of your family, your budget, and available accommodations will dictate your final decisions. In some cities a vast number of choices exist, but you may have to decide whether you want to pay more to stay in a walkable city center or choose to stay outside of the city center in a more budget-friendly accommodation. If you choose to be outside of the city center, you will want to include in your calculation the time and cost of transportation to the city center, whether the option is a taxi, a subway ride, or a rideshare service.

The final, and most rewarding part of travel planning, is the planning of and dreaming about the sites you wish to visit. You will want to consult your family members for input so that they each have the opportunity to visit places they enjoy. I have a daughter who loves art and history, and another that would put a higher priority on shopping. So, I tried to make sure that amidst the art museums and castles, we made time to purchase the perfect couture to take home. You will also want to check opening times and ticket options for sites you choose to visit. For example, some museums are closed on a certain day of the week. In addition, purchasing tickets for a specific day or time can alleviate the need to stand in a ticket line at an attraction. At many sites there will be a line for security screening, but who needs to stand in an additional queue for ticket purchase!

To Europe with our Teens and Tween details the trip planning process but also provides tips for parents and tips for teens. We share hints based on our own experiences. The book also informs the reader about the particular places we visited and stories of our experiences. For example, if you visit Versailles with your family, we highly recommend renting bicycles to explore the grounds. This was one of my family’s favorite activities on the trip. If you are considering making a family trip to Europe after it opens again to U.S. citizens, To Europe with our Teens and Tweens will be a helpful resource.

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Hub & Spoke Travel Creates Custom European Experiences

When brother-sister team, Melissa Noonan and Asher Lewis, joined forces in 2019 to start Hub & Spoke Travel, little did they know their business commencement would coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic.

In spite of those challenges, the early success of their boutique tour company has proven a hidden, underserved demand for exclusive small group European experiences. In fact, their October Italy tours are still moving forward, with several other 2021 destinations soon to be released. I sat down with them, virtually, to discover the “why” and “how” behind their new business.

What is their approach to travel?

Hub & Spoke is built on four principals. The first principal represents their namesake: Hub & Spoke. Instead of the typical “whistle stop” European tour where travelers spend a large portion of their vacation packing and moving, Melissa and Asher prefer to immerse their groups in a particular region and culture. They select a central accommodation (the Hub), and all travel beyond that location consists of day trips with the area (the Spokes). The benefit is a higher quality experience and less wasted travel time.

Small Groups is their second principal. They feel that groups of approximately 12 travelers is the “sweet spot” for dynamic travel — small enough to visit otherwise inaccessible locations (imagine a small hidden gravel road leading to a beautiful Tuscan sunset), but large enough to cater custom, boutique experiences not available to individuals. Some of the venues Hub & Spoke visits would be off limits to large tour-bus sized groups. The smaller group sizes also allow Melissa and Asher to provide personal assistance with booking flights or packing questions.

Third, they provide Authentic Connections. The philosophy is that their tour guests can experience more than just sightseeing; instead they experience the sites alongside local experts. They are able to meet locals, many of whom are friends of Melissa and Asher, and make personal connections that last beyond the trip. Tour guests may have the opportunity to and dine with owners of local establishments such as wineries, or hand-picked area guides—often in their own homes. There is time for members of the group to learn from these individuals as they hear group presentations, but also time to visit with them one-on-one in a relaxing and enjoyable setting.

The final principal of Melissa and Asher’s approach is that they offer only Tested Experiences. Before they announce a tour, they have already visited the venues and sites their groups will visit. They have slept in the beds, eaten the food, and driven the roads to ensure that what their guests experience is really full of quality and authenticity.

How did Melissa and Asher develop a passion for European travel?

Melissa has had a lifelong passion for travel planning. As early as the third grade, her parents allowed her plan a family trip to Charleston, S.C., and she has not looked back since. As an adult, she and her husband started taking their boys on trips to Europe almost every year. They’ve traveled extensively throughout Europe, “too many times to count,” but would return to some of their favorite places year after year. That naturally led to several groups of friends requesting her guidance. Over the years, her family began making lifelong European friendships along the way. For example, the owners of their favorite restaurant in Rome remember them each time they visit, and talk about how much their boys have grown since the last time they visited.

Melissa’s passion for travel also inspired Asher, even guiding Asher and his family on their first few trips to Europe. Soon after, Melissa approached Asher about starting this travel business to fulfill a dream she’d had for quite some time. Melissa’s skills as a trained attorney an intrepid traveler paired well with Asher’s skills as a software consultant and an enthusiast for so many things Europe has to offer. The two had already demonstrated a penchant for working together, sharing real estate interests in the hospitality industry, and Melissa felt that combining her expertise with Asher’s would successfully establish the business with a high level of service, professionalism and quality.

Favorite travel memories

Asher said that one of his favorite travel memories was walking on the walls of Lucca, Italy with his family. Lucca has these wide earthen rampart walls around its old city center, and people can walk all the way around the wall and rest at benches along the way. There are trees along the wall promenade, and if you look out on one side, you see the hills of Tuscany. A gaze in the other direction reveals the quaint buildings of the old town. Asher’s children are 9 and 13, and he remembers enjoying the day, letting the kids just ride bikes around on the wall and stop along the way to play at grassy park areas. At one point his daughter went ahead of them, and when they caught up to her, they found her sitting on a bench with a 98-year-old Italian woman. The two were just sitting together chatting away, as best they could despite the language barrier.

Asher also enjoys experiences very early in the morning before tourist crowds hit. One of his favorite experiences was a tour of the Vatican in Rome just before dawn. Experiencing the Vatican without crowds, and with time to really examine and appreciate what he was seeing, is a memory he’ll never forget — and one he hopes to share with others!

Melissa said that some of her favorite travel memories are being at Mürren, Switzerland. The only way to reach Mürren is by cable car or a narrow-gauge train, since it sits at the top of a cliff. Once you ride up, from the vantage point of Mürren you look out over three mountains, the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. Melissa especially loves that time of year when the cattle come down from the mountains with cowbells around their necks and flower wreaths on their heads. People who go there for the first time see something that is so beautiful it almost looks unreal. Melissa says that there is nothing that looks quite like this where we live in North America.

Together, Melissa and Asher have shared many magical experiences. One that stood out occurred while they were doing some research for Hub & Spoke at Colle di Val d’Elsa, Italy. This town has a walled old city that is on top of a cliff and is accessible to pedestrians by an elevator that goes up through the rock of the cliff itself. They decided to take the elevator up to the old town one more time, even though it was getting late, because they wanted one more view of the setting sun from the top. After sunset, they started walking around the old town, shops were closed, and not many people were around. They peeked through a keyhole to a woodworker’s shop, and the woodworker saw them and encouraged them to come on inside. They felt as if they had walked into Geppetto’s workshop. The man spoke even less English than they did Italian, but it was such a neat experience to see what he was doing. Friendliness and hospitality are universal languages!

What is next for Hub & Spoke?

Melissa and Asher already have tour plans for the Alsace Region of France and the Lauterbrunnen- Mürren area of Switzerland. In the future, they plan to expand tours to Ireland as well. You can find Melissa and Asher at www.gohubandspoke.com

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Planning a Family Trip to New York City (part 2)

We took our family with three teens to New York City for five days. Here is some information about some of our favorite places, as we look forward to the future when we will be able to visit again. You can see the status of New York’s re-opening here and check websites for specific attractions.

Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island and Statue Island are both run by the National Park Service, but the only way to reach the islands is by Statue Cruises, the authorized concessionaire. You may purchase tickets through Statue Cruises or through third party discount attraction packages listed on the Statue Cruises website, such as the New York CityPass, but we chose to purchase tickets directly through Statue Cruises. Tickets can be purchased online or in person, inside Castle Clinton National Monument inside Battery Park, at the south tip of Manhattan. However, the only way to guarantee access to the Statue of Liberty Crown and Pedestal are to purchase tickets in advance online. There are Pedestal, Crown and Hard Hat ticket options. We chose to purchase the standard Reserve Ticket for our family which includes access to the grounds of Liberty Island, the museum on the island, and Ellis Island. Access also includes audio guides on each island. Tours depart from The Battery at the tip of Manhattan in Battery Park behind Castle Clinton.

A note about Castle Clinton: it was originally an early 1800’s battery erected just of shore. By 1817 it became a place for entertainment, concerts and operas. In the 1850’s dirt landfill created Battery Park, and this newly created land put Castle Clinton on shore. If you choose to purchase tickets in person, the ticket booth is inside the structure. Once you have your ticket, security and embarkation for Statue Cruises is on the back side of Castle Clinton.

The Statue Cruises ferry ride itself is a fun experience, and there are snacks available for purchase on board. The Reserve Ticket includes access to the grounds at both islands and audio guide tours you can pick up when you arrive. There is a version for kids and a version for adults. You can choose to play the audio in any order you want, and locations are numbered according to audio tracts.

Liberty Island

Our first stop was Liberty Island. We walked around Lady Liberty, took pictures, and enjoyed the view. The best surprise was the museum on the grounds. It was opened in May, 2019 in a beautiful modern building designed over a bunker. There is a theater inside that has an inspiring presentation on Liberty Enlightening the World and its design by Auguste Bartholdi. The museum has some great displays, including the original torch.

When you have seen everything you want to see on Liberty Island, you can board the boat to go to Ellis Island. Ferry times are posted online, but if you are not keeping track of time, the boats come fairly often. When you get in line, you may have a short wait as the boat fills on a first come first served basis.

Ellis Island

The first thing you notice about Ellis Island is the beautiful architecture of the main building. You enter through the large Baggage Room, and again audio tours are available if you choose to use them. Directly above Baggage Room is the large Registry Room on the second floor, with the third-floor balcony also looking down on the Registry Room. This is the room you’ve probably seen in photos and was the main processing room for medical and legal examinations. On all three floors smaller rooms hold extensive exhibits. Notably, the second floor has an exhibit describing the immigration process during the peak years of immigration, from 1880-1924. The third floor has an exhibit, the Ellis Island Chronicles, which houses dioramas depicting the construction of the island itself and the buildings through the years. We enjoyed the third-floor exhibit, Treasures From Home, which houses collections of items immigrants brought with them, including traditional clothing, musical instruments, household items and keepsakes.

Central Park

There is so much to see in Central Park, and it is a wonderful way to relax and wander away from the hustle and bustle of avenues famous for shopping and museums. Before you visit, you will want to look at the Central Park Conservancy website. There is an interactive map of the points of interest within the park in addition to information about amenities and activities available in the park. Some highlights you might consider visiting:

Belvedere Castle

Belvedere Castle is a small castle that sits atop Vista Rock and houses a visitor information center and gift shop. This is a beautiful place to go for a pretty view of the park.

Central Park Zoo

Near the Arsenal building is a 6.5 acre zoo with separate admission fees. Areas in the zoo include a tropic zone, a temperate zone, and a polar zone.

Gardens and Lawns

There are many beautiful gardens and lawns within Central Park. For example, the Conservatory Garden is a six-acre formal garden in the northeast quadrant of the park. The Conservatory Water has small radio control boats to rent during the summer and turns into an ice skating rink in the winter.

The 55-acre Great Lawn at the very center of the park where people are welcome to lounge and play on the grass. There are several softball fields in the Great Lawn.

Beautiful Bodies of Water

The Lake is a 20-acre body of water in the park that curves gracefully and has the Loeb Boathouse at the east end. It is located just south of the center of the park. The Boathouse has a restaurant, bar and express café. Visitors can rent rowboats and venture out on the lake.

The Reservoir is a lake just north of the center of the park. It features a 1.58 mile track around it and views of the skyline across the vast water.

Other bodies of water include Harlem Meer at the northern end, the Pool, Turtle Pond, Conservatory Water, and the Pond at the southern end of the park.

Statues, Bridges and Fountains

Central Park is full of beautiful bridges, fountains, statues and monuments. One of the most famous statues is Alice in Wonderland at her tea party, and there is also Alexander Hamilton. On one of the quieter spots on the north end of the park sits a bench in honor of Andrew Haswell Green, who was instrumental in the unification of New York City. Duke Ellington and his baby grand stand tall near the northeast corner of the park.

The most iconic bridge in Central Park has to be Bow Bridge. It spans a narrow neck of the Lake between Cherry Hill and the Ramble. It is a beautiful, white cast-iron bridge built in 1859 and has an interconnected design of circles all along its bannister.

Bridge Number 28 is on the bridle path just north west of the Reservoir. It has a neo-gothic design, and like Bridge 27, was designed by Calvert Vaux. Vaux and Frederick Olmstead were the architects who designed Central Park. Bridges Number 24, 27 and 28 cross the Bridle Path and are best seen from below as you walk the path.

One of many fountains, and probably the most famous, is the Bethesda Fountain. It sits in front of Bethesda Terrace and has the Angel of the Waters statue at its top. She commemorates the clean drinking water of the reservoirs that put an end to Cholera in the City. Bethesda Terrace looks out over the Lake. Under the steps of the terrace is the Arcade. Walk under the Italianate arches of the Arcade and look up at beautiful 1860s Minton tile ceiling. The Conservancy removed this tile in 1983 and finally completed the cleaning, restoration and installation of the tile in 2007, for a price of $7 million.

Activities

Bikes are available for rental at either the Grant Army Plaza at the southeast corner of the park or at Merchant’s Gate Plaza at the southwest corner of the park.

Ice skating is available late October through early April at Wollman Rink on the south end or Lasker Rink on the north end of the park.

For information about other activities available in Central Park visit the Conservancy page.

Stopping by for an hour or two...

One could spend days at Central Park, but it might be best to enjoy an hour or two near whichever part of the park is closest to other sites you plan to see. When we visited, we entered at West 72^nd Street and Central Park West and crossed the park to reach the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Our stops along the way included Strawberry Fields, which is a tribute to John Lennon, and Bethesda Terrace. While we were at Bethesda Terrace we took in the beautiful architecture of the Arcade and listened to a street musician who happened to be a classically trained opera singer. She wore sweats and a t-shirt like any other person but had the voice of an angel. Listening to her, I felt like we had been transported to Tuscany!

Broadway

We actually went very late for dessert because we had to stay an extra hour after the show for the stage door and autographs experience! Venues will designate a roped-off area where any number of cast members come out after the show to make an appearance for fans and sign programs. My daughters were over the moon to see Samantha Pauly, who played Katherine Howard in Six. The leads do not always appear, but those who do are awe-inspiring to their fans!

While in New York, don’t forget about Broadway! When Broadway is able to re-open, surely fans will show up once again to support this paramount institution of the arts. While we were there, we went to several shows. We purchased tickets to Hadestown and Six well in advance, but my daughters were lucky enough to get last-minute tickets to Beetlejuice as well. I cannot think of a better way to spend an evening in New York than to go to an early dinner at a nearby restaurant, go to a Broadway show, and then have a late dessert afterwards.

The Metropoliltan Museum of Art

This world class museum ranks right up there at the top. It is actually the largest art museum in the United States. There is a vast collection of Egyptian art which includes the reconstructed 10^th century B.C. Temple of Dendur. This temple, which originally stood near the Nile River, was a gift from Egypt to the United States when Egypt built the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser.

The entry to the American Wing is through the reconstructed façade of the Branch Bank that sat on Wall Street. The collection features American paintings, sculpture and interior design from different periods. There are many other collections at the Met, including European painting, sculpture and decorative arts; art of Africa, Oceana and the Americas; and Greek and Roman art.

Tickets allow entry to all three Met museum locations for a three consecutive day period. The Met Cloisters exhibits medieval art and is located in Fort Tryon Park in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The architecture of the building replicates the style of medieval cloisters in Europe. The Met Breuer houses modern and contemporary art and is located at Madison Avenue and East 75^th Street in the Upper East Side. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the Breuer or the Cloisters. But our day at the Met was amazing!

We thoroughly enjoyed being in the Big Apple. It’s an incredible city that is so connected to our American culture and history. There is so much to do and so many different neighborhoods to explore, each with its own culture and vibe. The major sites only scratch the surface. We can’t wait to return!

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