If you’re flying AirTran, Delta, or Virgin America during the holidays, you’re in luck. Google Chrome, through the Gogo Inflight Internet service, is offering free WiFi on all of their flights.
Here’s the scoop:
“Today, the Google Chrome browser team announced that it has teamed up with AirTran, Delta and Virgin America, to provide free Gogo® Inflight Internet to their passengers throughout the holiday season. Travelers flying on AirTran, Delta or Virgin America between November 20, 2010 and January 2, 2011 will have free Wi-Fi on any of their domestic flights to check email, watch videos and surf the web from 30,000 feet above the ground.
As the three airlines that have outfitted their entire domestic fleet with in-flight Wi-Fi, this promotion will bring free Internet service to more than 700 planes and approximately 15 million expected passengers this holiday season.”
Santa Barbara is located 92 miles north of Los Angeles and 332 miles south of San Francisco. It is considered the northernmost part of Southern California and the southernmost part of Northern California.
It is also known as “The American Riviera” because of its dramatic mountains, sparkling seas, lush gardens, white-washed buildings, red tile roofs and abundant sunshine found in the Mediterranean Rivieras.
Furthermore, if you are planning a south to north drive of the world-famous central California coastline, then Santa Barbara is a great place to begin your journey.
We were recently in Santa Barbara, as it was the first stop of our 10-Day California Central Coast Road Trip, and thought you might benefit from a “Top 10” list of things to do from a baby boomer’s perspective.
Baby Boomers’ Top 10 List of Things to Do in Santa Barbara
Here they are in no particular order:
State Street Shopping
State Street is considered to be the heart of downtown Santa Barbara. It is lined with shops, cafés, museums, galleries, day spas and theaters. We spent a whole afternoon strolling these quaint shops.
Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail
If you find that you don’t have time to get out into the Santa Barbara Wine Country, then the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail will be the perfect opportunity to sample the local wines.
The Sideways Wine Tour
The immensely popular movie “Sideways” put the Santa Barbara wine region on the map, and in particular the Pinot Noir varietal. This is a blasts and a “must do” in our opinion. Here’s a map.
The Red Tile Walking Tour
This is a great way to view 22 architectural and historic landmarks within Santa Barbara. Within its 12 block radius, it includes the stunning County Courthouse, El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park and much more. Here’s a map.
Arroyo Burro Beach Park
The locals call it Hendry’s Beach -a place to meet for breakfast or a cocktail at sunset, stroll or jog the sandy shore, watch for whales, surf fish, or ride the wild surf.
Stearns Warf
Built in 1872, Stearns Warf is Santa Barbara’s most visited landmark. It is replete with shops, restaurants, and the area is a great place for people watching.
Montecito Home Tour
Montecito is the stomping grounds of Hollywood’s A-list. Driving along Park Lane and Bella Vista Drive will produce jaw-dropping views of palatial mansions with ocean views from mountain heights.
Santa Barbara Dining
Santa Barbara is famous for its fresh as possible and local as possible cuisine. Here is the “sip & savor” on-line Santa Barbara restaurant guide, and here is our personal review from visiting restaurant Bouchon Santa Barbara.
Explore Nearby Cities
Getting out to explore nearby cities is another must if you have time. We highly recommend Solvang (pictured left). This Danish village is packed with quaint shops and on Wednesdays has a farmer’s market to die for.
Art and History
There are a great many art and historical spots to explore in Santa Barbara. This 116-page on-line Santa Barbara Visitor’s Guide will help you choose which are most appealing to you.
My photograph of our yurt in Big Sur’s Treebones Resort.
Glamping – n – blend of glamorous + camping; a form of camping in which participants enjoy physical comforts associated with more luxurious types of vacations.
When Carol and I were first married, the Boy Scout in me decided to take my city-slicker bride on a camping trip. I had won a tent and all the appropriate gear from an employer sponsored contest and figured I was going to show my wife the wonders of camping in the wild.
We arrived to our northern Michigan campsite and I am quite certain that I dazzled her with my camp-setting prowess. That night we built a fire, roasted hot dogs, and enjoyed the camper’s pièce de résistance: S’mores.
Little did I know that throughout the whole night she would be terrified of every crackling stick and ruffled leaf. Furthermore, when she awoke to shower in the morning she found a massive black and blue spot on her derrière,
With all of this being just a bit much for her, she then proclaimed, “from now on, camping for us is a Holiday Inn instead of the Ritz-Carlton”.
Sadly, this was the end of our camping experiences and my sister inherited all my prized camping gear.
Fast forward 25 years…
See that tent (above) perched upon a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean? We just slept in that baby. It’s called a yurt. Best of all, Mrs. Roaming Boomers loved it! Yaaaaay!
Here’s Carol relaxing inside our Treebones Resort yurt. No bruising of the derrière found here!
So why is glamping becoming so popular? Well, American’s love to get in touch with nature. This is proven with the incredible popularity of our National Parks.
With glamping, we get to get out into nature without leaving behind all of the amenities of our also loved AAA Five-Diamond resorts. We get to re-live our Boy Scout camping experiences and marry them to our baby boomer desire for pampering, luxury, and fine dining. The difference here is that the turn-down service might include a little packet of insect repellent along with your traditional dark chocolates.
You might call it a cross between Boy Scout camp and the Four Seasons.
From the viewpoint of the developer, it is significantly less expensive to build a glamping resort than the hundreds of millions required to build a typical 5-Star resort. Furthermore, glamping is likely to offer your guests a more memorable experience because the concept is fairly new and you are helping them get back to nature.
I look forward to seeing how this trend develops over the coming years.
Glamping is now in our blood and we want more!
Check out some of these other glamping sites that are on our “wanna go list”.
The Resort at Paws Up – Montana
Carol has already given me the nod on this incredible glamping spot. The Resort at Paws Up features:
In-suite bathroom with an operable ventilated skylight offering an option of an open-air shower
Wood flooring
Electricity, cooling fans and heat
Exterior deck with Adirondack chairs
Camping butler
Daily housekeeping and nightly turndown service
and…believe it or not…a S’moressommelier.
Sinya on Lone Man Creek – Texas
How about a luxury, safari style retreat? Sinya on Lone Man Creek is situated high atop a ridge overlooking Lone Man Creek in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. It features an in-suite bathroom complete with a century-old claw foot bathtub, a kitchenette, a unique heating and cooling system, and with its treetop views it is dripping with romance.
Clayoquot Wilderness Resort – British Columbia
The Clayoquot Wilderness Resort outpost deluxe guest tents are roomy, great white canvas prospector-style quarters built on discreetly-situated raised wooden platforms. Tents are connected by cedar boardwalks, and are hidden under a canopy of the rainforest along the water’s edge or perched “Swiss Family Robinson style” amongst the hillside trees.
Eleven deluxe tents offer a choice of one queen or two single Adirondak-style beds with lush down duvets. Thermostat controlled propane wood stoves, antique dressers and tea tables, opulent rugs, oil lamps, heirloom china and silver accessories, and an abundance of candles.
Off-site generators send hot water to private showers and sinks, and provide electrical power for essential comforts like electric light, hairdryers and wireless internet to both guest and suite tents. For environmental sensitivity, modern composting toilets, set in charming cedar outbuildings, rest anonymously behind each tent.
“Hidden among the rocky outcrops or kopjes of the vast, internationally renowned Serengeti plains is a camp that exudes a decadence reminiscent of old Africa. The Serengeti, is synonymous with low impact high action game viewing in a landscape untouched since the dawn of time.
Richly furnished throughout, the camp provides a haven of sumptuous indulgence among the raw splendor of the surrounding bush. It’s spacious tents have been carefully placed to provide privacy and blend into nature’s architecture, overlooking the Grumeti River and its resident hippos. Surrounded by a 360 degree verandah deck and with a capacious, 45 square metre, internal floor space, each guest tent is a private sanctuary.
The split level lounge, cigar bar, restaurant, sundecks and swimming pool are perched among the outcrops and overlook the vast and rugged landscapes that are home to the world’s greatest mammal migration.”
It’s #1 in East Africa on the Conde Naste Reader’s Choice and we like it. What do you think? Resident hippos sound fun. Right?
Well, as you can see this isn’t Boy Scout camping.
But, I am very pleased to announce that my beloved bride is now excited about camping.
Well, to be more accurate, she is excited about glamping.
How about you? Do you see any glamping in your future?
Check out Go Glamping to find glamping sites from $40/night to many hundreds/night.
Here is a video of our recent live appearance on ABC 15’s Sonoran Living show in Phoenix, Arizona. We talked about how to avoid “hell on earth” when traveling with friends.
The Morphotel is a concept that joins the idea of a floating hotel and a slow round-the-globe cruise ship created by Italian architect Gianluca Santosuosso.
“His vision calls for the Morphotel to go on an endless journey around the world, stopping occasionally in various ports to become a temporary extension of the city itself, as people and supplies come and go.
Built around a flexible spine, the Morphotel can adapt its shape to handle differing weather conditions, or to more neatly fit into the space available at a whichever port of call it is visiting. Instead of embarking of a set journey from point A to point B, the Morphotel will be on a continuous trip, and guests will have to catch up with it during a stop to get on. They can then stay for a journey that suits their needs, disembarking at a later stop in a different city.”
While this photograph caught my eye, and the concept triggered my imagination, it doesn’t to me sound like a very attraction travel option unless you desire to be holed up for months at a time.
The Roaming Boomers
If you’re flying AirTran, Delta, or Virgin America during the holidays, you’re in luck. Google Chrome, through the Gogo Inflight Internet service, is offering free WiFi on all of their flights.
