Katherine McPhee’s New York Confidential
DRINK: Martini’s at M Bar. “The M Bar is connected to a little boutique hotel I stay in at times in New York called The Mansfield. The bar has really delicious drinks – blueberry martinis, apple martinis, pear martinis – and it’s quiet, but not too quiet, if you know what I mean. It’s the perfect place to meet people, because you can hear them when you’re talking!”
M Bar
12 West 44th Street
212-277-8700
www.mansfieldhotel.com/mbar.asp
By Paula Conway and John Conway
After seeing the new Pixar film “Brave,” you may wish to follow your own will-o’-the-wisp to Scotland and experience this Celtic kingdom first-hand. A great place to start your Scottish adventure is the capital city of Edinburgh. This vibrant and culture-rich metropolis will provide you with just the right quirky mix of medieval and modern.
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By Paula Conway
Originally printed in the New York Daily News
New York small business owner Bradley Bailyn, a partner in Good Media Company, and his wife were able to enjoy their first family vacation in two years when Bradley cleverly decided to rent an apartment in the Dolphin House in Westminster, London, for a recent business conference instead of staying in a hotel. The apartment in Westminster, booked through Wyndham Vacation Rentals’ UK collection, Hoseasons, provided the perfect opportunity to combine business with pleasure.
By J.P. Hoornstra
In 1868, Brigham Young encouraged Mormon merchants to band together in a cooperative enterprise in order to promote local manufacturing and combat outside influences. More than thirty stores joined the New Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Association (ZCMI). Other merchants, including some Mormons, objected to religious interference in commerce and encouraged rival businesses.
— Written on a sign posted inside City Creek Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
I sat down for lunch in front of a glass wall that reached from the bottom of the first floor to the ceiling of the second. On one side, a waterfall cascaded down over a man-made rocky cliff. On the other, the dining-room floor bustled with the energy and din of a stream of passersby — some transfixed on the water falling outside, others struggling to fight their way through the current of foot traffic. The scene could be imagined as an upbeat interpretation on the former Okada restaurant inside Las Vegas’ Wynn hotel, whereas the food, well …
Was it a sandwich from Chick-Fil-A?
A calzone from Sbarro?
Come to think of it, it might have been a Big Mac with fries — hey, check it out, there’s a mini-waterfall in front of the McDonald’s too.
By Paula Conway and J.P. Hoornstra
It pays to advertise.
Joshua Rockoff saw a bus-stop billboard for American Airlines’ Business ExtrAA program and signed up his company on the spot.
“We have an employee traveling somewhere for business each week,” says Rockoff, president of the New York City-based Strike Interactive, LLC, which has now used Business ExtrAA for more than a year.
“Last year was a big year for us, a big boom time for us. We traveled quarterly but now we travel weekly, so with the volume of travel we wanted to see how we could collect points and use like company outings.”
He is not alone. Programs with similar incentives for small and medium-sized businesses have taken flight with several major airlines, with clients finding these programs just as practical as they are generous.
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By Alex Miller
There’s no shortage of fine hotels in Denver, but when occasion calls for something special, one name always rises to the top: The Brown Palace. Continuously open since it was built in Downtown Denver in 1892, the Colorado city’s “Grand Dame” glows above the rest not only in the quality of its accommodations but in the unmistakable stately aura she projects.
By J.P. Hoornstra
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: You slip out the back door of your hotel and step into a fully enclosed shopping mall. Inviting stores stand dangerously close to the nightstand where your wallet rests. Equally close: Enough restaurants to guarantee you won’t eat at the same place twice all weekend.
For a consumer getaway to St. Louis, the Union Station Marriott serves as a logical starting point. (more…)
By J.P. Hoornstra
The Nostalgic California Vacation 101 is an introductory travel course, with a required reading list authored by literary giants. Henry Miller’s Big Sur is still as beautiful as ever. So are John Steinbeck’s Monterey and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Napa Valley. Miss the basics, and you’re missing some the best respites from urban life that the Golden State has to offer.
But if you’re looking for something farther off the beaten trail – and want to take in a few baseball games – the Single-A California League provides a surprisingly useful advanced course. Within the league’s 10 cities, the history of California and baseball intersect every summer. (more…)
By Brian Goff
To introduce the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 21st century, it might be time to revive these resounding words: “They appear on television so often that their faces are as familiar to the public as presidents and movie stars.”
That, in fact, was the memorable opening to the Dallas Cowboys’ 1978 highlight film, which famously christened the Cowboys “America’s Team.”
By J.P. Hoornstra
As home to six national championship-winning Green Bay Packer teams, Lambeau Field is of one of the NFL’s most historic stadiums. Built in 1957 but renovated in 2003, a surprisingly modern-looking Lambeau still looms large in rural Green Bay, Wisconsin. (more…)
By Paula Conway
The goal on my second trip to Salt Lake City was to add some color to a city famous for its snow and salt. Happy to say, mission accomplished – and much easier than expected.
My first visit came a few months prior to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The snow had piled knee-high along the streets of downtown, where Olympic-themed banners advertised the coming global attraction. Most of my time was spent skiing the slopes, testing out the Wasatch Mountains’ famous powder. It was just right.
This time, even though fresh snow beckoned during a mid-week in May, my two-day trip would be dedicated to unearthing treasures on the valley floor. (more…)
By Paula Conway
My last-minute trip to Louisville was also my very first — guaranteeing one delightful surprise after another.
As a neophyte, I was urged by a friend to try a Hot Brown (an open-faced turkey sandwich, smothered in cheese, with bacon), to sample a Derby Pie (a cookie stuffed with chocolate chips, walnuts, hot fudge, [...]
RUMBAR, inside The Ritz Carlton Key Biscayne, lays claims to being Miami’s only live Latin music venue. On weekends, a four-piece band in white dinner jackets will take you back to Old Havana with rhythms of vintage Cuba. Order a rum flight for a vertical tasting of Miami’s largest selection of rums from Trinidad, Barbados, [...]
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