’Tis the season. So, Travel + Leisure Editor-in-Chief Nancy Novogrod’s tips:
Hotels. Forget arguing with the desk clerk. Hotels respond to social media. Go on Twitter or whatever you go on and complain about your room. It works.
Airlines. To arrive without delays or ongoing emergencies, book the earliest flight out.
Airplane seats. If unhappy in the middle, near the restroom or in back where you can’t bolt the plane early, check your placement early.
Money. Upon deplaning, ATM’s better rate beats agencies or exchanging currency here.
Luggage. Organize early. Next day, edit what you planned. Remove things. Do not overpack.
Destination. Pick your primary interest: adventure, beach, culture, history, shopping, exploring, resort, family fun, relaxation.
Says Nancy: “For romance, eternal Greece, not being in the news as much as previously, bounced back. Favorites are Santorini and Spetses. If it’s Disney, close to New York is Orlando. The Four Seasons Hotel caters to families. Want country? Richard Gere’s upstate Bedford place. Or Relais and Chateaux’s Ocean House on Rhode Island coast.
“Not exorbitant is Pisa. Formerly rental houses, now small hotels. Majorca. The La Residencia hotel. Mykonos, once a special spot, now rediscovered, isn’t costly.
“To avoid crowds, Cote d’Azur and Cape Cod have less madness. Puglia, Italy’s wonderful heel of the boot, opposite the Amalfi coast, hasn’t yet been discovered. For remote and to experience nature, Newfoundland’s Fogo Island or Iceland’s Ion hotel.
“Travel’s up this summer. People are money conscious, but it appears a higher value is being placed on family togetherness.”
Celebrating Maya
IN 2003, asked about her someday epitaph, Maya Angelou said these exact words: “Get a hot roasted chicken, good loaf of French bread, cold bottle of chardonnay, and enjoy and remember me when I’m gone.”
In remembrance of…
Memorial day. At DC’s Iwo Jima Memorial, Wisconsin’s James Bradley, whose dad died on that statue, said: “Don’t talk of glories of war. Seven thousand died at Iwo Jima. Of the six who raised that flag, Harlon Block, 21, never made it home. New Hampshire’s scared Rene Gagnon, 18, carried his girlfriend’s photo. Sgt. Mike Strank, 24, they called ‘the old man.’
“Carrying the pain home, Arizona’s Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian, said, ‘Two hundred and fifty hit the beach; twenty-seven came out alive.’ He died drunk, face in a puddle, 10 years later. A barefoot boy delivered a telegram a quarter of a mile away to the farm of Kentucky hillbilly Franklin Sousley, 19, to say he was dead. His mother screamed all night. My father lived but would never speak about it.
“Let us never forget.”
Blond to B’way?
Following baby-making, Megan Hilty, this smash from “Smash,” wants starring in B’way’s “Gentleman Prefer Blondes,” which, to my knowledge, so far nobody’s remaking…At “Mothers and Sons,” what looked like Jim Parsons was Jim Parsons…Sunday Pat Boone auctions his $10 to maybe $50,000 Harley-Davidson. Fund-raiser for his brain-injured grandson.
Odds & ends
I never ask you for anything, but please try Benjamin Steakhouse on East 41st. It’s terrific. And be sure to get Ricky the waiter. Please…Contributor James Fragale says upcoming Out magazine quotes “X-Men” director Bryan Singer: “Hurting inside, limited enjoyment of life, then be open about it. Otherwise, you’re under no obligation to the public.”
P.R. pasha David Salidor blew an East Hampton parking spot when a Mercedes SUV grabbed it first. Driver? Alec Baldwin.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.