By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Three miles over the Mexican border in Tecate, a short distance from San Diego, is a spa and fitness center called Rancho La Puerta. I thought that this would be the perfect spot to celebrate my birthday with my BFF Anne-Marie.
In the location where the spa opened, two oak trees grew towards each other and formed an arch. This became the symbol for Rancho La Puerta which literally means “ranch of the door”. The Ranch is family owned and was founded by Edmond and Deborah Szekely in 1940. Deborah was just 17 years old when [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
Did you catch our first piece on glamping last week? That was our intro to the silver spoon type of camping, where we mentioned glamping locations and resources. Was that a little over the top? Maybe. But that’s part of the fun. If you don’t want to go all the way, but want to add a little glamour to your camping style, here are some product ideas to get you started on the DIY glamping trend. We are quite certain that your campsite neighbors will be envious beyond measure…

 
Glamping Tents – Let’s start with the accommodations, [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
My (not so original) line, when I’m asked if I like camping is “My idea of camping is the Best Western”. I have lost many potential friends with that response. But, then again, my idea of friendship involves more than just the shared (read frustrated) experience of pitching the tent and moaning over sleepless night because the inflatable mattress deflated during the night.
It’s not that I don’t like the outdoors. I just don’t like to unnecessarily suffer for the privilege of being outdoors. No electricity, nearest bathroom is 500 yards away, uncivilized neighbors, lousy morning coffee, [...]

The mission of The New7Wonders Foundation, founded by Swiss-born Canadian Bernard Weber, has the express aim of documenting, maintaining, restoring and reconstructing world heritage under the motto: “OUR HERITAGE IS OUR FUTURE.”
On July 7, 2007 (07.07.07) the New7Wonders Foundation announced that The Great Wall of China(China), Petra (Jordan), Christ Redeemer (Brazil), Machu Piccu (Peru), Chichen Itza (Mexico), the Colosseum (Italy) and the Taj Mahal (India), were the New Seven Wonders of the World (which we wrote about here).
Now the Foundation is asking for our vote again but this time on The New Seven Wonders of Nature. The 28 finalist are [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
As we traveled cross country on our 2600 miles, 10-day family road trip to Ontario, Canada we found our smart phones indispensable in making our trip a little smoother. With the assistance of GPS capability, a map app, the RoadAhead app and Yelp applications, we were able to enhance the overall organization and quality of our time on the road mostly by avoiding the formerly common incidents of not being able to find a restaurant, gas station, rest stop or lodging when we needed it.
I have found RoadAhead to be an oh-so-smart road travel tool. The GPS [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
With Anne-Marie in Chicago and me in Southern California, we seldom get a chance to get together in person. Though we do spend a lot of time on Skype, discussing our editorial calendar and the like, it’s just not the same thing… When my family and I planned a cross-country road trip from California to Ontario, Canada, we knew we would spend a few days with Anne-Marie and her family before they also headed up to Canada. Their destination, however, is Montreal, Quebec, so we will part ways somewhere in southern Ontario.
Here we are, both [...]

Pack your stuff in a box instead of a suitcase? Not a crazy idea. Actually, we like it a lot… I see several advantages to the UPS Luggage Box. I like the concept of shipping my luggage instead of lugging it around through airports.
There are indeed some good reasons to love the Luggage Box:

Stick your tongue out at the airline companies for making air travel so unfriendly by diverting the luggage fee to another type of “shipping” company. UPS promises competitive rates with that of the airlines.
No standing in long cattle lines to check luggage at airport. More time for [...]

By Sylvia Sabes, Guest Author
I’m in love with Paris, which is nothing original; Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker were all here before me. I figure I’m still in pretty good company with Mick Jagger moving up the street and Johnny Depp seen haunting our ‘hood.  It is not lost on me that these people are all known for their somewhat wild lifestyles. I’ve been told that its a personality thing, but I prefer to blame it on Paris.
Like some religious fanatic, I love this city so much that I now proselytize on its behalf, which means twice a week I [...]

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in L.A. this weekend, you should definitely drop by UNIQUE Los Angeles, a gift market featuring 200 independent artists, designers and merchants. So, it’s on tomorrow and Sunday (Dec 13 & 14), from 11:00am to 7:00pm. Details and directions HERE.
So wish I could make it…

Here’s one that won’t be mistaken in the luggage carousel… I wonder how you would pack in a bag like this. Requires a whole new packing protocol!

Via Yanko Design