Travel

Want to put on the Ritz for mom this Mother's Day? The Ritz-Carlton at Amelia Island, Fla., is offering an array of champagne-infused spa treatments priced from $85 to $175 for the month of May.

There's also a lavish Mother's Day brunch this Sunday that costs $65 a person, as well as a Mother's Day getaway that includes two nights' accommodations in an ocean view room, champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries on arrival, breakfast for two each morning, overnight valet parking and late checkout. The package starts at $1,139. Call (800) 241-3333 or go to the Ritz web site.

For a few options closer to home...

Continue reading "Mother's Day getaway ideas" »

Posted by Lori Rackl at 04:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fodor's "1,001 Smart Travel Tips" is full of useful advice aimed at making travel easier, like what's the best credit card to use abroad?

The answer: Capital One. Unlike most other forms of plastic that have tacked on fees and percentages that boost your bill, Capital One cards have zero conversion fees (the fees used to switch foreign currency into U.S. dollars) and they've absorbed the 1 percent fee Visa and MasterCard charge to process purchases. American Express charges a flat 2 percent fee and doesn't allow merchants to tack on extra fees at the point of sale, according to the book.

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Posted by Lori Rackl at 04:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This just in from the folks at American Airlines: American Eagle is starting nonstop service between Dallas Love Field and O'Hare on July 2.

Eagle will operate up to six daily flights using 50-seat jets and will be the only airline offering nonstop service from Love Field to Chicago.

Posted by Lori Rackl at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Want to find the best seat on the plane? Or what vaccines you need for that Botswana safari? How about last-minute deals?

The May issue of Consumer Reports' ShopSmart lists the six best Web sites for all of the above. Here's the run down:

For last-minute deals: travelzoo.com

For timing your trip: farecast.com

For the best airline seats: seatguru.com

Continue reading "Six must have Web sites for savvy travelers" »

Posted by Lori Rackl at 04:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're like me, you don't have an extra $5,000 laying around for a weekend getaway. But just in case your pockets run deep, you might want to know about a new package from Hard Rock Hotel Hollywood.

The "Royalty Rocks" package includes VIP tickets to Sir Eric Clapton's May 5 concert at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel Hollywood.

During the same time, Princess Diana's most famous dresses will be on display at the hotel.

Continue reading "Rock and royalty in Hollywood" »

Posted by Lori Rackl at 04:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

As the Sun-Times travel editor, I get a lot of information sent to me about high-end luxury vacations, but this one gave even me pause...

Continue reading "A $97,970 vacation" »

Posted by Lori Rackl at 04:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently spent two nights each at two of Houston's hottest hotels: Hotel ZaZa (opened last year) and Hotel Icon (recently wrapped up a major renovation).

Both were luxurious but in very different ways. Hotel ZaZa is a hipster haven -- make that hipsters with day jobs that mean they can afford the mid- to high-$200 starting rate for standard rooms. (The "petite" room category starts just under $200 and the rooms are trendy and chic, just a bit on the smaller side.)

ZaZa used to be the historic neoclassical Warwick hotel until a massive renovation turned it into swanky 315-room bastion of coolness. Especially funky are the themed suites decked out in clever motifs like the space theme in the "Houston, We Have a Problem" room.

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Posted by Lori Rackl at 04:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I had a hard enough time narrowing down a place to get hitched in Chicago. My veil's off to anyone ambitious enough to plan a destination wedding.

Fodor's "Destination Weddings" has some suggestions when it comes to extraordinary places to tie the knot. Among them:

The dramatic Ashford Castle in County Mayo, Ireland. It's a fairytale setting, but Fodor's notes that laws for marrying in the Republic of Ireland are complex, so contact the Irish consulate before you order those Belleek favors.

All the cool kids will want to exchange vows in Sweden's Ice Hotel. A new funky, freezing palace gets built from ice and snow every year in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden. The hotel has a wedding coordinator who can help you with everything from the catering to the mandatory visit to the tax office in Kiruna for the marriage certificate.

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Posted by Lori Rackl at 04:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)