The Suite Life

When you take every effort to travel in luxurious comfort, from Bose headphones to Kiehl’s travel toiletries, restrictions from security and the dismal food courts often leave little for luxury travelers in terms of food. Rather than run into the safety of the airline’s private lounge or subjecting your stomach to fast “food”, airports are now offering a third option, luxury eateries.

Travel+Leisure reported on the new luxury rest stops that are landing in an airport near you, here’s an excerpt:

JFK Airport in New York – Vino Volo wine bar in American Airline’s Terminal 8 creates an intimate atmosphere filled with carefully chosen bottles from both popular and remote wineries around the world.

Logan International Airport in Boston – Todd English opened the third installment of his Bonfire restaurant serving up South American fair to those who rather have their meat with avocado crema than pickles and ketchup.

LAX in Los Angeles – Oneworld is luxury southern-Californian style as an eco-lounge made with natural materials and complete with shower suites for First- and Business-class travelers, so you can reach your zen before reaching highest altitude.

Heathrow Airport in London – Plane Restaurant brings luxury comfort food to travelers. The new Gordon Ramsay terminal 5 spot offers both breakfast and special picnic baskets, helping jet-setters start their day off right.

And those are just the food options. There’s also spas, shops and museums opening at airports around the globe, so check them out, it might even be worth getting to the airport by the suggested 2 hours prior to flight-time…

Find luxury hotels around the world at Perfect Escapes.

By Sarah Ziering for Perfect Escapes

Europe is taking steps to win back some of its previously dedicated tourists, Americans. The recent downturn of the American economy has affected not just those here, but tourism across Western Europe as well.

While Americans still find an economic advantage in Eastern Europe (and thus the region has seen an increase in tourism), Western Europe has become an even pricier endeavor, and has lost a significant amount of tourism dollars as a result. Official tourism boards in multiple countries have launched discount coupons, heavy advertising, and special offers to woo their Western patrons back across the ocean.

For Harry’s Bar in Venice, famous for being Hemingway’s hang-out, the way to win back the Americans was with a special 20% discount on drinks for “American Victims” of subprime loans and bad economy. It seems the bar may be actually laughing at and not with Americans’ plight with this special offer, but it might just work. As Hemingway once said, “Don’t you drink?…I have drunk since I was fifteen and few things have given me more pleasure.”

Find luxury hotels around the world at Perfect Escapes.

London

Paris

Italy

Although the weather might not show it, Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes summer vacations.

While Europe is often considered a balmy clamor of tourists in the high summer months, certain locations boast the privacy and luxury that entice Hollywood stars and luxury travelers alike. A few spots in particular are almost guaranteed to lavish you in the vacation of your dreams while you rub shoulders with some of the celebrity elite.

Classic destinations for a vacation with the stars include St. Tropez, Mykonos, and St. Barts where upscale dining meets gorgeous views, top accommodations and enough privacy for stars and jet-setters to relax carefree.

For the trend-setters, Turkey’s Turquoise Coast and Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast have quaint towns with delicious food and cultural attractions.

Of course, there’s not always time to go clear across the ocean for some 5-star relaxation, and that’s why many luxury travelers are finding the stars in Mexico’s Riviera Maya resorts or party town Miami Beach, Florida.

Spend your summer with the stars and indulge in the world’s best luxury. You may not come back with the Paparazzi on your trail, but you certainly will enjoy a bit of starpower.

By Sarah Ziering for Perfect Escapes

No, those people aren’t racing to catch their plane, they are speed-walking to burn off a few calories before their next flight.

Lambert-St. Louis International’s new airport paths give people a chance to work off extra calories, stress, and tight muscles in between their flights. It has long been known that shorter more frequent exercising is as beneficial if not more so than one long set. So even just squeezing in 20 minutes of walking around the airport can really boost travelers’ health before they get back in a plane for many more hours. This is especially true if they are carrying quite a few pounds of luggage as well, since nothing is mentioned about a place to store baggage during a walk. However, make sure your walk doesn’t take you into the fast-food joints, candy kiosks or gift stores, window shopping does not count as cardiovascular activity, unfortunately.

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By Sarah Ziering for Perfect Escapes

Business and leisure once seemed like oil and water. As busy executives travel more throughout the global economy, a majority can’t find the time to group more than a long-weekend of vacation days together at a time. Frequent business travel has replaced the time for an actual vacation. However, by extending business trips to include a few days of leisure, the next red eye to Tokyo may seem less like a work obligation and more like a vacation escape.

Popular business travel destinations such as London, New York and Hong Kong are easy to navigate in terms of finding the leisure activities and luxury accommodations that make business travel more leisurely. However, as travel for business extends to more remote and less-urbanized areas, planning the leisure part of a business trip becomes a little more foreign.

That’s why Forbes Travel put together an article with tips on traveling to these less expansive destinations. At the heart, the article says to research and be prepared. Since these culturally rich destinations don’t always have the same sort of luxury and service on hand, make local contacts, find out good places to eat from local business contacts, cab drivers, etc. Let the locals guide you. And in case you don’t gain enough knowledge from word of mouth, come prepared with your own arsenal of must dos while in your destination.

While you are rushing from meeting, to dinner, to gala, take the road less traveled and enjoy some leisure time beyond a coffee break between conference sessions. It will certainly make a rushed trip more leisurely, and may even improve business relations as well.

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