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SPAIN — MARCH 2010 Cover Feature 
The Road to Santiago is Paved with Promises and Indulgences
By Maria Lisella
Nothing quite prepares you for the first time you set foot in Santiago de Compostela, the 1,000-year old shrine of St. James and capital of the northwestern region of Galicia, which is known for its lush green mountains, misty forests and Cantabrian coastline that rises to steep cliffs.
The roads—and there are many ways to arrive to this city—are flanked by columns of pilgrims, some dressed in modern-day clothing and others in what you would imagine self-sacrificing pilgrims might wear during the time of Jesus Christ. Many carry staffs with crooks on top and all wear an image or an actual scalloped shell, the symbol of St. James. You would not be alone if you half-expect to see Chaucer’s Canterbury Tale characters appear over the next ridge. When the feast day of St. James falls on a Sunday, as it does this year on July 25th, the Catholic Church declares a Holy Year in Santiago de Compostela, so tourism officials in Galicia have prepared a year-long celebration for the 10 million visitors expected during Xacobeo 2010 (pronounced ya-ko-bay-o).
The Way to St. James / Camino de Santiago
Some tour operators view the event as a chance to grow the religious tourism market, but the Galician Government has identified 10 pathways to coincide with Xacobeo 2010 to celebrate the Way of Saint James in vastly secular ways that reflect its spirit, values and as a tribute to its central figure, The Pilgrim. “The Way,” as the road to Santiago is often referred to, has always been viewed as a tangible means for cultures and people to come together in a peaceful manner for the past 1,200 years. . ...
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA — FEBRUARY 2010 Cover Feature 
The Sandy Sister Act: Selling Antigua & Barbuda
By Melanie Reffes
With Boggy Peak re-named Mount Obama in honor of our 44th President, Antigua is poised to welcome American travelers this winter season. Officially named on the August 4th birthday of the President, Mt. Obama stands proud at 1,319 feet and is the highest peak on the island. Measuring 14 miles long and eleven miles wide, Antigua sits pretty south of St. Maarten and east of St. Kitts. Three hundred and sixty five beaches rim its coastline and with an array of accommodations from upscale resorts to quaint inns, the island is a magnet for the winter-weary. To the north, Barbuda is a very big beach surrounding a very little island, so far untouched by mass tourism.
Beds for Heads
New on the hotel horizon, Sugar Ridge opened in December with sixty rooms and the island’s first Aveda Spa. Perched on its namesake hill bordered with sugar cane fields, the property provides shuttles to the beach and an 18-hole golf course. “Our team remained focused on this project, even in this challenging economic climate,“ said Aidan McCauley, company director. ”The opening is a tribute to what we have set out to do, which is offer a luxurious resort that is affordable and unrivaled in the region.” Visit www.sugarridgeantigua.com. ...
CHINA — JANUARY 2010 Cover Feature 
Showcasing the REAL China
By Marian Goldberg
I am always surprised when travelers tell me that they “do not have China high on their ‘must see’ lists.” When I ask why, most of the time it amounts to a lack of knowledge of the country. How can you convince people, who have never been to China to go, or who have visited China in the 1980s to go back? One idea may be through our youth. Many young people are now learning Chinese language in school, and the Chinese New Year is a required part of the Social Studies curriculum, at least in New Jersey. Chinese food is as popular as pizza, and youngsters wonder if it tastes the same in China. My children know their Chinese zodiac birth year. I certainly didn’t know mine at their age.
mother (then 70) and daughter (then 11). My mother had visited China in 1997, 12 years prior to our visit, on a standard tour and didn’t recognize the country. She would not have gone back, and only did so, because of my daughter.
My daughter, Brianna, saw China with fresh eyes. She loved the Children’s Castle in Shanghai. My mother thought she might have seen it before, but wasn’t sure. Regardless, it was different experiencing it with her granddaughter. Brianna got to see the exacting Chinese kids play traditional instruments, and she got to try some herself. However, this was nothing compared to Bri’s thrill at discovering a tall, modern Shanghai building that was, in fact, an enormous toy store. Literally, we passed it while driving on the street. Brianna saw the two-story glass display window and made us stop. I ran out with her and the guide as translator, dodging traffic as we crossed the street, while my mother waited in the car with the driver for almost an hour. ...
INDIA — December 2009 Cover Feature 
Cultural Journey Driving India’s Golden Triangle
By Marian Goldberg
Driving (or riding in) a car in India is a cultural experience. Despite the distances between states and cities, the best way for tourists to get around India is by private automobile. There are no super-fast bullet trains, and a private car provides convenience, flexibility, and allows you to keep your favorite driver for your entire trip. At first I was extremely nervous in the car, especially at night, with dark and not-always-very-well-paved roads. In fact, when my driver, Rana, picked me up upon my arrival at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, I complained, “Slow down. I’m not in a rush!” and “What’s with the incessant horn?” I just figured HE wanted to get home, since my Jet Airways flight had arrived after 10 p.m., and we hadn’t even gotten into his car until around 11:15 p.m. Nevertheless, after a week with him driving me all across North India, I was grateful that Indebo Travel (www.indebo.com), the company that arranged my trip, carefully screens its drivers. In fact, Rana, had been owner Nandini Ramaswami’s wife’s personal driver, before they agreed he was expert enough to drive their guests.
I learned that being in a car in India is, in itself, a cultural experience. One day, for example, after paying the toll collector what seemed like a substantial amount of rupees, we proceeded at about 50 miles per hour onto the “highway.” But, then cars came head-on at us in the opposite direction, honking and swerving their way around us. Women carrying — atop their heads — baskets of food, sacks of rice or clay and metal amphorae filled with water, crossed the street in front of us. Cows – solo and in groups — meandered their way across the road. Alongside us and in front of us, colorfully decorated trucks that looked like they should have been heading to the circus, displayed signs demanding “Horn Please!” In reality, these trucks were transporting everything from construction materials to produce to hordes of local Indians desperate for a means to get to work, but they moved at the speed of a dump truck laden with lead pipes.
ISRAEL — November 2009 Cover Feature 
Israel Young and Old
By Denise Dube
Tel Aviv’s David InterContinental and the Dan Hotels are designed to offer guests panoramic ocean views. For some, that ocean beckons, whether it’s winter or summer. Fortunately, Israel’s winters are gentle and warm enough to sustain those who are called to its sandy beaches. Visit www.InterContinental.com; www.DanHotels.com/Tel_Aviv/ My friend, Gretchen made a date with the water as soon as we arrived in Israel last January. “I’m going to surf,” she told our group of eight women bound for Tel Aviv, Israel’s best surfing spot. The weather, in the high 50s and low 60s, was a bit chilly that week, but far colder in her Midwest hometown, one that held little to no chance of even encountering the ocean, let alone a view. I had no intention of surfing. My job was getting pictorial proof that she braved the high white foamy waves that roared to the Israeli shoreline. We left the David InterContinental early enough to easily cross the street that divided the ocean from Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek neighborhood and headed for a long cement and graffiti-ridden building near the marina. Gretchen, a determined soul, had searched for Ronnie and his small surf shop a day earlier. She would, she said, not leave Tel Aviv without participating in the city’s second favorite sport. (I’ll tell you about the first later.) Ronnie’s shop was in a cement alcove between other businesses that had closed for the season. Ronnie kept his door open. He knew that tourists and Tel Avivians like to surf — in any weather. If they don’t know how, they want to learn – right here in Tel Aviv.
FLANDERS — October 2009 Cover Feature 
Flanders’ Constellation of Stellar Sites
By Susan McKee
Sure, there are places to visit and things to see in Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp, but let’s start with the most famous Belgian tourist attraction of all: Mannekin Pis. This small statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain has drawn visitors to Brussels since 1619. So, head to the corner of Rue de L’Etuve and Stroofstraat and begin your tour of Flanders (you’ve got to start somewhere). Don’t be surprised if the bronze cherub sports a trendy outfit – he boasts an extensive wardrobe of several hundred ensembles, including an Elvis get-up and a Tibetan monk’s robes (you can see the entire collection in the Brussels City Museum).
Time out for a bit of explanation: Flanders isn’t a European country. It’s the Flemish-speaking northern region of Belgium, including (for tourist purposes) the capital, Brussels. (A separate tourist office takes care of French-speaking Belgium, called Wallonia, although it also encompasses Brussels – officially a bilingual city.)
Star Attractions in Brussels
Brussels is the most-visited city in Belgium. A thriving metro area of about two million people, it’s not only the capital of the country, but a headquarters for both the European Union and NATO. Founded and thriving well before the first millennium, the city was once the sole capital of all the so-called Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg). Belgium didn’t become independent until 1830, and it remains a constitutional monarchy.
GERMANY — September 2009 Cover Feature 
The Great German Southwest
By Stillman Rogers
Germany’s Southwest may not have cowboys, but like our own Southwest, it’s a land of wide-open spaces. In the tree-clad hills of the Black Forest and the farms and vineyards along the river valleys of Baden-Wurttemberg there is a deep awareness of the environment alongside the desire to enjoy it without destroying it. Historically, Germany has seen enough destruction, and more than a half-century ago set itself on the peaceful path of cultural and environmental preservation. JaxFax accompanied travel agents who had successfully completed the Baden-Wurttemberg region’s Cuckoo Training, to become specialists on selling travel to the Black Forest, the Swabian Alb and Neckar Valley, and to experience first-hand the many facets of this German State.
A good start is the Neckartal, with a trip along the Neckar River. Mark Twain, fresh from the mighty Mississippi, traveled the Neckar on a raft when it was nearly as wild a river as what the ancient Celts knew. More than 225 miles long, the Neckar now flows placidly through towns and cities from Heilbronn, through Heidelberg to meet the Rhine at Mannheim. Much of it follows the Burgenstrasse, the Castle Road that runs from Mannheim to Prague (www.castleroad.de).
Suggest that clients start their Southwest Germany travels at Stuttgart, whose airport offers daily direct flights from Atlanta on Delta (www.delta.com) and other airports with its partner Air France. Worth visiting in Stuttgart is the Mercedes Benz Museum (www.mercedes-benz.co/museum) whose collection of motoring history is housed in an astounding building. Clients may also want to see the Stuttgart Art Museum, with collections of early 20th-century artists such as Deiter Roth and Otto Dix.
SPAIN — August 2009 Cover Feature 
Barcelona and the Costa Brava
By Barbara Radcliffe Rogers
It didn’t take Golden Globes winning movie Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona to put Barcelona on travelers’ top destinations list. With 9 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and one of the best-preserved medieval districts in Europe, it was already among Europe’s five most popular cities and still is.
Barcelona’s combination of Modernista architectural landmarks by Antoni Gaudi and its tangle of charming Gothic Quarter streets, coupled with its reputation for good food and lively street life, assured its popularity back in the early 1990s, and it’s been growing ever since.
The film’s settings provide a good sampling of the city’s top sights. Clients who want to discover Barcelona for themselves can download a map (www.barcelonamovie.com) showing locations from the movie, including four Gaudi landmarks, La Rambla, Fundacio Miro and the National Museum of Art. Hop-on Hop-off tours (commissionable from ...
KENYA — July 2009 Cover Feature 
Kenya’s Unending Big Five Appeal
By Susan McKee
Elephants, black rhinoceros, leopards, lions and cape buffalo are the “big five” of trophy hunters heading on safari in Africa, but not because they’re the largest animals. These mammals have always been considered the most dangerous to humans wandering the vast savannahs of Kenya.
Although today’s hunters stalk game for photographs, not taxidermy opportunities, the “big five” still draw travelers to Kenya. There is, however, much more to a trip to this East African country than animals – which, truth be told, are easier to see, up close and personal, in an American zoo.
Let’s start in Nairobi, the country’s bustling capital city and location of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It’s not an ancient site, and thus isn’t historically significant for any particular Kenyan tribe (and that’s probably a good thing).
Established a century ago at Mile 327 of the East African Railway Line heading inland from Mombasa, Nairobi was merely the site where the British colonial engineers paused to deal with the challenges of building the tracks to climb the mountains further inland (the railway extends to Kampala, Uganda).
EGYPT — June 2009 Cover Feature 
The Spirit of Egypt Delivers
By Susan McKee
The 21st century has arrived in this fabled land of sun and stones, but tourists don’t come to see the newest marvels. They want to see the sphinx, the temples, the tombs – and Egypt has ‘em in abundance.
Sure, there are the pyramids along the Nile River, but – check out the new library in Alexandria! Earnest camel touts in traditional desert garb patrol the key tourist sites, but trendy Cairenes in their European designer duds prefer zipping about town in luxury sports cars. Stop to watch a demonstration on how to make paper from a papyrus reed, and you’ll probably spot the latest model of cell phone in the craftsman’s pocket.
Starting Point
Most tours start in Cairo, because that’s where the international airport is located. After a few days to recover a bit from jet lag and hit the high spots, it’s off to the south of the country – called Upper Egypt. Abu Simbel, Aswan and Luxor are easily accessible by both air and Nile River boat. Ten days – and it’s back home, with all the high spots checked off the lifetime list.
TURKEY — May 2009 Cover Feature 
Istanbul: Ancient, Seductive & Now
By Nina Africano
For centuries, Istanbul has lured intrepid travelers in search of the exotic: fairytale visions of the stunning jewels of Topkapi Palace (above) with its treasure chests overflowing with jewels; the intoxicating fragrances of a thousand potent spices mingling in the air at the Spice Market; carpet sellers carry on their ritual seductions at the mind-boggling Grand Bazaar; mystical Whirling Dervishes continue on a tradition seven centuries old; the call to prayer echoes from minaret to minaret as the sun goes down on stone streets trod by the soldiers of a dozen ancient empires.
Istanbul, a city with one foot in Europe and one in Asia, the ancient capital of Byzantium, is also a bustling modern hub with a happening nightlife, described by Newsweek as “One of the coolest cities in the world.” In this city of incredible contrasts, the cultural center of a country with the youngest population in Europe, one which is still striving for acceptance in the European Union, the Golden Horn separates the Old City in the south from the new city to the north.
City Sightseeing by District
The heart of the modern city is the Beyo lu district, where office buildings and luxury apartments tower over ancient landmarks; street art galleries, chic boutiques, trendy restaurants and nightclubs line cobbled streets. In the traditional Turkish cafés, men sport full-bodied mustaches and their free-roaming dogs lounge in the shade; across the street may be a Starbucks....
CROATIA — Aprill 2009 Cover Feature
Croatia—Europe’s Newest Riviera
By Maria Lisella
If you need assurances that Croatia belongs high on any savvy traveler’s list of truly world-class destinations, just look at any travel section in the U.S. among the nearly 130 articles that have focused on Croatia. The media has compared its Istrian peninsula to Italy’s Tuscany and France’s Provence while UNESCO will soon add a seventh site to Croatia’s ever-expanding portfolio of World Heritage sites. The excitement shows no signs of abating as Croatia graced the cover of Conde Nast Traveler’s U.S. edition last month alongside Turkey and another former Yugoslavia member, Montenegro.
Hoopla over Hvar
Lesser-known corners of Croatia are coming to light, too. At just 112 square miles, the Island of Hvar, a veritable paradise of lush fruit, vineyards, olive orchards, lavender fields and fishing villages, has recently caught the eye of several influential media outlets. Chosen as one of The 53 Places to Go in 2008 in the New York Times’ travel supplement, Hvar ranked 11th in the list of world-class itineraries. The New York Times dubbed it, “the St. Tropez of Croatia” and referred to the Dalmatian Coast as a new Riviera.
Hvar is also home to the new Adriana Hotel, Croatia’s first Leading Small Hotels of the World, which opened last year. Visit www.suncanihvar.com/Adriana....
VIENNA — March 2009 Cover Feature
Vienna: Hip, Cool and Festive
By Tom Bross
Enhanced by Danube river crossings, a Celtic trading post came into early existence. Afterward—about 15 B.C.—Roman colonists established a strategic military encampment called Vindobona. So there you have the origins of this culturally rich capital city, now spread across 23 districts and home to more than a million and a half people. Its 160 square miles of urban terrain outdoes Munich and Paris, Amsterdam and Stockholm. Travel planners like the central-continental metropolitan location, ideally positioned as an east-west, north-south hub for extended leisure and business trips.
‘Papa Haydn’ Anniversary Events
The death, in 1809, of prolific Lower Austria-born composer Franz Joseph Haydn makes the current year-long nationwide schedule of 200th-anniversary concerts and commemorative exhibits timely and attention-getting, certainly for your music-loving clientele. (His long career began early, with nine years’ youthful membership in the St. Stephen’s Cathedral choir). Extensive arrays of bicentennial specials—no surprise—are on the city’s current calendar. Exhibition venues include the National Library, House of Music (entire third floor) the Musikverein (“Joseph Haydn in London,” March through June) and Lichtenstein Palace (made tuneful by Sunday lunchtime concerts), plus Vienna’s own Haydn House (reopened last January) near the Sixth District’s busy Mariahilferstrasse shopping thoroughfare...
KOREA: February 2009 Cover Feature
By Marian Goldberg
I have visited East Asia many times, but I had never been to Korea. I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly. Was it going to be like Japan or China or MASH? Since I would be traveling alone, my biggest concern was safety, cleanliness, the ease of getting around, the cost of getting around, and if would I be able to have a rewarding and enriching cultural experience on my own. I discovered this and more …
Plenty of English Spoken
Wherever I went, someone, even little children, tried to speak to me in English. Street, highway, and attraction signs were in both Korean and Roman letters. English-language tours of palaces and museums and English descriptive brochures and labels at museums and attractions were widespread. Even the subways offered announcements in both Korean and English....
Roman Revival
By Maria Lisella
Bulging masculine muscularity is not necessarily a bad thing especially if you are a city named Rome that brandishes its ancient gods, tyrants and emperors better than any city in the world. Just like ancient Rome, the resurgence of the city is still tied to the shifting tides of politics, but this time many of those changes directly benefit your clients.
There may have been a time in the not-too-distant past [25 years in Rome is like a minute anywhere else] when Rome’s energy was strangled by coughing traffic, dusty monuments, overcooked pasta [in tourist trap eateries, not in Roman homes ever], and the frustration that this fabulous city did not synch with modern times. That unease has changed.
Rome has passionately stepped up its pace to reclaim its identity as one of the world’s centers for art, culture and archeology shining more so through new excavations and discoveries. Just two months ago archeologists discovered the tomb of the ancient hero who inspired Russell Crowe’s character in the film The Gladiator.
Rome archeologist Daniela Rossi, said the discovery of the marble tomb of Marcus Nonius Macrinus that has an inscription bearing his name, was “the most important Ancient Roman monument to come to light in the past 20 to 30 years.” The tomb was found when archaeologists were investigating ruins uncovered during building work on the banks of the Tiber at Saxa Rubra, on the Via Flaminia, north of Rome....
India — December 2008 Cover Feature
India’s Kochi: Calm, Complex and Compelling
By Ben G. Frank
To reach “Incredible India,” I flew, non-stop about 8,000 miles in 16 hours. I soon learned that time and distance pale when it comes to falling in love with India, this land of miracles and vast horizons. It is hard to believe that India stretches from the tropics right up to the temperate regions, from near the equator to the coldest heart of Asia.
As I traveled in the chilly north in December I was captivated by the bazaars and forts in Delhi, the perpetually compelling Taj Mahal in Agra, the Gateway of India monument in Mumbai (Bombay), yet I kept hearing about another India; the one in the south, where tourists feel the breath of history as they traverse a beautiful scenic region known as “God’s own country.”
Sharing the South with God
Enthralled with thoughts of warmer weather, sunlit beaches, verdant islands, palm trees, and above all, the calmness of an area (it’s even relaxing in the airports), I flew to Kochi, formerly called Cochin, in the State of Kerala which is often described as the “land of coconut.” Setting down in a landscape replete with spice and exotic plants; seeing men walking around in short sleeve shirts, I removed my jacket to enjoy the sunshine in this city made up of lagoons, islands and inlets divided by narrow waterways...
Anguilla — November 2008 Cover Feature
The Branding of Anguilla: The Three R’s
by Denise Mattia
When the young woman at the ferry terminal in St. Maarten sold me a ticket to Anguilla she remarked, “It’s a very quiet place.” Later, while disembarking from the ferry , I faced a panoramic view of a cloudless blue sky against an island of blazing white sand floating on an opalescent sea, I wondered, one man’s “quiet” could be another man’s boredom--was there anything to do here?
Branding the Three R’s
Amelia Vanterpool-Kubisch, Director of Tourism at the Anguilla Tourist Board, has a formula to this query: “Replenish your body, relax your mind and rejuvenate your spirit,” she says, adding that Anguilla’s resorts offer exceptional spas in which to do this. “Take in a few art galleries, make a fascinating excursion to our undersea world, then dance to world or island beats under the stars,” she says. I learned that Anguilla is, in fact, full of possibilities and big on song and soul.
Starting from no more than 33 gorgeous beaches and congenial surroundings in the 1980s, Anguilla rose to become one of the world’s premiere low-volume, high-value luxury destinations for celebrities and the affluent. Over the last 25 years, government administrations have encouraged investors to develop the island. ..
Vail, Colorado — October 2008 Cover feature
Vail’s Green Approach To Profits, Vacations & Saving Those Mountains!!
Vail Resorts retains a huge presence in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, so when it makes a move in any direction, there is likely to be a ripple effect. Thankfully, this is one environmentally-conscious corporation that is working just as hard to preserve the environment it finds itself in as it does developing more leisure products that will appeal to your clients and put a little change in your pocket.
The company has honed a Ski Specialist program that has just celebrated its 10th anniversary and Vail pays travel agents a commission on every single component of its packages including airfare. One key component of the Ski Specialist program is the dedicated reservation desk for qualified agents, which sells vacation packages to all the resorts, giving agents the ability to book complete ski packages with one phone call.
Ski Specialist agents JF spoke to, advised novices to obtain a solid knowledge base and to participate in a Vail Resort fam trip to really know the product.
With an annual average of 346 inches of powder, more than 5,200 ski-able acres, expansive back bowls, 15 miles of recreation paths and surrounded by 350,000 acres of national forest, Vail is something of an American vacation treasure with enough options to cover spring, summer, winter and fall...