Exciting Family Vacations

Istanbul is one of the oldest cities in the region, established in the 7th century BC (or earlier) as Lygos, which became popular as Byzantium after the roman conquest in the 2nd century AD and came to be known as Constantinople in the 4th century AD after Constantine, the Roman emperor and finally changed to Istanbul in the mid 15th century AD when it fell to the Ottomans. I could not find any relics from its pre-roman past but has…

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Once again, I was looking for exciting places to visit in Dec – Jan, some place which would allow me to escape the Toronto freezing temperatures and have lot more than just beaches. Portugal, with 10 – 18 C day temperatures, treasure of historical monuments (some dating back to the Roman times), beautiful cities and great food, seemed to be the perfect destination. On further research, I realized that there were a lot of sights to see in smaller towns…

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Hawaii Island (Big Island) in 12 days The reason I decided to visit Hawaii was, in one word, Volcanoes, to be more precise, Active Volcanoes. Just the thought of seeing red hot molten rock flowing and seeing it from a close distance, as close as 2 feet, got me in top planning mode. I read a lot of literature on Hawaii and found that it was a treasure trove for explorers with hundreds of natural marvels and exciting activities that…

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Summary : 13 days; Fly Toronto – Munich; Rent car in Munich for 11 days; Drive to Salzburg – Hallstatt (night stay); Hallstatt to Vienna via Melk; Vienna stay 3 nights; Mozart concert; Vienna to Budapest in Hungary – stay 3 nights; Local folk music and dance; Budapest to Bratislava to Prague ( stay 3 nights);  Opera; Prague to Munich via Cesky Krumlov; Munich Centrum 4 hours; next morning fly back to Toronto Medieval and early modern history, architecture, music and…

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Las Vegas Great place to visit for everyone; whether you gamble or not, you will find Vegas entertaining; great place for families too. We had booked our stay at Hotel Paris (one of the best locations right in the thick of things) almost 2 months in advance. TIP: look for deals on all online websites. Hotel website are not the best place to look for deals.

Grand Canyon to Sedona: We started early from Grand Canyon for Sedona which is a 2 hour drive. Reached Sedona at 9.30 or so. Grabbed a coffee at a local cafe, enjoyed it in the sun; temperature was about 6 – 8 C.

There is a ton of authentic information on Grand Canyon on the park website. I am giving below my experiences which you may not find anywhere else. Enjoy! If you want to stay on the canyon rim, book well in advance, 6 months in advance. If you want to camp at the Phantom ranch at the bottom of the canyon, book a year in advance. The North rim is closed in winter so we could only visit the South Rim….

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If you are looking for a mix of adventure, excitement, natural beauty, exploration and relaxation, a 2 week trip to US Southwest is a great idea.

15 days in exotic Costa Rica : Dec 2012 – Jan 2013 Costa Rica is a beautiful Central American country nested between Nicaragua on the north and Panama on the south. It is a small country where you can travel from east to west in less than an hour by flight but would take you a very long time to drive because of its mountainous terrain. You can see the Caribbean coast, tropical rain-forests, mountains and volcanoes, cloud forest, sunny…

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