South Beach's high season officially begins this weekend with the annual Art Basel Miami Beach extravaganza, bringing hordes of pretty people to this thin barrier island off the Atlantic coast of Florida. Newspaper travel sections are filled with images of the young, fashionable, and childless frolicking in the sun, but the beauty of Miami Beach is that there's room for everybody to have a good time. And it's not even that expensive, unless you want it to be. ]]>
Whenever we're stressed and have to go to our happy place, we picture the beaches of Hawaii. But now, probably thanks to how hard the recession has hit tourism to the islands, everyone has a chance to actually go there, thanks to Travelzoo's $499-for-five-Hawaiian-nights package.
The deal includes round-trip airfare to Honolulu, where you'll be greeted with a lovely-smelling lei and thus the right to brag that you got "lei'd" in Hawaii, like tourists do for days after their arrival. Your accommodations will be at the Castle Ocean Resort Hotel Waikiki. And if you want to upgrade to an ocean-view pad, the hotel gives you the option for $25 and up per person. ]]>
When January comes around with its hella freezing weather, you'll be dreaming of sunny beaches; shoot, we're doing that now. To prevent seasonal affective disorder, you'll need a dose of Costa del Sol, or "Coast of the Sun." According to Travelzoo, the beachfront locale has more than 300 days of sunshine each year. The company's offering a package to the Spanish coastal region along the Mediterranean for $499, which includes a five-night vacay with airfare, but you have to book by Oct. 28.
The deal includes round-trip airfare from NYC to Malaga, Spain. You'll also spend five nights at either Sol Principe or Cervantes, both of which are four-star hotels. If you opt for Cervantes, you'll get free breakfast daily. And if you're the type to tire from frolicking on the beach all day—crazy talk, we know—you can add day tours to Cordoba, Granada or Tangier to the package for an additional $71 to $91. ]]>
One of my favorite travel-related novels is Graham Greene's 1939 murder mystery Brighton Rock, because Greene summarizes better than any other writer why people go through the trouble of traveling. In its first pages, he describes the difficulties lower-class Londoners went through for a day at the beach, standing in packed carriages from Victoria and returning home in the bleary hours of morning.
In one of the most beautiful sentences I've read, he explains why they do it:
"With immense labour and immense patience they extricated from the long day the grain of pleasure: this sun, this music, the rattle of the miniature cars, the ghost train diving between the grinning skeletons under the Aquarium promenade, the sticks of Brighton rock, the paper sailors' caps." ]]>
When you think of Chicago, LA-style beach culture isn't usually what comes to mind, but boy oh boy are the Lake Michigan beaches buzzing during the hottest days of summer. And they're true sand beaches even, with volleyball courts, snack stands and families toting mini Weber grills. With the expansive shoreline that Chicago has, it can however be difficult to settle on exactly which beach you'll be wiling away the day. We're going to help you make some decisions with our list of The Top Three Chicago Beaches:
3. Montrose Beach
Skirt the lakefront by driving north on LakeShore Drive to Montrose Harbor, and you'll discover the north side's best sandy secret: a stretch of beach frequented mainly by locals and friendly to dogs. There's easy free parking at the beach and harbor, and it's one of the surest stretches for some secret after-hours skinny dipping. ]]>
I like animals as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure I'd be thrilled about swimming with pigs. It would be impossible not to think about that scene from Y tu mamá también where the porcine invaders befoul a tent that the protagonists had pitched on a remote beach, rendering it uninhabitable. But if you've never seen the film and you're not particularly bothered by pig shit, then make a beeline for Big Major Spot Island in the Bahamas. There, on aptly-named Pig Beach, a family of cute piggies frolics and swims with tourists, hamming it up (sorry) for the cameras and generally proving that they're just as smart as dogs and twice as funny. The brown and pink boars and piglets are known as the famous Swimming Pigs of the Exumas, and they've been an island fixture for generations, rooting around in the underbrush and living off scraps fed to them by passing boaters. You won't see me there, though, as I'm skeeved enough by the water quality of non-pig beaches.
[Photo: worldmaxtravel.com]
Related Stories
· Never Mind Swine Flu, These Pigs are Swimming in the Bahamas [worldmaxtravel.com]
· Animal Travel [Jaunted]]]>
Don't just drink to forget, drink to save the world! Beverage company Pernod Ricard is offering the of-age a chance to win a volunteer vacation sponsored by Malibu rum where you can get SCUBA certified, help monitor precious reef ecosystems and just maybe relax on a picturesque beach with a cocktail when you're done.
Up for grabs is a 10-day internship with Reef Check, a global nonprofit dedicated to protecting coral reefs. 10 winners will be sent to Thailand, the Maldives or the Philippines to help monitor the local reefs on controlled dives. The trips will take place between October 15 and November 15, fortuitous for Northern Hemisphereans dreading the change of the seasons. (Airfare, room and board and training are all covered; visa fees and buying rounds for the locals, not so much.)
Besides knowing how to swim without a flotation device, applicants have to disclose previous jobs and references, answer a few questions (like "what are your hobbies?"); photos and videos are "highly encouraged," which means you'd better break out your best bikini. We're impressed that Malibu has taken what could have just been a booze-it-up photo op and made it something that one could conceivably put on a resume.
Related Stories:
· Malibu Beach Internship FAQ [Malibu-Rum.com]
· About Reef Check [ReefCheck.org]
· Volunteer Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Save this Maldives reef! Photo: Johnny Shaw] ]]>