By now I’ve had a few days to re-group – and had time to think about the lessons learned from attending a two-day event, and planning a one-afternoon event.  Vera Sweeney did a good job of summing up the tips for travel bloggers, so I’ll just give you my top ten general lessons learned.

1. Travel Bloggers get the best perks.  While us Mom bloggers are writing for diaper bags and coupons, Travel Bloggers are writing for vacations and press trips. Yeah, I know.

2. When stuffing Swag Bags, don’t have soooo many different things.  Sure, it’s great for your guests, but you, the stuffer, will suffer serious back pain from all the bending and lifting.

3. Virgil’s BBQ (now open in the Bahamas at the Atlantis Resort) makes awesome wings (800 pounds of them for Superbowl Sunday), incredible pulled pork, but will leave the un-used-to-eating-like-that in a BBQ induced coma.

4. Always provide name tags for your event attendees/party guests…especially if you only know them by their Twitter name.

Which leads to number five:

5. Wear ear-plugs, so when people do the “Oooooh You’re @soandso” squeal, you won’t be deafened.

6. Having a Magic Show, A Princess Show, a singer, three arts and crafts stations, Wii stations and Xboxes will not be too much for a room full of blogger-kids; they’ve seen too much to be overwhelmed by anything. (I stand corrected, DadaRocks and J&R jr.)

8. TripAdvisor may be awesome, but check out Travel Video Postcard to really SEE where you’re going.

9. Luxury Travel Mom really is about the luxury.  In the funniest, nicest, least snooty way possible.  But I still want her job.

10. After planning/setting up just ONE party, I appreciate even more what a great job Traveling Mom, Family Travel Forum, Travel Media Showcase and Taking The Kids did in setting up this conference at the very lovely Omni Berkshire Place.

and since #10 wasn’t really a lesson learned (more of a thank you!) one more:

11. Whether throwing an event or attending one: high heels are not your friend.

When they were this age, no tech was no problem!

Family vacations are supposed to be all about togetherness.  So does that mean that no one can be on their phone or handheld game, or ipad, or computer the entire time?

Yikes. I mean, can you get the DTs from electronic withdrawal syndrome?

Kim Orlando gave that a shot on her recent family vacation to Aruba (the no tech – not the DTs)…and I commend her for it.  But the truth is, I’m not really willing to give up tech entirely while I’m on a trip – so I can’t really expect my kids to be. What we’ve done – without hard and fast rules, but with some success, is make the rule that tech is only for checking in with your email in the morning, and checking out a bit at the end of a long day. I do not check my phone all the time while we are away.  My kids do not carry around their various electronic accessories.  But for a plane ride, let’s face it, nothing beats a bit of DS or a movie on your iPad.

I think we’ve struck up a compromise. Works for us.  And maybe it will work for you — (and you have to read this next line in a game-show announcer voice) on your vacation to beautiful Aruba!!!! Yes Traveling Mom (where I am a contributor) is giving away a fabulous trip for a family of four to Aruba.  (including air fare!)

It’s easy to enter.  All you have to do is watch the video below about how Traveling Mom founder Kim Orlando dealt with electronics on vacation,  and her tech-deprived kids (and husband) on her trip to Aruba, and answer the question of the day. The details about the contest are all here.  Where you can learn about more ways/chances to win.

The Traveling Mom crew is also hosting a Twitter Party all about traveling with tech.  And I’m gonna be there.   January 23, 9-10 pm eastern. Wanna come?  If you’ve never been to a Twitter Party, it’s easy.  Just click here and find out how to RSVP. Still not sure? Well, just so you know, TMOM always give out awesome prizes!

But for now, check out Kim’s video.  Once you’ve watched that, you’re REALLY gonna want to win the trip!

But last year was a big travel year for us.  We went to South Africa, we went to Paris, the kids even went to Yellowstone Park without us, on a school trip.  When my daughter got back from her last trip, she said “Can we just go to a resort next time?”  Eleven years old and she already has travel fatigue!  So here I am, getting ready (i.e. dieting furiously) not to just go on a plunking myself down in one place vacation, not just to a non-discovery place, but for the second time, to  Club Med  Punta Cana.

We last went to Club  Med when the kids were in Kindergarten. (that’s little daughter, there!) This fall, they started Middle School.  So it has been a while.  Last time, they were in the mini-club. This time, they’ll be in the teen group.  Last time, we went back to the room straight after dinner, so the kids could be asleep by 8:30.  This year, they’ll probably want to go dancing at the teen disco. Last time, I worried about how I looked in the bathing suit.  This time – past 40 – I wish I looked that good!

The thing about Club Med i,s it really is all things to all people.  (Except maybe luxurious.  I don’t think it’s that.  Though there has been an extensive renovation since our last visit.)  But what it is to me, is easy.  There’s something for everyone to do.  From tennis and sailing to trapeze, to just hanging out on the beach. There’s no worry about how you’re dressed, or if the kids are being disrupted.  It’s casual, and relaxed.
Will I have cushy towels in my room? No.  Will there be Frette sheets? No again.  Will a uniformed concierge greet me?  Well, maybe if you think shorts and a club med t-shirt is a uniform.
But will the kids have free rein, giving my husband and I time together?  You bet.  Will the weather be glorious?  Always.  Will there be tons to do? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Good thing my daughter had travel fatigue.

Truth is, I am not a big fan of tourists.  They walk too slowly, take too long to order at the deli counter.  They say hello.

But my husband’s friend has a point. I treated Paris like the great city it is – but my own city? Please.  Who has time?

Turns out, I do.

Last week, I went on a cruise to Liberty Island with my husband.  My husband, who has lived in New York CITY his ENTIRE LIFE, has NEVER been to the Statue of Liberty.  I’m not much better.  Other than a class trip when I was in fifth grade, and of which the only thing I remember is that it was COLD, I hadn’t been until about two years ago.  And then, only because out of town friends wanted to see it.

I didn’t know what I’d been missing.

True, we had a spectacular night – perfect skies, a light breeze and no humidity. And true, since it was a press/media event (full disclosure, we were comp-ed), the crowd was small and well-selected, but still,  the  thrill of seeing the skyline of the city from the middle of the river – the truly awe-inspiring size and majesty of the Statue from up close – well none of that can be comp-ed or prettied up.  It is just amazing.

I appreciated that the island, since it is a National Park, has only one cafeteria style “restaurant” (note the quotation marks), that offers a quite spectacular patio where you can sit along the water and eat.  And only one gift shop.  This is not a touristy tourist attraction – no one is hawking plastic statues or foam crowns (at least not on the island itself – in Battery Park it’s a different story)  I also appreciated the fact that I got to meet the only two people live on Liberty Island: The Superintendent of Liberty Island, and his wife. Talk about a close-knit couple.  It’s them and Lady Liberty. They really HAVE to get along.

The boat ride was a bit rocky – but not bad, really only at docking – but the views were spectacular, the air felt fresh and clean.  And I liked being a tourist.  I liked appreciating what my own backyard has to offer.

copywrite 2011 N. Friedman

Turns out that no matter where you are from – from across the world or just uptown, there is nothing quite so moving, quite so thrilling, as seeing the Statue of Liberty from the water, as walking under her enormous presence, as feeling like a tourist in New York City.

Liberty Island is open 364 days a year. Statue Cruises runs several cruises a day, and some evenings, to Liberty and Ellis Islands. My ticket and my husband’s were provided by Liberty Cruises as part of a press/media event.

Well, OK.  There is that buidling in the background of the NYC shot.  But seriously.  Can you believe that I took these pictures only a few days apart – one in Central Park and one at Monet’s house at Giverny?

Beauty is everywhere! 

Really?

Not that I’m not thrilled, proud, even.  Just a bit surprised.  What kid goes away on vacation and says that their favorite thing was a museum?  It’s either a sign that I’ve done something very right in raising two kids who are interested in art and history and appreciate it’s significant — or a sign that I’ve done something very, very wrong, and have raised two oddball kids who like Da Vinci’s better than pains au chocolats.

I think I’ll stick with the proud/did something right scenario.

It’s been a bit of a rough trip. For one, it’s made me feel OLD. I remember virtually nothing of my days here. Granted, it was 20 years ago — but still.  I can barely remember which museum is on which bank.  Restaurants I knew and loved are long gone.  And most importantly, men do not notice me at all. That was always the case in New York, but my memory of myself in Paris was different — I was a babe.  No longer.

Bummer.

For my kids, though, it’s been great.  And seeing Paris through their eyes has been  fun.  Just like I can’t possibly know what it’s like to discover New York City (it’s just the place I live), I don’t really remember anymore discovering Paris.  So nice to get to see what that’s like.

Here — take a look:

All looks good, huh? Guess I can’t complain.

More later.

A bient tot!

I could see the Eiffel Tower out my window (take that Sarah Palin)

Tomorrow night I’m heading to Paris with my family.  I’m sure it will be a great trip.  My kids have never been to Europe.  The weather is forecast to be fine.  They’re grandparents will be with us, and are footing the bill.

But I can’t help but feel a little sad about the trip, because too many years ago to think about, I went to Paris as a twenty-something and spent two years as a broad abroad. When I lived in Paris, I had no husband, no kids, no pre-planned trips to the Eiffel Tower, or Notre Dame.  I was young, I was unencumbered; I was  — how can I put this delicately — kind of a slut.

Of course it wasn’t all rosy, There was the time I stood moronically on the metro platform waiting for the doors of the train to open, even as I watched the train pull away.  I watched two trains come and go before I realized that I had to open the doors myself. Then there was the time that I asked for solution for my contact lenses sans preservatifs, which the kindly, if bemused pharmacist explained meant “without condoms.”  There was the impossibility of wearing  sweatpants in public,  ordering- in Chinese food on a cold and rainy Sunday night. (which is kind of an ethnic imperative, as any NY Jew worth her moo-shu will tell you.)

Of course, there were bright sides to being a 20-something in Paris, too.  Just as we New Yorkers think that Parisian women are sophisticated and exciting, so did the French find it glamorous that I came from “zee beeg Apple.”  And just as American men find the French accent sexy…well, need I say more?   While I was in Paris, I took a writing course with D.

H. Thomas, I worked at a fancy art gallery on the Left Bank. On the weekends, I sang with a Bar Mitzvah Band. Seriously. In English, French, Hebrew, and Arabic.  And on Thursday nights and every other Sunday, I worked as a lounge signer in a little club in the Latin Qurater — complete with sitting on the piano where a giant Brandy Snifter was perched, waiting for tips to fill it up.  It was the only time in my life when I was consistently thought of as exotic,  intriguing, and – dare I say it – sexy.  In New York, I’m just another frizzy haired Upper West Side mom blogger.  Sexy it ain’t.

I guess on the day my kids are graduation from elementary school (today), I’m feeling nostalgic for my youth. I’m sure it’ll be fabulous to introduce my kids to the city I loved so much.  I’ll show them whe

re I lived and worked. I’ll take them on the Metro and open the door.  We’re spending a day at a cooking class held in a native Parisian’s kitchen. We’re having dinner with my old roommate and her kids.  And maybe, just maybe, for old time’s sake, I’ll pick up a microphone somewhere and belt out a few bars of La Vie en Rose.

The Snow Drifts of Spring: Cherry Blossoms

I took this this morning in Riverside Park. It was cold out there — but at least the cherry blossoms were blooming in full force.  Even on the ground, they’re a beautiful reminder that Spring is here.

Now if only the temperature would be springlike, too, we’d be good!