Travel Agent - November 26, 2007 - (Page 18)

Insider JOE FARRIS is a staff cartoonist and cover artist for The New Yorker, What destinations do you recommend for older travelers? and his work has appeared in such publications as Harvard Business Review, Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek and The New York Times. A painter and sculptor, he won the Emily Lowe award competition and had a solo show at the Ward Eggleston Gallery in New York City. Farris has published a number of books of his cartoons, including his latest, Money Inc. He does a daily feature called “Farriswheel” for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. Visit his web site at www.josephfarris. Agent CONTRIBUTORS CRUISES “I feel older clients do well on cruises,” Cindy Oxendine of Mann Travel & Cruises in Matthews, NC, says. “On a cruise they have places to eat and short excursions. I had a group of 86-year-old ladies leave on a cruise through New England this past week. They wanted to be taken care of.” JOSLYN YANG Even though she’s a Taiwan native, New York-based reporter Joslyn Yang always encounters new things while visiting her homeland. There was no exception when she went to Taichung, a vibrant Taiwan city. “Taichung has changed so much in just few years. The new high-speed rail also makes it accessible,” says Yang. “As a New Yorker, I really appreciate Taichung’s spacious restaurants and cafes with amazing lush gardens.” Like most travelers who can’t resist the delicious cuisine there, Yang admits she feasted on Taiwanese delicacies almost every day, but since they’re less fattening than American food, she returned home with her clothes size unaltered. Yang also visited Geneva, Switzerland, and reports on the refurbished InterContinental hotel on page 20. MARK ROGERS, Travel Agent’s senior editor, recently met with a contingent of tourism representatives from the Big Island of Hawaii as they made a swing through Los Angeles. They provided some unique angles and insights for his article in this issue, as well as helped him jumpstart his weekly Hawaii e-newsletter, which debuted last month. Rogers covers Hawaii, the South Pacific, Asia, and California, where he is based. He attends trade conferences around the region, which provide him upfront access to newsmakers and trendsetters in the industry. Last month, he attended PATA Travel Mart 2007 in Bali, combining reporting on the trade show with exploring the island, which is waiting to be rediscovered by U.S. tourists. BARGES “With older clients, we recommend a French barge or river cruise,” says Toni Barnett, the manager of James Travelpoints in Boulder, CO. “A very nice option is a Spain/Portugal river cruise offered by Amadeus Waterways. There is also a cruise from Prague to Budapest and vice versa. These cruises stop at walkable cities, and even if clients can’t really walk, there is beautiful scenery.” DAN BUTCHER covers ski/snowboard, the U.S.A. and HAWAII Canada for Travel Agent, and travels frequently to top destinations and conferences to report on the emerging trends in the industry. Recent trips include the Results! Travel networking cruise to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas and ski resorts in Colorado, Wyoming, Vermont and British Columbia. Butcher is shown here (on left) with Roger Block, executive vice president of Carlson Travel Franchise Group, and John Risner, general manager of Results! Travel, onboard Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas. “For older travelers who are physically disabled, instead of taking a bus tour or having to get on and off of a plane, there is a 15-day Hawaii cruise that starts in San Diego and ends in Los Angeles,” says Shirley Olmstead of Brea Travel in Brea, CA. “The cruise visits all of the islands.” 18 | TravelAgent November 26, 2007 DAVID EISEN covers the cruise and hotel beats for Travel Agent. He just cruised through Mexico on Holland America’s Oosterdam for the Centurion cruise, which brings together the line’s 100 top-selling travel agents. Eisen, who is shown here (at right) with Holland America executives Paul Allen (left) and Rick Meadows, reports that the ship was lovely, the food delectable and the company informative and friendly. But, he adds, “Mexico, in what I thought was the autumn season, was hotter than a packed subway car with no air conditioning.” Next, Eisen hops on Carnival Freedom to speak with Carnival’s new CEO, Gerry Cahill, about his vision for the line now that Bob Dickinson is stepping down. http://www.josephfarris.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - November 26, 2007

Travel Agent - November 26, 2007 Online Now Contents From the Editor From the Publisher Contributors Europe: InterContinental Geneva Puts Forth a New Look and a New Way to Get to Know the Swiss City London’s Soho Hotel Pacific/Asia: Taichung: Taiwan’s Third Largest City Pacific/Asia Briefs and Packages Tanzania Travel Specialist Mexico: A Roundup of Premier Hotels in Mexico City Q&A with U.S. Director of the Mexico Tourism Board Mexico Deals Las Vegas: A Three-Day Itinerary for Gen-X couples Creating a Kid-Friendly Vacation for Gen-X Clients that Still Includes Alone Time for Parents Richard Harper of Mandalay Bay Caribbean & Bahamas: What’s Happening in St. Kitts Puerto Rico’s Other Rainforest, Toro Negro Hawaii: The Big Island: First-Class Resorts and Native Culture Hotels: The Sky Lodge in Park City; The Lodge at Vail Tours: American Safari Cruises in Alaska’s Inside Passage Pacific Northwest: Suncadia, Eco-Friendly Resort Near Seattle Cruise: The Added Lure of Sailing with a Celebrity Onboard Small Ships Offer Up-Close Experience Cover Story: Hip Hotelier, Social Scientist Supplier Profile - Maximilian Brockmann: The New Face of Auto Europe Agent Profile: Sigrid Carter of Envoyé Travel The Orient-Express: Fabled Train Remains an Elite Product Agenda: Fam Trips, Deals & Incentives, Calendar Europe Bookings as Dollar Falls Freestyle Cruising Casinos On the Rise in the Caribbean Maui’s Grand Wailea Resort Prepares for Major Renovation Visit Europe Media Exchange In the Spotlight Editorial Index Advertising Index Classified Marketplace Trendwatch

Travel Agent - November 26, 2007

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