La Concha Resort in Puerto Rico

I was in Puerto Rico last week for CTC-30 and had the pleasure of attending a party celebrating the upcoming opening of the rennovated San Juan classic hotel, the La Concha. Flagged a Renaissance resort, this re-opened property is going to be an exciting addition to San Juan's hotel line-up. Right in the center of new and very upscale shopping, the hotel has the feeling of a classic, with all the modern conveniences that define a great resort.

My congratulations to the team which has worked so hard on this achievement, and check out La Concha the next time you're in San Juan!

Tourism in Haiti?

A few weeks ago I had a chance to visit Haiti. As their government has somewhat stabilized, the Ministry of Tourism is able to think about attracting tourists again. Following are some somewhat random observations about being a tourist in Haiti.

I can say without hesitation that Haiti is a beautiful country, and art is literally everywhere (more on that later!), but one has to be prepared to look past some of the kinds of things we see on the news in order to find the beauty. The Haitian people are incredibly warm and friendly. The tourist highlights are art, history, culture and soft adventure. Haiti's hotel product is quite nice.

While there I never once felt unsafe, but I would recommend that any foreign visitor should arrange an English-speaking guide and driver. This made all the difference for me. I can highly recommend Voyages Lumiere. Jacquie LeBrom the owner/operator is delightful. Totally well informed and connected. My visit was very brief and so a whirlwind with not a lot of time in any one location, but we saw beautiful art (a top priority for me!) and got a taste of Haiti's rich and inspiring history. I didn't have a chance to see the beaches, except from the air, but hope to do so on my next visit. Oh yes, I will return.

Thanks to the Ministry of Tourism for arranging my visit and planning to show me so many aspects of Haiti in such a short time.

Above is a photo of me rubbing the toes of the statue of the unknown slave in Port au Prince. It said to be good luck.

CT&L 100

Have you seen our October issue, featuring the first ever Caribbean Travel & Life 100, on newsstands now? Its the first time we've undertaken the challenge of naming 100 of our favorite things about the best vacation destination on earth, and I must say, the result is spectacular! Its all there...history, nature, personalities, beaches, entertainment, culture and more. If you haven't seen it, I recommend you pick it up. You're sure to find something you enjoy!

And please let us know what you think we've overlooked because we're already collecting ideas for next year's edition of the CT&L 100.

Thought I'd give this a try!

For quite some time now I've been thinking I should try this blogging thing. As the publisher of Caribbean Travel & Life and Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazines I have lots of observations about the Caribbean, tourism, trends, destination weddings, destinations, resorts and more. Maybe nobody will read them, but if you care to...look here!

The photo here is me on the left when I was in my good friend Jill's destination wedding in Barbados last September...it was so beautiful and so much fun.