Ramblings

Mini-mized, niche-focused, electronic … new trends in guidebook publication are following my own intuition. (And I can’t help patting myself on the back about it.)

Which, is not to say it’s catching on with the gusto of the latest reality show.

Yet.

However, an article I pulled from the March 2006 issue of Outside magazine, titled “Moving Words // Where Guidebooks Are Going,” magazine underlined some key advantages to giving guidebooks a form-follows-function update for the 21^st century.   For example, (and please forgive me for taking this opportunity to toot my horn a few times):

• “Scratch a Niche”: “Look for guides that cover themes, not specific regions…”  Well, Renting Paradise focuses solely on reviewing vacation rentals, a step-child niche in the travel guidebook world, if ever there was one.

• “Undersize It”: “Mini-guides are hot. Perfect for quick trips, they zoom in on a destination, with fewer pages and a smaller, more packable size.” Renting Paradise focuses on a select number of homes in specific regions of Northern California. Just over 50 pages include detailed reviews and plenty of trip-planning help. As an e-guidebook, Renting Paradise can be toted on a portable reader or called up at will on a laptop.  

• “Get Wired”: “…new e>>guides …covering cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and Barcelona come with passwords for access to exclusive online information, including hotel and restaurant updates.” Each edition of Renting Paradise has more than 50 live links. No in-your-face information overload. Yet it’s a convenient gateway to a almanac-sized amount of detail on vacation rental homes, things to see and do and get-your bearings resources.

You can read the complete text of the article — published in a special section called “The Outside Explorer's Guide to the Brave New World of Trip Planning” online. (And, pssst! You can find Renting Paradise e-guidebooks at www.rentingparadise.com.)
 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Among the many truly creative walking tours available in San Francisco (which of course is best seen on foot), one stands head and shoulders above the rest: FOOT! Tours.

Choose from 10 two-hour tours capture the history of city and personality of neighborhoods often glossed over by mainstream tours, including:

• Flashback: A Mind-Blowing Trip Through the Haight-Ashbury of the 1960s
• Go West, Young Woman: Ten Daring Dames of San Francisco's Past
• Hobnobbing with Gobs of Snobs: Nob Hill's Old Nouveau Riche
• Instant City – Just Add Gold: Glitter, Greed and the Growth of San Francisco

And my personal favorite -- Where’s the F'ing Beach in North Beach? The Nine Lives of North Beach. (Plenty of F-words, but no actual use of THE F-word, kids.) 

The schedule changes weekly, so check the calendar. Reservations are required. (Adults: $30; seniors and students $20.)

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It had to happen: the corporatization of vacation rental web sites. Privately held WVR Group has merged nine already successful web sites into what they call “the world's largest international online distribution channel for vacation rental properties.” Sound renter-friendly to you?

Claim to Fame: The financial clout to combine the worldwide inventory of nine already successful web sites under its corporate mantel and to power the search process with leading edge technology they say makes it easier for vacationers to find the right rentals.  If you’re a fan any of the following sites, you may find they have the WVR uniform look and feel:

• CyberRentals.com 

• Holiday-Rentals.com 

• HolidayRentals.fr 

• TripHomes.com 

• GreatRentals.com 

• A1Vacations.com 

• FeWo-Direkt.de 

• VacationVillas.net 

• HomeAway.com 

Overall Quality of Rentals/Listings.  A mixed bag. I’ve been a fan of Cyberrentals (one of the granddaddy sites, featuring over 19,750 homes) and Great Rentals (which consistently has the edge on style and charm, in my opinion). I think that’s because they were originally mom-and-pop shops, which kept them closer to their customers. A1Vacations has also been a good second-tier resource. 

However, text descriptions in many listings I scanned had a disappointing marketing gloss. Depending on the site, you may find long bulleted lists of amenities and lots of photos. But, maybe not. 

Holiday-Rentals.com (including its French-speaking cousin, HolidayRentals.fr) and VacationVillas.net primarily focus on European rentals (commonly known as "holiday homes" and "self-catering cottages"). Good luck with FeWo-Direkt.de, where (Ach!) none of the listings are in English.

Bottom line: Most of the sites in WVR's stable are worth a gander. But, for the life of me, I don’t see how having to navigate to a list of separate sites offering up hundreds of rentals for you to search makes your job an easier.

Ease of Use: While not cookie-cutter, each WVR web site has an interface as sharp as a corporate power suit. Maps, tabs, and search buttons promise to streamline your search. Although specific search criteria (such as "Golf Vacations" and "Romantic Houses," and resources such as “My Favorites” are not consistently offered across all sites.

According to WVR Group CEO Brian Sharples, the plan is to “make booking a vacation rental as easy on the Internet as finding a hotel room.” But you must contact the owner by telephone number or e-mail. So I’m still not seeing the big dif.

Responsiveness:  Most vacation rental listings provide the telephone number and a way to send an e-mail inquiry to individual owners. Responsiveness varies by the owner, of course.

Clear Pluses:

• I’m really not sure what WVR brings to the table. (Can anyone out there enlighten me?) From the perspective of an owner listing a home or homes, there is the lure of a well-funded company. A WVR Group press release notes the company has “attracted significant investments from founders and leading venture capital firms, Austin Ventures and Redpoint Ventures”. WVR press releases make much of the fact that “Vacation rentals represent a $30 billion dollar slice of the travel industry,” but from the renter’s standpoint it is little more than a list of rental sites. Prepare to clock hours searching.

• From the renter’s standpoint? WVR offers little more than a list of rental sites (some of them admittedly quite good). In the final analysis, it’s still up to you to put the rubber to road. Prepare to clock hours searching -- complete with overlapping listings (bound to occur on multiple sites).

Caveats

• Listing quality is spotty. Text descriptions tend to be short and polished by marketing gloss. Some sites feature long, bulleted lists of amenities and lots of photos. Two from the list aren’t even in English!

• Search options also are spotty. On some sites you can search by property type, “theme” (“romantic” or “luxury”). A few let you keep track off “My Favorites” or “My Shortlist”.

• Prepare to spend hours searching.

Overall scale of 1-10: 3*

*WVR claims an experienced team of online and travel industry experts. And let’s hope all that the money promises more innovations for the renter.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

While the majority of Americans will continue to bite the bullet—84 percent of the 37.6 million of us planning to travel 50 or more miles over next week's three-day  holiday weekend will drive, according to a national AAA Motor Club survey—some clever B&Bs are making that hard-to-swallow that hydrocarbon lemon into lemonade. 

Uh-huh. BnBFinder.com lists more than half a dozen B&Bs—most in the east and Midwest—offering gas rebates via clever promotions called “Tanks a Lot!” and “GAStronomical Getwaway”.

“Burn calories not gas!” says The Niantic Inn at Harbor Hill Marina in Mystic, Connecticut.  Stay two nights midweek and receive a $25 gas rebate (through June 30, 2006).

Now, let me just say that my husband—who is obsessed with the daily cost of gas (reporting three-cent price fluctuations at local pumps with the intensity of a stock market pundits)—estimates that a 90-minute drive from our home in Sacramento to San Francisco (roughly 100 miles at 20 mph … not factoring in backups at the Bay Bridge, of course times $3.19 per gallon is more $30 roundtrip).

Umm... we’re in!

Except that we’re not in Mystic, Connecticut. or anywhere close to the Oden Inn At Crooked Lake in northwest Michigan, where they’re saying “Tanks a Lot” with a free $50 gas card certificate (through June 15, 2006).

What’s an advocate of vacation rentals doing promoting B&Bs? Sorry...  I’m a consumer first, so if I were you (vacation rental owners), I’d take a look.
 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

RentalsExpress offers a friendly interface, search engine-style format and Ebook Organizer tool to make this one a winner… IF you can find sufficient choices in the area you plan to visit.

Claim to Fame: Cut to the chase! From the get-go, the emphasis is on sorting available rentals based on six meaningful criteria: type of structure (condo, cabin), specific location (city, state, country), dates of your trip, budget, number of occupants, specific amenities and nearby activities. Or click on Golf Vacation, Beach Vacation, Ski Vacation, or Pet Friendly Vacation Rentals. RentalsExpress prides itself on “constantly adapting the Web site to fit the needs of both vacation rental searchers and the property owners who list their vacation homes.”    

Overall Quality of Rentals/Listings. Listings are detailed with as many as six photographs. (Although some listings don’t have any.) The San Francisco description I read was a bit stiff, more like real estate marketing copy than welcome-to-my rental. But all the information was right there, followed by a lengthy introduction the neighborhood, including nearby attractions such as museums and tips for travelers such as San Francisco CityPass. Other descriptions are friendlier and shorter, with a bulleted list of nearby activities. So it’s a mixed bag.  

If you’re set on renting in a specific location, RentalExpress’ lack of inventory is definitely a downside. Clicking on California, I found nearly 90 locations. But most offered no more than one or two rentals. (From in one San Francisco (!) to 22 in various locations around Lake Tahoe.)The upside (from this seasoned scanner’s perspective): what the site lacks in quantity, it seems to make up for in quality.  

Notable Feature: RentalsExpress offers an “Ebook property organizer.” This  bookmarking tool makes keeping track of your selections during the research process as easy as clicking the “Add to Ebook” button. You can share your Ebook picks with family and friends via e-mail. When you get serious about narrowing down your choices, you can send one e-mail to the owners of all the rentals you’ve saved in your Ebook using an easy to complete e-mail form.

Ease of Use: RentalsExpress has a clean text-and-visual interface providing multiple ways to start your search.

• Activity is the thing? Then click on Golf Vacation, Beach Vacation, Ski Vacation, or Pet Friendly Vacation Rentals to narrow your search based on these non-geographical criteria.

• If you’re planning to travel abroad, select a country from the drop-down list at the top of the page.

• Just browsing? Move your mouse over the U.S. map to see how many rentals are listed in each state.

• Click on any of states and countries listed below the map.

• Cut to the chase. Enter a specific city, state, trip dates and occupancy into text boxes on the right.

As you drill-down, your search becomes more refined. Say you click on California (218 rentals available). You’ll get a map of the state of California dotted with the names of cities. The alphabetical listing below the map shows how many rentals are available in each location. San Francisco  

Responsiveness:  Most vacation rental listings provide a telephone number and a “Contact Us About This Listing” button, which takes you to an “Express Reservation Request” form designed to collect the basics: the time you plan to arrive, how long you plan to stay, how many in your party and your contact information. Again, you can save yourself time by gathering multiple listings into your Ebook Organizer and send one e-mail request to all owners. Responsiveness varies by the owner of course.

Clear Pluses:

• Multiple ways to search and easy drill-down features will save lots of time

• Keeping track of multiple selections is a breeze with the Ebook Organizer tool, which lets you share selections with friends and family and send only one e-mail request for information to multiple owners.    

• Some descriptions have a wealth of relevant content and inside information -- ranging from nearby attractions to favorite restaurants -- for more efficient trip planning.

TIP: When you see a link tto he owner’s web site, always click on it. Some owners who provide “shorthand” listings on vacation rental listings sites have much more informative personal websites.

Caveats:

• Inventory is spread thin among cities. In California, most cities (many very desirable locations) have only one or two listings. (Although, if you look closely you'll find some listings describe multiple rentals.)  

• Some hotels and B&Bs are tucked in amongst the rentals.

• Listings contain varying amounts of text description; some have no photos.

 Overall scale of 1-10: 7

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ya gotta love the interactive power of Macromedia on the Internet. And kudos to the Washington Post Travel Section for posting an interactive map of San Francisco called  San Francisco Two Ways. Basically, “You can do it like a tourist, or you can do it like a local.)

Meaning … there are two versions of this map, like two sides of a reversible raincoat. Choose either the tourist or local map and then click on a location. Or scroll through the text-based table of contents at the right. You get a photo and zoom-in thumbnail map.

Not much meat (detail) to this. But it’s a fun visual orientation with a valuable insider’s view of the city.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The owner of At the Bay’s Edge first steered us to Wild Flour Bread in the tiny crossroads of Freestone. “You have to try their fougasse!” she said. “It’s a meal in itself.”

Turns out that while the fougasse—stuffed with gouda or blue cheese, red peppers, olives, and onions—is a noble standard, there are as many as a dozen varieties of artisan bread to choose from throughout each of the four days (8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Monday) Wildflower Bread is open.

Sticky buns, pear and cranberry scones, chocolate biscotti, Bohemian loaves (flavored with apricot, orange and pecan) or Egyptian loaves (stuffed with pear, fig and candied ginger)… my mouth is watering … focus…focus!

It’s just so hard to say no to any of the hand-kneaded artisan delicacies that emerge from the 15-foot deep, 5-foot wide wood-burning oven that can hold 100 loaves at a time. Good thing sampling is encouraged.

As a closet baker (and a morning person!), I’ve often dreamed of a business like that.  I just don’t think my waistline could take it.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just received a post card from the folks at The Blue Tree, a lovely Victorian flat near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, with news they are offering all return renters $100 off a week's rental throughout 2006.

That pays the cleaning fee for one couple. However, this spacious 2-bedroom flat is easily large enough for two couples. Each paying just a little over $100 per night (cleaning fee included). Such a deal in the city!

The Blue Tree is reviewed in detail in Renting Paradise: San Francisco & Marin Country. 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“Vacation Rentals By Owner” is a big, broad, scrapbook-y site that provides a friendly interface, lots of detail and generally excellent photos. You could easily spend hours or days searching listings in your effort to “Carpe Vacationum”.   

CLAIM TO FAME: Volume! At this writing, VRBO® features 54,000 rental homes around the world—even yachts and cruises. Thanks to VRBO’s popularity, visibility and word-of-mouth recognition among (they say “millions of”) renters and owners, the inventory grows rapidly.

OVERALL QUALITY OF RENTALS/LISTINGS. VRBO is more than just numbers. There may be some dogs in amongst the 50,000-plus homes—if so, in my experience they are few and very far between. Listings are complete including a detailed description (written by the owner, definitely lacking bias, but full of personality and heart).

The occupancy, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, amenities, activities (both on site and nearby), and rates are clearly spelled out. The main heading includes a rough indication of geographic location and driving distance. Graphic symbols indicate other important features: a paw for pet-friendly, a credit card, “New!”  Some listings have availability calendars, links to testimonials, and a link to the owner’s own web site, which may include rentals in other areas of the world.    

NOTABLE: If you’re seaching for a home for a family reunion or larger group gathering, VRBO makes it easy to click right to homes around the world that will sleep 14 to 30-plus people!

EASE OF USE: VRBO’s visual and text interface, while rather homespun in appearance, is very easy to navigate. On the home page, you have three choices:

• Search by VRBO#, city or other text entry.
• Click on the text name of the place you’re looking for.
• Click anywhere on the maps of the 50 U.S. states and countries of the world.

Sample Experience: As you drill-down, your search becomes more refined. Say you click on California. You’ll get a map of the state of California with more than a dozen regions (such as Wine County and San Francisco Bay Area) highlighted in text. Clicking on one of those regions—say Wine Country—will give you a list of 27 cities in the popular Napa and Sonoma wine regions. Let’s say you originally had Napa Valley in mind, but Bodega Bay (a popular location near Sonoma County’s best beaches and tasting areas) catches your eye. Click on it and you’ll be presented with 20 vacation rental listings. From here you can search by the occupancy (number of people it sleeps) and number of bedrooms and bathrooms you need.

RESPONSIVENESS: Each vacation rental listing provides a telephone number and a “Click to Send Email” button which takes you to a form designed to collect the basics: the time you plan to arrive, how long you plan to stay, how many in your party and your contact information.You can leave a more detailed message if you keep it to 500 characters.

Responsiveness varies by the owner of course. VRBO does warn that owners may be on vacation themselves and take a while responding. In my experience, some never responded to my query. But that’s just people, not VRBO.

CLEAR PLUSES

• Not many other sites offer the number of rentals in such an incredibly wide range of locations.
• Searching and easy drill-down features will save time on searches.

• Renting privately owned and operated properties from the owner tends to be cheaper than going through a middle-man like a rental management agency or real estate company.
• Listings contain lots of detail and (generally) good quality photos. (Beware of rentals that only include exterior shots or photos of beautiful views.)
• Graphics for pet-friendly properties, new listings and owners who take credit cards make it easy to quickly scan listings.
• Some listings include testimonials. (Of course they will be glowing, but a specific comment can still tip the scales a bit for me.)
• If you have time, there is a “Links” pages, although I found the “Links for Travelers” to be long, rather poorly organized mishmash of resources. Most are clearly advertisements, although--who knows?--you can find a diamond in the ruff.

CAVEATS:

• Keeping track of VRBO-assigned numbers can make the research process clunky.  
• While so many quality homes in one place make you feel like a kid in a candy store, if you’re picky (and who isn’t when it comes to vacation?) you can burn up hours—or days!—searching for the right rental. 
• Descriptions written by owners are hardly unbiased and may leave out information that’s critical to your group. (Note: VRBO has instituted a sort of corny personal visit “program” called “The Adventures of the VRBO® Bear.”  But remember, VRBO is reviewing its own paid customers.)

Overall scale of 1-10: 9

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"The Sonoma Diet is like no other.” Or, is it just one more shameless promotion aim below our already straining belts? On closer look, I was surprised to find it combines the South Beach Diet (sensible, balanced nutrition) and with the French Women Don’t Get Fat sensual love affair with fresh, wholesome food.

Who in their right mind would quibble with that? And nowhere could this approach make more sense than in Sonoma County.

Aside from its world-famous wines, Sonoma County produces a bounty of fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, olive oil, homemade cheeses, artisan breads—all key ingredients celebrated by the Sonoma Diet. The diet is built on savoring a variety of fresh, wholesome, and delicious foods—and, yes, wine in moderation.

So when you’re finished with the Russian River Wine Road, hit the Farm Trails. Just follow the Farm Trails Map & Guide and explore Sonoma County’s farms, cheese factories, bakeries and breweries as locals have been doing for 30 years. You can experience life on the farm with sheep, llamas, honey bees and butterflies. Or get your hands dirty and pick your own berries, apples, or pumpkins in season. Just add fresh flowers and you’ve got a picnic. Or the makings of dinner back at your vacation rental.   

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here is a handful of different flavors differentiating the hundreds of vacation rental web sites—not necessarily endorsements, mind you. (Stay tuned for more detailed reviews of specific sites.) But here are four different ways you can slice and dice your search for the perfect vacation rental.

1. ‘More is More’ Web Sites.  The granddaddy of them all is Vacation Rentals By Owner claims nearly 54,000 listings throughout the U.S. and around the world. Even if you whittle down the field by clicking on a region, then a specific city, then search by number of bedrooms—you're likely to  spend hours sifting through what’s available. (By the way, I’m not knocking quantity. I typically start my own research here.) Other quantity heavy-hitters I regularly consult: CyberRentals (18,500 listings) and Great Rentals (more than 10,000 listings).

2. Less is More, Regional Web Sites. If you’re set on a particular city or region, it can make much more sense to home in on a regional site. One of my favorites is Russian River Getaways. The selection ranges from rustic cabins to stylish gated homes with river access. The descriptions are well-written and the photos superb. Another regional site that came through for a family trip to Sedona is Red Rock Realty.

3. When Only the Best Will Do Web Sites. Sonoma, CA-based BeautifulPlaces specializes in renting beautifully furnished homes and estates to “discriminating” travelers visiting Napa and Sonoma wine regions. In addition to luxury accommodations, you can expect the services and amenities of a five-star hotel or resort: a nanny to look after your children, a private chef.

4. “Renter-Friendly” Web Sites.  Slow Travel is the only vacation rental-focused community where you can tap into for advice and out-spoken reviews (more 1,200 vacation rental reviews, 1,000 hotel reviews and 1,300 restaurant reviews, and 300 trip reports) by other travelers who love the rental vacation-style (although the content is strongly focused on European homes and villas).

Rentals Express provides a pretty cool tool for organizing your choices during your search for the right rental. Simply click a button on the listing that catches your eye and build your own Ebook. 

5. Only a Beach House (or Cottage or Cabin) Web Sites.  Beachhouse.com provides an easy-to-navigate, online directory listing thousands of beachfront properties. As a registered user, you can communicate directly with owners and managers—the preferred way to ensuring a great experience. There are also sites to Cottage and Cabin lovers.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

A doggone great question, Martha! Thanks for your comment to the May 3 post “5 Times When Renting a Vacation Home Makes All the Difference”. The answer is … sometimes. If in doubt, ask.  

Most vacation rental owners and web sites clearly state whether or not a particular property is “pet-friendly”. While one person’s idea of a pet is the family dog, another is thinking cat. Or gerbil. Or budgie.

Some rental sites such as the prolific Vacation Rentals By Owner stamp listings with a bright blue (I’m assuming generic) paw prints to make it easy for scanners to recognize pet-friendly homes among hundreds of listings. (I'm guessing that leaves out gerbils and budgies.)

Others, like Rentals Express, make “pet-friendly” a primary search criterion, serving up a convenient listing of pet-friendly properties by location--throughout the US and around the world, from Australia to the Virgin Islands. (FYI: Martha. There are 67 listed in California and 23 in Arizona.)

However, because many more of us are allergic to cats than dogs, some rental companies, such as Sonoma County-based Russian River Getaways, make no bones about offering only "dog-friendly" accommodations.

Bottom line: Always ask before you rent.

Nearly half of the homes reviewed in Renting Paradise e-guidebooks accept pets. Keep in mind that some require an extra deposit or cleaning fee for pet-guests.

Of course, it goes without saying traveling pets of any species should be well-behaved and meticulously supervised. Bring blankets if you let pets is on the furniture, scratching posts for active cats and a lint roller to collect visible fur. Never leave pets alone in a strange home unless they are crated, or off-leash on the grounds. And don’t let dogs bark all night, unless you want a visit from the local sheriff.

Them’s the rules. But if you’re a responsible pet owner you already know the drill. 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

If your fascination for The Da Vinci Code extends to travel, here are some timely  resources .

Follow the "official" tour  guide. That’s right, Fodors has published a new guide called “A Da Vinci Code Tour: Travel the roads taken by characters in the best-selling novel” (by Chris Culwell). The book focuses on sites in and around Paris, Rome, London, Scotland and New York, where the main action in the book and movie takes place.

Rent the Chateau. BeautifulPlaces, a vacation rental management company dealing in "vacation homes of distinction" can make it happen. If you'll remember, Château Villette (about 35 minutes outside of Paris) plays a pivotal role in "The Da Vinci Code," as the residence of  Sir Leigh Teabring who revealed the story's central secret .

You can rent the 17^th-century “home” – alll 17 bedrooms and 21 bathrooms of it. The newly renovated vacation rental offers wireless Internet and a gym, as well as a grand dining room with a carved stone buffet and octagonal salon. Among the outbuildings on the 185-acre property  are  a chapel , greenhouse and stables. There are also two stocked lakes.

Perfect place for the next  family reunion, wouldn’t you say?

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The emphasis of the flood of “summer family getaway” articles seems to be the “where in the world” and the “what to do”. But what if you’re not the typical family?

1. Our extended family (Mom and Dad who are retired in Arizona, my brother from Denver, and me, my husband and our two dogs living outside of Sacramento) get together at a different rental home every other year. The set-up is perfect for just spending time together in a beautiful setting. So far we’ve spent weeks in the forest above Lake Tahoe, on the beach in Sonoma County and facing the gorgeous red rocks in Sedona, Arizona.

2. I loved them all, but I have to say the memory etched most deeply in my heart is of walking the beach each morning (we had private stairs from the house in Sonoma!) and watching our two suburban dogs discover a whole new world. Few pet-friendly hotels offer this freedom. 

3. My friend celebrated her fiftieth birthday by gathering her Mom, sisters and three of her closest friends for a long weekend in a rented a house with a pool. Some of the best times, she says, were spent preparing dinner in the kitchen! They gabbed over margaritas as each concocted her own specialty. 

4. I’ve read a number of profoundly touching entries written by guests who appreciated the privacy and quiet, natural surroundings of a particular vacation rental to heal after the death of a loved one. 

5. And how about living vicariously? Renting a vacation home in a city besieged by tourists -- like San Francisco -- lets you step out of that madness and blend into a neighborhood. I guarantee living in a Victorian cottage or Nob Hill flat will change everything about how you experience this great city. (If you’re contemplating a move or lifestyle change, this can be a great way to try it out.)

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

John Steinbeck, Dashiell Hammett, Jack London, Jack Kerouac. If you love the world’s great authors, here are two ways to dip into the Bay Area’s extraordinary literary heritage.

On Foot. Two-hour San Francisco Literary Tours walk you through a number of eras and movements, focusing mostly on post-Gold Rush and the Beat Generation. Led by San Francisco author Scott Lettieri, you’ll visit the site of San Francisco's first literary journal, where Mark Twain and Bret Harte cut their teeth, the bohemian cafe where John Steinbeck, Truman Capote and William Saroyan hung out, and the bookstore that changed the course of book publishing in this country. The $25 (per person) tour includes a complimentary "Jack Kerouac Cocktail". Meet Saturday at noon in front of City Lights bookstore on Columbus and Broadway. Call for your reservation: (415) 441-0140

Online.  Literary Traveler is an online magazine featuring articles about writers and creative artists—and the places that they lived and traveled. The brainchild of Linda and Francis McGovern, the e-magazine encourages readers who are passionate about both travel and reading (as they are) to use these articles as inspiration for trip-planning. Or simply enjoy a new perspective on a favorite author.

With a premium subscription ($2.50 a month) comes exclusive access to Literary Traveler articles, news, featured books and exclusive literary tours. What caught my eye was the “Articles-To-Go” service that lets you create your own e-book (PDF file) to read offline.

If you’re planning a trip to San Francisco, take a gander at article about Dashiell Hammett's "Maltese Falcon". If you’re headed to Sonoma County, pair the article about Jack London's beloved home with a visit to Beauty Ranch in Jack London State Historic Park.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)