Popular Destinations

Introducing Paris:

Paris is a city of contrasting districts and wide boulevards, bisected by the seine river, crowned by the hill of Montmartre and adorned with one of the most photographed structures in Europe: The Eiffel tower. The City of Paris gets its name from the Celtic Gallic tribe called the Parisii of Gaul who inhabited an island on the River Seine and fought against Julius Caesar’s Roman armies who occupied and fortified their island (known today as Île de la Cité, the old Roman walls are still visible under Notre Dame Cathedral). A medieval city grew out of the Roman fort and eventually expanded into a metropolitan region of over 11 million inhabitants. Some of the original medieval buildings of Île de la Cité remain, including Notre Dame Cathedral, La Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie prison, known as the antechamber of the guillotine during the French revolution and counting Marie Antoinette among its many illustrious guests. Paris is divided into 20 districts or arrondissement, distributed in a clockwise spiral from the center of Île de la Cité. Kilometer cero starts in front of Notre Dame Cathedral and marks the first and 4th arrondissement. It is recommended to explore Paris by districts (arrondissement), as each one offers a unique charm.

First Arrondissement: this is a great district to start your explorations of Paris; it includes the Louvre Museum, the Sainte Chapelle, the Jardin des Tuileries and the Palais Royal. This central area is best explored by foot as it is varied and compact. One of the best ways to get an overview of Paris is to jump on one of the Bateaux Mouches boats that glide along the Seine. Take a night cruise and you will understand why Paris is called the city of light, when you see the Eiffel tower glittering with multiple lights.

Left Bank or Rive Gauche: This was the epicenter of 1920’s bohemian Paris, when artists and ex-pats gathered around outdoor cafés in the Montparnasse area, best described by one of its regulars: Ernest Hemingway. An area of the left bank close to La Sorbonne University became known as the Latin Quarter because education was dictated in Latin during medieval times. The Institute Pasteur is another left bank landmark, not far from the entrance to the catacombs of Paris, its somber tunnels and ossuaries are described in Les Misérables and other works of literature.

8th Arrondissement: Includes the Arc de Triomphe and the iconic Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

7th Arrondissement: Home of the Eifel tower, the once reviled and now the best known landmark of Paris and the world famous Musée d’Orsay .

La Défense: The district of La Défense is not officially inside the city of Paris, but its proximity provides a sharp contrast: A collection of ultra modern architecture, including the Arch de la defense that uses the neo-classical lines of the Arc de Triomphe and turns it into a space age version.

20th Arrondissement: Includes Pere Lachaise cemetery, where many of France’s famous artists are buried, including Jim Morrison, Chopin, Molliere and Edit Piaf.

The 18th Arrondissement: is best known for the Hill of Montmatre, crowned with the white stones of the Sacre Coer Basilica and the statue of Joan of Arc and offering sweeping views of the city. The 18th district is also known for its painters, picturesque side streets, steep steps and the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret in the bustling bohemian enclave of Pigalle.

11th Arrondissement: This district includes the most happening nightlife in Paris today, centered around Place de La Bastille and along Rue Oberkampf. If Hemmingway visited Paris today, he would hang out in the Café’s north of Bastille.

12th and 16th Arrondissements: Include large parks; the Bois de Vincennes, and the famous Bois de Boulogne, visible from the Eiffel tower.

Versailles: Just to the west of Paris is Versailles, a visit to the palace is a must, with opulent gardens and magnificent mirrored halls, you can almost hear Maria Antoinette proclaim: “Let them eat cake!”

Getting Around:

Paris is served by two mayor international airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle plus a smaller domestic airport that receives low cost international flights called Beauvais. Six rail stations connect the city with the rest of Europe, including Gare du Nord, home of the Eurostar Chunnel train to London and Brussels and the Thalys speed train to Amsterdam and Brussels. Other stations offer TGV fast train service to Germany, Spain and the South of France and several long distance overnight trains to Italy and beyond. Once inside the city, the best way to get around is by subway, buy a one day or a five day ticket for convenience. Each one of Paris’s individual districts are best explored by foot, pushbikes are available for rent from automated stations that are strategically spaced 25 minutes apart so that you can get from one district to another and return the bike for more explorations on foot.

Things To Do:

Paris is a state of mind, pick your favorite districts and simple walk and immerse yourself in the culture, from sidewalks café’s to the Buddha bar, from Pere Lachaise to the catacombs, from the arch de triumph to the arch de la defense, from the Louvre to the Musée d’Orsay from Montparnasse to Bastille, from the top of Montmartre, to the top of the Eiffel tower, we will always have Paris. There are plenty of car rental services available in Paris. You can rent a car that takes you around the most exquisite places in the city.

Paris Climate:

Paris is known for its unexpected rainfall that can occur at any time of the year. The temperature in summer is usually warm with occasional heat waves and winters are bitter cold with temperatures close to freezing point. The best time to visit Paris is around the spring when you feel that the city is reborn with fresh flower blossoms and green leaves which enhances the beauty of the city.

Hotel Accommodation:

Paris has plenty of splendid hotels that symbolize French-style elegance and offer impeccable hospitality services. The hotel packages have been designed keeping in mind the needs of the travelers. Most of the hotels also provide car rental services to important tourist destinations.

Introducing Bangkok:

Bangkok was a small trading post on a bank of Chao Phraya River until it became the capital of old Siam in 1768 during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The capital was destroyed during the Burmese invasion but Siamese dominance returned shortly, spearheaded by Taksin the Great, who re-conquered the previously lost lands and expanded Siamese dominance into Burma to the West and south to the Malay Peninsula. King Rama I moved the capital to the opposite side of the river in 1782. Nowadays the entire metropolitan region is known locally as Krung Thep, which means ‘City of Angels’ (the locals never refer to the entire city as Bangkok, just to the Old Town). Currently the city of Krung Thep has expanded over both banks of the river and beyond with a population of over 15 million. The city has a cosmopolitan feel, with a large influx of Westerners, Indians, Middle Easterners, Chinese and people from other Asian countries living among the native Thai population. Despite European pressure, Siam (later Thailand), was the only country in South East Asia not to be colonized, serving as a buffer zone between French Indochina and British Burma.

Independent Siam did lose territory to the European powers, chiefly the Malay Peninsula to the British (the area later became Malaysia) and other territories ceded to French Indochina and British Burma. During World War II, Thailand permitted the Japanese to travel freely through their territory in exchange for not been occupied. Since the end of the war Thailand has been solidly allied with the West and has grown into the largest tourism center of South East Asia. Bangkok is located just under 14 degrees north of the Equator, has been voted one of the most traveler-friendly cities in Asia. The first impression may be of a hot and humid concrete jungle but you will soon be taken over by its many charms, specially the friendliness of the local people, the luxury of its four & five star hotels, the bustle of its floating and night markets, and the abundance of tropical fruits.

Getting Around:

Bangkok is served by two airports, the new international Suvarnabhumi Airport and the older now mostly domestic; Don Muang Airport. The city is also served by Rail and Bus stations. The best way to get to the city from the airports is by metered taxi. Once in the city, you can use the air conditioned metro or Tuc Tuc Moped rickshaws (good for driving into small side streets called Soi). Boat taxis are perfect to navigate the canals and floating markets. Avoid the motorbike taxis as they are accident prone, but they are the fastest way to beat traffic congestion.

Things To Do:

Visit old Bangkok on Rattanakosin Island for its many temples and palaces dating to the re-founding of the capital in the 1700’s, including The Grand Palace, the former residence of the King. Cruise Bangkok’s canals for its floating markets and restaurants and get a glimpse of the former “Venice of the east”. Bangkok has the largest and most luxurious shopping malls in South East Asia and many night markets. Relax with live Jazz and drinks at the Bamboo bar in the Mandarin Oriental hotel and then hit the town for the wildest night life in Asia on Bangkok’s Silom district, including the world famous Patpong road, home to over four levels of Go-Go Bars, a Bangkok institution since the 1960’s.

Bangkok Climate:

Bangkok is known for its hot climate and sunny weather with high humidity levels which is noticed more in the months of April and May. The hottest period is from March to August and the rainy season is from June to October. The best season to visit Bangkok is during the winter months which begins in November and lasts until February.

Hotel Accommodation:

Bangkok is one of the major tourist attractions and millions of people visit every year. There are plenty of accommodation options available in Bangkok. If you are looking for big, high quality and affordable hotel, you can find them in Siam Square and Ploenchit Road which is also referred as the main hotel district of the city. There are other areas such as Banglampoo where the backpackers can find inexpensive guest houses across the river and Chinatown which is one of the most vibrant parts of Bangkok. Most of the hotels also provide car rental services to important tourist attraction.

Introducing Hong Kong:

Hong Kong means ‘Fragrant Harbor’ in the local Cantonese dialect, this collection of islands and inlets at the mouth of the Pearl River was the location of the first encounters between British sailors and Chinese fishermen. The area encompassing Hong Kong has been inhabited since Neolithic times, but a record of it been called Hong Kong did not occur until 1842 at the treaty of Nanking, signed at the end of the first Opium War between the British and the ruling Chinese Dynasty. The Brits unhappiness with Chinese trade restrictions had been a catalyst for the war and the treaty gave control of Hong Kong ‘in perpetuity’ to the British Crown as a duty free port. The British expanded their control over the Kowloon peninsula in subsequent wars and by 1898 they had obtained a 99 year lease over the ‘New Territories’ (a coastal chunk on the Chinese mainland). Hong Kong grew as a wealthy British colony, with a British educational system and a legal framework of open markets that made many colonists wealthy. The term Tai-Pan was coined for the wealthy ex-pats that ran the British trading houses and lived in palatial mansion up on Victoria peak. During the first half of the 20th century, some of the most important Tai-Pans in Hong Kong were run by men of Scottish descent (the term Tai-Pan is still used today, but it’s applied to any tycoon, regardless of nationality).

The Japanese invaded Hong Kong in 1942 during World War II and installed a brutal occupation that lasted until 1945 when the British took Hong Kong back. With the proclamation of the People’s republic of China in 1949, many foreign corporations based in Shanghai and Guangzhou moved their headquarters to Hong Kong and the heavy influx of refugees fleeing the new communist regime, helped Hong Kong recover the population that it had lost during the war and propelled it into becoming a world class manufacturing and trade hub, with one of the busiest ports in the world. In 1984 the Governments of the U.K and the People’s Republic of China signed the Sino-British declaration that would return Hong Kong to Chinese rule by 1997. Hong Kong runs as a special autonomous administrative region within the People’s Republic of China (one Country, two systems) and the ruling Communist party in Beijing has promised to maintain Hong Kong’s autonomy and its economic and political freedoms for at least 50 years. Hong Kong has evolved into a world class financial services hub as manufacturing moved to the Chinese mainland.

Getting Around:

Hong Kong is served by Hong Kong International Airport and has an airport express rail line that will drop you off in Hong Kong Island in approximately 24 minutes. Once you arrive you can take the Iconic Star Ferry for its famous dash across the bay, offering the best views of Hong Kong Harbor. The docks also offer several ferry’s to Macao and to mainland China, you can even take a Macao ferry right from the airport, bypassing Hong Kong Customs. A railway line also connects Hong Kong to Shenzhen, on the Chinese mainland, please note that most visitors need a visa to enter the People’s Republic but not Hong Kong or Macao. Take the Double Decker Trams within the city or ride the subway. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities on Earth; get an Octopus card, valid in all of Hong Kong’s MTA trains and trams. Take the tram to the top of Victoria’s Peak for the best night views of the colorfully lit skyscrapers.

Things To Do:

Shop till you drop, Hong Kong has some of the most spectacular shopping malls in Asia, with prices for luxury goods that are lower than in Europe. Colorful street markets abound and Dim sun eateries are the order of the day. But Hong Kong is not all skyscrapers and shopping; it has many beautiful beaches and un-spoilt hikes, especially in Kowloon and in the south of Hong Kong Island. It even has Hong Kong Disneyland near the airport. Enjoy an evening drink in the Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai districts, with many bars on the top of business buildings, offering a million dollar view as well as drinks.

You can rent a car which is managed by people with extensive experience in hospitality services. They take you to the most exclusive destinations of the city and making your trip the most memorable one.

Hong Kong Climate:

Hong Kong has a sub-tropical, monsoon influenced climate. There are four distinct seasons in Hong Kong. The hottest months are from June-September where the temperature ranges anywhere between 26 °C and 34 °C with 60–70% humidity during the day and higher at nights, Hong Kong is normally hit by monsoon during summers and early autumns. Autumns are normally sunny with less rainfall and it is often considered to be the pleasant months as the weather is warm and reduced humidity. Winters are normally cool and the early winters experience dry weather but later part of the months gets very cold. It is unlikely to snow in Hong Kong as the temperatures very rarely reach the sub-zero Celsius. The chances of rainfall are higher during spring season and the humidity levels are slightly higher than in autumn.

Hotel Accommodation:

Hotel Accommodation in Hong Kong is very expensive due to the high property prices. These high prices are however compensated with impeccable hospitality services.

Introducing Delhi:

Delhi, known locally as Dilli, has been continuously inhabited for over 5000 years, built and rebuilt over 11 times during its long history, Delhi is currently the second most populous city in India with over 15 million inhabitants. New Delhi, the current capital of India and its seat of government, is a 47 square mile enclave located inside the Delhi metropolitan area. New Delhi is a planned city, build south of the old town, with wide, palm lined boulevards and beautiful government buildings built in the British Colonial style. New Delhi became the capital of the British Raj in 1911 when the British decided to re-locate the center of government from Calcutta, on the coast, to a more central location within the sub-continent. New Delhi’s many beautiful colonial palaces and monuments were not completed until the 1930’s, and it features many iconic landmarks, including India Gate, Parliament House, and the government palaces in and around Raisina Hill. The British Raj ended in 1947 and was partitioned into what became three independent countries: Pakistan to the North–West, and Bangladesh (East Pakistan) and Burma to the east, leaving the largest portion of the Old British Raj as the Independent Republic of India, currently the largest democracy in the world and the second most populous country on the planet. To visit Delhi is to encounter a crossroads of civilizations and religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism (all Indian grown religions), together with large a Muslim population and pockets of Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Ethnic groups from all over make Delhi one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India and the epicenter for Indian national politics, education, journalism and cricket.

Getting Around:

Delhi is served by Indira Gandhi International Airport. The best way to get from the airport to the city is by taxi or a pre-arranged transfer (some hotels offer this service for free). Getting around the city is always an adventure. The Delhi Subway is an efficient and air conditioned option but its coverage is limited. You can hire an air conditioned taxi and a driver for the day, or select between scooter or a bicycle powered rickshaws. Some sections of the city are best explored by foot.

Things To Do:

Delhi’s millennia of history has left the city with several UNESCO World Heritage sites, including The Red Fort (A Mughal Royal Residence), Qutb Minar (the world’s tallest brick Minaret), Jama Masjid (India’s largest mosque) and over 1000 historical buildings and temples built in several different styles: Mughal, Hindu, British Raj and even ultra modern architecture, like the Bahá’í’ faith’s Lotus Temple built in 1986. Old Delhi still retains its Mughal flavor with its labyrinthine spice markets offering Punjabi and northern Indian food. Take a walk around Connaught Place, built during the British Raj style, which is one of the biggest shopping complexes with shops, restaurants and colorful markets and bazaars.

Delhi Climate:

Delhi is located 225m above the sea level and the city experiences an extreme continental climate which can be intolerable sometimes. Delhi has distinct five seasons- summers, monsoon, autumns, winter and spring. Summers, i.e. from April-June are very hot and unpleasant and the temperature can rise up to 45°C. The monsoon season begins in the month of July and lasts till August. December and January are the coldest months. The best time to visit Delhi is between October and February when the average temperature is 22°C during the daytime and evenings become very pleasant and cool.

Hotel Accommodation:

Delhi has a wide range of accommodation – From luxury hotels to mid-range hotels and guest houses to low-budget and lodges. Hotels in Delhi (Luxury and Mid-Range) are carefully appointed with all necessary stay amenities for tourists and also the car rental services that take you around to the city’s most popular destinations.

Introducing Los Angeles:

This sprawling Metropolis of over 11 million people, criss- crossed by aerial highways and dominated by the automobile, started life as a tiny Spanish mission within the Viceroyalty of New Spain called: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula. Founded in 1781 by the Governor of Las Californias: Felipe de Neves, under the authority of Charles III, King of Spain. The mission only had 44 settlers at the time of its founding and you can still visit the original site today in Olvera Street, where some of the oldest adobe structures still survive. The town’s name was shortened to Los Angeles over time and in 1821 it reverted to Mexican rule after it gained its independence from Spain. Los Angeles became part of the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American war as part of the Mexican Session agreed in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Los Angeles became a municipality and California received statehood in 1850. The Railroads arrived in 1876 and oil was discovered in 1892, by the early 1920’s Los Angeles was producing one-quarter of the world’s petroleum and the population had boomed and was still growing, boosted by the completion of the Los Angeles aqueduct (featured in the Movie Chinatown) and the new industries of Aviation and Motion Pictures. By 1932 the Population of Los Angeles had surpassed one million and it hosted the Summer Olympic Games.

The Post War years brought great prosperity to the city and the beginning of urban sprawl. A Mecca of entertainment since the early 1920’s, Los Angeles symbolized what was glamorous about the Movie Industry and the term Hollywood, named after a district within Los Angeles, became a synonym, the world over, with glamour and success. In 1969 Los Angeles pioneered the internet, with the first ARPNET transmission from UCLA to Menlo Park. During the 1980’s, Los Angeles became the focus, first of the Punk Rock scene and later of the Glam Rock scene, with bands like Guns & Roses and Motley Crue. The early 1990’s brought hard core political rap (known as gangster rap), earthquakes, drive by shootings and racial riots, all products of inner city blight and the collapse of the aerospace industry at the end of the cold war. But by the end of the decade the city was going through a renaissance of gentrification, fueled by waves of immigrants from Asia and Latin America, who moved into previously run down areas of Los Angeles, revitalizing the city’s new and existing districts like Koreatown, Hollywood, Echo Park and Downtown Los Angeles.

By the mid 00’s, Los Angeles boasted a world class classical music hall, a Museum of Modern art, a Theatre and Hotel Complex at Hollywood & Highland and many new businesses and shops in what had been a largely abandoned areas. Los Angeles today is a vibrant city that has a lot to offer: Almost perfect weather all year around, a brand new subway system, beautiful stretches of coastline and a classic coastal highway, the magnetic allure of Hollywood, the glamour of Beverly Hills, the fun for all of Universal Studios and the Pier and boulevards of Santa Monica and even the counter cultural eclectic mix of Venice beach. Just like Frank Sinatra used to sing: L.A. is my lady!

Getting Around:

Los Angeles is served by 6 airports, dotted around the sprawling maze of counties that surround the city. Los Angeles international or LAX is the main international airport, the other 5 are all domestic and some serve cities in Mexico.

Los Angeles International Airport: L.A.’s main international Airport and home to the space age ‘Encounter Lounge and Restaurant’.

Bob Hope Burbank Airport: Located north of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, is convenient for domestic flights and close to studios in Burbank and Studio city.

Long Beach Airport: Formerly the McDonnell Douglas airfield, it serves some low cost domestic airlines, including Jet Blue.

John Wayne Orange County Airport: is located south of L.A., close to Disney and Laguna Beach. It is served by all domestic scheduled airlines.

Ontario Airport: Serving the Inland Empire and offering many low cost carriers.

Palmdale Airport: North of L.A., closest to the Mojave spaceport and the Coachella Music festival.

Los Angeles also has an Amtrak train station and a Greyhound bus station, both located Downtown. Several interstate highways connect in Los Angeles, including Highway 5. Once in L.A., most people rent a car, but now it’s possible to take the subway from downtown to Hollywood and under the Hollywood Hills to Universal studios.

Things To Do:

L.A is so glamorous that even LAX airport has a tourist site: The space age white arches of the ‘Encounter Lounge & Restaurant’, one of the most iconic buildings inside any airport. Rent a convertible car and drive with the top down, as it almost never rains in L.A. Drive to Santa Monica along P.C.H. (Pacific Coastal Highway), shop in the quirky shops around west Hollywood, ride along Hollywood Boulevard with the top down and stop in front of the iconic Man’s Chinese Theatre for a photo op. Stroll along Rodeo drive, hit downtown for a shot of culture at the Disney Concert Hall, drive up to the Griffith observatory for the best views of Los Angeles, hit Koreatown for the nightlife and don’t forget Olvera street, where it all began.

Los Angeles Climate:

Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate and enjoys a warm and pleasant weather all round the year. The months from May to October is normally warm, hot and dry with the temperature anywhere between 24–29°C during the daytime and 14–19°C during the nighttime. The months from November to April are mild and rainy to an extent. The temperature during this season could vary anywhere between 20–23°C during the daytime and 9–12°C during the nighttime. Los Angeles receives 385 mm of rain annually which mainly occurs during winter and spring months i.e. from November to April. Snowfall within the city is extremely rare. However, the mountains within the city limits receive snowfall every winter.

Hotel Accommodation:

There are plenty of hotels in Los Angeles and the place you choose to stay will make a tremendous impact on your LA experience. Downtown, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Pasadena, Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Westwood are some of the most recommended areas to stay.

Introducing Las Vegas:

Las Vegas was once just a dusty rail stop in the dessert. Its first Luxury Casino & hotel: The Flamingo opened in December 1946, financed by organized crime and operated by Bugsy Siegel, a front man for the mob. The Flamingo’s lavish gambling rooms showcased famous mambo bands from Havana and Hollywood celebrities soon started to flock in, but the mob was unhappy with Bugsy’s un-profitable management style and soon voted to dispatch him in a secret meeting in Cuba, attended by the top capos of the American Mafia: ‘Lucky’ Luciano and Meyer Lansky. The Flamingo did eventually become profitable, but Bugsy Siegel never saw his dream project succeed as he was gunned down under orders of his mob bosses in June of 1946. Ironically, Las Vegas consolidation as an entertainment and gambling Mecca was not secured until Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries marched into Havana, making Las Vegas the natural destination for all the mob money and mobsters fleeing Havana.

The 1960’s saw eccentrics like Howard Hughes buying up huge interests on the Las Vegas strip and by the late 1980’s virtually all mob involvement with the Vegas casinos had ended, replaced by large corporations that have turned Las Vegas into the entertainment capital of the world. So the next time you are enjoying a ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ moment, take a minute to be awed by its awesome history: From Bugsy to Sinatra, from the Rat Pack, to Fat Elvis, from The Hard Rock Café to Cirque de Soleil, Vegas is a true American icon: Viva Las Vegas!, Elvis has not left the building!

Getting Around:

Las Vegas is served by McCarran International Airport and also a private air strip. A monorail connects most of the hotels & casinos on the Strip and an efficient bus system called CAT, runs up and down Las Vegas Boulevard, connecting The Strip with Downtown Las Vegas.

Things To Do:

Vegas stands for 24 hours nonstop fun: From mayor Broadway Shows like ‘Love’, ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Avenue Q’, to world class casinos, restaurants and shopping. Virtually every mayor fashion designer has a showcase boutique in Las Vegas and the Wynn Hotel even has an art gallery full of Picassos and French impressionistic classics. Don’t miss downtown Las Vegas “Freemont Street Experience”, a covered pedestrian boulevard with a video show on its ceiling every 15 minutes.

Las Vegas Climate:

Las Vegas experiences a typical southwest-dry, hot and windy climate. The summer months i.e. from June to September are very hot and dry with low humidity levels. Winters in Las Vegas are short and it’s normally mild and the temperature can occasionally drop to a freezing point (0 °C – at nights). Las Vegas experiences very little rain and it usually rains between January-March.

Hotel Accommodation:

Las Vegas is a very popular casino/entertainment district and it attracts millions of tourist every year. Undoubtedly, Las Vegas has some of the finest hotels ranging from luxury accommodation to budget stay. Most of these hotels also offer car rental services.

Introducing Honolulu:

Hawai’i is a former monarchy and Honolulu is the only city in the USA with a Royal Palace. The monarchy was overthrown in 1896 and Hawaii was annexed as a USA territory in 1900. The Hawaiian archipelago is the most isolated land mass on the globe and was colonized by South Pacific islanders who made their long voyages across the Pacific in canoes, navigating by the stars. The first Europeans came with Captain James Cook. William Bligh, of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame, was part of his crew. Captain Cook was killed by the natives but the current Hawaiian flag includes the Union Jack in his honor. Honolulu’s deep water port became a stop for American and European whaling ships during the 18th century and it became popular with the rich and famous during the 1920’s, who arrived in elegant ocean liners, soon to be followed by the Pan American flying boats of the 1930’s.

The first hotel in Honolulu was the Moana (now the Westin Moana Surfrider) offering unobstructed views of Diamond Head Peak. The next hotel was the iconic “Pink Palace”, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, still popular with visitors today. After the Japanese bombardments of 1941 and the fall of the Philippines in 1942, Hawaii became the largest and most important US territory in the Pacific, becoming the 50th State in 1959. Honolulu is located on the island of Oahu and it means ‘sheltered bay’ in the native language. Waikiki beach, located 20 minutes from downtown Honolulu, has developed into a world class beach resort with shopping, dining and accommodations that cater for every budget.

Getting Around:

Honolulu is served by Honolulu International Airport and cruise ships stop on the island frequently. Most people rent a car to explore the North Shore of Oahu Island. Honolulu counts with an efficient bus service that connects downtown with Waikiki and you can even take the local bus all around the island, including Pearl Harbor and the famous North Shore.

Things To Do:

Downtown Honolulu is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the USA. Visit the former Royal Palace (The Iolani Palace), its lively Chinatown and its many Southeast Asian eateries and food markets. Don’t skip on Pearl Harbor, the boat trip to the Arizona memorial is free and is one of the most touching monuments in the USA. Waikiki is a beach paradise of boutiques, bars and restaurants and the North Shore of the island is popular with surfers due to its amazingly huge waves during the winter season. Use Honolulu as a base to explore other Hawaiian islands, including Kauai and the Big Island, with natural wonders that include a snow capped volcano, the waterfalls featured in ‘Jurassic Park’, locally grown coffee and red hot lava flowing pacifically into the Pacific Ocean.

Honolulu Climate:

Honolulu enjoys a warm and humid climate throughout the year with pleasant breeze, sunny and tropical weather. Honolulu has only two distinct seasons - summer and winter. Rainfall occurs mainly during the winter months i.e. from October to March.

Hotel Accommodation:

Honolulu is one of the most popular tourist destinations and millions of people visit every year. It is no wonder that the the city possesses some of the finest hotels. Waikiki, Ala Moana, Downtown and Airport Areas have most of the hotels. At Honolulu, you can find hotels ranging from luxury to mid-range to budget hotels. Most of these hotels also have a tie-up with the car rental services. They have a chauffeur-driven service who is also a guide as he takes you around the heart of the city.

Introducing Orlando:

Orlando today is a lot more than just a gateway to theme parks, but it was certainly placed firmly on the map by Walt and Roy Disney’s decision to purchase several acres of swampland on an intersection of interstate close to McCoy Air Force Base (today Orlando International Airport). The Disney’s chose this location over Miami or Tampa due to the large tracts of land available, and their desire to control all of the area surrounding their theme parks in order to avoid the glut that surrounded their Anaheim park, besides, Orlando’s inland location offered additional protection against coastal Florida’s frequent hurricanes. Disney’s original dream was to build a model community surrounding his theme park, reminiscent of an idealized Saturday Evening Post suburbia. Walt Disney died in 1966 before he could see his project completed, but his dream lives on today in the resort that bears his name, and contains four distinctive theme parks, two themed water parks, twenty-three themed hotels, including the iconic Grand Floridian Victorian hotel and the futuristic, monorail served ‘Contemporary Resort’.

The sprawling Disney resorts include a plethora of shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation facilities, all linked by monorail and a fleet of Disney Buses. Walt Disney’s dream of an ideal suburban community became reality in 1996 when the Disney corporation unveiled the master-planned community of Celebration, Florida, with a main commercial street based on ‘Main Street USA ‘ the shopping street outside of Cinderella’s castle in the Disney resorts and with homes built in an early 20th century style. The community is connected to the Disney Theme Park with an exclusive boulevard that enables its residents to drive to the Magic Kingdom without having to cut trough busy thoroughfares.

Getting Around:

Orlando is served by Orlando International Airport and Orlando-Sanford International airport, located in Sanford, a city just north of Orlando. Most people choose to rent a car, and this is useful when exploring several attractions and theme parks, but not necessary if you plan to stay within the Disney resorts as they provide free transportation connecting all their hotels with their different theme parks and even provide an airport shuttle. Downtown Orlando has an efficient metropolitan bus system called Lynx and most hotels in the Orlando area offer shuttles to all the theme parks, including Sea World, Universal Studios and the Disney resorts.

Things To Do:

Orlando is the theme park capital of the world: Sea World, Universal Studios and the Disney Resorts are just the most famous ones, but don’t miss out on the more quaint ones like Gatorland and Holy Land among others. Save one night to stroll along Orlando’s busy Orange Avenue, closed to traffic in the evening, it offers many bars, clubs and restaurants within a small radius. Extend your explorations to Daytona Beach, or the famous Space Coast, home of Cocoa beach and the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, you might catch the launching of a rocket or even the Space Shuttle.

Orlando Climate:

Orlando experiences a warm and humid sub-tropical climate. It has two distinct climate, warm summers and cool winters. It usually rains in summer and storms are quite common in late afternoon. These storms can sometimes be fierce and can bring a lot of wind, thunder, hail and lightning. Orlando is known for its heavy lightning strikes than any other place in the United States. Orlando experiences heavy or violent rainfall in the months from June to September. However, the rains don’t cool the temperature and often the humidity levels are higher immediately after the thunderstorms. Hurricane is also occurs in summer and runs from June through November and can be quite damaging. Winters are usually dry and sunny and this is the perfect time to visit Orlando. There is very little rainfall during this season and the weather is pleasant.

Hotel Accommodation:

Accommodation of all price range can be found in Orlando – from luxury stay to budget stay. Walt Disney World, Kissimmee and International Drive are few of the important hotel districts in Orlando. Most of these hotels also have a tie-up with the car rental services that take you around to the most exclusive destinations of the city.

Introducing San Francisco:

San Francisco is not a geographical location; it’s a vast social experiment in the making; the place where the future gets tested, not only technologically but also socially, or how the locals put it: ‘San Francisco is a state of mind’. Located on the end of a peninsula, at the southern edge of the Golden Gate, the City of San Francisco is just 7 x 7 square miles, but its history and influence have been felt worldwide. As the main city of the San Francisco Bay Area, it has been at or near the epicenter of several important cultural and technological revolutions, a focus point for the hippy movement during the summer of love of 1967, an emerging gay Mecca during the 1970’s and important research center that gave us Silicon Valley, personal computers and internet corporations, including Apple, Hewett Packard, Yahoo, Google, Twitter, Facebook and many more. San Francisco & the Bay Area have also been a center for innovative filmmaking with the aid of technology: Lucas films (Star Wars) and Pixar (Toy Story, UP) are both based there. The San Francisco Bay Area’s incredible ethnic diversity, progressive spirit and breathtaking natural and structural wonders have made the City of San Francisco one of the most visited tourist destinations on earth. But San Francisco wasn’t always a tourists’ paradise; founded by the Spanish as a Mission dedicated to St Francis of Assisi in 1776 located on the windswept and foggy tip of a barren peninsula of sand dunes.

The Mission remained a backwater as it changed from a Spanish rule to Mexican and then as a part of the California Republic and eventually the USA. It was the gold rush of 1848 that established San Francisco firmly on the map and set off successive waves of immigration from all over the world, particularly from Asia and Europe. 1906 saw the City of San Francisco almost totally a destroyed after a strong earthquake and subsequent fires razed most of the city. San Francisco rebuilt and by 1935 it had avoided the worst of the depression with work on its dual bridges: The Iconic Golden Gate Bridge, joining the city with Marin County and the more utilitarian but extremely important Bay Bridge, linking Downtown San Francisco with Oakland. The city suffered another strong earthquake in 1989, when entire blocks in some neighborhood were razed by fires and the city’s aerial freeway system buckled and was dismantled, bringing in positive urban renewal by opening the views along the Embarcadero and turning the ferry building into an attractive tourist area. They say that only Manhattan can compete with San Francisco’s amazing culinary variety; there is always a new trendy restaurant opening or a small ethnic eatery to discover and sometimes a walk along San Francisco feels live traveling through five different continents and cultures in one hour: From Chinatown to North Beach, from the Castro to Height Asbury, from Downtown to the Sunset District and the beach, the possibilities are endless.

Getting Around:

San Francisco is served by San Francisco International Airport, located south of the city in San Mateo County; a rail line connects the airport with San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area Rapid Transit commuter rail system. Oakland airport, across the bay from San Francisco, serves mostly domestic flights and has a shuttle that connected to the closest BART (Fruitvale Station). Once in San Francisco, get a MUNI rail pass, valid in all the buses and MUNI rail trolleys inside San Francisco, the 7 day MUNI pass is also valid on the iconic San Francisco cable cars, a symbol of the city and a must for tourists.

Things To Do:

San Francisco’s mild winter weather makes it a perfect year round destination, most tourists first visit Fisherman’s Wharf, with its assortment of tourist traps among decent bars and eateries, don’t miss the colony of Sea Lions that live off pier 39. The Golden Gate Bridge, perhaps one of the most photographed bridges in the world, offers the best views of the majestic Golden Gate and the City of San Francisco, schedule a sunset visit for spectacular photos. Explore San Francisco’s varied ethnic and culturally unique neighborhoods, from the gay Mecca of Castro St, with its gay friendly stores and iconic old movie house: the Castro Theatre, focusing on classic Hollywood movies from the Golden Age of Cinema. The world famous Height Ashbury district was the epicenter of the summer of love and still offers a livery bohemian vive with good bars and ethnic eateries galore. Chinatown, resembling a classic old town in China, the Italian North Beach, Famous for gelato & pizza and the posh lounges and trendy restaurants of downtown, SOMA and Market street. Leave one day free to explore the Mission, San Francisco’s original neighborhood and now the center of Mexican and Central American food and culture, where you can visit the Mission Dolores, site of the original Mission of San Francis of Assisi. On longer stays head north to the Napa Valley for a taste the famous California wines.

Renting a car is a perfect way to discover the city. There are plenty of car rental services in San Francisco that take you to the most exquisite tourist destinations.

San Francisco Climate:

San Francisco experiences Mediterranean climate with cool and dry summers and mild, wet winters. May to October is a dry period when the weather is usually mild to warm. The months from November to April is usually cold with temperature ranging anywhere between 13–17°C during the daytime and during the nighttime. Snowfall is extremely rare in San Francisco.

Hotel Accommodation:

There are plenty of hotels in San Francisco and it offers a wide range of acclaimed accommodations – from luxury hotels to budget stay.

Introducing Miami:

The South Florida region had been inhabited by the Calusa and other Amerindian tribes for millennia by the time Spanish conquistador Don Ponce de Leon arrived in 1513. Ponce was looking for the fountain of youth but instead found a bay with inlets and a vast swampland. The Name Miami comes from the Calusa Indian word for ‘big water’ and their main village became what we now know as the City of Miami. The area was formally claimed for Spain in 1566 and the first Spanish Mission was built in 1557. The Spanish were never able to successfully settle in the area, beset by wars with the natives and with other European powers and sold Florida to the USA in 1821 for $5 million US dollars. The area remained a sparsely populated backwater known as the ‘Biscayne Bay area’ until the railroad was extended south to the village of Miami in 1896. The boom brought in by the railroad transformed a once sleepy village into a summer resort and by 1915 Miami Beach was founded, aided by the construction of the first bridge over Biscayne Bay. Miami’s population boomed during World War II, as the tourists were replaced by soldiers training to fight German U boats. The Second population boom started in 1959 when the Cuban revolution forced a large number of middle class Cubans into exile.

After several more waves of immigration from Cuba and Latin America, including the ‘Mariel Boatlift’ of 1980 (featured in the movie Scarface), Miami now boast a population that is 67% Spanish speaking or of Latin American descent. Only 25% of Miami residents are registered as Anglo speakers, leading Miami to be called ‘The Capital of The Americas’. Miami is currently the 3rd richest city in the USA, with a booming downtown that is rapidly getting Manhattanised with glass skyscrapers. Miami’s magnificent luxury villas on private islands attract the rich and famous, and it’s gorgeous stretches of white sandy beaches, magnificent boutique hotels and vibrant Latin culture, led by a Cuban community that brought ‘Mojito’ and ‘Cubano Sandwich’ into the American lexicon, attract tourists from the world over. Miami is also known for its ‘snowbird’ population, largely Canadians who flock south in the winter to escape the cold and a large Jewish-American population that have made Miami a haven for retirees, among the youthful exuberance of Latin dance clubs and photo shoots of bikini clad models on the sands of south beach. Miami is the place to be.

Getting Around:

Miami is served by Miami international Airport, offering nonstop flights to Europe and Latin America as well as domestic connections. Fort Lauderdale Airport, just north of Miami is convenient for travelers flying in from the New York area and other domestic USA or Canadian cities. Miami is also a world class cruise port and has both an Amtrak and a Greyhound station. The city counts with an efficient municipal bus system and downtown Miami is interconnected with the suburbs with an overhead metro system. You can rent a bike and pedal along South Beach and downtown as Florida is perfectly flat, the highest elevation in the city is only 20 feet above sea level.

Things To Do:

Miami is a beach paradise during the day and a nightlife paradise at night, with excellent restaurants and a vibrant art scene. Take an afternoon stroll along the pedestrian Lincoln Road for its bars, open air restaurants, art galleries and drag shows. South beach is nonstop fun, with art deco hotels and café’s facing a sandy beach. Downtown has great shopping and museums, including the ‘Casa Vizcaya’ a Venetian style luxury villa facing the waters of Biscayne Bay. Make time for a stop in Little Havana’s ‘Calle Ocho’ for a Cuban coffee, a Cubano sandwich and a couple of refreshing Mojitos.

If you want to explore more of Miami and the nearby places, you can rent a car. There are plenty of car rental services available. You can also check with your hotel staff as most of the hotels provide the car rental services.

Miami Climate:

Miami has a tropical monsoon climate where the climate is hot and humid in summers and mostly warm and dry winters. The humidity levels in summers are very high and they usually range between 85-90 percent, making it one of the humid cities in the United States. Miami receives rainfall during summer and early autumn.

Hotel Accommodation:

Miami Beach is one of the top tourist destinations and has plenty of hotel accommodation that ranges from luxury to mid-range to budget accommodation. Miami Beach, South Beach, Bal Harbour, Central Miami, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove and West Miami are the most popular places for lodging.