Most Unusual Ways of Travelling

The Butchart Gardens.

The Butchart Gardens is one of the world's premier floral show gardens located in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, near Victoria on Vancouver Island. This family owned gardens is said to receive more than a million visitors each year. These gardens have acquired an international stature that displays beautiful colors of nature throughout the year.
Jennie Butchart started the Butchart Garden as a hobby in 1904. In 1906, she created a Japanese garden with designer Isaburo Kishida. In 1909, when the quarry was exhausted, she started to turn it into a sunken garden, which was completed in 1921. The tennis courts were replaced with an Italian garden in 1926 and a large rose garden (design of Butler Sturtevant of Seattle) replaced the kitchen vegetable garden in 1929.
Ian Ross (the grandson of the Butcharts) received the Gardens on his 21st birthday in 1939; he was actively involved in its development and promotion for the next 58 year.
Lots of underground wiring was laid to provide night illumination, to mark the 50th anniversary of The Gardens in 1953. To celebrate the 60th anniversary the ever-changing Ross Fountain was installed in the lower reservoir in 1964. The Canadian Heraldic Authority granted a coat of arms to the Butchart Gardens in 1994. To mark the 100th anniversary, two 30-foot totem poles were installed and The Gardens was designated as a national historic site in 2004. Robin-Lee Clarke (Butchart's great-granddaughter) is the owner and managing director since 2001.
"The public area of The Butchart Gardens covers 22ha (55 acres) with much more, for the most part, "off stage." Twenty-six greenhouses covering almost 2 acres, along with trial growing areas, a plant and a tree and shrub nursery help to keep The Gardens in prime viewing condition."

The Natural Hot Springs of New Mexico

When the Spanish explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries stumbled across New Mexico’s natural hot springs, they discovered the healing properties that the Native Americans had already known for centuries.

Some claimed they had found the Fountain of Youth in these relaxing and calming hot springs. Now guests have a chance to follow in their footsteps with a visit to some of the most spectacular locations in the “Land of Enchantment.”

Jemez Springs

The village of Jemez Springs is one of New Mexico’s most enchanting destinations.

Nestled between stunning red rock remnants of ancient lava flows – which are over a million years old - the village is world renowned for its famous mineral hot springs.
Fissures in the earth allow water near the surface to make contact with the rock below that is heated by the magma. The result is a steady supply of wonderful, hot springs that bubble up naturally throughout the valley. Jemez Springs is a great place to get away for the weekend, reconnect with nature and enjoy the healing mineral waters.

The Jemez Valley runs from an area just north of the Jemez Pueblo up through to the Valles Caldera preserve. Along this 45-mile stretch of state highway, guests will find natural hot springs, great fishing spots, endless hiking trails and lovely camp sites.

The springs include the Spence Hot Springs, Giggling Springs, and the San Antonia Hot Springs. More information for visitors can be found at the Jemez Sprigs website.

Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs & Spa

Steeped in myth and legend, these ancient springs have been a gathering place and a source of healing for hundreds, even thousands of years. The use of the waters can be traced back to the earliest human settlements in the region when ancient people, believed to be the ancestors of today’s Native American Tewa tribes, built large pueblos and terraced gardens overlooking the springs.

Posi (or Poseuing) - ‘village at the place of the green bubbling hot springs’ - was home to thousands of people.

Although Ojo Caliente’s natural springs were used for centuries by the area’s Pueblo Indians, today the resort consists of an historic mission-style hotel that dates back to 1916 and is one of the longest continuously operating health resorts in the U.S.

The Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa (pictures right) is the only hot springs in the world with four different types of mineral water, and the resort’s ten pools are filled with different combinations of waters and temperatures.

There’s also a mud pool where guests can apply mud all over their bodies and then bake in the sun, releasing toxins from the pores of the skin. Recent renovations and expansions have enhanced the service offering without abandoning the authentic and historic nature of the original environment.

Accommodation includes: The Historic Hotel, charming cottages, and suites with private outdoor soaking tubs.

Other hot springs in New Mexico:

Outside of the star attractions there a host of other hot springs in New Mexico. Here travelbite.co.uk takes a quick look at some of the best.

Firstly the large, 99°F hot Battleship Rock & McCauley Hot Springs are located in a high mountain meadow near the Battleship Rock in Jemez Springs, named for its similarities to the prow of a ship.

Clothing is optional.

Located along the spectacular canyon of the Rio Grande near Taos, Black Rock Hot Springs is a small grouping of hot springs that forms a small pool alongside the Rio Grande when the river is low.

North-west of Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument are the House Log Canyon Hot Springs - a little hot spring found only when the Gila River is low.

It is unimproved and surrounded by trees and ferns. Clothing is optional.

The Lightfeather Hot Springs are also alongside the Middlefork of the Gila River, near Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.

Finally, Montezuma Hot Springs is a collection of hot springs bubbling out of the side of a hill, feeding a variety of rock and cement tubs.

Though the springs were originally used by the historic Montezuma Castle Resort near Las Vegas, they are now accessible to the public.

More Information

Please note many of these springs are located in remote destinations and may require a certain amount of hiking, climbing or other physical activity to reach. Guests should always check with the Forest Service or local ranger station before attempting to access these pools.

The only place in the world you can buy original recipe Dr. Pepper

Spoonful of sugar is just what the doctor ordered

Out in the flatlands of Texas, a good two hours' drive from the nearest city any outsider has ever heard of, lies a town called Dublin. It has no important industry or institution to draw visitors and the main occupation of the 4,000 residents is dairy farming.

All the same, about 65,000 people a year make a pilgrimage to Dublin to tour a small factory in the centre of town that has been bottling Dr Pepper since 1891. The big draw for fans of the carbonated soft drink is that it is the only plant in the world that still produces the original recipe.

When other bottling factories turned to cheaper high-fructose corn syrup in the 1970s to sweeten their Dr Pepper - with a handful opting for processed liquid sugar - this family-owned plant refused to phase out the granulated cane sugar that had been added to the concentrate since the drink was invented back in 1885 (a year before Coca-Cola was born).

By bestowing on the drink a particular kind of authenticity to complement its long heritage, the decision to stick with sugar has turned out to be a winning marketing strategy and helped Dublin Dr Pepper - as the plant's Dr Pepper is known - to cultivate an intensely loyal customer base.

Dr Pepper was first concocted at the Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas, by Charles Alderton, a young pharmacist educated in England who felt customers were bored of the fruit flavours at the store's soda fountain.

The Dublin operation came into being six years later, when Texas businessman Sam Prim tasted the new fountain drink while travelling through Waco and decided he wanted to sell it in his bottling plant. The plant is now run by descendants of Bill Kloster, the long-time manager of the factory who inherited it from Mr Prim's daughter in 1991.

The bottling plant buys the concentrate from what is now called Dr Pepper Snapple group, and rates within the top 10 per cent in per capita sales for its distribution area. That area is admittedly small, but that has proved to be another strength - adding an air of exclusivity.

Dublin Dr Pepper can be marketed only within 40 miles according to its original franchise contract because Mr Prim could only go that far in a day to deliver the soda using his horse and buggy. As a result, obtaining the drink is an achievement - something that restaurants and retailers boast about on signs for miles outside the distribution area.

Linda LaMarca, assistant professor of marketing at nearby Tarleton State University, says the exclusivity of Dublin Dr Pepper "increases the mystique" and, therefore, demand for the drink. "It's not an accident," she says. "Dublin Dr Pepper is run by very smart people."

Betsy Gelb, professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston and a self-confessed Dr Pepper devotee herself, adds: "Dr Pepper connotes daring to be different, unconventionality, authenticity . . . Putting sugar in it makes it more so. What is the most authentic way to sweeten anything? Sugar."

Some fans make it a personal quest to get to the factory as often as possible, boosting the plant's total sales to between 500,000 and 700,000 cases a year - with 24 bottles or cans to a case.

Lori Dodd, the plant's in-house historian, notes there are more than a few devotees such as Joseph Graham, an attorney who makes the 1,000-mile, eight-hour, round-trip drive from Brownsville, Texas, twice a year to get 28 cases - at $16 (£11) a case versus about $13 for the corn syrup version. Mr Graham brings his own traditional 10oz glass bottles because nobody makes them any more. "I'm single, don't have to answer to anybody, so I can indulge my idiosyncrasies," says Mr Graham.

The scarcity of the traditional bottles also adds to the exclusivity and authenticity. Customer loyalty is further helped by the pride Texans take in the fact it was invented in the state. Indeed, when Coke managed to edge in on Dublin Dr Pepper's territory, winning a contract several years ago to be the only supplier at nearby Tarleton State University, it provoked protests on campus. Dublin Dr Pepper was soon back in vending machines.

Philip Hargrove, 58, makes up to six trips a year to the Dublin factory - a 240-mile round trip from his home in Flower Mound, Texas - to refill his 16 cases. "In Texas, you drink water, whisky and Dr Pepper," he says.

Bonus: They'll shipanywhere in the U.S. http://www.olddocs.com/product.aspx?id=145&up1=0&up2=0&up3=0&cat=Drinks&subcat1=Dr%20Pepper&subcat2=

African Sights

State of Independence

State of Independence
by Joe Brancatelli | See Archive
The sale of the 230-year-old Greenbrier Resort to Marriott raises a big question: Can any luxury hotel or resort thrive—or even survive—as an independent property?
Greenbrier Hotel
The 720-room Greenbrier resort sits on 6,500 acres in rural West Virginia.
Photograph courtesy of: Greenbrier



The moment I first laid eyes on the Greenbrier Resort in 2004, I blurted out what I thought was an incredibly obvious observation: "This," I said about the 6,500-acre, 720-room hideaway in rural West Virginia, "will make a great Marriott one day."

My guide, who worked for an outside PR firm hired to revive the resort's flagging reputation, was aghast. She gamely protested the accuracy of my first impression and insisted the Greenbrier was above the unabashedly commercial, cookie-cutter nature of chain hostelries. But as I wandered around still-icy golf courses, inspected florid guestrooms and outdated public areas, and noted archaic house rules (the only dining room required a jacket and tie), I was convinced that the Greenbrier would never survive as an independent.

Well, the 230-year-old lodging icon has succumbed. The owner, railroad company CSX Corp., put the Greenbrier into Chapter XI bankruptcy in late March, claiming $90 million in losses during the last six years. And CSX promptly called in—you guessed it—Marriott. CSX is so desperate to unload the hotel that it will provide Marriott with as much as $50 million to operate the Greenbrier during the first two years. Marriott will then buy the resort within seven years for between $60 million and $110 million. Pending bankruptcy court approval, the deal could close by summer.

Now, no one is aghast at the prospect of a chain running the Greenbrier. The unions seem amenable to Marriott's arrival. West Virginia governor Joe Manchin publicly applauded the deal. Newspapers statewide have cast Marriott's arrival as a "rescue." And locals in hardscrabble Greenbrier County support anything that will save the resort's approximately 1,300 jobs.

Like all luxury hotels that have hit the economic and emotional skids, the Greenbrier's tale is unique: CSX has been a distracted and ham-fisted owner, battling both the hotel's unions and the resort's former president, who sued for $50 million. The sprawling resort is physically isolated and expensive to operate. (CSX recently spent $50 million on improvements in a misguided attempt to regain the fifth Mobil Guide star it lost in 2000.) And despite the loyalty of generations of repeat visitors and fanatic golfers, the Greenbrier was disproportionately dependent on corporate meetings, a travel category that has been devastated by the weak economy and the "AIG Effect."

But the Greenbrier's sale to Marriott also raises a more universal question: Can any luxury hotel or resort thrive—or even survive—as an independent property? In a world where a handful of global hotel chains—Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, Hyatt, Accor of France, and InterContinental of Britain—dominate the lodging market, can a single property, no matter how famous, stand alone?

At least on the surface, the answer is no. About half of the properties on the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List and half of those that earn the prestigious five-star rating from the Mobil Guide are part of chains now, albeit luxury and ultra-deluxe operators such as Four Seasons or Fairmont of Canada; Mandarin Oriental and Peninsula of Hong Kong; Aman Resorts of Singapore; and Taj of India. The Blackstone Group, which owns many of the world's best-known luxury independents as well as Hilton Hotels, is building a deluxe brand too. It is aligning its independents like the Boca Raton Resort in Florida and the Boulders in Arizona with the Waldorf Astoria Collection, which was created by Hilton using the cachet of its eponymous New York hotel.

Other luxury brands have huge corporate parents too. St. Regis is owned by Starwood, best know for its Westin, W and Sheraton hotels. Ritz-Carlton is owned by Marriott. And some luxury hotels you may think of as independent are actually part of a chain. The Plaza in New York, which reopened last year, is managed by Fairmont. The Pierre, which reopens in New York this spring, is operated by Taj. The newly renovated Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii is run by Prince Hotels of Japan. The Dorchester in London? It's part of the Dorchester Group, which is aligned with the Beverly Hills hotel, the Plaza Athenee in Paris, and the Principe di Savoia in Milan.

"Chains always outperform" independent hotels, says LodgeWorks' Tony Isaac, a man who knows the industry from both sides of the fence. LodgeWorks manages hotels in the Hyatt and Hilton chains, helped create the Residence Inn brand (now owned by Marriott), and is building its own Hotel Sierra chain.

But Isaac has just built an upscale independent hotel too. The Avia opened in January in Savannah and was promptly named a great romantic getaway by Travel & Leisure magazine. Why does a guy who admits chains outperform independents go ahead and open an independent anyway?

"Chains add about 10 points to your occupancy rate. But if you're part of a chain, you pay 12 to 14 percent for the frequent guest plan, the reservation service, and other brand programs," he explains. "If you're in the right market, it's not too much of an economic disadvantage to be an independent—and then you have the flexibility to do what you wish and manage as you choose."

That's the argument made by Sean Hehir, managing director of Trinity Investments, a real estate firm that purchased Honolulu's iconic Kahala Resort in 2006. The beachfront property opened as a Hilton hotel in 1964 and spent most of its recent history as a Mandarin Oriental. But Hehir believes the Kahala has unique advantages that appeal to the luxury traveler who isn't interested in brands.

"We're not subject to a brand policy that may not have any relevance to a particular property," he says. "We manage for the long-term best interest of us as owners and the luxury travelers as guests."

But even Hehir admits you need the right combination of factors to survive as an independent in today's chain-dominated world. In the Kahala's case, it's the unbeatable location on a sandy beach in Honolulu's choicest neighborhood and the fact that another Trinity principal, Chuck Sweeney, has a long history as a hotel manager. (Sweeney founded the company that became Embassy Suites, now a Hilton brand.)

For James Bermingham, managing director of the spectacular Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, the advantage is a laser-like concentration on guest services and proximity to wealthy, sophisticated travelers in Southern California. Both the five-year-old Laguna Beach property and the new Montage in Beverly Hills (it opened last fall) can tap into millions of upmarket buyers within 60 miles of the resorts.

"The 'staycation' trend helps Montage," he says. "Guests who want an extraordinary luxury experience very close to home see the Montage properties and they know they won't be getting a chain hotel."

The Fine Print…
Most observers think fewer luxury hotels will still be independent after the current recession, but there is a notable dissenter. Michael Matthews, who has been the general manager of top-notch chain hotels (the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong) and independent deluxe resorts (the Ventana Inn in Big Sur) thinks high costs will drive some luxury properties out of the major chains. "If you're 'flagged' as a chain, you have no independence at all," he says. "A lot of hotels will drop the flag and take the 14 percent fees they pay and use that money to do what they think makes most sense for their own hotel."