has a lifetime of experience as journalist -- as a magazine and newspaper writer and photographer, radio and television news producer and reporter, and guidebook author and editor, all focusing on travel, automotive, lifestyle, the environment and your rights as a consumer.
There is a mind-boggling number of iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry applications on the market to download to help make your driving and travel experience more user friendly. So which ones are best?
Here are five of the best travel apps ones for Labor Day weekend family reunions, backyard barbecues and last of the summer escapes to the beach:
1. Weatherbug – This app combines the simplicity of Apple’s Weather app with a few extras for your phone. It’s the largest network of professional weather stations in the US and the only source for truly live, local weather wherever you are or want to go. That’s important anytime, but especially when there’s a hurricane like Earl messing up travel plans along the East Coast.
2. BePut - This App lets you share your whereabouts with people you want to find you, like the cousin you are trying to hook up with in Disneyland, or the friend who might be waiting for you at the wrong airport baggage carousel or highway rest stop. With the touch of a button, you can send an email or text message to your cousin or buddy with your exact location, and the recipient gets a special, secure FindMe Key. Saves time and stress from all those “where are you now” texts and phone calls.
3. Trapster — Useful for anytime you are driving, Labor Day or not, this App tells you about police speed traps. It’s counter-intuitive, but Trapster is becoming a favorite tool of police. They want you to know where the speed traps are, so you slow down. Trapster actually encourages its 6.4 million downloaders to slow down and drive more safely. That makes it a true safe driving.
Pittsburgh Fairmont is city's first LEED certified green hotel
The only LEED certified green hotel in Pittsburgh is the new Pittsburgh Fairmont, and it proves that green can be beautiful. Here’s some of what makes this luxury hotel so green that it has been awarded the Gold level of green:
Lighting — energy efficient LED and compact flourescent bulbs reduce energy use at the Pittsburgh Fairmont by enough to power about 50 households a year. Also, equipment and appliances are Energy Star compliant, which means they use 20-30 percent less energy than non-certified machinery.
Water — reduced-flow showers, automatic sensors in sinks in public areas and other fixtures save more than 900,000 gallons of water a year.
Green construction materials — All paints, carpeting, fabrics, and such have no or low emissions of volatile organic compounts (VOC), and most bedding in guestrooms is made from organic or recycled fiber. That’s is also good news for guests with allergies. Woodwork and flooring is made from timber that’s been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means it comes from sustainably harvested forests.
Fairmont Pittsburgh bedding uses organic and recycled fibers
Food — The hotel chef features local and organic ingredients in the restaurant and bar. Food waste is treated by a high-tech enzyme digester, and fryer oil is recycled locally into biodiesel.
Labor Day is the end of the peak summer travel season, and the beginning of what the travel industry calls ‘shoulder season’, and it’s a season of great travel deals and discounts. Here are some budget travel bargains to grab before they disappear –
Chelsea Clinton wedding to Marc Mezvinsky in historic Rhinebeck, NY (c) Getty Images photo
The former Astor estate in where the Chelsea Clinton wedding took place, is just one of the fabulous millionaire mansions in the Hudson Valley around Rhinebeck, which was founded in 1686 by Dutch settlers. Mansions and smaller estates built or owned by familes named Vanderbilt, Roosevelt, the artists who founded the Hudson River School of painting, and signers of the Declaration of Independence are nearby and open for touring.
So you didn’t get an invitation to this wedding of the year, maybe even the wedding of the decade. There are plenty of historic and romantic spots to visit around Rhinebeck , also with picture postcard views overlooking the Hudson River:
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Home, Library and Museum — FDR’s forbears moved to the Hyde Park area in the early 1800s, and he was born here and grew up in this house. FDR did his famous World War II ‘Fireside Chats’ from his study here. The late president and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, are buried in the Rose Garden. There are lovely walkways and paths to enjoy, along with the 40,000 book library and family artifacts. Nearby is Val-Kill Cottage, the only National Historic site dedicated to a First Lady. Eleanor Roosevelt spent her last years here, when she was “First Lady of the World”, and where she hosted celebrities and politicians, including future president John F. Kennedy.
Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, near Rhinebeck site of Chelsea Clinton wedding, is one of many historic estates to visit in Hudson Valley
Vanderbilt Mansion Naitonal Historic Site – In the days before air conditioning, wealthy New Yorkers escaped to the Hudson Valley in summer for cooler temperatures. That’s what Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt did, rather than building in Newport, Rhode Island, where his Vanderbilt relatives went. This 54-room Beaux Arts beauty, dating from 1895, features Mrs. Vanderbilt’s gilt and gold bedroom that will make you think of Marie Antoinette’s boudoir in Versailles. Yes, it is that opulent. Over the top, actually. The Vanderbilt mansion is immediately next door to the FDR site, and if you plan well, you can visit both in one afternoon.
The FDR and Vanderbilt sites are a few miles south of Rhinebeck. Clermont and Olana are must-see historic sites a few miles to the north.
Visit Rhinebeck, NY historic mansions, restaurants and antique shops after the Chelsea Clinton wedding
It will take a while for Rhinebeck, New York, to return to normal, now that it’s been in the world spotlight for the wedding of Chelsea Clinton to Mark Mezvinsky. But Rhinebeck has been around since the 1600s, and it will survive, and will return to being a charming, tranquil place that welcomes visitors. Rhinebeck’s location less than two hours from New York City makes it a popular weekend getaway. There’s something for everybody, from history to food and wine, outdoor activities and, of course, shopping.
Before the Clintons, Rhinebeck’s most famous guest was George Washington, who visited Revolutionary War volunteer soldiers training on the field next to The Beekman Arms, the white clapboard building you saw behind so many TV reporters covering the Chelsea Clinton Wedding . The inn opened in 1766, and claims to be the oldest continuously operating inn in America.
Even if you don’t stay here overnight, it’s worth wandering around the lobby to check out the historic documents that decorate the walls. My own favorite is a page from an 1876 guest registration, when the room rate was two dollars a night. George Washington slept here. So did Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose home, in nearby Hyde Park, is, of course, the FDR Home, Library and Museum, operated by the National Park Service.
Another must-see in Rhinebeck is Wilderstein Preservation, one of the great Hudson Valley mansions that make this area a fascinating place to visit. Three generations of the Suckley family lived here for more than 100 years. Interiors were designed by Joseph Burr Tiffany, who included some stained glass windows made by his cousin, Louis Comfort Tiffany. The gardens were designed by Calvert Vaux, who also landscaped Central Park in New York City. The Suckley family was distant cousins of the Roosevelts.
InterContinental Times Square is NYC's largest LEED certified hotel
The brand new InterContinental New York Times Square Hotel is the largest hotel in New York City to achieve LEED certification, as well as the largest new hotel in The Big Apple to open since 2002. The 36-story, 607 room hotel is a shining example of eco-friendly green luxury.
Floor-to-ceiling windows let in the view — which includes Times Square, the Hudson River and Central Park — and cuts down on heating requirements in winter and the need for lights during the day. Green roofs on the second and seventh floors feature low-maintenance plants that retain heat in winter and absorb sunlight and heat in summer. Motion sensors in stairwells and storage areas reduce electric usage, along with use of LED and flourescent lighting in guestrooms.
Housekeeping uses only green, eco-friendly cleaning supplies, and the hotel restaurants — including a high-end Todd English restaurant – are composting food scraps and waste. The green IntercContinental Times Square New York was constructed with 20% recycled materials, most of which was from within 500 miles of Times Square, which reduced both transportation costs and the pollution associated with moving construction materials long distances. Eco-friendly green paints, carpeting and other materials, with reduced volatile compounds, are used throughout for better air quality.
Book Expo America, NYC
Author Book Signing Peaceful Places NYC
My new travel guidebook
Cuba
Havana, Cienfuegos,
Trinidad, Santa Clara
San Francisco
Launch, 2011 Ford Fiesta
Dubai
Bangkok, Chang Mai
Beaver Creek, Colorado
Where I’ve Been
January
Beaver Creek, Vail, Colorado
2009
Miami - Audi A8 launch
Los Angeles Auto Show
Detroit - GM, Ford
St. Lucia
Guadalajara, Mexico
Frankfurt Auto Show
Stuttgart, Munich, Augssburg
Edmondton, Canada NASCAR
Churchill, Canada, "Polar Bear Capital of the World"
Taos, Albuquerque
There is a mind-boggling number of iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry applications on the market to download to help make your driving and travel experience more user friendly. So which ones are best?
