The word STAYCATION has entered the tourism vocabulary, “a vacation spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions”, defined by the Oxford Dictionary. Travel chaos is the norm, you may or may not get there or back. Living in Berlin, there are many nearby cities and destinations worth a visit during the Easter Holiday.
Barockgarten Grosssedlitz, near Dresden the Royal Garden is worth a day trip just to fell like Catherine The Great.
Strusland, the former Hansa City on the coast is a walkers paradise with a mixture of Swedish and German Architecture.
Dessau, the distinguished Bauhaus buildings makes a statement.
Wismar, another Hansa City with its massive towers and long beaches makes the list for its haunting feel.
Barockgarten GrosssedlitzStrusland Dessau Wismar
Other Places I recommend. Glashutte, the small town is a major timepiece manufacture center.
Weimar, the birth place of Bauhaus Movement, historic city obtains a charming intimacy.
Another Fashion Earthquake shook the industry this week. Jeremy Scott, creative director of Moschino, departed from the Milan house. After a decade of creating merry whimsical designs mixed pop culture references, the Kansas City born announced his resignation. Four months after the Alessandro Michele’s shocking exit from Gucci. Jeremy was always good for the colorful, Katie Perry’s 2019 Met Gala look took a funny bite of the Red Carpet.
Famed for being tongue in cheek, Moschino, founded in 1983 by Franco Moschino, brought fun intertwined with sex appeal to ready to wear.
With sudden high profile resignations, the righting is on the wall, fashion seems to be shifting away from flamboyant. The question, Fashion:What is Going On? Who is next?
This Before Tacky Podcast was RIGHT ON THE MONEY, talking about the uncertainty in the Fashion Business. The sobering headlines tell the story. One after another brand or retailer is facing headwinds these days.
Take a Trip to Pisa, yes, the Leaning Tower is the main attraction, but the Tuscanny city offers more.
The Pisa Airport is close to the city center. From the airport, next to the parking lot. take the people mover to the main train station, a ten minute ride.
Getting around the university city is easy. Walk down the main street, Cross Italia where there are many shops, bars and restaurants.
People Mover to the Center Pisa Centrale
A historic stroll along the old wall is a must, starting at the Arno River or at the Leaning Tower.
With so many students, Pisa is blessed with squares filled with drinking and eating establishments.
A quiet street Italian Risotto Arno River Pasta The other side
For Chat Cinema Podcast guest filmmakers Tom Berkeley and Ross White talked about their well received film ROY, character driven story of loneliness. The duo looked poised to make the next step. Fast forward to March 12th, Tom Berkeley Ross White won the Best Film Short at the 95th Academy Awards in Hollywood for AN IRISH GOODBYE.
The last time I attended the ITB Berlin happened in 2019. It’s been a few years, the world of travel has changed. Restrictions, lock downs and a war gave travelers reasons to ponder.
March 2023, ITB Berlin welcomed back the tourism industry albeit on smaller scale. This time around, only professionals attended the three day trade fair from March 7th to 9th. After much discussion, public days were cancelled. However, that did not dull the pumped up feeling of being back for the big travel event.
ITB 2023 A Passage to India Adventure Travel
Host country Georgia took front and center stage. The mountainous destination talked up offerings ranging from winter sports to distinctive cuisine. My view of the ancient country is a one with Georgian designers Demma, head of Balenciaga and London based David Koma both occupy prominent roles in the fashion industry as innovators. Hopefully, I’ll pay a visit the Caucasus nation.
Go Big
Saudi Arabia made its presence felt with the biggest stand in Hall 2. The Middle East Kingdom has set an ambitious target of spending over $800 billion over seven years positioning itself as a travel destination with underwater resorts and promoting historic destinations such as Medina. A spokesperson for the travel office told me “We need to spend to get noticed.” Spending that amount of money, it will be impossible not to notice.
There were elephants in the room, traveling these days means turbulence. Going to an airport, a traveler can be forgiven for having a sense of dread. Labor shortages along with industrial actions have hindered travel schedules. Airline customer service is lacking. Horror stories of long delays, cancelled flights and lost baggage are common. Putting anything underneath the plane is a game of roulette, Good Luck! Recently, I was told about a flyer from Berlin to Lima, their luggage went into the Suitcase Black Hole, to be never seen again.
Rio Domnican Republic
Staying with the times, Sustainable Travel topped several conferences. I am still uncertain how to approach this subject. Mass travel or accessible movement for all will leave an environmental footprint. Let’s face it, when on a holiday, most travelers want to leave the problems of the world behind. But during the Maldives conference, the low laying country expressed concerns about rising ocean levels. Saying “Responsible Travel” is easy, putting the concept into practice, that is still an answered question.
All and all, ITB Berlin like travel is making a recovery. My fingers are crossed.
How many Saturday Morning cartoons did I watch with the Tower of Pisa as a center of joke? Always the same gag, the character’s actions either shift or straighten the famed structure. Never mind the animation jokes, the 14th century architectural work is worth the trip to Pisa. As one of the most recognized designed forms, I had a sense of amazement walking up to the Tower, a soft, noble elegant presence that even tourist doing the common pose could not cheapen.
