Dennis Hensley, Planetout.com, explains that travel, for him, means doing things which you can’t do at home. And then he expands on his and his friends’ travel confessions. Oh Boy! This you have to read. The following excerpt should give you a fair idea of what exactly Hensley means by ‘things which you can’t do at home’.

That’s also what I told myself when I took in the live sex show in Bangkok, where a nubile maiden wrote me a personalized note by squatting over a piece of construction paper and wielding a Sharpee that was not in her hand…The lesson I took from all these confessions is that traveling is a time when you should do what you want to do, period, no matter how crazy, illegal or mundane it is. When in Rome, do a Roman … or two. And if you want to wash ‘em down with a Big Mac, you’ll get no argument from me. - Dennis Hensley, Planetout.com

When in Rome, do a Roman … or two. And when in Clinton, do a … What? There’s a village and a county named Clinton in NY state. So you can do two of them…Ahh…All right. The Historic Village of Clinton, NY, is actually quite a nice place. Quaint and historical, it’s located just outside Utica, NY, in the town of Kirkland. Places worth visiting are the Clinton Historical Museum and the Clinton Cider Mill, which offers hot cider donuts and 23 flavors of ice cream in summer, among other things.  Other places worth a quick look-see include the Kirkland Art Center and a few antique shops and art galleries.

What’s interesting though, is the presence of some establishments which provide an eclectic mix of art, food and lodging. If you’re looking for Clinton NY hotels, you might want to put up at the Artful Lodger, (www.artfullodger.net) a 5 room B&B which showcases the works of local artists. For breakfast, lunch, snacks or simply a drink, you might want to sample the offerings of the College Street Cafe and Artist Studio, which offers food along with entertainment, art classes and ‘fun activities’.   

Let’s move on to more pressing issues, like sky-high gas prices, airline misery, a weak dollar and fears of a recession. Which means exactly what? A subprime vacation, according to Candace Jackson, Wall Street Journal, who says it means downsized travel plans this season.

Some resorts and tour operators are responding with discounts and other incentives to try to fill rooms. Close-to-home destinations like suburban water parks and regional resort towns say they’re bracing for a spike in business as Americans look for fun things to do that don’t require much travel. AIG Travel Guard, a company that sells travel insurance, found in a recent survey that almost half of respondents planned to alter their vacations this year to save money. Twenty-two percent said they’d eat in less-expensive restaurants, and 17% said they’d stay closer to home. - Candace Jackson, Wall Street Journal

There’s a lot more stuff in the article - Travel trends, statistics and hotel booking info. Whole point is, states like California and New York which have a lot of attractions at home will possibly be able to weather out a recession, but the travel industry  in states without any major attractions will suffer heavy losses because people will simply cancel travel plans, rather than pay for long distance travel or take boring vacations in state.

Posted on April 26th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News