Planning your vacation? Talk to these pros who are coming to Charlotte

Articles and ads for vacations are fine for tickling your fancy, but nothing beats the opportunity to get face-to-face with the people who can make it happen.

That's why this time of year brings travel shows -- your opportunity to get answers, suggestions and tips from those in the know.

Coming up fast:

Jan. 31: Meet Arthur and Pauline Frommer (above), the creators of  Frommer's Travel Guides, at 7 p.m. at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road. They'll  discuss their new line of Easy Guides and offer some top travel destinations for 2014. 

Feb. 1: Mann Travels’ annual travel and cruise show will be 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S. College St. Mann specialists from nine area locations will be there to help consumers sort out vacation deals. There will be reps from the major cruise lines, resorts and tourism boards; interactive exhibits; Hawaiian dancers and entertainment from Radio Disney. Seminars will be offered in four theaters. Admission: free. Details: www.manntravels.com.


Feb. 6-9: The Mid-Atlantic Boat Show returns to Charlotte for its 42nd year. Exhibitors at the Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S. College St., will be displaying a variety of pleasure boats, as well as equipment for water skiing and fishing, swimwear, docks and lifts and real estate. Hours: noon-9 p.m. Feb. 6-9 (Thursday and Friday) 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Feb. 8 and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 9. Admission: $9; $8 for military and for 60 and older; $5 for ages 6-12. Details: www.midatlanticboatshow.com

Raise a glass to poet Robert Burns -- and enjoy the haggis -- Jan. 24

Ready for another round of “Auld Lange Syne”? The lyrics were by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, whose Jan. 25, 1759, birthday is celebrated worldwide by those who love poetry and Caledonia.

That includes Hiddenite, northwest of Statesville, where The Hiddenite Center on Jan. 24 (a Friday) will hold "Burns Night: A Scottish Feaste  in Honor of Poet Robert Burns.”

Traditional music will be provided by the duo Celtic Elk. A family-style Scottish feast will include soup, steak pie, peas and carots and a traditional dessert called Tipsy Laird. Wassail (punch) will be served and so will haggis – a traditional pudding of spiced sheep innards mixed with oatmeal and cooked in sausage casing.


Cost for the entire 7 p.m. event : $15. Reservations: 828-632-6966.

Britt's donuts of Carolina Beach high on national list

You may have come across thedailymeal.com directly if you're a foodie, or while poking around at huffingtonpost.com, which reposts some of its articles.

Thedailymeal.com covers a wide range of  food- and drink-related subjects, from chefs and cookbooks to traditional food-related breaking news to food-related travel.

Its forte is lists: "10 Best College Football Stadium Eats," "7 Healthy Kids' Drinks," "11 Rum Cocktails for National Rum Day," etc., and one posted recently was "America's 25 Best Donuts."

No, N.C.-based Krispy Kreme didn't make this particular roster, though thedailymeal.com's "8 Decadent Donuts From Around the Country"  included KK's Key lime.

But the just-out top-donut list did have the plain glazed created at Britt's Donut Shop, in Carolina Beach, in  11th place.

It's an inspired choice, even if Britt's is open only during tourist season.

H.L. Britt's debuted in  1939. Britt sold the operation (and secret recipe) in the mid-1970s; the Nivens family has operated it since.

The glazed, airy  wonders cost 90 apiece in 2013; the shop usually opens for the season around Easter. Regular-season hours are 8 a.m. to around 10:30 p.m. Monday Saturday, with an early closing (4 p.m.) Sundays.

It's right on the Carolina Beach boardwalk, adding a  sweet and tasty morsel to North Carolina history.

The illustrious Oxford American magazine did a detailed and glowing feature on Britt's in its July 2012 issue. And on the Internet you'll find its fan club site.

You'll learn at the fan site that a book about the place , "Britt's Donuts: Forever Sweet," will be coming out in March.

And while you can't buy donuts at the site -- and the shop doesn't open until spring, remember -- you can pad your holiday gift list by ordering Britt's bumper stickers (starting at $2) or art prints (starting at $45). One of the stickers available from the fan site is shown at the top of this tale.

Of the top 25 on the "Best Donuts" list, only three are from the Southeast. Britt's is the only one from the Carolinas.

Here, by the way are the 10 ranked just above Britt's:

1              Doughnut Vault, Chicago (Plain glazed)

2              Round Rock Donuts, Round Rock, Texas (Plain glazed)

3              Dough, Brooklyn, N.Y. ( Lemon poppy)

4              Bouchon, Yountville Calif (Broiche with seasonal preserves)

5              Stan’s Doughnuts, Los Angeles (Peanut butter and banana)

6              Danny’s Donuts, Vista, Calif (Blueberry cake)

7              Verna’s Donut Shop, Cambridge, Mass. (Chocolate honey-dip)

8              Congdon’s Doughnuts, Wells, Maine (Blueberry jelly)

9              Federal Doughnuts, Philadelphia (Cookies and cream)

10           Donut Man, Glendora, Calif- (Fresh peach and strawberry)

Asheville's Grove Park, Poinsette in Greenville, S.C., named to historic hotels list

                                                  Grove Park Inn (N.C. Tourism photo)

Historic Hotels of America -- an official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation -- has added 21 more  hotels and resorts to its list. The list includes two noteworthy places in the Carolinas: Asheville's Grove Park Inn and The Poinsett, in Greenville, S.C. 

The program "Identifies quality hotels that have faithfully maintained their historic integrity, architecture and ambiance." Properties also must be at least 50 years old.


The full 2013 inductee list (and the date those properties opened):

American Empress, floating boutique hotels on the Pacific Northwest's Columbia and Snake rivers (19th century)

American Queen, a floating boutique hotel on the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers (19th century)

Benbow Inn, Garberville, Calif.  (1926)

Hotel Lana’i, Lana’i City, Hawaii (1923)

Inn at Price Tower, Bartlesville, Okla. (1956)

Inn at Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (1843)

Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park  (1913)

Ledges Hotel, Hawley, Pa. (1890)

Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier National Park (1915)

Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah, Nev. (1907)

 Moana Surfrider Westin Resort & Spa, Honolulu (1901)

Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, Calif. (1963)

The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn Resort & Spa, Sonoma, Calif. (1928)

The Jefferson, Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C. (1923)

The Omni Grove Park Inn, Asheville (1913)

The Omni Homestead Resort, Hot Springs, Va. (1766)

The Sayre Mansion, Bethlehem, Pa. (1858)

The Talbott Hotel, Chicago, Ill. (1927)

The Westin Poinsett, Greenville, S.C., (1925)

Timberline Lodge, Timberline, Ore. (1937)

Tubac Golf Resort & Spa, Tubac, Ariz. (1789)


Places located in the Carolinas already on the full list::

The Dunhill Hotel, Charlotte
Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst
The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill
Green Park Inn, Blowing Rock
Mast Farm Inn, Banner Elk
Haywood Park, Asheville
Old Edwards Inn & Spa, Highlands
Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston
Wentworth Mansion, Charleston
Kings Courtyard Inn, Charleston
John Rutledge House, Charleston

If you're familiar with any of these places, you'll get the drift: time-honored elegance.

While the aim of the National Trust for Historic Preservation is to save important buildings, having your property designated by Historic Hotels of America is also good for business: You can find links to all the hotels/inns/resorts 
at http://www.historichotels.org/ and use the "Destinations" link to open up a map showing where these places are located. Zoom in and you'll be able to find links to the individual properties, which are located from Honolulu (The Royal Hawaiian) to the New England coast  (Newagen Seaside Inn, in Southport, Maine); from on Michigan's Mackinac Island (Grand Hotel) to U.S.V.I. (The Buccaneer).

The list includes are more than 240 hotels in all.

If where you stay is an important aspect of where you go, you'll want to check the full lineup.

Enjoy the wild side of East Africa: Foreign Correspondence interview

Mark Wheeler, 42, is regional managing director for East Africa and South Asia for the luxury/safari travel firm andBeyond (www.andbeyond.com). The British native has worked in adventure travel for about 20 years, and has been based in Nairobi, Kenya, for the last 3 1/2 years. AndBeyond holdings include lodges in South Africa, Botswana and India, tourism companies in Sri Lanka and Bhutan, and properties in Tanzania and Kenya.

Q. Does “adventure tourism” always mean “safaris”?

A. Safaris are a big part of what we do, particularly in East Africa. “Safari” is actually a Swahili word that means “to take a journey.” People usually think of being out in the savanna, seeing the big five – elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion – but there are other possibilities, like climbing Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro.

Or – in Uganda and Rwanda – seeing the only wild population of mountain gorillas left in the world: 780. And there are places such as Gombe Stream and Mahale in Tanzania where you can also find chimps.

An integral part of the adventure experience is the cultural side. There are about 42 tribes in Kenya and approximately 120 in Tanzania. The most famous is the Masai, known for a strong cultural heritage they still maintain.

One of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in East Africa is Ngorongoro Crater, an old volcano caldera that forms a natural refuge for wildlife and offers a unique game-viewing experience.

And of course you’ve got some wonderful beaches on the East African coast, primarily around Zanzibar. You may have heard of our private island lodge called Mnemba.

Q. What’s the most popular draw?

A. The safari, which in East Africa is different from other areas of Africa. You can see the great wildebeest migration in Tanzania and Kenya between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara.

It’s year-round, but the best times would be in the southern Serengeti in January through March, with 1.5 to 2 million wildebeest and antelope following the grass that comes up after the rains. In the southern Serengeti, you see them giving birth at that time, normally over a month. From an evolutionary standpoint, this results in higher survival rates: If you have 600 baby wildebeest arriving at the same time, they are so numerous that predators are sated very quickly, and a higher percentage of wildebeests survive.

Also, July through September in the northern Serengeti and Masai Mara, you get to see river crossings, with 20,000 to 50,000 wildebeests crossing at the same time, with crocodiles taking some of them. The scale of wildlife is such that you won’t see anything like that anywhere in the world.
In August, we drove through a herd of about 600,000 individuals. At 15 mph, it took me 20 minutes of continuous driving to get from one side of the herd to the other.

(Note: Photo of wildebeest migration at the top of this post is by Anup Shah - Washington Post)

Q. What’s the most rare animal you’ve seen in the bush?

A. Probably something like the bat-eared fox or another nocturnal animal. In several of our East African camps we have our own private concessions on the reserves, so we are able to offer night drives, unlike in some of the national parks where (doing that) can be illegal. This allows us to spot some of these rare species, such as cerval cats or bat-eared fox.

Q. Give what you do, do you view animals differently?

A. I think you have greater respect by having seen some amazing interactions – such as a mother hippo rescuing a baby wildebeest from a crocodile during a river crossing, or male lions fighting for domination of a pride. Seeing nature at its rawest, basically. It’s a humbling experience.

There’s another side to this as well. We can visit various projects, like the giraffe center here in Nairobi. There are giraffes you can feed and interact with; this proximity gives you a different level of respect. Also, the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Kenya’s Nairobi National Park. You can see and interact with orphaned elephants who have been rescued by the project. They come from all over the country, can be as young as 10 days old, and human custodians will feed them milk and care for them. This continues until they’re about 2 1/2 years old, when the elephants are able to care for themselves, and are released into the wild.


You realize how helpless they are without their mothers, and you gain a new appreciation for for some of the amazing animals in this part of the world.

Duffer deal in San Francisco for Panthers fans

Heading west to see the Carolina Panthers play the 49ers on Nov. 10? You may want to take in a round of golf before or after the game.

The TPC Harding Park --  site of the recent Charles Schwab Cup Championship -- is offering Panthers' fans a deal: 20 percent discount on a round of golf. With weekend rates ordinarily $175, they're giving you $35 off.

TPC Harding Park is a municipal course, co-owned by the city and county of San Francisco, in the county's southwest (Pacific) side.  The course's street address is 99 Harding Road. The TPC photo above gives you a preview.

The Panthers will play at Candlestick Park (490 Jamestown Ave,) on the county's southeast (bay-facing) side. The distance between them is 9 miles -- about 20 minutes.

The offer is valid Nov. 8 through Nov. 11.

To book, visit www.tpc.com/tpc.asp?id=49&page=2528 and use booking code NFL20.

Who knows? It could be a win-win weekend.

Meeting of travel club raises wine glasses to Normandy

The  Nov. 5 meeting of Charlotte's Magellan Travel Club offers a taste of France in more ways than one.

The 7 p.m. gathering will focus on Normandy, one of the most popular destinations in France. It is also one of the most timely, as two videos to be played at the meeting will show.

The first highlights the Chateau de Canisy which is nearly 1,000 years old: It was constructed during the days of William the Conqueror.

The second video is set at the American Cemetery at Normandy's Omaha Beach three days after the 9/11 attacks. It tells how the French government responded to what happened in the United States.

In June 2014, Normandy will honor the 70th anniversary of the invasion of D-Day. This particular celebration may be the last time that those who participated in that historic event will have an opportunity to revisit the site of their accomplishment.

So it's fitting that this Magellan meeting involve a wine tasting: It will be held at Total Wine, 5341 Ballantyne Commons Parkway  (in the Promenade on Providence shopping center).

Reservations are not required; there is no charge to attend and meetings are open to anyone with an interest in travel.

Club details: Contact Bob Taylor, at  704-906 6483 or e-mail: Peabod@aol.com.