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Plan your winter trip to NYC now! It’s a great time of year to visit, and isn’t it great to get some deals too?
FOGO—the fear of going out—sets in quickly this time of year, but it's no match for what the City has in store. Introducing NYC Winter Outing: a bundle of offers to get you off the couch and living it up at attractions, broadway and restaurants, just to name a few. CLICK HERE to see offers at NYCgo.com!
For your trio LTD recommends this Travelon security bag for your daily outings!
Starting January 18, 2019, a special 4-Park Magic Ticket to all of Disney’s four theme parks goes on sale.
The 4-Park Magic Value Ticket is $85 per day, plus tax ($340, plus tax) that includes one day of admission to Magic Kingdom Park, one day of admission to Epcot, one day of admission to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and one day of admission to Disney’s Animal Kingdom — over four separate days. The pass must be used within seven days of first use or by March 1, whichever comes first.
Two additional types of 4-Park Magic Tickets will also be available at higher price points and may be used on various dates through September 30.
The New Year will be an exciting time to visit Walt Disney World, with new shows, parties, and character experiences.
Pixar pals will party with guests at Disney’s Hollywood Studios during the park’s 30th anniversary year, featuring The Incredibles, Mike and Sulley from Disney-Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. and Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang at the new Toy Story Land.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Disney animated classic The Lion King, Rafiki and Timon will help guests let their inner animal loose on the dance floor during the Hakuna Matata Time Dance Party at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
As part of the Epcot International Festival of the Arts, the Disney on Broadway Concert Series expands to seven days a week, with Disney on Broadway stars singing favorite tunes from award-winning productions January 18 through February 25.
The original Tudor palace was begun by Cardinal Wolsey in the early 16th century, but it soon attracted the attention of Henry VIII, who brought all his six wives here.
The Orkney Islands are off the beaten path but such a meaningful and beautiful place to visit!
Enjoy our visit and wait for our visit to the Ring of Brogdar at the end of the video below! The spellbinding stone circle - the Ring of Brodgar - is arguably the most iconic symbol of Orkney's prehistoric past. It is a site of ritual and ceremony, and hauntingly beautiful.
Stuck in the North Sea just beyond the tip of Scotland, the Orkney Islands often fail to register with tourists, but are FILLED with beauty and history. Too often, they're excluded from the map of Europe’s worthwhile hot spots. And with a latitude of 59ºN, they’re definitely not tropical: you won’t find white sand beaches and hammocks strung up between coconut trees here.
Instead, this scattered archipelago of 70 islands — two thirds of which are uninhabited — has a time-worn, slightly mystical charm of its own. All day we had Outlander on the mind! Like Claire and Jamie, we visited cliff top vistas, sat among heather fields, and dare we say, stood amount standing stones! You will see it all on the Orkney Islands, travelers will be rewarded with storm-battered cliffs, ancient stone circles, and ominous-looking “sea stacks,” which rise from the churning blue water like swords.
They might appear far away, but for travelers, these islands are entirely accessible by air or sea. Kirkwall is a thriving capital with shops and tour operators, frequent ferry service connecting the islands, and Europe’s highest concentration ofancient Neolithic sites(all of which are open to visitors). From the moment we arrived, we felt the warm embrace of the locals eager to tell us about their home.
Get yourself a great pair of European travel shoes the color of the Ocean to help you anticipate your Scottish Adventure! Click the photo to learn more:
Share is an important word for traveling and we see it more and more every year! Our favorite gifts will help capture those memories, inspire future adventures, and make life on the road healthier and more meaningful.
Share the Gift of Meaningful and Healthy Travel!
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1. Freeday Gear Collapsible Water Bottle for the Healthy Traveler
LTD always stresses that healthy traveling is important for everyone! This collapsible water bottle is designed to be a perfect companion while your favorite travelers are following their passion. So whether they love travel, camping, backpacking, sports, exercise or just wandering and dreaming, we think you will find this stylish water bottle to be a perfect accessory. At a reasonable price, why not give a healthy and practical gift?
2. The Dichotomy of Leadership for the Professional
From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Extreme Ownership comes a new and revolutionary approach to help leaders recognize and attain the leadership balance crucial to victory.
With their first book, Extreme Ownership (published in October 2015), Jocko Willink and Leif Babin set a new standard for leadership, challenging readers to become better leaders, better followers, and better people, in both their professional and personal lives. Now, in THE DICHOTOMY OF LEADERSHIP, Jocko and Leif dive even deeper into the unchartered and complex waters of a concept first introduced in Extreme Ownership: finding balance between the opposing forces that pull every leader in different directions. Here, Willink and Babin get granular into the nuances that every successful leader must navigate.
3. Our Favorite Smart Watch for the Active Traveler
The Garmin Fenix 5X has an enormous number of features, a long-lasting battery and an attractive build. It's expensive, but for serious outdoor travel enthusiasts it's hard to beat. The GPS features of this watch are unrivaled and work all over the world. This is a high-performance timepiece that meets big challenges and fits smaller wrists. This Plus version comes in many finishes and holds about 500 songs. Anyone would love to receive this special gift!
This Veterans Day Americans around the world will honor their fellow citizens who have served their country.
LTD had the honor of visiting American D-Day Normandy Sites with Florin Petre, owner of www.SpearHead-Tours.com. The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, June 6, 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Enjoy our interview with Florin, and a view of our day together. Wait for the end to understand how meaningful a day this was for us and every visitor to Normandy. That is what it is all about...
Florin makes the day meaningful by including many stories about the INDIVIDUALS who participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Here are a couple of the stories we heard and the souls whom we visited:
The origins of Navy SEALs actually began with specially organized maritime commando units during World War II, where legacy capabilities were adopted and remain embodied in today’s SEAL Teams.
LTD likes to “Make Meaningful and Healthy Travel Happen”, but what is meaningful travel? In this case, “Meaningful” is speaking with Harry Lockhead as we will chronicle some of his amazing life before, during and after WWII. In a series of interviews we will speak with him about being part of the “Greatest Generation” and how he and our country came together to save the world from the global aggression of WWII in both Europe and the Pacific. We have a rare chance to discuss that time, the recovery after WWII and our current state of affairs. These individuals are “perishable national treasures” and are becoming rarer everyday.
Harry enlisted on March 1st, 1943 in New York and went to Navy Boot Camp in Great Lakes, Michigan. He boarded the USS Glansar (AK 111) in Pleasanton, California and proceeded to the American Somoan Islands, then the Mariana Islands and then to the Marshall Islands. En route a concussion split the hull of the ship and a patch was placed until they could reach Pearl Harbor they hoped to have it permanently repaired. On arrival, all the docks were full with ships under repair so their ship was run aground to prevent it from sinking.
Their crew was then shipped to Seattle, Washington and assigned to put the USS Lenawee (APA 195) into commission and then sailed to San Diego, California where they picked up a company of Marines. They then sailed to Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands where one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific occurred. Harry was part of one of the groups that delivered the Marines landing on Tarawa. He wanted to do more after witnessing this carnage first hand and when the Navy asked for volunteers to become reconnaissance swimmers and Harry volunteered immediately. They went to Naval Combat Demolition Base in Maui, Hawaii and would become some of the first Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) and what is now the famed “Naked Warriors”.
Please listen to the firsthand accounts from Harry as he shares his amazing life and heroic past to allow us all “meaningful” lives today.
Visit Helsinki! Summer in Finland is warm, bright and exhilarating. Most importantly, the air is fresh, clean, and pure and invigorating at all times of the year.
Helsinki doesn’t often appear on travelers’ bucket lists. Even those who dream of exploring Scandinavia usually defer to Norway’s fjords or Sweden’s cities, but Finland’s capital is a destination in itself — and one that’s on the rise.
What is the condensed history of this great European Capital?
Sweden’s King Gustavus Vasa founded Helsinki on the mouth of Vantaanjoki River in 1550 to compete with Tallinn for Baltic Sea trade. The town grew slowly however, and the center of Helsinki was moved to its current location in the 1600s.
In 1748 Sweden began construction of the Suomenlinna Maritime Fortress off the coast of Helsinki to counter the growing threat from Russia. The massive project brought additional wealth, inhabitants and merchants to the town.
Russia conquered Finland in 1809. The status of Helsinki was raised to capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland three years later. A monumental Empire-style city plan was drawn up to reflect the power of Russia and the Tsar.
Finland became independent in 1917, and Helsinki assumed the demanding new role of capital of the young republic. City planning was characterized by Classicism and Functionalism.
During World War II, Finland was in many ways a unique case: It was the only European country bordering the Soviet Union in 1939 which was still unoccupied by 1945. Of all the European countries fighting, only three European capitals were never occupied: Moscow, London and Helsinki.
Recovering from the hardships of war, Helsinki hosted the Summer Olympics in 1952. The games created an international reputation for Helsinki as an efficient and friendly host city.
With stark differences between seasons, Finns are used to contrasts. Dark Arctic winters have their counterpart in one of the most iconic of Finnish natural phenomena, the Midnight Sun.
Many wonder how Finns survive with no sunlight in the winter, and nature replies with 24 hours of it in the summer. The intense contrast in light conditions has a profound effect on all walks of life in Finland.
For understandable reasons, public spaces come to life in the summer. After the harsh winter, endless daylight never arrives a day too early. Summer in Finland is a time spent outside the house enjoying the short but sweet season, and all worries are postponed until nights get dark again.
Often considered to be Finland's only metropolis, it is the world's northernmost metro area with over one million people as well as the northernmost capital of an EU member state. After Stockholm and Oslo, Helsinki is the third largest city in the Nordic countries.
Helsinki is a thriving city, being named the "World's Design Capital" in 2012 and as a leader in the online gaming industry, among so much more!
Visit Helsinki! Summer in Finland is warm, bright and exhilarating. Most importantly, the air is fresh, clean, and pure and invigorating at all times of the year.
This is a special place for any conference or a weekend getaway for peace and quiet or an active vacation. Of course everyone has heard of Torrey Pines Golf course and it's no surprise to encounter the resort feeling from the minute you hit the door. The golf course is sprawling between the resort and the ocean. Every room has a view of the golf course and therefore ocean, but nothing will be ocean front.
What started with church services and a festive atmosphere ended in a watery grave...
It was the 10th of August 1628, when Vasa, the most powerful warship in the Baltic, foundered in Stockholm harbor before the eyes of a large audience, only minutes after setting sail for the first time. Learn more about the Vasa from this video and article below! Watch until the end of the Video to learn about Beata who's face was reconstructed from her skeleton found onboard.
Vasa cast off from the palace between four and five o'clock. As the ship found the current, four of the ten sails were set, and a cannon salute was fired from open cannon hatches on the Vasa.
There was little wind under the bluffs of Södermalm, not even enough to pull the sheets of the sails taught, and Vasa drifted on the current. A small gust filled the sails, and the ship heeled to port, but slowly, agonizingly recovered. As the ship passed the gap in the bluffs at Tegelviken, a much stronger gust pushed the ship so far over on its port side that water poured in through the open cannon hatches from the salute, on the lower gun-deck. Vasa began to sink.
Pandemonium reigned on deck. Many threw themselves into the water, while those below decks struggled to make their way up wildly tilting ladders. Within minutes, the ship was on the sea bed at a depth of 32 metres. The masts stuck up above the surface, and many grabbed hold of them. Others were picked up by the small craft that had followed the Vasa's shaky journey at close quarters. Some swam the 120 meters to the shore of Beckholmen. All but 30 of the crew and guests survived when Vasa sank. Most of the dead were trapped inside the ship.
The fact that the Captain allowed the gun ports to remain open when Vasa set off was a fateful decision – if they had been closed, water could not have poured in, and the ship might have survived long enough to be rebuilt into a more stable configuration.
On 25 August 1956, Anders Franzén, a fuel engineer in the Swedish navy and amateur archaeologist, discovered a small piece of black oak stuck in a coring device that he dropped into Stockholm's harbor. It does not sound like much, but is by far one of the most important events in the modern history of Vasa. Even today, many still remember where they were when Vasa finally rose from the deep after 333 years in darkness. On Monday, 24 April 1961, thousands of people crowded the shores around Kastellholmsviken, much as they had lined the shore almost 333 years earlier, to witness Vasa being raised from the deep.
Today, the Vasa Museum is one of Scandinavia's most visited museums. Here you will find in all its glory, the unique and well preserved warship Vasa from 1628, embellished with hundreds of wooden sculptures and many unique exhibits surrounding the construction, the crew, and discovery of the ship.
Don't forget a good set of binoculars to view the intricacies of the carvings and interior!
