Travel is . . .

New dimensions. . .

It was a dark and rainy (day and) night, and that early December weekend in 1971 was our family's first trip to Walt Disney World. Despite the bad weather, our three sons, complete with the requisite "I wants" (ice cream, T-shirts, assorted other souvenirs and rides, rides, rides,) loved the race cars, Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents. They explored, with their dad, some of the more daring attractions and tolerated the "girlie" one I adored - It's a Small World.

The park was new, none of us had ever been to Disney Land, so it was a wonderful new family experience. The Contemporary Hotel, the monorail, the ambience of so many people with happy children and adults were all quite memorable.

I have been back to WDW many times. I visited again with our boys, with grandkids, and with members of the media.

I was back at Walt Disney World last week, for a gala in the closed-to-the public park celebrating new additions to Disney and the christening, the next day, of Disney's third vessel, the Disney Dream.

Disney is growing. the park is adding new attractions, building a hotel in Hawaii, adding to its international sites and in WDW a new African trek experience allows families to get up close and personal with many animals. Names have been changed at some attractions and the key words are growth and more growth.

The new ship is an example of that: It is the largest in the fleet and will offer three-, four- and five-night itineraries from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas.

With a capacity of 4,000 passengers, the new vessel features imaginative inside staterooms with virtual portholes and outstanding youth areas for kids from the nursery set to clubs for teens. Adult areas aren't given short shrift, either. Consider The District on Deck 4 with five attractive cocktail lounges and the private adult pool area on Deck 11.

Technology is a major player at Disney - the whole concept of course is the result of animation - and today's offerings combine cutting edge developments with time-honored concern for family vacation experiences.

Disney today - on land and on sea - is bigger and better by far than the park we visited close to 40 years ago. And just as memorable.

Travel is. . .

Regal. . .

When I was a new travel writer, back in the 1980s, I would hear my colleagues talk about the elegance of Queen Elizabeth 2, an elegant Cunard ship that sailed transAtlantic voyages from New York to Southampton.

The experience sounded to me like the epitome of luxury cruising and, given as I was a child of movies and television, my experiences were colored by what I'd seen on screen. I saw men and women walking the decks of magnificent ships. In addition to mind-boggling jewels and jaw-dropping evening wear, I saw women wearing tailored tweed suits and heels, with a fox stole tossed casually across their shoulders walking small dogs on the deck. The men were all handsome and well-groomed and it was a luxe experience I wanted.

When QE2 was commissioned to take troops to the Falklands, she stopped at Port Everglades and writers were invited to lunch aboard the vessel while she prepared to go into a war zone.

After a tour of the vessel I was in love.

A few years later I had assignments to write about the Cunard QE2 experience. I sailed as a reporter twice and once, after writing a Caribbean guidebook, sailed as a lecturer.

Reality was as good as my dreams.

When Queen Mary debuted, my husband and I, along with a couple of dear friends, booked passage from New York to Southampton.

Each experience was memorable.

Queen Elizabeth, Cunard's newest regal vessel, and Queen Victoria, which joined the fleet in 2007, sailed into Port Everglades late last week. A couple of days earlier the duo had meet up with Queen Mary and the three sisters made nautical history in New York Harbor.

The ship is on a maiden world voyage and Queen Victoria will traverse between the Atlantic and Pacific.

Travel is . . .

Time passing. . .

Maybe it's because I am on the eve of a birthday, but it seems to me that time is passing way too quickly.

Yes, I know it's winter - but winter is less than a month old. Florida is the only state in the continentatl U.S. where we haven't had to shovel snow. But as I write this, the temperature is 48 degrees. It is sunny here in South Florida today, but 48 degrees? That's winter!

In the let's-plan-ahead department, I've been inundated - these first two weeks of the new year -- with story ideas on vacation ideas for spring and summer. Romantic Valentine's day getaway stories I understand. They are a staple of January vacation writing, but didn't we just do holidays at sea and Thanksgiving specials? Maybe when you are confronting three feet of snow it is fun to write about Caribbean island vacations or visiting historic ports in the MidEast in July and August.

I am in the midst of planning a couple of trips myself. I will revisit some places I know and discover new vistas. Half of the fun of travel is in the planning. And the joy of returning to my home is also something I look forward to.

Maybe in my case it is because I know I will be hitting the road again soon.

But I do know one thing, from this vantage point time seems to pass very quickly. Let's not rush things.

Travel is. . .

...Expanding, electronic, eclectic

I just read a press release that the southern leg of the Florida Turnpike will, in February, offer the use of Sun Pass to electronically pay for the tolls on the last leg down the peninsula of Florida to what so many travelers over the years have dubbed our own Paradise. (Another option will be to be billed by your license plate.)

Electronic technology seems a bit in congruous to those of us who have lived here a long time. The Keys have traditionally been this laidback bit of the Caribbean "don't worry, be happy" philosophy in our own backyard. The ride down from the populous areas of Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade Counties has always been one where you relax immediately and watch mileposts whiz by. Technology? Not here.

Shorts, sandals and T-shirts are the order of the day and the biggest decision is whether to stick to iced-tea or a cool beer as you relax by the pool, fish or take advantage of sunset on the square, a nightly ritual in the Keys.

The Keys appeal to all pocketbooks and tastes.

I know of two dedicated, savvy and sophisticated New Yorkers, who when they retired to Florida, bypassed Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Miami and made their home in Key West - just because it was the antithesis of the hectic life they led in Gotham!

Make no mistake, there are many glam resorts dotting the Keys. Many good restaurants, and a variety of tourist attractions, but take away the twice-daily turn-down service, great wine list and the like, and you still have the wonderful natural beauty where the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico meet up on a tiny stretch of the Sunshine State.

And soon you won't have to use cash at the toll booths. Isn't progress wonderful?