Capital Region USA offers a diverse and eclectic selection of transport options for holidaymakers throughout the Region, from horse power to wind power and even mule power.  You can let the train take the strain or enjoy exploring the wonderful Blue Ridge Parkway by car.  Sit on top a double deck bus in Washington, DC or choose a slower pace by guiding your own segway around the capital’s streets.  Here’s a few ideas:

 With Amtrak it’s all about the journey – not just getting to your destination

 Amtrak, the national rail network is headquartered in Washington, DC and offers a variety of scenic routes across the country that take in the Capital Region including the North East Corridor and Capitol routings. 

The North East Corridor runs from New York and Boston down through Washington, DC and Richmond to Newport News, just a stone’s throw from Virginia Beach.  Alternatively, Amtrak’s Capitol Route runs through Maryland and Virginia and the towns of Cumberland and Rockville. 

The newest Amtrak route in the Capital Region offers daily roundtrip service from Washington, DC, to Lynchburg, Virginia with stops in several picturesque Virginia towns, including Culpeper and Stanton.

 All routes offer spectator windows out into the wide spaces and vistas of the Capital Region as well as the smaller towns and cities, allowing you to relax from the comfort of your seat while someone else does the driving!

 For details of the routes, timetables and costs, go to www.amtrak.com

 Baltimore – birthplace of the American railway

 The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum (B&O) offers a nostalgic experience of America’s railway heyday, where you can take a ride along the first commercial railroad track in America.

This heritage museum in the heart of Baltimore, Maryland, offers a window on the past, rather than a window on the countryside.  It possesses the oldest, most historic and most comprehensive American railroad collection in the world. Dating from the beginning of American railroading, the collection contains locomotives and rolling stock, historic buildings, and small objects that document the impact of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) on the growth and development of early railroading and cover almost every aspect of an industry that left a permanent mark on the folklore and culture of America.

The Museum’s locomotive and rolling stock collection contains many unique examples of historically significant pieces from the B&O and other Maryland railroads and includes the finest collection of 19th century steam locomotives. The Museum’s roster of locomotives and rolling stock represent the first, last, best or only of their kind in existence today.

www.borail.org

 Getting to the Capital Region USA has never been easier from the UK

There are now eight direct daily flights from the UK into the Capital Region, with services from London Heathrow into Washington Dulles and Baltimore Airports, with prices from as little as £384.00 per person this summer.  British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines all offer direct services and other airlines offer one-stop services via New York and Charlotte, perfect if you’re planning an East Coast touring odyssey.

Virgin Atlantic currently offers daily flights from London Heathrow into Washington Dulles, with prices starting from £389.00 this summer.

British Airways also flies daily from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles and Baltimore, and their network of regional departure airports throughout the UK means that everyone has a departure point close by.  Prices start from £405.00 this summer.

 Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway in its 75^th year

The Blue Ridge Parkway, an All-American Road as designated by the National Scenic Byways Commission, will mark its 75^th Anniversary in 2010 with celebrations, events and symposia along the parkway, including the 40 Days & 40 Nights Festival of arts and culture. 

Considered a national treasure, the 469 mile Blue Ridge Parkway connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.  Development around the Parkway has been restricted but traditional agriculture has continued and visitors can get a true feeling for rural Appalachian life, from log cabins to split-rail fences and grist mills.

Many other national forests and state park preserves adjoin the Parkway corridor, providing an unsurpassed scenic quality.  Recreational areas with unique names abound where you can hike, fish or just enjoy a picnic: Humpback Rocks, Peaks of Otter, Rocky Knob, and Mabry Mill, the most photographed spot on the Parkway, are just a few.

www.blueridgeparkway75.org

The 40 Days & 40 Nights of Arts & Culture along the Blue Ridge Parkway will connect visitors to southwest Virginia’s performances, concerts, festivals, galleries, exhibitions, comedy, wine tastings and more.  The Festival runs from 1^st October to 9^th November 2010, beginning in downtown Roanoke, the largest neighbouring city on the Parkway and home to the Taubman Museum of Art, Center in the Square – featuring local artisans and food vendors – and Art by Night – the monthly gallery crawl featuring regional artists.

www.4040fest.com

A canal boat ride with a difference – mule power

Just as in the UK, the motorways of the 19^th century in the USA were canals, linking emerging industrial cities to transport goods along the Potomac River and further afield across the country.  The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (C&O) has been preserved as a National Historic Park and at both Great Falls in Maryland and Georgetown in DC there are visitor centres offering canal boat rides, where the replica boats are still pulled by mules and restored lockhouses along the Canal offer the opportunity to live the age for a day and night.

Mules were the preferred animal for canal boat captains in the 1870’s – small but very strong they were the perfect choice for pulling the boats along and even spent the night in the boat’s front cabin.  They are still used to this day on the C&O Canal, but in place of cargos of coal, lumber and grain, they now take passengers on an hour long ride back in time.  Park rangers costumed in period clothing are a fountain of fascinating knowledge and tell stories of life on the 184.5 mile long historic waterway, one of the capital’s earliest links to the west.

Stables of six to eight mules are kept at two centres along the Canal – at Thomas Jefferson Street in Georgetown, DC and at Great Falls Tavern in Potomac, Maryland.  There are another four visitor centres in Maryland at Brunswick, Williamsport, Hancock (seasonal) and Cumberland.

For those seeking more of an immersion experience – but not in the water of course – through the Canal Quarters Interpretive Program is it now possible for visitors to learn more about life on the C&O Canal by staying in an historic lockhouse for a day and night.

Household tools and furnishings reminiscent of different periods of the canal’s history convey the living conditions of a lock keeper’s family as it may have been during the 1830s, at the time of the Civil War, the turn of the twentieth century, or the 1950s.

The Canal Quarters Interpretive Program is a cooperative effort between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and the C&O Canal Trust, a not-for-profit friends group. Three lockhouses, Lockhouse 6 near Washington DC, Lockhouse 22 known as Pennyfield Lock, and Lockhouse 49 in Four Locks near Clear Spring, Maryland, are now open. Two other lockhouses are being rehabilitated for this program and will be available in the near future.

www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/interpretiverangerprograms.htm

City exploring doesn’t come easier than in DC – by bus, by segway or by amphibious vehicle

Washington, DC is a majestic city, with wide open spaces and vast monuments to explore as well as the city streets.  Exploring all that on foot would take days and plenty of shoe leather, but there are plenty of easier way to do it, whether on the top deck of an open top bus, on a guided segway tour or on a “duck tour” that includes the Potomac River on the route using an amphibious vehicle.

The hop-on hop-off tour with Open Top Sightseeing Washington, DC operates all day, every day, with 30 stops throughout the capital where you can simply get off and explore at your own pace, catching a later bus to the next venue or to finish the circuit.  An entertaining, narrated tour brings everything to life and is a great way to get your bearings in this big city.  A 3-hour Moonlight Tour is also available.

www.opentopsightseeing-dc.com/hop.html

The more adventurous and technologically minded visitor might prefer a tour from a totally new perspective with DC Segway Tours.  The segway is a self-balancing, personal transportation devise that’s designed to be fun and easy to operate in any pedestrian environment.  After a 30 minute orientation and practice session, expert guides lead groups out into the city.  Cruise effortlessly through DC’s parks, past the Washington Monument and around historic buildings such as the White House and US Capitol with plenty of time to take advantage of the fantastic photo opportunities along the way.

www.citysegwaytours.com/washington-dc

DC Ducks offers another unusual tour experience, travelling in original WW II DUKW amphibious vehicles.  The 90 minute tour starts at Union Station and takes in the streets of the city before splashing down into the Potomac River for the most unique ride.  Each “duck” captain has his own unique delivery of the guided tour, which all adds to the experience.

www.dcducks.com

This Easter there is still plenty of time and snow left to perfect those snow ploughs and carve up the powder in Alberta.  A family of four can choose to stay in Banff, Jasper or even both over the coming Easter holidays. Crystal Ski* offer a ten night break in Banff and Jasper for £5,384 and Canadian Affair** offers a seven night break in Banff for just £2,229.

Families can also combine skiing with a plethora of après ski activities to keep families of all sizes and ages happy. Both the towns of Jasper and Banff offer great activities like snowshoeing, dog sledding and ice canyon walks that will make your Easter holiday even more memorable.

Cardboard Box Derby Best Design Winners 2009. The Lake Louise Ski Area

For those looking for something a little different there are a number of fun events happening between now and the end of the season. On April 17 Lake Louise hosts the Cardboard Box Derby. You get to be creative using cardboard, string, tape and putting your cardboard carpentry skills to the test. The teams of 1-4 people try to out-wit and out-sled each other in this humorous and fun competition.

The 82^nd annual Slush Cup takes place at Sunshine Village on May 24. The event celebrates the closure of the ski hill for another year and features wild and crazy individuals brave enough to ski or ride into a pool of ice cold, slush water, wearing their craziest and most original outfits.

 -ends-

For media enquiries contact Tanya Hillman or Kylie Rathbone at the

Travel Alberta Press Office: 01825 76 3636

 tanya.hillman@kbc-pr.com / kylie.rathbone@kbc-pr.com

For more information on Alberta visit www.TravelAlberta.com

NOTES TO EDITORS:

* For families of four who are looking for a twin centre 10 day ski break this Easter, Crystal Ski has just the package. Two adults and two children can stay 7 nights at the 4* Hotel Banff International in Banff and 3 nights at the 4*, Sawridge Inn, Jasper for £5,384. Departing on 31 March, based on room only and 4 sharing, with scheduled Air Canada flights from LHR to Calgary and all transfers. To book call Crystal Ski on 0871 231 2256, www.crystalski.co.uk

** Canadian Affair also offers great value this Easter. For just  £2,229 a family of four can stay for 7 nights at the 3* Ptarmigan Hotel in Banff (based on four sharing, room only), with return Economy Class flights from London Gatwick or Manchester to Calgary, airport/resort transfers, and free ski/board carriage. Free lift passes for children under 12. Based on outbound travel on   3 April, 2010. Terms and conditions apply. For further information and reservations contact Canadian Affair on 020 7616 9933 / 0141 223 7515 or visit www.canadianaffair.com

Closing dates: Mt. Norquay will remain open until April 18, with Jasper’s Marmot Basin closing on April 25. Lake Louise Mountain Resort has a projected closing date of May 2 and Banff’s Sunshine Village will stay open until May 24.

It has been 25 years since Torvill and Dean won gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics and with only seven contestants remaining on the popular ITV show ‘ Dancing on Ice’ skating is becoming increasingly popular.

One of the most enchanting places to skate is the pristine, glacier fed Lake Louise in Alberta and this March Banff National Park is pleased to host the world premier of Elemental – The Show at Lake Louise.

This brand new show is preformed on the frozen shores of Lake Louise, with the snow capped mountains and alpine forests creating a unique and magical backdrop to the show. This unique show has an international cast of professional ice skaters, including five UK figure skaters. It promises to be an incredible outdoor experience that incorporates the elements of wind, water, fire and Earth.

The show will premier on March 18 and run until March 21 giving audiences a chance to see spectacular performances up close. There is also a chance to skate with the stars of the show post-performance, as well as live music and indoor entertainment at Fairmount Chateau Lake Louise.

For tickets, schedules and accommodation packages see http://www.banfflakelouise.com/events-and-festivals/festivals/elemental-the-show-at-lake-louise

-ends-

For media enquiries contact Tanya Hillman or Kylie Rathbone at the

Travel Alberta Press Office: 01825 76 3636

 tanya.hillman@kbc-pr.com / kylie.rathbone@kbc-pr.com

For more information on Alberta visit www.TravelAlberta.com

Available until 12 March, Mesmear’s 4-night special offer breaks include a complimentary Speedy facial at the nearby CowShed Spa* and a home-made Cornish cream tea.

Four nights in ‘The Calf’s House’ (which sleeps 4) is priced at £480 (which works out at just £30 pppn based on full occupancy.

If you wish to rest, revitalise and lap up the luxury, a 4-night break in ‘The Mill’, featuring your own personal chef and housekeeper, will cost £1,900 for six adults (£79pppn) until 12 March. This includes breakfast, afternoon tea, cocktails and a three course dinner each evening served with wine, plus £80 of pampering treatments in The Cowshed Spa*.

Activities on your doorstep at Mesmear, a privately-owned 164-acre farm at St Minver, near Polzeath and Rock, include wonderful coastal walks over ‘The Rumps’, surfing for hardy souls, wildlife spotting – you could be lucky and even see puffins – cycling along the Camel Trail to Padstow for Rick Stein’s fish and chips or visiting ‘Doc Martin country’ at Port Isaac.

Horses for Courses:  Hotels are a widely-known and well-understood concept; they are widely available and effectively graded by established star-rating systems.  However even well-bred examples can seem monotonous to seasoned travellers.

By contrast, Serviced Apartments vary considerably from building to building – and even individual apartments tend to have their own unique personality and style.

Hotels are ‘night-by-night’ adapted, easy come, easy go, whereas Serviced Apartments are more personal, and ‘week-by-week’ adapted, with an average stay of 10 to 20 nights.

A typical hotel stay is less than four nights, meaning the ‘pain’ of having an unhappy guest – for whatever reason – is soon over, even if it is beyond the control of the TMC’s management, or even the Hotel’s management. 

A hotel guest has little autonomy and limited personal facilities, but easier access to staff who can provide Guest Services promptly. Serviced apartments can be harder to tame, but with Select Apartments’ hands-on involvement, you’ll reap rewards.

A Serviced Apartment guest gains independence and lifestyle-control and Guest Services are still available, albeit at arms length.

Increase the Odds:  It’s an old saying but ‘don’t bet what you can’t afford to lose’ is highly relevant when TMC’s and Relocation Agents need to pick a winner for their assignee every time.  When you’re a relative novice and there are lots of horses you can back, it pays to consult a specialist who knows the form-book inside out.  That way, you’ll confidently play the racecard knowing you’re on the inside track with the runners and riders.

Meeting Expectations:  In the ‘real world’ problems can occur from time to time, even in well-maintained buildings of all types.  In a large hotel, the guest is agreeably transient and can usually be moved to an identical room whilst the problem is being dealt with.

In a Serviced apartment, any temporary problem or even a benign disturbance needs prompt attention, or it can quickly affect the guest’s ‘semi-settled’ lifestyle to a greater degree.

The Winning Formula:  Good relationships with day-by-day communication are essential to make the right choices and respond to the unexpected.  Select Apartments delivers this vital component.

Availability:  Hotel Management is able to anticipate and manoeuvre to achieve full – or at least viable – occupancy, right up to the day of availability.  Serviced Apartment buildings are smaller, occupancy comes in bigger chunks and it is necessary to provide the option to extend to the incumbent guest.  In order to manage these factors, cancellation policies need to be inclusive and good relationships, with day-by-day communication are essential to get the best from what is an inherently dynamic and uncertain picture.

A Thoroughbred in Action:  Good relationships with effective, regular communication and well-established two-way trust are essential.  Select Apartments broker the right choices and respond quickly to the unexpected.

Make sure you’re a Winner:  Select Apartments has built this level of trust with its Apartment Operators and can consistently deliver this vital component for you.

The Capital Region offers a plethora of great food events throughout the year, as well as some of the USA’s best restaurants, which can more than tingle the taste buds of the most devoted foodie visitors.  From farmer’s markets to festivals, seafood and oysters, to wine and garlic every possible preference is catered for and as more than 90 per cent of British holidaymakers list dining out as their favourite activity when visiting the USA, the Capital Region fits the bill.

The British are a nation of beer lovers but the wonders of a good pint are now being appreciated all over the USA and 68 different American craft breweries will be showing off their produce at the second annual SAVOR festival taking place at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC on 5th June 2010. 

Tickets are limited and only available in advance, with sales opening  in February for the event billed as “a must attend for craft beer aficionados and foodies alike”. The reception-style sampling will allow visitor to choose from 35+ sweet and savoury appetizers and 136 craft beers. Luminaries of the American craft beer industry—brewery owners, brewers and representatives – will be on-hand serving your beer. www.savorcraftbeer.com

If you prefer the grape to the grain, spend some time at Boordy Vineyards in Maryland.  www.boordy.com

This is Maryland’s oldest family run winery, having been established back in 1945 by the Deeford family.  Their offerings include oak-aged cabernets, crisp chardonnays & seyval blancs, a Maryland port, and other specialties. Premium varietals are grown in the estate vineyards which Boordy farms in the Long Green Valley and in the Catoctin Mountain region.

The vineyard also has a fine dining restaurant and organises specially themed events each month to give visitors the chance to tour the winery, try the award winning wines and learn about winemaking.  Weekends in February are themed Fond of your Fondue, where savoury and sweet fondues will be available to try alongside the fine wine and entertainment from local musicians.  On Sundays in March, the experience will be Stew in your Juices where hearty home made stews will be teamed with award winning wines.

The Virginia Pork Festival (www.vaporkfestival.com) in the town of Emporia is billed as the world’s largest barbeque, so is perfect for pork perfectionists.  Sausages, chops and ribs along with more unusual chitterlings and trotters will all be on offer on 9^th June 2010.

Coincidentally, Virginia is also home to the Pungo Strawberry Festival, held every year in the last weekend of May. Visitors can enjoy strawberries offered in over 50 different ways, plus take part in many events including the pie eating contest or the great Strawberry bake off.

The ‘strawberry’ on this festival’s cake is that all proceeds are given back to the community with organisers looking to exceed the $600,000 they returned last year. Sweet!

http://www.pungostrawberryfestival.info

Cruising is continuing to grow in popularity and the Port of Baltimore has been part of that growth, with 2009 setting a new record with the operation of 81 home port cruises handling 167,000 passengers.  British holidaymakers have been part of that growth and their number is predicted to continue rising with Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity all now operating out of the port.  Baltimore is a great embarkation city for cruises with plenty to see and do either before or after the cruise – its nickname “Charm City” is well deserved.

The Carnival Pride returns for its second full year of cruising to the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean.  Royal Caribbean brings a newer and larger vessel, the Enchantment of the Seas for cruises to New England, Canada, Bermuda, the Eastern Caribbean and the Bahamas.  The Celebrity Mercury will return for a second winter season in October, travelling to the Eastern and Western Caribbean and the Bahamas.

A number of UK tour operators offer cruise and stay holidays in Baltimore, including North America Travel Services, Key to America and Boy Voyage which offers a lead-in price of £1,195 per person for June departures which includes flights to Baltimore, 3 nights at the 4-star Sheraton Inner Habour Hotel and an inside cabin for 5 nights on the RCL Enchantment of the Seas sailing to Bermuda. (www.bon-voyage.co.uk)

So what is there to see and do in “Charm City” pre or post cruise? 

Baltimore has a sailing heritage, having been one of the first major immigration points on the Eastern Seaboard, second only to Ellis Island, so the Inner Harbour is one of the first stops many people make.  The Harbour is home to the National Aquarium and it’s vast four-storey tall tank filled with marine life, an outdoor sea lion pool and marine mammal pavilion, home of a pod of bottlenose dolphins. www.aqua.org 

Just a few blocks from the Harbour is historic Fell’s Point, a cobblestone waterfront area of patisseries, bars and galleries, whose brick row houses have become a Baltimore icon and have given the city a café culture.  

In recent years, the neighbourhood of Hampden has become very avant garde and is now full of art galleries, used-clothing stores and the iconic Café Hon. You’ll see stylish 20-somethings in vintage jeans sharing cigarettes with “Hons,” the nickname for women who wear classic beehive hairdos. These Hons inspired the annual Honfest – a celebration of all things 1950, especially big hair, wide skirts and horn-rimmed spectacles, which takes place in June each year. www.honfest.net

If contemporary art is more your scene, then a visit to the Baltimore Museum of Art is a must as the collection includes works by Picasso, Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin and van Gogh, as well as the world’s largest collection of work by Henri Matisse.  www.artbma.org

When children are part of the holiday, it’s always vital to keep them amused too and Port Discovery is the perfect place for them to let off steam after museums.  Disney “Imagineers” have helped create a delightful tomb-raider pyramid setting where children can play among settings from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. www.portdiscovery.org

Food is always an important part of any cruise holiday and Baltimore can certainly hold it’s own on that score.  The best chef in town, as voted by readers of Baltimore Magazine in 2007 and 2008, is Cindy Wolf of Charleston restaurant in the Harbor East neighbourhood.  Cindy’s cuisine is rooted in French fundamentals and the Low Country cooking of South Carolina, engaging both regional and international influences. The restaurant offers an extensive prix fixe menu from which guests choose between three and up to six courses. Desserts are always offered on the house. Chef Wolf’s constantly changing menu focuses on natural preparation of the very best products, purity of flavour and visual presentations that are elegant and uncluttered. www.charlestonrestaurant.com

 Krista was nominated by Tanya Hillman:

 ‘‘Krista, you have been such a model client over the past six months; responsive, reasonable and with great communication skills.  You have also done a superb job of juggling the needs of all the partners and translating varying priorities into a clear brief for us, which ensures the best results for Atlantic Canada.  We’ve loved working with you and wish you well in your new role.’

Congratulations to Krista from all of us at KBC PR & Marketing.

ESTA MANDATORY FROM JANUARY 20, 2010

The position relating to the ‘grace period’ of 1 year for full compliance with the ESTA requirement has now been clarified and the date for implementation has    finally been resolved.

US Customs and Border Protection have advised that with effect from January 20, 2010 it will be mandatory for all passengers travelling to the USA under the Visa Waiver Program to receive approval to travel using the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) scheme. All passengers travelling to or transferring through the US from this date are advised to apply for an ESTA at least 72 hours in advance of their journey.

Under the new regulations, US Customs and Border Protection will not now be able to accept US-bound customers for their flight if they have not received ESTA approval or if they do not hold a valid visa or Green Card.  Although not fully implemented during the past year, most UK-USA travellers are already familiar with the ESTA requirement.

ESTA can be obtained free of charge by visiting the Visit USA Website at www.visitusa.org.uk or https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov where further information on the scheme can also be found.  Once completed & approved, the ESTA application is valid for two years and allows multiple visits without the need to reapply. Travellers can apply for an ESTA even if they have no firm plans to travel to the US.

In keeping with their tradition of bringing you the best value entertainment around, Keith Prowse Tours is proud to offer, at amazing prices, two of the biggest events of the sporting year – the Grand National and the British Grand Prix.

Gallop to the world’s great steeplechase

First held in 1839, The Grand National has become a racing legend around the world and is one of the most famous steeplechases. Be part of the action this year and take advantage of Keith Prowse Tours’ Grand National packages. From only £86 per person enjoy Tattersall Enclosure tickets plus a one night’s stay at the local Holiday Inn, Knowsley including breakfast. The Tattersall Enclosure is the largest and most atmospheric at Aintree offering access to the Parade Ring and the Winner’s Enclosure. Ticket holders have access to the Irish Bar, live music in the Aintree Pavilion, tote betting, plus big screen viewing. 

Don’t let Schumacher pass you by…

Don’t miss the race of the year as ex-world Champion Michael Schumacher comes out of retirement for the 2010 F1 season and goes head to head with Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button. Keith Prowse Tours offers a Grand Prix package starting from only £238 per person including one night’s accommodation in Luton, return coach transfers to Silverstone and a one day admission ticket to the 2010 British Grand Prix.

 For more information or to book visit www.keithprowse.com or call 0844 209 1895