Monthly Archives: June 2017

Necker Island, BVI

GEORGIA, USA, Wednesday June 21, 2017 For those who long to escape and kick back far from the madding crowd, vacationing on a private island is a logical if costly choice.

CNN recently chose Five Idyllic Private Island Retreats, and the Caribbean outdid itself, claiming four out of the five spots in the shape of Necker Island in BVI; The Meridian Club in Turks and Caicos; St Vincent and the Grenadines Petit St Vincent; and Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino.

Heres what travel writer Jill Becker had to say about each:

Necker Island, British Virgin Islands

One of the most famous and over-the-top private islands is this Caribbean compound owned by Sir Richard Branson.

The 74-acre Necker Island retreat is where the Obamas vacationed after leaving the White House back in January. (You probably even saw the pics of the former president having a kite surfing battle with Branson.)

You, along with 33 of your best friends and family, can live it up here as well for a cool US$80,000 a night.

For that sum youll have access to the islands 17 guest bedrooms, along with the bunkhouse that sleeps up to six kids; multiple pools; tennis courts; spa; a full staff, including Michelin-trained chefs; all sorts of recreational toys and watersports (theres even a zip line); and more.

If the entire island is a bit out of reach, you can also sign up for one of what they call their Celebration Weeks, when you can rent out an individual room for three to 10 nights.

$80,000 per night for the entire island for up to 34 people; $4,280 per couple per night during Celebration Weeks.

The Meridian Club, Turks and Caicos

One of the most attractive components of a private island retreat is, of course, the beach, and the dreamy Meridian Club on its own 800-acre plot called Pine Cay boasts some of the prettiest stretches of sand in the Caribbean, not to mention calm, clear waters that are ideal for snorkelling and diving.

All of the rooms here look out onto the water and feature a screened-in porch where you can sit back and savour the view.

Another major perk of a stay here is that the Meridian Club is all inclusive, so everything from your meals to your equipment rentals is included. Heck, even the postcards are included.

Rates start at $895 per night.

Petit St Vincent, St Vincent and the Grenadines

No shoes, no phone, no TV, no Internet, no problem. Thats the thinking at Petit St Vincent, an unspoiled 115-acre paradise in the southern Caribbean boasting just 22 luxe cottages and villas.

The way you get the staffs attention here is with flags; hoist up the yellow flag to let them know you need room service, transportation somewhere or have some other request, and let the red flag fly when you just want to be left alone.

Here, amid the miles of white-sand beach and tropical woodland, you can fully unwind and take a break from all of the texts, emails and phone calls that bombard our daily lives.

Your only tasks involve sampling some locally caught seafood at one of the weekly beach barbecues, enjoying an alfresco massage at the hillside spa and taking a leisurely barefoot stroll under the starlit sky.

Rates start at $1,100 a night.

Renaissance Aruba Resort and Casino, Aruba

If the thought of unplugging entirely or having an entire island all to your lonesome brings up a whole scary Tom Hanks in Castaway scenario for you, you can always opt for a stay at a resort like the Renaissance Aruba, which isnt on its own private island, but which has its own private island that you can zip off to whenever the mood strikes.

Just head to the boat dock on the lower level immediately below the lobby for the eight-minute ride to the resorts 40-acre private enclave, where you can feed the flamingos, go snorkelling, grab lunch and a cocktail, or simply kick back in a hammock with a good book.

The island is even separated into two distinct sides one for families and one for adults only. Room rates start at $168.

Rounding off CNNs favoured five is Spruce Island off Maine in the United States, a remote 80-acre refuge in the heart of New England, popular with sailing, fishing and badminton buffs.

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Four Caribbean Properties Named Among Five Idyllic Private Island Retreats - Caribbean360.com (subscription)

Yes, it's cheesy and full of tourists. But taken on its own terms, National Harbor works surprisingly well.

Darrow Montgomery

Walking back down the pier at National Harbor after a ride on the Ferris wheel, something caught my eye: a lighthouse. More accurately, it was a miniature replica of a lighthouse set incongruously on top of a building whose brushed-chrome panels and greenish glass seemed to whisper luxury condos. And next to the little lighthouse, amazingly, there stood a woman gazing out toward Virginia, her skirt and scarf billowing in the breeze. It was a lovely day and the view up there must be great, but even so: What the hell was she doing?

I drew closeralmost in the shadow of the buildingbefore I realized. The woman was a mannequin, a store-window prop draped in flowing garments. Welcome to National Harbor, where relentless fakery has somehow, in a few short years, birthed a real place.

When people in D.C. and its innermost suburbs talk about National Harbor, its often with a sense of confused annoyance. What is it, where is it, and why would anyone go there? I first visited back in 2008, when only a lonely row of buildings along the water and the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, the largest hotel on the East Coast, occupied the space.

I returned last week to find a downtown jammed with people. Yes, National Harbor is cheesy and full of tourists. But its also home to a few thousand permanent residents. And taken on its own terms as a city-fragment devoted to fun, it works surprisingly well.

Located in southern Prince Georges County, in a crook of Potomac River shoreline just south of I-495 and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, National Harbor is the do-over of a redevelopment plan called Port America that died on the vine in the 1980s. The ultimate project is a 350-acre resort destination, according to its website, that combines an approachable, resort-like personality with a singular, dynamic experience for local residents and visitors alike.

As such breathless real estate speak suggests, National Harbor is not a downtown in the usual sense, but the fiefdom of a private developer, the Peterson Companies. That accounts for the comfort-food vibe of the place, how it offers up the flavors of a city in a way that your palate immediately recognizes, with nothing bitter or spicy to spoil your digestion.

The chefs know what theyre doing. Peterson led the redevelopment of downtown Silver Spring in the 1990s, turning a shopping district that had seen better days into the nerve center of eastern Montgomery County. There are commonalities between Silver Springs Peterson precinct and National Harbor: the mall-like branding, the rent-a-cops, and even a square of AstroTurf like the one that Silver Spring loved and lost (Silver Springs was eventually replaced by a landscaped plaza, over protests).

But the developers have upped their game at National Harbor, recognizing the need to keep antsy conventioneers from hailing a cab to Alexandria or D.C. All manner of entertainment beckons: the Ferris wheel, a carousel, pedal boats, a mock pirate ship, outdoor movies, and dozens of restaurants. The mothership, of course, is the new MGM Casino up the road, which opened late last year.

Darrow Montgomery

National Harbor proper is the work of several architecture and planning firms, helmed by Development Design Group (architecture) and Sasaki & Associates (landscape architecture and environmental graphics). The buildings have a Control-C, Control-V look to them: red brick, yellow brick, balconies with scrolled railings, decorative cornices and crowns like cake toppers. Theyre not unattractive, and theyre very good at concealing parking garages behind false fronts.

The spaces between and around the buildings are thoughtfully laid out. On Mariner Passage, I spotted a narrow pathway threading between two buildings and underneath a third through a low archway. Intrigued, I let the path pull me along until I emerged onto the two-block-long Main Street of National Harbor, American Way.

Barcelona its not, but I couldnt help thinking of that city and its boulevards, with medians generous enough to support social life. The broad median of American Way is outfitted with benches and cafe tables and chairs. That afternoon, every last one was taken. Kids ran around a small playground. Teenagers posed for selfies with statues. Across from them, grown-ups sipped wine on a restaurant patio. The developers couldnt have hoped for a better promo shot.

This Is How You Harbor, ads proclaim on the street corners, and apparently how you harbor is with a boatload of kitsch. Theres a garish painted statue of Rosie the Riveter, a giant inflated chick outside the Peeps store, and of course, the dwarf lighthouse with its eerie plastic inhabitant. Thats before you set foot inside the Gaylord, where faux colonial buildings are arranged like dollhouses under a vast glass roof.

The rise of privately-owned public space in American cities is a problematic trend, and very much at play herepersonally, Id prefer my Sunday stroll without a pitch for a timeshare. But just as teenagers used to hang out at Orange Julius in the Eighties and old folks still gather at McDonalds to nurse coffees, highly commercialized environments can foster real social connection.

Urbanists ding National Harbor for its woeful lack of connectivity to the rest of P.G. County and D.C., and the criticism is deserved. The nearest Metro station is Huntington, four miles away and across the river in Virginia. The MGM casino is a mile away, but only someone with a death wish would try to walk or bike there along National Harbor Boulevard and the Beltway feeder road. National Harbors downtown, the casino, and the Tanger Outlets are islands. The developers have created an archipelago of destinations rather than a necklace.

Two Metrobus lines do service National Harbor, making it possible for some of the several thousand people who work there to commute without cars. Visitors complain about the high cost of parking ($3 an hour, going up to $18 for the day and $12 for the evening). Peterson should keep parking pricey, but make National Harbors circulator bus free and increase the frequency of the Metrobuses on the companys dime. (The company already pays part of the cost of running the buses.)

On the crest of the hill behind the Gaylord, a metal fence cuts off a subdivision of new brownstones from an older suburban neighborhood. The roads of Oxon Hill dont connect to National Harbortheres only one way in or out. This was a concession to locals concerned about traffic, but Balkanizing the area was a bad move, sheltering P.G. homeowners from inconvenience in the short term while cutting them off from waterfront access and real-estate gains in the long term.

After my outing (pro tip: skip the Ferris wheel and ride the Gaylord elevators for free to the 19th floor for the same view), the contrast I kept coming back to was with CityCenter DC. With its designer boutiques and minimalist architecture, CityCenter is tasteful where National Harbor is vulgar. Yet CityCenter feels like a ghost town and National Harbor is hopping.

The more exclusive D.C. becomes, I suspect, the more of a market there will be in its ever-growing suburbs for destinations where you can entertain a family without spending a fortune. P.G. County in particular has lacked these kind of destinations, causing its economic development to drag. National Harbor helps fill the gap, with better than average urban design internally, even if its connections to the world outside are lacking. Now, if only it would lay off the kitsch.

More:

National Harbor Is a Private Urban Island Designed for FunIf You Can Get There - Washington City Paper

By: Filza Jawad Hai

Out of 200 hundred countries in the world there are 36 countries that have allowed visa free entry to Pakistanis. It is always good to save up the hassle of assembling and submitting the documents for visa. Out of the 36 countries the top three places where you can fly straight, without any visa restrictions are:

Madagascar:

It is a huge Island off the Southeast coast of Africa. It is an amazingly beautiful place and probably unlike any other islands you have been to. Not only does it have incredible attractions to explore but it also is a dream destination for those who love outdoor activities.

Its a home for many animal species, like their signature animal lemurs are not to be found elsewhere in the world. Other than lemurs there are fossa, colorful chameleon, several species of sharks and many other interesting creatures. Their trees and plants are quite impressive and distinct, like uniquely shaped baobabs, which is something we have never seen around.

Madagascar is quite an exciting place to explore as it has ultimate landscapes and cultural insights. There are rainforests, beaches, desert, reefs, mountains and fertile hills. For those who want an adventurous trip can go for hiking and diving.

this is the worlds fourth largest island with incredible diversities where you can enjoy outdoor activities or their cultural festivals, visit their amazing landscapes and explore various wild species or relax on a remote island at a private resort.

Tanzania:

Next best alternative to Madagascar is Tanzania. It is an East African country within the region of African Great Lakes. Tanzanias Serengeti famous park is a famous spot because Lion King was made here and also because it is the best spot for an African Safari. It is a known place for wildlife and being able to see The Big Five (Elephants, Lion, Leopards, Buffalo and Rhino). The African Safari is also followed by trekking on the highest mountain site of Africa.

Zanzibar is probably the most beautiful unspoiled beaches of Tanzania, where you can find incredible diving opportunities. Who wouldnt love to scuba dive in such a lovely clean sea with amazing species around.

They have plenty of national parks where you may be able to find The Big Five species roaming around the place. Many people are not even aware that in Tanzania they can view two oldest stone age sites in the world.

Maldives:

One of the most beautiful and surreal place which looks exactly hoe its shown in its pictures. The vibrancy in the pictures of Maldives is not deceptive at all, this place is truly eye soothing and relaxing.

Maldives if one of the most geographically dispersed South Asian Island, located in the Indian Ocean, situated in the Arabian Sea. The amazing white-sand beaches, crystal clear blue water and underwater world has undoubtedly made this island one of a kind.

Every resort here is on a private island with the worlds top competing hotel brands. It is definitely the best place for honeymooners and those who wish to have a relaxing vacation in a luxury resort with all the exclusive facilities in a beautiful tropical gateway. Other than five and six-star resorts there are other islands that provide a decent budget for families and divers who wish to enjoy the marine life and nature experience.

Its one of those amazing places where you will actually love going for snorkeling and scuba diving. The water and marine life species are so vibrant and flawless that it will actually please your eyes and give you an unforgettable experience of natural beauty.

The people living in this paradise are extremely courteous and their hospitality makes these coral island seem like home. The generosity of people and uniqueness of this island makes it one of the top vacation destination.

Story first published: 22nd June 2017

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Top three visa free destinations for Pakistanis - SAMAA TV News Pakistan