Family Vacations at Same Resort for 60 Years

Members of the Hopkins Family

The 'feel good' story of the week is about John and Sonia Hopkins of the UK who, along with their extended family, have been vacationing at the same seaside resort for 6 decades. And not just the same resort - they've spent all those summer holidays in the same guest room.

John first took his wife Sonia to ­Folkestone in Kent in 1951 after falling in love with the place on a 1949 cricket trip. They've been back for their annual holiday every year since. Their extended clan of 20 adults and four children just completed their 2011 visit.

It's not just the destination that has remained the same -- the family follows the same holiday itinerary each year, including a visit to a golf course and a darts tournament in the same pub.

John says, "There's ­nowhere quite like it anywhere in the world. We always have the same room ­overlooking the Channel, and on a clear day you can look across the water to France. In the morning we all meet up at quarter past nine on the pitch and putt golf course. Around noon we all head off to the same local pub The Lifeboat Inn where we have been going every year and have lunch. Then in the afternoon we play darts."

And so it's became an annual event. Even after the cricket matches stopped in the 1970s, the family decided to keep the holiday tradition going. "My family loved the trips so much we have carried on going down to Folkestone every year," says John. In the early days the family all stayed at the same hotel, but now the extended family likes to look for luxury homes to rent.

Why do they keep coming back to Folkestone? "I call it God's country. When you stand on the pitch and putt course looking out over the whole of Folkestone and across the Channel, it is just wonderful," John says. "The air is so fresh and clean and there is nothing like it, so beautiful and tranquil."

"It is such a unique thing and we think it is wonderful there is another generation to carry on the tradition."

The family is already planning next year's trip but had to postpone it for a week -- because of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Camping No Longer Means Roughing It

USA Today: These days, camping isn't just pitching a tent in the wilderness on a long hike, or stopping at a campground far from home on a road trip.

Instead, for many leisure travelers, camping nowadays may involve driving just a few miles from home to spend the night in a cabin with a roof, bathroom, beds and electricity, or taking the kids to a place that offers activities and entertainment like scavenger hunts or sports competitions.

Jolene Baxman organizes an annual two-night trip for a dozen mothers and their kids to a Kampgrounds of America facility in Petaluma, Calif., a mere 5 miles from where she lives. But they don't pitch tents. They rent a lodge with a bathroom, indoor shower, kitchenette, microwave, barbecue grill, and, of course, beds. The moms take turns relaxing and making meals; the kids swim and bike. At night, they sing around a campfire and toast marshmallows.

"It's not far from our homes but it feels like we're camping," Baxman said. "We're out in the woods; it's very beautiful — lush trees and you don't hear any cars around. We're not in a tent, but it's camping to us." More than half of those staying with Kampgrounds of America say they were at home the night before arriving at the campground, according to KOA CEO Jim Rogers. That's a 25% increase over seven years.

Rogers says work demands, kids' schedules, high gas prices and other concerns are all contributing to the trend. "They just want to stay within reach and go away for shorter time periods," he said. Rogers also said KOAs have seen a 25% increase in the use of roofed accommodations at their campgrounds. "It's attracting a whole new breed of campers, people we haven't seen before," he said.

In Ohio, the Lazy River at Granville campground, 25 miles from Columbus, offers activities and entertainment ranging from a zipline to magic shows to arts and crafts. For those who bring laptops and TV sets, there is wireless Internet and cable service. One of the most popular attractions at Lazy River is the "bug lady," a local woman who takes visitors on a walk in the woods, where she points out bugs. "She's the Pied Piper of bugs," said Mark Kasper, owner of Lazy River. "She just entrances her audience."

Kasper observed that when he was young, "you'd go to the state park and watch a presentation with a ranger and a movie. Now it's different. We try to have everything the modern-day person wants, and yet you're away from the city."

Jeff Crider, spokesman for the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, says "more and more campgrounds across the country are offering organized activities that could range from nature walks to special themed weekend events like holiday events or Father's Day events. You can still find plenty of campgrounds that offer a natural setting and a nice environment for kayaking, fishing, or river tubing, but what the parks are finding is that more and more families want things to do. And fun activities are a way to get kids away from computers and iPods and do something as a family."

In addition, campgrounds that offer these types of activities find that people will stay longer — three or four days instead of just a weekend.

Crider said accommodations are also changing. Campgrounds are investing in everything from yurts and furnished teepees to cottages and cabins. A KOA in Herkimer, N.Y., just opened three furnished cabins for rent that are powered by solar panels, with a backup propane generator. "If they can provide rental accommodations, then they can make camping accessible to everyone. It isn't just people who like to rough it in a tent or who have an RV," Crider said.

Dawn Tosner, of Valley Stream, N.Y., has been going to the KOA in Herkimer, N.Y., for 15 years. "When we first started, we went tent camping," she said. "We gradually started using the cabins." Last year, joined by friends, she tried an upgraded cabin with all the comforts of home, including a bathtub, stove and TV.

"It's a little bit of luxury while still enjoying the outdoors," she said. "When you go tent camping, you have to bring everything with you — sleeping bags, all the utensils, supplies. You pack up the whole car. With the cabins, you don't need to bring as much stuff. You have more time to spend enjoying the trip." Even those who go the traditional route of sleeping on the ground may be spending time in a tent that has multiple rooms, with separate quarters that can be used for the kids or as a screened-in porch for chairs.

REI, the outdoor gear and apparel retailer, has seen an increase in overall sales for family camping tents. "Some of these tents are sized so four to eight people can sleep in them," said REI spokeswoman Courtney Coe. "They have a room divider that allows separate places for parents and kids to sleep comfortably, and a screened room for families to set chairs up in at night to play cards and get away from the bugs. You can also zip on an optional garage vestibule to give your family more storage space."

An eight-person model new for this year, the REI Kingdom 8, sells for $489, but Coe pointed out that some customers buy the bigger tent just for the space, even though only two or three people intend to use it.

On the other end of the scale, a backpacker's favorite is a lightweight tent called the REI Quarterdome that weighs just a hair under 4 pounds. "It's open and airy, with easy setup, packs well and is really comfortable for two people," said Coe. REI also offers lightweight sleeping pads, hammocks and butterfly chairs.

At Cabela's, the hunting, fishing and outdoor gear store, a new generation of lightweight, streamlined, easy-to-use "survival" kits is "a growing gear category among campers, including not only hardcore backpackers but also more leisurely family campers," according to spokeswoman Kristin Lauver. Gerber Bear Grylls Survival kits, for example, include fire-starting items and emergency supplies, with a basic kit weighing just 4.2 ounces ($23) and the ultimate version just 9.4 ounces ($50). The kits include fire starter, waterproof matches, snare wire, and a knife, with tools, fishing and sewing supplies and a survival blanket among the added goodies in the ultimate kit.

There are about 14,000 campgrounds in North America, Crider said, including national parks, with about 8,000 of the campgrounds privately owned and operated. KOAs exist in 475 locations.

Women Traveling Solo

Independent Traveler: On a recent trip to Atlanta, I learned that one of city’s newer boutique properties, the Ellis Hotel, offers a women-only floor. “What a cool idea,” I thought. As a woman who often travels solo — and who hasn’t always felt safe doing so — I liked the idea of a keycard-secured area just for female travelers. Why hadn’t I heard of this before?

After I got back home, I did a little research. Turns out that there are a few other hotels around the world that offer women-only floors — and there are even places where men are forbidden throughout the entire property. I was intrigued and impressed by many of the hotels, like the woman-owned and -operated Lady’s First Design Hotel in Zurich, which reserves 12 part-time staff positions for local unemployed women in need. The Luthan Hotel & Spa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, gives female travelers, particularly Saudi businesswomen, a comfortable place of their own within a country that still has fairly rigid gender roles. The hotel is staffed entirely by women, so Muslims can remove their veils when they arrive. And I love that the female-only Artemisia Hotel in Berlin has a gallery featuring work by women artists.

But as I looked into other women-only hotel spaces, I didn’t feel quite as inspired. Take the Naumi Hotel in Singapore, which offers a “ladies floor” with “feminine touches of pink hues and flowery wallpaper,” according to its Web site. “For a total immersion of the senses, the discerning lady traveller can enjoy the range of female magazines over a cup of coffee, pamper herself with premium amenities or even indulge in a refreshing spa session.” Flowery wallpaper? Girly magazines? Swoon!

On one hand, I’m encouraged that hotels seem to be trying to respond to what women want. But to what extent are they simply pigeonholing us into tired old stereotypes? Sure, some female travelers do read fashion magazines and appreciate frou-frou bath products … but assuming that all of us do, just because we’re women, feels a little reductive to this particular “lady” traveler.

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Divorced Families Who Choose to Vacation Together

Yahoo! News: Actor Bruce Willis has done it. So has Britain's Prince Andrew and media mogul Arianna Huffington. They've all vacationed with their ex-spouses and kids.

While such post-marital closeness is inconceivable to some divorced couples, others say it's a great way to save money and to foster good memories, for the children — and even the parents.

"If you get along with your ex it can be very easy to do," said Mike Geoffrion, 39, who has vacationed with his ex-wife, Janna, and kids, including a trip to Disneyland.

Geoffrion, who manages a bike store in Fort Collins, Colo., divorced in 2006 after six years of marriage but thinks the joint vacations have been nice for the kids as well as the adults. Supervising and entertaining children is less stressful with two parents, he said, and he enjoyed the adult interaction. "You get tired of talking to an 8-year-old over nice, expensive dinners," he said.

Vacationing together has also worked well for Meredith Morton, 39, an actress in Los Angeles, and her ex-husband, Shane Edelman. When they first divorced in 2004, they took vacations with their infant son, Ace, because they both wanted to enjoy his "firsts." Since then they have each remarried, yet continue to vacation en masse with their new spouses, Ace, and his three half-siblings.

Most recently, they rented a large house in Palm Springs, Calif., and spent three days relaxing by the pool, playing with the children and making fun of golfers. "It wasn't just like we were just sharing rent. We went to be with them," Morton explained.

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