Vail's uphill battle

originally appeared in The Denver Post:


Some years ago, I picked up a hitchhiker who assured me that Interstate 70 went through Vail because, after all, Vail always got what it wanted. On this point, he was wrong.

In 1956, when Congress authorized the original 40,000 miles of interstate highways, I-70 was to end at Denver. Highway engineers had thought that crossing the high humps of mountains west of Denver offered too few rewards and too great an expense. The ski industry in Colorado amounted to very little. Skiers at Arapahoe Basin, on Berthoud Pass and in Winter Park and a few others clogged Miner Street through Idaho Springs on Sunday nights. Aspen still needed a coat of paint. Vail did not exist.

Vail came along a few years later, and officially turned 50 this weekend. The Steamboat ski area also turns 50. They and other ski areas that sprouted during that same era of post-World War II exuberance have fundamentally redefined the economic, cultural and political geography of Colorado.

Looking ahead, you have to wonder whether the skiing infrastructure will someday be seen as an aberration, just as today we go to Leadville to gawk at the Victorian dandies and hillsides pulverized in the short-lived hurry to muck silver ore.

But first, some history about Vail. In March 1957, an early investor who had grown up on a ranch in the Eagle Valley, strapped on skins on his skis and led another potential investor up the mountain now called Vail. They had met in Aspen, and although he had trained just three valleys away at Camp Hale as a 10th Mountain Division soldier during World War II, he had never seen either the front sides or the backsides of Vail.

For years after the war, he had searched for the perfect ski area site. He even spent a summer as a night clerk at Silverton's Grand Imperial Hotel so he could spend his days scouting the slopes of the San Juan Mountains.

Reaching the top of Vail Mountain that day in 1957, he knew his search was ended. This was the place.

Only by coincidence, Congress that same month acceded to the lobbying of Colorado's congressional delegation, particularly their Senator, and agreed to extend I-70 west to Utah. Skiing was no part of the argument. The route was justified as a time-saver for travel between Denver and Los Angeles.

Vail's success was not instant. For awhile it wasn't clear the early investor could round up others. He and his team didn't get traction until they threw in building lots near the base of the ski area. Even if the ski area failed, at least they'd have a nice place for summer cabins. From its inception, skiing was an amenity to a real estate play at Vail.

Skiing was top-notch, however. Much of the credit goes to the mountain, a sprawling goddess of moderate slopes, exactly the sort that he realized would be needed for a mass-market ski area, with just enough steeps to be taken seriously by experts. Over the decades, the trail layout has grown and grown. A friend of his, three times has skied all the named runs, and the fastest round still took him 7 ½ days.

What that investor may not have realized in 1957 is that the mountain also has a knack for getting snow. Rarely does it get the power dumps of a Steamboat or a Wolf Creek. Just as rarely does it get completely left out.

Vail's success and I-70

Location matters in another way. It was just close enough to a major city, one both with skiers and with an airport. That was part of the investors original calculus. I-70 was completed between Denver and Vail in 1978, making Vail more accessible yet. He said once before he died in 2002 that Vail could have done fine without it. After all, he said, look at Aspen, which is at the end of a highway for seven months a year, when Independence Pass is closed. It has done just fine without an interstate.

Vail's success can also be attributed to development of the wide-bodied jet and a new form of real estate ownership called the condominium, which broadened the number of people who could afford vacation homes. It also reinforced resort loyalty. And then, in the 1970s, frequent Vail visitor Gerald Ford became president. His image comported well with Vail's sensibilities. People were socially moderate, and they believed in making money.

Ski areas in Colorado also surged on the swelling numbers of baby boomers as skiing transformed from an adventure of the elites to a sport of the masses. Business volume, as measured by skier days, routinely grew 10 percent for a couple of decades, until slowing in the early 1980s.

Colorado during this time became the center of the skiing world. In 1983, Vail surpassed California's Mammoth as the nation's busiest ski area, and that distinction has been trumped only twice since then, both times by Breckenridge. The company has consistently been a business innovator — not necessarily first but usually eager to embrace and expand new ideas, from high-speed lifts to low-cost ski passes.

While Vail wasn't around to create I-70, it soon began to flex its muscle to protect its interests while still a new ski area. Led by a 10th Mountain Division veteran who directed marketing for the company, the ski company in 1964 joined Breckenridge, the Climax Molybdenum Co., and others in opposing a plan to pierce the Gore Range Primitive Area (what later became the Eagles Nest Wilderness) with I-70. The highway and a tunnel under Red Buffalo Pass would have shortened the travel time between Silverthorne and Vail, and it was supported by truckers as well as chambers in Denver and Grand Junction. Vail and allied environmental groups won, and I-70 today uses the longer route over Vail Pass.

A few years later, that veteran lent his name in challenging a Forest Service timber sale that would have infringed future wilderness north of Vail. The lawsuit is still mentioned in natural resource textbooks.

In these and perhaps other ways, Vail represented the transformation of Colorado from commodities extraction to an economy based on recreation and leisure.

The new economic and legal landscape is best seen in the Homestake water diversions from creeks around Mount of the Holy Cross. Aurora and Colorado Springs found virtually no opposition to the first phase, which was completed in 1967. By the 1980s, aided by new state and federal laws, the Eagle County commissioners denied permits for the diversions. They had the means and political will to see the process through. Skiing did that.

Later, in the 1990s, Vail saw its self-image as a vanguard for progressive environmentalism under attack. The lightning rod was a giant expansion, later called Blue Sky Basin, which alone was larger than many individual ski areas. It was perceived as a giant grasp for public land for the privileged few with possible adverse consequences to wildlife, including the Canada lynx. Jarring to many in the ski industry, recreation had became what logging trucks and mines had been a generation before.

What's a "real town"?

As a former resident of Vail, I sometimes find my skin crawling when I hear dismissive comments that "Vail isn't a real town." That's absurd. What makes one town real and another not? Arvada, where I now live, was platted in 1870, incorporated in 1904, and has 108,000 residents. Yet it has no hospital and scarcely a motel. Aspen has wonderful Victorian bones, two lively daily newspapers, and a voting majority that lives in deed-restricted affordable housing. Every place is different.

Looking ahead, skiing has lagged general population growth in the United States. Vail, Aspen and other resorts have been sizing up Brazil and other developing nations as potential markets. In Vail, more attention has been paid to wellness and something called "medical tourism." It's not all about skiing.

It's likely to be even less about skiing during Vail's next 50 years. Snow will continue to fall, and possibly more than now. But so will rain, wrecking the snowpack, and winters will become shorter as the result of all the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases we've been spewing into the atmosphere. Summers, a time of paradise in Vail and other mountain resorts, will become busier, as people from Denver flee the heat — much as they did last summer, but even more so.

But snow today provides 80 percent of the revenue at some lodges in Vail and 70 percent of the town's sales tax revenue. Whether hotter summers can deliver that same financial punch, well, that's one of the questions going forward. If I were a young person in Vail, I'd also be questioning the premise of an industry dependent upon cheap fossil fuels in a world likely to face carbon constraints.

In the 1880s in Leadville and Aspen, I'm sure it seemed like the grubbing for silver would continue for a long time. But by 1893, the downhill slide was on and it took Aspen more than 50 years to regain new vigor. Some of you will be there for Vail's next 50 years. Time will tell.

Vail Resorts to buy 2 Midwest ski areas, including Mount Brighton, for $20M

originally appeared on annarbor.com from The Associated Press:

Vail Resorts Inc. said Thursday it is buying the family-owned Afton Alps ski area in Minnesota and Mount Brighton outside Detroit for a total of $20 million cash, giving it access to urban markets ripe with beginning skiers and snowboarders, as well as those who like to travel and take advantage of excellent Vail Ski Vacation rentals.

Starting immediately, Afton Alps and Mount Brighton season pass holders can get 25 percent off the window rate on lift tickets for Vail Resorts' Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone resorts in Colorado and the Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood ski areas in the Lake Tahoe area.

Broomfield, Colo.-based Vail Resorts plans to connect Afton Alps and Mount Brighton to its seven other resorts through season pass and lift ticket products before next ski season.

Afton Alps base operations manager said he was very excited about the news, we're ecstatic.

Vail Resorts plans to upgrade each ski area's snowmaking, parking, terrain parks, racing programs, dining and entertainment options, and instruction programs. Exact budgets haven't been determined.

It also will review the potential for adding more summer activities. Both Midwest resorts already have golf courses.

Vail Resorts CEO said the acquisitions are part of a new strategy to drive season pass sales and build broader customer loyalty. That strategy is focusing on urban-area small ski areas, where many learn to ski or ride before being tempted to destination resorts in the West.

More people in the Midwest take a trip somewhere else to ski than any other market, he said. By having a local presence and really making a better connection with people, we can do better a job getting them to come to our resorts over other resorts. Or if we make it a better experience to learn to ski and ride, that's a huge opportunity for our company.

It's a terrific way to get closer to where the customer lives, he said.

Improving beginners' experience has been a key initiative of the ski industry overall as it works to keep people interested in the sport.

The nearly 300-acre Afton Alps is about 33 miles from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which has more than 161,000 skiers and snowboarders, Vail Resorts said. The 130-acre Mount Brighton is about 45 miles from Detroit and within reach of more than 307,000 skiers and snowboarders. Together, the markets have more skiers and snowboarders than Colorado, Katz said.

By contrast, Vail Resorts' four Colorado resorts are all at least 70 miles from Denver.

Mount Brighton's general manager didn't return a phone message seeking comment Thursday evening.

Afton Alps, founded in 1963 by three farmers living out a dream to build a ski area, wasn't looking for a buyer when Vail Resorts approached but found the Colorado company's focus on creating an experience of a lifetime appealing, said their co-owner.

We think it's a promising new future for Afton Alps, she said. It preserves the legacy that the family has made, and it gives customers and employees an opportunity to join an amazing group of ski areas.

Florida's Best Islands

originally appeared on OutsideOnline.com:

Q: What Are the Best Undiscovered Island Escapes in Florida?

I’ve been to Key West and it’s great, but I’m looking for an undiscovered island alternative in Florida. What are my options?

A: Florida's Best Islands: Anna Maria Island

Anna Maria Island
Even though Anna Maria Island sits less than an hour south of Tampa Bay, this accessible, family-friendly sand patch feels completely removed from the urban bustle. There’s no McDonald’s on the seven-mile-long island due to strict zoning laws, local ordinances limit building heights to no more than three stories, and free trolleys run up and down its length on Gulf Drive so you can hop a ride instead of driving your car. The result is a pretension-free hideout that’s surprisingly young and vibrant for a Florida coastal island.

MUST: Take the three-hour Dolphin and Manatee Tour led by Adventure Kayak Tours through mangrove tunnels and protected waterways around the island ($55 per person).

Cedar Key
If you want to know what Key West must have been like back in the Hemingway days, come to secluded Cedar Key, which sits off the Florida coast below the panhandle. This quiet town of less than 1,000 people sits on Way Key, buffered from the mainland by a necklace of marshy, protected islands. The cedar trees in these parts were once used to make pencils, and John Muir spent time here in 1867 while recovering from malaria. Today, though, the locals make their living off a booming clamming industry the smattering of tourists who come to cast a line from the fishing pier or toast the sunset at a watering hole like the Big Deck Raw Bar.

MUST: Paddle along shores of Cedar Key and explore the surrounding islands with Kayak Cedar Keys.

Siesta Key
You’ll never confuse eight-mile-long Siesta Key, floating off the Gulf Coast below Sarasota and above Fort Myers, with the famed keys south of Miami—and that’s a good thing. This barrier island has long, wide confectionary white sand beaches, the likes of which folks in Key West will only see in their dreams. Though Siesta Key has a definite resort feel, it’s not expensive or overdeveloped, and it's relatively untouched by the Sunshine State's signature blight: millionaire mansions, high-end hotels, and high-rise condos. The best beaches and places to shop and eat are found near the island’s northern tip, in small but bustling Siesta Village. Entertain yourself by fishing, paddleboarding, or kayaking (you can rent equipment from Siesta Sports Rentals).

MUST: The outdoor drum circle that performs on Sunday nights in Siesta Village.

How to save on family holiday travel

originally appeared in USA Today:

During the holidays, family travel usually involves visiting friends and relatives or that much-anticipated vacation destination. But the holidays are also high season. That means top hotel rates, restaurants serving expensive meals, and stages hosting sparkling ballets, plays and rock concerts at premium prices. Here are some tips on how to stretch your holiday budget by saving money on food, lodging and fees.

Cheap eats on the go

Eat the street food. Take advantage of the food truck revolution to cut your lunch costs. In Boston, New York, Washington, D.C, Minneapolis, Chicago, Austin and other urban locales, skilled cooks serve up imaginative fare from their mobile kitchens. The vendors tend to specialize in one main dish, tweaking the ingredients. Empanadas can be beef with potato or Jambalaya style with shrimp, sausage and rice. Tacos come filled with chicken, beef or even lobster. And for dessert, look for trucks selling waffles, cupcakes or custom-made ice cream sandwiches. These mobile meals-on-wheels rove the downtown districts, parking for awhile and then moving on. To track the trucks, check the destination's official visitor website for links and for apps.

Browse the green markets. Indoor farmers' markets bloom in major cities from Toronto to Los Angeles. Although winter might mean fewer home-grown vegetables, the markets lure neighbors and visitors by selling aromatic breads, fresh-baked pastries, crisp apples and other seasonal fruit as well as organic salads and deli meats. Dine in at the markets' inexpensive cafés or bring some goodies back to your hotel room or to your relatives' house.

Rooms with meals

Pick a property that includes breakfast. When rates include complimentary breakfast, whether it's a cooked-to-order meal or a Continental spread, you start your day saving money.

Make sure your room has a refrigerator. Stock your fridge with milk, juice and bottled water purchased at a nearby store, thus saving money on costly honor bar items. When traveling with little ones, buy plastic bowls and spoons as well as cold cereal and baby food. Tots can then eat breakfast when hungry, even if it's before the hotel restaurant opens. If refrigerators aren't standard features, hotels may supply them for a fee. Like all extras, availability is limited, so request a fridge when you make your room reservation.

Book a condo. Not only do these lodgings offer more space for the money than hotel rooms, but they also come with kitchens. That makes it easy to cook breakfasts and dinners, thus saving on restaurant bills.

Cook for the relatives. Instead of taking Aunt Sally, Uncle Bill and their families out to a restaurant to thank them for their hospitality, cook dinner for them. This is less costly and often less hectic than requiring youngsters to sit through a multi-course meal at a restaurant.

The destination

Consider a home exchange. By swapping your vacant place for someone else's, you can enjoy a getaway in Europe, the Caribbean or anywhere else you can find a family to live in your home while you live in theirs, all for much less money than renting a hotel or villa. Depending on what you want, trading places can get you multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, maybe a backyard and possibly extras like a car. Home exchange companies typically charge a membership fee and/or a monthly listing fee. If you've always wanted to treat your mom and dad to Christmas in Rome, then swapping homes can make this dream trip an affordable holiday gift.

Try an all-inclusive resort. The upfront cost covers all meals, activities and often children's programs. Especially with always hungry and active tweens and teens, all-inclusives can save you money.

Share a condo or villa with another family. Sharing a three-bedroom condo or villa with another family costs less than booking a two-bedroom unit yourself. But beware: nothing tests buddies like living with someone. The key to a successful trip that maintains the friendship is honest talk ahead of time. Discuss who will cook and clean; which couple gets to bunk in the master bedroom with the private bath; and what house rules will govern the kids' television viewing and bedtimes.

Money matters

Price various travel options. Compare the cost of driving, versus flying or boarding the bus, especially on the East Coast where discount bus services sell promotional seats sometimes for as little as $1.

Consider travel insurance. For that guided safari in Kenya, Caribbean family cruise, or other prepaid, big-ticket item, if your 8-year-old pops out with measles the day before you leave, you won't get your money back unless you're covered by the appropriate travel insurance. As always, read the fine print.

Use the right credit card. Don't add to the amount you owe by putting meals, lodging and other purchases in a foreign locale on a credit card that charges for converting non-U.S. currencies into dollars. Pick a credit card that foregoes these fees.

Look for package deals and passes. During the holidays, hotels bundle admission to special attractions into their packages and big cities offer combination passes that discount admission to several attractions for one fee. The caveat: This is only a deal if you expect to visit most of the museums and places featured within the allotted time frame.

Play with coupons. Check out social media for slashed prices. LivingSocial.com, Groupon.com and other digital discount sites may have just the money-saver you need to make that water skiing excursion or dining at a fine restaurant affordable.

With winter on its way, it's time to start planning a sunny getaway

originally appeared in USA Today:

With winter on its way, it's time to start planning a sunny family getaway. But don't limit your escape to a familiar resort or theme park, says one of the founders of TheVacationGals.com blog. She suggests the surprise of a new place on vacation is something that's so wonderful.

Palm Springs, Calif.

This desert getaway appeals to all ages, Williams says. For adults, there are spas, golf, shopping and restaurants, while kids will love the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, the hands-on Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert, or a family hike to 49 Palms Oasis at nearby Joshua Tree National Park.

Puerto Rico

You may not need a passport, but this Caribbean island offers an exotic international getaway close to home for families, couples or singles. There's plenty of natural appeal from kayaking in a bioluminescent bay where microscopic algae glow in the dark, to jungle hiking in El Yunque National Forest, Williams says. Or soak in history wandering the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. Visit on a Sunday and watch kite fliers at Fort San Felipe del Morro, a stone citadel.

Lake Charles, La.

Celebrate Mardi Gras family-style at this southwestern Louisiana city, where the parades and festivities play up tradition more than titillation. There's also opportunity for beaches, biking, and exploring marshland along the 180-mile Creole Nature Trail All-American Road. The food is so good, and the scenery is just pretty with Spanish moss and big oak trees and swamp land.

Island of Hawaii

It's volcanoes that draw Miner to the Big Island of Hawaii. You can go and see the lava flowing into the ocean and the island getting bigger. One of her favorite excursions is hiking through Thurston Lava Tube at Volcanoes National Park. For kids who have a little bit of Indiana Jones in them, it's an incredible place. And for beaches, the island's Kohala coast can't be beat.

Carlsbad, Calif.

This northern San Diego County town attracts families to its Legoland theme park, but for Miner the appeal goes further. This is a beachy community, it has a nice small-town feel. You can watch surfers tackle the waves, and even sign up for surfing school to try it yourself.

Atlanta

Lots of folks switch planes in Atlanta, but it's also a great place to spend some time. Family favorites include the massive Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca Cola Museum, which has a giant tasting room where visitors can try scores of the company's beverages sold around the world. Tip: Watch out for Beverly, the bitter Italian soda that's so bad, it's good. For an active outing, Stone Mountain offers hikes, a tram ride and even a ropes course. Although the city occasionally gets snow, it quickly disappears.

Turks and Caicos

This Caribbean nation with powder-white sand keeps sun lovers happy, but there's also enough variety to break up beach days. Activities include a conch farm a former cotton plantation and humpback whale watching. But the common denominator is a laid-back pace. You go with the flow and relax.

Sanibel Island, Fla.

You'll get a beach vacation, but so much more at this Gulf Coast Island near Fort Myers. The island's location makes it one of the best places to find seashells in the country. Who wouldn't love shelling on the beach and wading in the mellow, mellow waters?  Biking's easy on the flat island, and so is kayaking at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

Tucson

You get a feel for Mexico and the Wild West in this laid-back Arizona city. One suggestion is to start with a visit to Old Tucson Studios, which celebrates the movies filmed here with sets, cowboy gunfights and stunt shows. Another day, visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a combination zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden. It's an environment that's so unique and so different.

Los Angeles

The West Coast megalopolis is already on many vacation lists, but one of the city's residents says LA is more than Hollywood and beaches. One of her favorite stops: La Brea Tar Pits, where saber-tooth cats and mammoths emerge from archaeological digs while city traffic zooms by. It brings home the fact that our time is just on a dot on the planet, she says. Other favorites: Universal Studios theme park and sprawling Griffith Park.

To Track Traveling Teens, Just Follow the Money

Associated Press

You could wait a long time for a teenager who's traveling to call home or even text. But there's another way to see what your kid is up to: Follow the money.

Before sending teens off on a trip, make sure you have online access to any bank and credit card accounts they'll be using. You'll want to monitor their transactions anyway, to see that they're staying on budget, and to make sure their accounts haven't been hijacked by thieves. But there's another reason to monitor how the kids are spending their money: It will give you some clues as to their whereabouts and activities.

Last summer, I sent my 16-year-old son and two other teenagers - without an adult - to six countries in Europe. They stayed in hostels, traveled by train, and none of them had cell phones. But by monitoring their ATM and credit card activity online, I could get a sense of their whereabouts.

Did they make the overnight train from Barcelona to Paris? A record of a cash withdrawal from the Banque Nationale de Paris at a branch near the Eiffel Tower told me everything I needed to know.

When their itinerary called for them to be in Germany, I saw a withdrawal from a Deutsche Bank ATM near the Berlin Zoo. On the day they were to travel by ferry to Denmark, there was a credit card charge in kroner.

If I had to do it again, I would make sure, when sending a teenager abroad, that he or she did have a phone. But following the money gave me some peace of mind. Here are some other tips and advice for parents sending kids overseas, both from my own experience and from some experts.

MONEY: Book and prepay lodging, trains and planes in advance to cut down on the need for cash and credit.

But kids will need some local currency in their pockets when they arrive, as well as a way to get more cash and charge expenses later on.

Shop around for the best deals on foreign currency at home. My local savings bank offered the best conversion rate and no fee on the transaction. I sent each teen with cash to cover food and local transportation for three days. After that, they used ATM cards to get local currency wherever they were. Withdrawals should be made every few days instead of daily to cut down on transaction fees.

Many parents buy prepaid, preloaded cards from credit card companies and other outlets that limit how much money teens have access to at any one time. Parents can reload the cards electronically from home.

That way, teens "only have the money they need for the next day or two at most," said Mike Bowers, senior director of health and safety for People to People Ambassador youth programs and a member of the Student Youth & Travel Association (SYTA). "And I have the added comfort of knowing where they're spending it, because I can see online where the expenditures are being made."

Another option: You can get a credit card on your account, with your teen's name on it. Just remember, you are responsible for all charges. Can you trust your teenager to refrain from a shopping spree?

Remember to advise banks and credit card companies well in advance about cards that will be used overseas. If cards are not authorized for use in a given country at a given time, transactions may be blocked. Some countries now require PIN numbers with credit card transactions, and it can take a few weeks for credit card companies to process those PIN requests.

COMMUNICATION: Your domestic cell phone carrier may offer a good short-term international plan or an international SIM card for your phone.

Another option is to buy a cheap international phone. STA Travel sells international phones for $39, with $20 worth of call time.

But these days, "most kids don't actually talk on their phones," observed Patrick Connor, a vice president of SYTA and president of Director's Choice Tour & Travel, which coordinates performance tours for student musical groups. Instead, many teens prefer to text and post updates on Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter.

That's a great way for parents to see what they're up to - as long as you don't mind not hearing their voices. Just make sure you inquire about international data rates for cell phones to cover texting and Internet service overseas.

"If someone doesn't get an international data or texting plan, they can end up with a multi-hundred dollar bill," Connor said.

PERSONAL SAFETY: Bowers tells students on People to People tours to "dress down and blend in. Leave your bling at home."

Connor tells his travelers to "make sure your purse and backpack are zipped; don't keep things in your back pocket or an open pocket."

DOCUMENTS: Make copies of passports, credit cards and the like so that if they are lost or stolen, account and serial numbers can easily be located and the loss can be reported.

Make a master list of itineraries, including flights, trains and lodging, for both parents and travelers. Specify the names of train stations and airports, since some cities have more than one.

STA Travel sells an International Student ID card for $22 that not only offers discounts to 40,000 museums, stores and other sites around the world, but also provides access to a password-protected website where you can upload copies of important travel documents in case you need to refer to them during your trip.

INSURANCE: Mandatory summer school, sports injuries, family emergencies - there are so many things that can disrupt a teenager's life. For $130 a person, I bought cancel-for-any-reason trip insurance from TravelGuard and kept my sanity. James Bell, commercial vice president for STA Travel, says STA sells insurance that covers everything from medical expenses to a lost iPod. Insurance rates start as low as $6 a day.

LODGING: Tour groups will arrange for lodging, but for students traveling on their own, hostels are a good option in many countries.

Yet booking a hostel online, site unseen, can be confusing, even when using sites with customer reviews. For example, I wanted my son and his friends to stay in hostels that were not only safe and clean, but that were also centrally located. And in some cities, I wanted to make sure they were located away from red-light districts.

In this case, a travel agent's advice was invaluable. STA Travel has contracts with hostels around the world that it inspects a half-dozen times a year, and the STA agent I used was knowledgeable enough to book hostels that were fun for young travelers, while offering environments that met mom's standards.

Shipboard Dance Class Keeps Cruisers in Step

Miami Herald

Whirling, I was actually whirling across the dance floor in a Spanish bolero, with handsome Arturo Garcia Melo from Mexico.

I imagined myself on Dancing with the Stars. Bruno (Tonioli) would be excited. Len (Goodman) would say we ``sizzle.'' Carrie Ann (Inaba) would call me graceful. We would get respectable scores on the judge's paddles, and the audience voting at home would love us.

Back to reality: This was not competitive dancing. Melo was among instructors teaching passengers to dance on the 2,550-passenger MSC Poesia, on a Latin dance-theme cruise departing from Fort Lauderdale to the Eastern Caribbean. He had just picked me, a true novice, to help demonstrate a move.

But I was very much part of a craze hitting the high seas, the opportunity to learn to dance on a cruise ship.

A ship is a nice, non-judgmental place for such experimentation. For one, the other passengers are strangers, so no worries about embarrassing yourself. Plus, shipboard classes are suitable for everyone from beginners to those who know the steps. You are not expected to be a pro.

Italian line MSC Cruises is among several lines -- Crystal Cruises, Cunard and Holland America Line are others --jumping on the dance bandwagon, offering dance classes as part of their activities rosters at a time when TV shows like Dancing with the Stars have made knowing at least a few ballroom steps a very in thing.

The lines also offer occasional dance-themed sailings with additional tutorage, like the cruise I was on. Tour operators specializing in dance (including salsa and tango) book space on ships as well, bringing instructors onboard for those who cruise as part of their groups.

Nino Torre, a hustle and salsa dance pro and DJ from Richmond, Virginia, for instance, helps organize an annual Hustle & Salsa Dance Cruise. Now in its 11th year, the group attracts about 275 participants per cruise, most from the East Coast, a third from Florida.

Instructors are dance champions, most still competing, who do workshops in both hustle and salsa as well as in tango and cha cha and other steps, Torre said. ``We survey guests before the cruise and offer classes in what they request,'' he added. Participants range in age from their late 20s to early 60s with a desire to learn a few steps and show them off on the ship's dance floor.

On the Poesia cruise, our special instructors were a competitive ballroom pair, from Cleveland, Ohio, onboard to teach several classes specifically in Latin dances. Instruction included a half-hour class after dinner each evening so those who wanted could stay on the dance floor afterward.

Melo, a former pro dancer in Mexico, and other members of the entertainment team also offered instruction once or twice a day, as they do on every cruise.

At the pool, there were casual classes in dances like bachata (a four-step dance with origins in the Dominican Republic), come-in-your-bikini affairs that attracted a decent crowd.

But the ``serious'' learning on Poesia took place indoors on the dance floor of the Zebra Lounge, all done up in black and white stripes and a sexy space to learn dances like rumba and salsa and tango. Classes here attracted about 60 regulars, which meant a crowded dance floor, sometimes dancers spilling onto the carpet. There were couples and single women and occasionally a lone man too, the group varying in age from 30s on up.

 No need to sign up in advance. If you wanted to dance, you just showed up.

In one class, ballroom pro Minas Katsantouris demonstrated a sexy salsa move, the kind that's supposed to show meaning in every wiggle -- and in his tight jeans and a fitted black T-shirt, his wiggles did just that.

``The dance floor is our place, where guys can feel strong,'' Minas proclaimed, as the men in the lounge practiced their steps on one side of the dance floor, women on the other.

I did my best with a butt-out, wiggle-down with your hips move, with Minas instructing us women to ``Make the guy go, `Oh my god, that's exciting, what's happening.' '' Except my partner was my reluctant 78-year-old mom.

With regulars in the classes it was easy to make friends. In my case, they included Canadians Carol and Owen Rhodenizer, both age 69, and dance enthusiasts, who have done 39 cruises and take lessons at home several times a week.

During a salsa class taught by Katsantouris' professional partner, Rachel Neilson, Carol was such a pal she lent me Owen.

We were doing great for a few dances, Owen a strong leader. But when Neilson showed us a move involving the woman stretching her leg under and through the man's spread legs, I decided it was time to give Carol her husband back.

Katsantouris and Neilson admitted in an interview that they were teaching us steps on our weeklong cruise in a different way than they would on land. ``I am trying to give a basic foundation. It's more quickly than we'd do in regular circumstances, but these are steps that really do exist,'' Neilson said.

And we did learn. Of the steps I picked up, my favorite was the cha cha, which I practiced with mom and other female partners and did eventually get to try with a male passenger as well. I got to the point where I was really feeling the beat, as the instructor suggested, and my feet were actually responding.

I know there was no judge's panel, or viewers watching me at home. But I still think I made it to the next round.