By Janet Steinberg
RECIPE FOR ROMANCE: If covid is keeping you from traveling on this Valentine’s Day, don’t fret. Just use your imagination. With 3 simple ingredients, you can have a Valentine celebration almost anytime and anywhere. A lake…a lagoon…an ocean…or even a hot tub…just mix champagne, white roses and water…and VOILA…you have the recipe for romance.
JUST MIX CHAMPAGNE, WHITE ROSES AND WATER
BATH TOWELS BECOME LOVERS
IGNITE YOUR PASSION as you ski, sail or slip away with your Valentine. Be it with simple pleasures or an over-the-top extravaganza, Valentine’s Day can be any time of the year or any place where you lavish your numero uno (#1) with love. Any getaway can be turned into one of romance. All it takes is the right attitude and the right person. I have equally enjoyed both the simple and the extravagant…and it has not always been on February 14.
Hotel housekeepers often enhance a romantic hideaway. At Ft. Lauderdale’s, Embassy Suites, Evelyn performed her special magic by turning ordinary bath towels into loving swans seemingly gliding atop the bed. Next morning…where’s the beach? In Ft. Lauderdale, “The Venice of America”, you won’t have trouble finding one. In addition to 300 miles of inland waterways…rivers, bays, canals and inlets…seven miles of whispery white sand beaches are strung out along the Atlantic coastline.
The intimate ambiance of Highland’s Old Edwards Inn is a perfect hideaway for a few days with the love of your life. In the award-winning Spa that exudes the energy and healing power of the mountains, share the “Bliss For Two Massage” in the beautiful couples’ spa suite, complete with candles and aromatherapy. At this cozy retreat tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina, the Inn’s good night kiss came in the form of a chocolate bar and rose petals scattered on the bed,
ROMANTIC ROSES IN THE MOUNTAINS
ROMANCE IN MOTION! Any old movie fan will never forget Fred Astaire singing “Cheek to Cheek” to Ginger Rogers as they danced their way through the movie “Top Hat”. In Whistler, Canada you can snuggle up to your sweetie and dance “Peak 2 Peak” in a one-of-a-kind gondola ride linking Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. This unforgettable full-day excursion, in a glass-bottomed gondola, will take you on the longest continuous lift system in the world…a mile above the glacial Fitzsimmons Creek. A romantic mountain high like no other! Reserve a dinner on the rooftop of the world, with views of the ski slopes and towering peaks.
ASCEND BLACKCOMB MOUNTAIN FOR ROMANCE IN THE CLOUDS
SPREADING THE NEWS: To wake up with the love of your life in the city that never sleeps is pure romance. Once you’ve been there you’ll agree that New York, New York is a city so great it says its name twice. And, there is nothing that could be more romantic than hiring a horse-drawn carriage to clip-clop you and your sweetheart through Central Park. New York is a city made for love and for lovers.
ROMANCE CLIP-CLOPS ITS WAY THROUGH CENTRAL PARK
JUST ADD BUBBLES: Wherever your romantic getaway may take you, be sure to save time for a bubble bath. There are bubble baths…and there are bubble baths…and then there are bubble baths that can never be forgotten.
NO RUBBER DUCKS PLEASE!
My most memorable, bubble bath was in a humongous round bathtub at the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Italy. It’s impossible not to be in love, or fall in love, at the Cipriani. One of the most romantic hotels in the world, the Hotel Cipriani Venezia, is more than a hotel. It is a romantic state of mind…a paradise of dreamy fountains encircled by enchanted gardens, cerulean waters and the mysterious light of a lagoon. Nicknamed “The Chip”, the hotel is la dolce vita… the sweet life. It is the perfect in perfection, the serene in serenity and the romance in romantic.
ROMANTIC ROSES AT SEA
Another memorable bubble bath was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Well, not quite literally in the Atlantic Ocean…but in the bathroom of Silversea’s Silver Shadow as it sailed the ocean enroute to Bermuda. For the ultimate sweet life with your sweetie, nothing beats the suite life on a Silversea cruise where you are welcomed by your personal butler who will pamper you with personalized attention, indulge your every whim and take care of every cruise detail to insure you have the most romantic cruise of your lifetime.
COME ON BABY LIGHT MY FIRE: In 1967, The Doors sang it. In 2021, The Grove Park Inn tucked in a breathtaking landscape between the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountain range, still exudes the romance of a bygone era. Following cocktails on the Sunset Terrace, rock the dreamy night away in front of a massive 14-foot fireplace in the rustic stone Great Hall. The inscription over the fireplace reads, “Take from this hearth its warmth…From this room its charm…From this Inn its amity…Return them not, but return.”
FAN THE FLAMES OF LOVE IN ASHVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED: Don’t fret if you miss celebrating the actual February 14 calendar date of Valentine’s Day. Romance is yours for the asking any day of the year. As the Beatles so musically remind us….“All you need is love, love is all you need.”
LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED
LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED!
PHOTO CREDITS: JANET STEINBERG
Janet Steinberg, winner of 50-travel writing awards, resides in Cincinnati but calls the world her home.