More than 100 Sofitel hotels worldwide are now on sale, with discounts in a broad variety of destinations that are appealing this season. The offer of a fourth night free is even more enticing thanks to an included late check out, giving you the run of your room until 4 p.m. on the day of departure.

Among the hotels on special are a few that made our 2011 Gold List of the world’s best places to stay, including the Sofitel Cartagena Santa Clara, the Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach, the Sofitel Phokeethra Royal Angkor resort and the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi. Interestingly, the Sofitel Cairo Maadi Towers is also participating, as Egypt works to lure tourists back with discounts.

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Tags: Hotels Worldwide, Sofitel Hotels, Sofitel Hotels Worldwide, Worldwide

If you’ve been thinking about a vacation, this is the season of giveaways.

The town of Pigeon Forge always comes up with interesting contests. This year they are filming a reality show and are looking for five families to compete. The winning family takes home $10,000, but all the competitors will be winners, because they will have been selected by the readers of the website to be on the show. To enter, the families submit a 60-second video that will be posted on www.MyPigeonForge.com.

The reality show contestants have until May 17 to get their videos in and lobby for folks to vote for them. T

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Tags: Vacation

Now that the days are getting longer and the air is warming up, there’s hardly any excuse for you to stay cooped up inside all the time! There’s no shortage of events this month that will entice you to come out and enjoy some sun.

6th March – Maslenitsa Festival, London

Kickstart Spring with a dose of Russian flavour at this festival in Trafalgar Square. The Maslenitsa event will feature live bands and choirs performing traditional Russian music on stage. There

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It is quite obvious that the beach and a bathing suit is enough to send some people running in the other direction. Have you all noticed this obsession with getting into a bikini? Some bikinis these days require you to be practically naked so I do understand the reservations here.

What if this summer you booked your vacation to the beach or wherever it is that you want to go, and you were simply excite? That’s it! Just excited. Not nervous for how you might look, or anxiously throwing away food to ensure you don’t eat too much or my favorite becoming a certified gym rat for the next two months. Wha

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Tags: Beach, Beach Smiling

Langshott Manor for Gatwick

Despite its loyal following, one rarely reads about Langshott Manor, five miles from Gatwick, so it feels like a bit of a secret. An atmospheric 16th-century Elizabethan manor house with classic timber frames and wood panels, it has been a country house hotel since 1986. Tucked away down a quiet country lane, the hotel is a 10-minute drive from the airport.

Set in three acres of garden and surrounded by a moat, its 22 bedrooms, named after local houses of note plus Henry VIII and his wives, are classic-contemporary in style and shared between the main house and three mews houses in the grounds.

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You didnt think we went all the way to South Dakota without paying a visit to our founding fathers, did you? Of course we didnt.

I love how the whole slow, snaking to Keystone coming up from Custer State Park offers views of the four old dudes. This should show you how great SVV and I are at American history: Neither of us could name the fourthWashington, Lincoln, Jefferson and? (The answer is Roosevelt. Good ol Teddy.)

Im pretty sure, though, had they been alive that the presidents would envy SVVs do.

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Tags: Dakota, South Dakota