Oh the places you’ll go if only you didn’t have to travel to get there; caretakers; boost your brain
power; and losing Tim
Is there anything worse than air travel these days? Unless of course, it’s filling up your gas
tank. Just this weekend The Three Tomatoes visited family at a vacation spot about an hour and a half from Richmond, Virginia, a
short 47 minute plane ride from NYC. Of course, that doesn’t count the 45 minute drive to the airport to arrive an hour
and a half before the flight, which isn’t so hideous if you leave on time, which we did, sort of, if you don’t count sitting on
the runway for 45 minutes. But it was the return that got us. It wasn’t the hour and a half ride to the
airport to get us there two hours before the scheduled departure time. What got us was that just as we were about to board, the
dreaded “we have a mechanical problem” announcement was made. Not to mention that this was the last flight out until
morning.
However, the good news was that the pilot assured us the problem could be fixed in about a minute, which
turned out to be true except that the mechanic did not arrive for two hours! Where the heck was he coming from?
Another delayed flight? He finally arrived. The fix was a simple one, and we took off, only to be
informed shortly thereafter by our Captain, that LaGuardia had us in a holding pattern. What else is new? So our 47 minute plan
ride turned into about eight hours of travel. We could have driven in that amount of time, but that would have involved the gas
pump sticker shock. It’s almost enough to never leave home. But when we actually arrive at a fun destination, then
it’s sort of like childbirth, you forget the pain part. All of this whining is a lead up to a very exciting
announcement. We now have a travel expert contributing to The Three Tomatoes web site to ease some of the
pain and add more fun to trips we elect to take.
Meet our new travel expert - And No Fanny Packs or Tennis Shoes Please!
We are delighted that Phyllis
Stoller has agreed to write an ongoing travel
column for The Three
Tomatoes, and we couldn’t have asked for a better expert. You see Phyllis founded and managed (for 16
years), the largest tour operator for women in North America. She was voted top in women’s travel by Travel & Leisure
Magazine, the first to receive this honor. Phyllis has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, Lifetime TV for Women and
other media outlets. She has traveled to virtually all the corners of the world, and has homes in New York and
London. She is now a consultant on marketing to women and we’re happy to say, a contributor to The Three Tomatoes.
We had lunch recently and were chatting about how the deflated dollar has made European travel so expensive, and Phyllis
immediately had several tips for traveling economically without traveling on the cheap. Her column this week appropriately
titled, “Savor, Save, Shine” has some
great money saving tips and great advice on what to pack (lightly) and look your best too. And as Phyllis says,
“please, no fanny packs or tennis shoes.” Now if only all those tourists who are visiting NYC in droves would take
that advice, we’d hardly know they were visitors, and wouldn't be able to tell apart the American tourists from the
Europeans. Although on second thought, the cameras, and walking four people abreast, and gawking at the skyscrapers might be
tip off, but hey we gawk in other great cities too. So checkout Phyllis' great travel tips and advice right now.
And speaking of travel advice, this was the topic recently in one of our favorite newsletters, The Best Kept Secret, from our friends across
the border (as in Canada). Check out "Travel
and the Grown up Girl."
If you’re caring for someone, read our guest expert this week.
We’ve also added a new section to our “Ask the experts” section of our web site for occasional guest experts on various topics to contribute.
And this week’s topic is one we know many tomatoes are dealing with -- caring for elderly parents, or a loved one
going through an illness. “Caring for
the Caretaker” offers some terrific advice from a good friend of The Three Tomatoes, Rick Sommers-Steinhaus. Rick is a social worker, who was formerly in the broadcasting
business for many years. However, after being diagnosed with MS, (shortly after running the NYC Marathon) he decided to pursue a
career where he could help others. His article talks about how important it is to take care of yourself while you’re taking care of others, and provides some resources that will help. We look forward
to more contributions from Rick, and other guest experts.
Boost your Brain Power - Join us at The Three Tomatoes Book Club
We’re not making this up. According to a recent article in Prevention Magazine (one of our favorites by the way), participating in a book club can boost both concentration and
comprehension. We know that many of you are participating in our book club, and we invite others to join in too. The great thing is that it’s
virtual, you don’t have to actually go to a meeting, and you can take your time posting your comments to our weekly questions so you’ll
sound brilliant. And hey, you don’t even have to read the current book, because you can review the archives for
previous book discussions too. Although our current book discussion is on Free Food for Millionaires , a book we really
enjoyed. And our June book selection Domestic Affairs (discussion starts at the end of the month), is one of those good old fashioned novels that you’ll find
yourself reading way into the night. And we’ll be interviewing the author, Eileen Goudge, who has
written several best sellers, to kick off the discussion. So get reading, join the discussions and boost your brain power.
Goodbye Tim
We can’t end this week’s column without remembering Tim Russert. Like
tomatoes everywhere, we feel that we have lost a friend. He was truly one of those larger than life people who managed to
keep us interested in politics, primary after primary, and helped us understand the issues. Who will ever forget that big
grinning smile? Sunday mornings and election nights will never be the same. Rest in peace.
Here’s to all the places we’ll go, to good times, and great memories.
