August 16, 2007
The Travel Bug, Belly Dancing, and all that Jazz
It’s August and The Three Tomatoes know that many of you are
vacationing right now, as we write this week’s newsletter. But for the rest of you who are reading this in a hopefully cool
location, and wishing you were some where else, here are some thoughts that might help you do just that.
Love to travel, but don’t want to go alone?
Rhea, a dear friend of ours, and a great tomato too, has long had the travel
bug. At least once or twice a year, she would plan some wonderful trip and off she would go, with hubby in tow.
Well sadly, she was widowed a few years ago, and among the many things she missed was having someone to travel with. So
when she started telling us a couple of years ago about her upcoming trips to places like London, Rome, Croatia, and Paris, our first question was,
“So who are you going with", thinking it might be some young hunk, but then she said, “Well I’m going on my own, but with a
group of strangers.” “How bold,” we said, but then she said “If I sit around waiting for someone
to travel with, I’ll be doing just that -- sitting around.” (Seems there just aren’t enough young hunks to go
around these days.) And then she told us about The
Women’s Travel Club. She recently returned from a fabulous trip to Paris through this group, and has been on all over
The
Three Tomatoes like a cheap suit ever
since, to tell the rest of you tomatoes about the “Club” too. Well after visiting their web site, and chatting
with Phyllis Stoller, the founder, we can’t wait to share this with you.
Phyllis’s concept for a women’s only travel club, came about
several years ago through her personal hunt to find travel friends, since her “workaholic
husband” wasn’t interested in traveling. Her concept became a reality in 1992 when she officially launched The Women’s Travel Club, which today is a leading tour operator and advocate for women's travel and safety needs. In fact, a recent article in The Wall Street Journal,
which highlighted Phyllis and the Club, focused on
the trend of married women who are traveling sans husbands or boyfriends, to places they’ve always wanted to go with women’s tour
groups. So whether you're single or married, if you’ve always wanted to see India, or Iceland, or just chill out at a
Mexican spa resort, but don’t want to go solo, you’ll find these trips and dozens of other’s that will satisfy just about any
tomato’s wanderlust. Oh, and if you have a group of at least 10 other female friends, The Women’s Travel Club will put together a trip just for your
group.
A “Smart Workout” Club
Okay, so if you’re going to start traveling to all those exotic places,
you’re going to want to look good too. And we all know how boring the typical gym can be. But not
anymore, if you work or live in NYC’s mid-town. Smart Workout offers its members small group classes ( no more than four to six people) in Pole Dancing, Yoga, Zumba,
Cardio Dance, Belly Dancing, Boxing, Rebounding, Tred n'Shed, Bosu Ball, Warrier Workout, Hip Hop/Video Dance, Total Body
Conditioning, and On the Ball. And if that’s not enough variety, you can also work out on the 12 hydraulic weight
circuit machines and cardio equipment. Located in an office building on E. 40th Street just off Lexington, we
were amazed when we got off the elevator and entered a beautiful loft-like space, done in soothing blonde wood tones with three walls of windows,
where Lois (a tomato for sure) showed us around. Oh, and they even have a lunchtime program that offers
the option of a prix fixe healthy lunch which you can enjoy eating in the comfort of their “ living room”. Now
here’s the best, you can get a FREE day by calling 212-661-1660. Ask for Lois and tell her The Three
Tomatoes sent you.
Jazz at The Kitano Hotel
This may be one of the best kept secrets in town (so don’t tell anyone
else), but the Kitano Hotel (on Park Avenue just a few blocks South of Grand Central) has one of the nicest hotel bars in town with live jazz every Wednesday to Sunday nights. There is no cover on Wednesday or Thursday nights and a
$25 cover on Friday to Sunday. The drinks are great and, by hotel standards, “reasonably priced.”
The bar is lovely and it’s the kind of place you could actually walk into alone, sit at the bar and be welcomed by
their friendly bartenders. No “scene”, no attitudes, and you can actually have a conversation.
Oh, and the hotel also has a beautiful rooftop that does catering for as few as twenty people. We have recommended the hotel
to out-of - towners who are still thanking us. And they’ve got some great specials going on right now, so you could actually have a little get away right here in NYC.
Positively sinful.
So here’s to all the places you’ll go.
‘til next week,
The Three Tomatoes
Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All rights
reserved.
