You work hard all year long, and look forward to your vacation. So why settle for ordinary, when you could do something different this year and create memories that really will last a lifetime?

Today there are so many more choices than just taking a regular cruise or guided tour. If you’re willing to think outside the box, and put a little effort into planning it, your vacation can be extraordinary.

First of all, think about your interests or passions. Is there something that you’ve always wanted to do like learn to paint, try skydiving, or scuba diving?

What about some place that you’ve always wanted to visit like Venice, Paris or Tahiti?

What do you love to do in your spare time…visit art galleries, read or go to flea markets?

If you’ve always wanted to be a painter, why not choose Paris? But instead of staying in a hotel, and making the rounds of the usual tourist attractions, check into renting a flat or participating in a housing exchange program. (You can find several reliable companies on the Internet.) On the money you’ll save on the hotel and restaurants, sign up for art classes at one of the cultural centers near where you’ll be staying. And instead of signing up for a guided tour, visit the tourist attractions with your paints and easel. Live the life of an artist in Paris for two weeks!

Interested in living dangerously? You can find several adventure programs that are created around the extreme sports you’re most interested in — such as skydiving, white water rafting or rock climbing — and they are available almost everywhere in the world — from Africa to Istanbul to the Arctic Circle.

Want to do more than lay around on a tropical beach and work on your tan? What about visiting another country and helping to build a home for a low-income family? Rebuilding a community after a natural disaster? Or working with orphans in a third-world country? Check with your local United Way or faith-based organization. Many nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity or the Red Cross organize special trips for people who want to make a difference.

Or, if you’ve always wondered what Green Peace Volunteers do or wanted to work on a scientific exhibition digging up fossils or exploring the ocean, why not give them a call, to see if you could spend your vacation as a working volunteer?

What about learning a foreign language? (Your local community college probably offers “immersion” vacations as a member of a language class. During your vacation, you stay as a guest in someone’s home, and have the opportunity to live like a native. You’ll become totally immersed in the country of your choice, having the chance to speak the language with your hosts, learn the best places to visit, and getting to eat home cooked meals.)

If you have an idea for the “perfect” vacation, or there’s something you’ve always wanted to do, but don’t know where to start to make it happen, call your local travel agent. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what she can help you arrange.

Whatever your interests, hobbies or passions, if you’ve got unfinished items on your “things to do before I die” list — why not figure out a way to start putting a checkmark in front of some of them, by incorporating your dreams into your next vacation?

I have holidayed in a few mountain ski resorts for example Risoul, Portes du Soleil, Courchevel and Les Arcs, however in all the family’s ski holidays Chamonix Mont Blanc France is certainly my most loved town to go for skiing holiday France.

The place of birth of French Alpine history and home to the dazzling Mont Blanc - at 4807m the EC’s greatest peak - Chamonix Haute Savoie vaunts a superb snow record, a long skiing season (November-April), incomparable extreme mountain telemarking, and vistas to die for. Furthermore Chamonix has an world renown as having just about the most spectacular, thought provoking, and elating alpine skiing available anyplace in the Earth.

Chamonix town is ample and puzzling, and this is before we look at the abutting ski fields; for example Val Cenis, Flegere, Megeve, Montroc and Les Gets.

The Cham Ski lift pass covers nine nearby, and 13 departmental snowboarding towns; on pistes up to 3843 metres, more than 200 snowboard lifts, and 720 kilometres of skiing pistes - with the majority of the snowboarding mountains higher up than 2020 metres. They supplies for each grade from starters including experienced skiers. Come to the skiing mountains section for detailed look at each of the main mountains: Grand Massif, Le Grand-Bornand, Verchaix, Plateau de Beille, La Plagne and Val-d’Isere.

This article is aimed at the independent traveller contemplating a visit to London and eager to use London’s excellent public transport system as their main mode of transportation. A simple guide to using the buses and trains and perhaps more importantly, the vast array of ticketing options.

The London public transport system is for the leisure visitor, one of its great assets and opportunities. An organisation called Transport for London coordinates the various transport options on offer, namely buses, underground railway, overground railway, Docklands light railway and river transport. This network covers the whole Greater London area with a comprehensive network of services. The only airports within this area are Heathrow and London City Airports.

The area is organised in six circular zones which ripple out from the centre. Nearly all the places visitors want to travel to and nearly all hotel accommodation is in Zones 1 and 2, though Heathrow is in Zone 6. For the sake of simplicity we will focus on this inner area, zones 1 and 2. Public transport here is dominated by the London Underground and London’s famous red buses.

You cannot board any bus or train without pre-purchasing a ticket. The single fare on a bus is a flat fare however far you travel. The London Underground fare is determined by the number of zones you travel through on a journey. You can switch trains between the various lines within any single journey. At Underground stations there is always a manned ticket office and automatic ticket machines. At bus stops there is a ticket machine where you can purchase bus tickets.

All underground lines and bus routes operate between about 05:00 and 24:00. There is also a worthwhile network of night buses, especially in the centre of London which for the night owl are both frequent and comprehensive enough to be of real value.

Nearly all travellers on London’s public transport system do not pay for individual journeys though. Instead one of the multi-trip passes is used. The fares set by Transport for London make it much cheaper to purchase one of these cards than to pay individually for each journey. For the visitor the easiest place to purchase any of the passes is a London Underground ticket office or a local retail ticket point. You will see signs in the windows of many shops, especially newsagents, advertising that they sell the range of ticketing options at the same price as from the Underground Stations.

The most popular option for the visitor to London is the one day or three day Travelcard. This covers all public transport options within set zones. The Heathrow Express train is not covered by the pass. For the vast majority of visitors to London this means a Zone 1 & 2 Travelcard. During weekdays there are two fare options, you have to pay significantly more if your Travelcard is used before 09:30 during the week. Children, (less than 16 years old) travel free on the buses. You can also purchase a Travelcard for children for just 1 pound sterling covering all zones. If you purchase a Travelcard for just zones 1 & 2, you can use it for the buses on all zones.

On buses you just show your card to the driver as you board. If you board one of London’s long single deck ‘bendy’ buses get on through any entrance and be prepared to show your ticket for inspection. Hit squads of inspectors descend on a bus sealing all exits and will demand a valid ticket to be shown. On the Underground you will have to insert your ticket into a barrier on entering and exiting stations to gain entry and exit.

You will also see many references to the ‘Oyster Card’ scheme. These are really aimed at residents of London. You will see yellow pads on buses and at the ticket barriers at Underground Stations. Oyster Cards are credit card sized cards that can be electronically loaded with electronic money or a season ticket. For example you can load say 10 GBP onto your card, when you swipe that card to gain access to a bus the fare is automatically deducted from the 10 GBP value on your card. The big attraction is the sizable discounts on individual journeys purchased this way. Most Londoners will have season tickets which are also held in the Oyster Card. The product most attractive to visitors is the 7 day Travelcard. You cannot purchase a 7 day Travelcard without having an Oyster Card.

The feature of Oyster Cards which discourages most visitors, especially overseas visitors, is the fact you have to pay a 3 GBP refundable deposit for an Oyster Card. When you no longer require the Oyster Card you hand it in and fill in a form. You do not receive any money there and then, instead a sterling cheque is sent to your home address at a later date.

Current fares and maps are available at the url’s listed below.

The following pages detail current fares, maps and pictures of using London’s public transport system.

Lond on Underground - Fares, Maps and Travel Passes

London Buses - Fares, Maps and Travel Passes

Two buildings currently under construction are set to revolutionize the visitor experience at George Washingtons historic estate. The Ford Orientation Center and the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center are the major components of a $95 million campaign by George Washingtons Mount Vernon to restore The Father of His Country to his rightful place of honor and distinction in America. The state-of-the-art buildings will shed light on different chapters of Washingtons life including early adulthood, military leadership, and his presidency. The new facilities will open by the end of 2006.

All of our visitors will benefit from these exciting new buildings, but groups will be especially affected with a new ticket entrance and visitor amenities designed just for them, said Stephanie Brown, associate director for Public Affairs. And with so much more to see indoors, we anticipate that even more tour operators will make Mount Vernon a must-see, whether its a cold snowy day or 100 degrees outside.

Mount Vernon features an 18-minute movie reenacting the defining moment of the Revolutionary War Washington crossing the Delaware River. The movie reintroduces visitors to Washington and the events that defined his leadership and character. The movie, included with admission, will be presented at the Ford Orientation Center in rotation in two adjacent theaters with total seating for 450 viewers.

After seeing the movie, guests can engage in interactive galleries and media displays, including short films produced by The History Channel and different multi-sensory experiences. Three life-sized models created by a team of artists and forensic and computer experts will depict Washington at three significant stages of his life, including as a land-surveying teenager.

In the museum, hundreds of objects will be on display in six permanent galleries and one changing exhibition space. Visitors will view furnishings, china, silver, clothing, jewelry, Revolutionary War artifacts, rare books and manuscripts, and other personal effects of the Washington family. Many of these treasures will be exhibited at Mount Vernon for the first time in the new museum, which will be five times larger than the Estates current exhibition space.

For more information look at Grouptravel

When you think of a paddle steamer, you mind probably goes to a might steamboat on the Mississippi, complete with swarthy types, upper class ladies and gentlemen and a huge saloon complete with floating casino.

And why not indeed! This is exactly the role paddle steamers played in the American south in the 19th century. Along with vital passenger transport, swift reliable cargo delivery, there are the memories of rollicking music and a froth of excitement and intrigue as gamblers rich and poor played poker, craps and roulette in the plush smoke filled onboard casino.

However did you know that paddle steamers plied the waters of a number of continents, including Australia, South America and Europe? In fact, plans are currently underway to raise one of Switzerland’s first passenger steamboats from its watery grave at the bottom of Lake Thun. The vintage paddle steamer, the Bellevue, has lain undisturbed on the lakebed since sinking in a storm in 1864. Its exact location had remained a mystery until an underwater search team found the vessel last summer. The boat was laying a few hundred metres from the landing at Oberhofen, 100 metres below the surface and almost entirely covered by sediment.

As a matter of fact, as the first passenger boat on Lake Thun when it made its maiden voyage in 1835, the Bellevue was credited with launching the tourist industry in this region of Switzerland.

Blue Water Search, which found the paddle steamer, is now discussing how to raise the necessary funds in order to bring the boat back to the surface and into the spotlight once again. Using underwater cameras, sonar and magnetic detectors, the team deployed the latest technology to locate the vessel. They also required a lot of patience and luck. Hidden treasure “The main problem really was that 90 per cent of the vessel was covered with sediment,” explained Tommy Peck, one of the team leaders.

“It may well have been that it was once fully covered by sediment and eventually uncovered partially by underwater currents.”

The oxygen poor sediment may prove to be a blessing in disguise now that the boat has been located. Peck hopes that it has helped preserve the vessel, or rather what is left of it.

When it went down in the spring storm, the boat was carrying a load of salt and one sailor, whose body has never been found.

Interested in this subject? Try this link for more of the same

If you are a winter sports enthusiast, then the Alyeska Ski Resort is the place to be! Regardless of your sporting interest, you are sure to find it at this phenomenal complex tucked away in the lovely Chugach Mountains on the state’s south central coast. Rated a four diamond hotel by the American Automobile Agency, this resort is the only four diamond in the entire state. Conveniently located a mere 40 miles from the bustling hub of Anchorage in the quaint town of Girdwood, this resort is easily reachable from the airport or port. The resort is lovely year round, but it certainly comes alive during the winter, when outdoor and winter sports enthusiasts alike flock in the great outdoors to pursue their passions.

Whether you are an old pro or a newbie, the Alyeska Ski Resort has your ticket! For less experienced folks, enjoy a lesson in skiing or snowboarding on the resort’s more beginner-friendly hills. These classes range in experience from beginner to intermediate, allowing individuals to learn new techniques or simply serve as a much needed refresher. Classes are available for individuals of any age and are usually performed in a group, although individual lessons are offered. For the more advanced winter sports enthusiasts, the runs are phenomenal! Mount Alyeska features an average annual snowfall of over 600 inches, skiers and snowboarders have truly found paradise on earth.

For youngsters–or just the young at heart—hit the slopes at Glacier Tube Park. Visitors of all ages will jump at the chance to whiz down these soft, powdery runs on a large inner tube. Perfect for all ages and skill levels, the Glacier Tube Park is a popular spot at the Alyeska Ski Resort. Many adults enjoy the tube park, especially those who are a bit too hesitant to entrust their life to a pair of skinny skis or a single snowboard!

The fantastic winter sports opportunities at the lovely Alyeska Ski Resort are just one aspect of the wintertime fun. The hotel itself is truly phenomenal, offering every imaginable amenity found within the state of Alaska. Designed in a gorgeous chateau style, you will soon forget you are in the Alaskan wilderness, as the massive hotel boasts 307 guest rooms, a phenomenal Royal Suite, and three spectacular townhouse suites. From curling up in front of a cozy fireplace with a cup of warm cocoa to indulging in a luxurious bubble bath in the room’s fantastic tub, your room will be calling you off the slopes and into its warm haven.

The exquisite Alyeska Ski Resort is the perfect getaway for the entire family. Whether you are an avid skier or choose to stick to the bunny slopes, you cannot go wrong choosing this world class resort.

I’ll never forget the look on the face of that Colombian campesino man. My wife just explained to him in Spanish that what I am holding under my arm is indeed a surfboard, despite the fact that we were standing in a Colombian village that was located somewhere in the middle of the Andes Mountains, hundreds of miles away from any ocean. After hearing this news the man made a joke about us getting bad directions. He then flashed a smile that revealed a mouth full of rotten teeth. Soon after that he shook his head, tucked his hands into the front pockets of his hand-woven Inca style poncho, turned, and moved on down the only street in his town. When the man reached the center of town a gust of wind swept down the street and blew the black fedora hat off his head. As I was watching him chase after it through a cloud of dust, I thought to myself; “I gotta’ get to the ocean.”

I was beginning to feel like a fish out of water. Surfers cannot stay away from the ocean for too long, or they start to “dry out”. As I was standing on that dirt street in that dusty little town, I realized that I had not seen the ocean in over a month. More importantly, I had not surfed in it. Halfway through a two month excursion across the country of Colombia, in South America, we were on our way to a small Caribbean beach resort on the northeastern edge of the country for a much needed break from the madness we had experienced so far on that trip. We had spent the holidays traveling from Bogot to Medelln, and then back to Bogot again to meet and visit with various different members of my wife’s family. There had been some mishaps along the way involving pick-pockets and miscreants. Up to that point it was not fun, and we will leave it at that.

Traveling on a tight budget in a foreign country is the best way to experience the true culture of that country, but it can be quite taxing on your soul. We could not afford plane tickets to fly all over the country, so we had to take busses and taxis instead. Some of those bus rides took over two days to reach our destination. We traveled through some of the most remote areas of Colombia, changing busses and hailing taxis the whole way. Along the way we saw some of the most beautiful scenery on earth, and experienced some very interesting, intense, and strange things. Black magic and evil curses are practiced in many areas of Colombia, and I cannot say any more on that subject, for fear that you would think of me as crazy. There are things that cannot be explained in this world, and a lot of them happen in Colombia.

There were other things that happened to us that were even more terrifying than black magic. Let’s just say it’s never a good thing to have your bus stopped in the middle of the night by rough looking men with machine guns on a winding, dark, mountainous road. That is whole other story for another time.

Back to our main story; we were about four hours North of Bucaramanga, and waiting to board yet another one of those colorful busses. All I could think about at that moment was surfing and relaxing at this place called Tayrona. I was told you can sit in your own thatched-hut “choza” and watch the waves from your front porch. For those who are not familiar with the sport of surfing, that sounds about as good as it gets for a surfer.

It had not been easy carrying that surfboard all over Colombia. We landed in Bogot in the middle of the country a month before, and I had been schlepping it around with our other luggage from one bus or taxi to the other ever since. It was like I was living my own little version of the movie Fitzcaraldo, and my surfboard was the ship that was being carried for many miles across dry land. I was determined to make the effort pay off.

While we were waiting for our bus in that little mountain village we were inundated by the usual local people trying to sell us stuff. My wife, being a Colombian native did most of the talking for those negotiations. These little villages along the main roads of Colombia survive on money from people who are just passing through, or waiting for a bus. The local indigenous people sell everything from bags of purified water, to homemade “empanadas” (a meat and potato filled turnover made with corn-meal dough). My wife and I had been surviving on food and water provided by those people for most of our trip. Amazingly, neither of us had been sick yet. Albeit, most of this food had been delicious, you have to wonder about the cooking and cleaning practices in a town that has no running water. Something tells me that if the cook had a choice between using their last bucket of water to wash their hands before cooking, or having water to drink the next day, they’d forego the cleanliness. I tried not to think about stuff like that on that trip. I only thought about how much flavor those homemade items had with their homegrown ingredients.

People sure know how to cook in Colombia. Wow! The food in that country just seemed to have a lot more flavor than the food I was used to in the United States. We really experienced the authentic food of Colombia; “buuelos, “pandebonos”, “arepas”, you name it and we tried it along the way. We were on a budget, yet eating very good food. The people who made this food were as poor as one could be, but they could make food like no-one else on earth. The freshness, lack of pesticides, and the nutrient-rich soils also have a lot to do with why the food tastes so good in Colombia.

After we ate our share of “empanadas” that we purchased from a little old village woman carrying a hand-woven basket, we were ready for a freshly blended fruit smoothie. There were always several of these little smoothie stands in every town that we stopped at along the way, and we always made sure that we sampled at least one. No matter how small of a stand, the vender always had electricity to run their blender, ice box, and boom-box. I immediately ordered a couple of “tomate de rbol “smoothies at a nearby stand, and then we sat down on an old wooden bench provided by the smoothie vendor.

We were told by the driver of the last bus that our next bus should be along in “no time at all”. It had been my experience up to that point that this bus driver may, or may not be right. Sometimes the bus came right away and the transfer went smoothly. Other times we ended up waiting long periods of time between transfers. Those ones did not go so smoothly.

The mountain roads and leftist guerilla laden areas that these busses travel through can cause long delays, to say the least. Hanging out in that small town in the middle of nowhere in the foothills of the Andes Mountains waiting for a bus was quite nerve-racking. The local people of those types of towns were always very suspicious of anyone that stayed behind after a bus came through. Most people just passed right through. They were especially suspicious of a Gringo with a surfboard and a Colombian wife. There was a war going on in that country. Everywhere we went everyone wanted to know whose side we were on. As we were sitting in that dusty, one-horse town in a remote area of Colombia, I knew we were in for a long, harrowing wait.

The budget for food can be one of the most expensive parts of any vacation, and many travelers underestimate how much they will spend on food while traveling and end up busting their budget as a result. There are a number of ways to keep the food budget under control while still enjoying delicious, satisfying and healthy meals.

For many people, good food is a large part of the travel experience, and sampling the local cuisine should be a goal of every traveler to a foreign location. Saving money on food does not mean skimping or missing out on the special food that makes many regions of the United States, Europe, Asia and other destinations so special.

It is important to eat a healthy and hearty breakfast every day while traveling. Many hotels include a daily breakfast in their room rate, and if this is available it is important to take advantage of the perk. Starting each morning with a healthy breakfast will give you the energy you need for walking around and seeing the sights, and it will help deter you from splurging on expensive and unhealthy snacks before it is time for lunch.

Lunch can be a very important meal when traveling, and it is the best time to get the most value from some of the finest restaurants in your destination city. While lunches in the working world are often rushed affairs eaten quickly, or even in the car on the way back to work, vacation lunches can be long, restful, relaxing and delicious. If there is an expensive restaurant you’ve been itching to splurge at, why not head there for lunch instead of dinner? You get the same great food, often at a significantly lower price.

One great way to sample the local cuisine and save money at the same time is to eat where the local people do. Ask the staff at your hotel for recommendations of restaurants they eat at. Restaurants with a large concentration of locals are usually high quality and low priced destinations.

Eating dinner or lunch in ethnic neighborhoods is another way to sample the local cuisine and culture while saving lots of money. Sampling the food in the local Chinatown, Korea town, Little Italy, Little Saigon or similar neighborhood is a great way to meet local people and enjoy some great food.

For a quick pick me up or snack, try packing a few granola bars, a bag of trail mix or a few pieces of fruit in your backpack or purse before you head out for the day. These items can be bought inexpensively at local markets or grocery stores.

A quick trip to the local grocery store for supplies can be a great way to save money while traveling. For instance, many travelers will spend a half hour at the local grocery store, stocking up on bottled water, cereal and other low cost foods. Keeping those foods and water on hand in the hotel room is a great way to save money on eating.

Having your own picnic is another great way to both have a great time and save money on food while traveling. Try packing a picnic lunch and enjoy the spectacular views as you hike to your favorite spot in the mountains. Or pack a romantic dinner for two and head for the local outdoor concert. Picnics are great, and very memorable ways to enhance any vacation experience.

Ocean City Maryland is one of the favorite vacation seashore destinations in the Mid-Atlantic Coast. Ocean City has 10 miles of clean sandy beaches on the Atlantic Ocean which includes a boardwalk, approximately 20 blocks long. Ocean City Maryland offers many recreational activities for everyone. Some of the numerous activities include fishing, watersports, golfing, historical attractions, amusement park rides, or just plain old fun in the sun on the clean sandy beaches.

Ocean City, Maryland has been referred to as the “East Coast’s Number One Family Resort”. The title comes well deserved because it hosts numerous activities and events that will appeal to every member of the family. In addition the area has accomodations to meet your tastes, no matter what your budget may be.

Come here in the summer time, and experience the Atlantic Ocean. There are tons of activities to participate in, including boogie boarding swimming, kite flying, surf fishing, jogging, bodysurfing.

Also in spring, summer or fall, charter boats take anglers out of Ocean City to fish for blue fish, tuna, wahoo, shark, and marlin. One of the things that Maryland is famous for is it’s blue crabs. Crabbing for Maryland’s infamous blue crabs can be done from the bayside fishing piers. These bays, which are west of Ocean City offer a wide variety of watersports. Come here to go windsurfing, powerboating, fishing, jet skiing, water skiing, parasailing and sailboating, just to name a few.

Golfers can choose from nine award-winning courses. surrounded by wetlands and marsh near Ocean City. Many of the local hotels and motels offer golf packages all year long.

The Convention center is a big attraction for many venues. Concerts, festivals, and everything from car to boat shows are open to the public. These events are held throughout the year at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center. So there is always soemthing to see or do at the Convention Center.The Center is located in the middle of Ocean City, with lots of parking available. There are additional exhibit halls, meeting rooms, and a full-service kitchen that can serve 2,500 people. So it makes a great place to hold a group meeting. The Convention Center also houses Ocean City’s new, beautiful Visitor Information Center, a great place to start your visit.

Ocean City is home to some of the finest dining and nightlife on the East Coast. Whatever you are hungry for, it’s right here. There’s everything from the “local seafood” specialties to Pizza and world-famous Thrasher’s french fries. Do you like ethnic foods? How about Italian or Chinese or Greek, and everything in between. If you like the night life, there’s plenty of that as well. Restaurants and clubs in Ocean City have the whole enchilada when it comes to entertainment. There are sports bars, jazz and blues bars, rock ‘n roll, and country. It’s all here.

Are you bringing kids, or adults who act like kids? There are (2) amusement parks, numerous arcades, miniature golf, go-kart tracks, and many movie theaters available. Ocean City also has (2) malls, a and discounted Shopping Outlets.

There are lots of events happening in the winter months, too. Ocean City’s annual Winterfest of Lights Celebration features hundreds of lighted displays with over one million lights. Where else could you see a nautical theme with Santa fishing for tuna or how about Santa riding the waves, on his surfboard?

Ocean City, which is Maryland’s only oceanside and bayside resort, has become a year-round fun destination.

Elizabeth Ann Wares is the webmaster of Airfare X: http://www.airfarex.com A leading resource for airfare and other travel related information on the internet.

About The Author

Elizabeth Ann Wares is an avid traveler and enjoys sharing her traveling and vacationing experiences. She is the webmaster of Airfare X:

http://www.airfarex.com

A leading resource for airfare and other travel related information on the internet.

elizabeth@airfarex.com

The Beat Goes On at Palm Springs Beat Hotel

Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com
To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link:
http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/hotels/calif/psprings/beat/beat.html

The Beat Hotel

It was 1957, when an ordinary hotel in the Latin Quarter of Paris was dubbed “The Beat Hotel” and then became the center of this literary groundbreaking artistic energy.

The three men that christened this hotel were some of the core founding fathers of the counter cultural Beat Generation: William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Allen Ginsberg. The Beat Hotel at 9 rue Git-le-Coeur on the Left Bank was the original live-in retreat and study center for ten years until it was torn down in 1967.

Serendipitously, another nondescript mid-century modern hotel was being built the same year the Beat Hotel was christened. This hotel, practically half way around the globe, came to life in Desert Hot Springs, California. The true purpose would, unfortunately, not be known for more than forty years, when it would be resurrected from the dead and its name changed from the Monte Carlo Resort Motel to The Desert Hot Springs Beat Hotel. This two story, eight unit hotel, after a sad period of dilapidation and resurrection, would become a live in retreat and study center for lovers of the arts, and in particular, the literary and visual arts of William Seward Burroughs. According to its owner, chief restorer, and curator, Steve Lowe, it is a living museum that caters to writers. On an equally remarkable side note, Steve owns another impressive Lowe Desert motel called The Lautner, which was designed by architect John Lautner.

Steve admits that the vision for the Desert Hot Springs Beat Hotel came from two places: 1. A similar looking hotel structure, El Muniria Hotel in Tangiers, Morocco, where the infamous William Burroughs wrote his most famous book, “The Naked Lunch”, and, 2. From “The Last Hotel”, a book written in 1986 by a peculiar Burroughs collaborative visual artist and author named Brion Gysin.

Gysin imagined that El Muniria was transported to Southern California, 200 miles from Los Angeles and rebuilt on the San Andreas Fault. If you look at any Southern California map, the location to the prediction is uncanny. The “new” Beat Hotel is a place of rest, rejuvenation, and where a person can recharge his or her mind. Having no telephones or televisions in any of the eight rooms, this is clearly a living museum that pays homage to William S. Burroughs. The Beat Hotel is a piece of installation art with a mineral fed swimming pool and spa that must truly be experienced to be fully appreciated.

According to Burroughs, writer and artist, “One of the jobs of the artist is to fabricate dreams for other people. We dream for these people who have no dreams of their own to keep them alive.”

By the time William Burroughs died in 1997, he lived quite a colorful existence for 83 years. His compelling ideas, creative raw power in his writing style and worldly cynicism expressed in numerous poems and in over three dozen books turned him into an underground celebrity and revolutionary literary figure. Another favorite creative outlet, his expressive abstract artwork, often came from whatever materials were at hand for his personal needs: spray paint cans, shotguns, plywood, et cetera and was symbolic of his belief in the advancement of total freedom. Many of these original Burroughs works (of art) are on display at the Beat Hotel, where the life, the legend and the literature are fused into one.

William S. Burroughs

The stone-faced grandson of the inventor of the Burroughs Ten Key Machine, William was destined to live his life according to his own rules where he strongly emphasized the need for personal freedom and nonconformity.

Throughout his life, aside from writing, Burroughs never really seemed to work, since his endeavors were financed by his wealthy Midwestern family.

He was an intelligent bookworm who graduated from Harvard by studying literature and anthropology. William, who experimented with various lifestyles, was an avid gun fanatic and frequent drug user. He had a fascination with the gangster underworld, and often when he was out in public, was sharply dressed in a business suit and fedora. In addition, he was a frontiersman who traveled extensively and lived on the cutting edge of society everywhere from Chicago, Colombia, Morocco, Paris, London, New York, New Orleans, Mexico, and Texas, until he “retired” in Lawrence, Kansas in 1981.

As he traveled, he preferred to settle into a motel and use it as his base camp for writing some of his numerous often shocking and highly idiosyncratic books. Hence, his aforementioned quote about his creative spirit being unleashed while staying in a hotel room.

On a beautiful evening with a full moon slowly rising over the low Desert Hot Springs sky, Kim and I pulled our MINI into the barely identifiable, yet full hotel parking lot. The only building moniker, a small grouping of white letters saying, “Hotel” signified to us where we were.

The Beat Hotel is at the end of a residential street and is surrounded by empty plots of land complete with natural desert landscaping. Upon ringing the doorbell, we were warmly welcomed by the owner/curator, Steve Lowe, and were given an extensive tour of his labor of love.

Throughout the tour, Steve recalled numerous memories he had of William S. Burroughs from his years knowing him. He explained the history of his extensive collection of Burroughs artwork, pictures, manuscripts, and memorabilia. As Steve departed us for the evening, we were on overload from countless facts about the godfather of the Beat Generation. So, we dropped off our bags at our very hip room, and each grabbed a complimentary glass of wine from the library and went perusing the Beat Hotel’s funky lounge, and outdoor pool area.

To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link:
http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/hotels/calif/psprings/beat/beat.html

Don and Kim Tatera, Jetsetters Magazine Editor - Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com

About the Author

Kim and Don Tatera, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com