World's cheapest long haul holiday is perfect for families – with no jet lag, jaw-dropping animals and perfect beaches
Suddenly, a rustle in the bushes ahead makes us stop still.
7 Camps Bay suburb feels like a cross between Cannes and a fancy California town, with its white sandy beach, backdrop of Table Mountain and restaurants lining the beach Credit: Getty
7 To sample some of Cape Town's finest bottles, we headed to the historic town of Stellenbosch, set among the vineyards of the Cape Winelands Credit: Getty
7 The Cape Town waterfront Credit: Getty
Two beady eyes emerge, followed by a set of stripey legs slowly plodding on to the trail in front of us. 'There are some zebras on the path,' my partner whispers.
Not your usual walk home, but that's South Africa for you.
This is a country so packed with wildlife that it is not uncommon to see exotic creatures such as baboons and ostriches feeding at the side of the road, or taking an evening stroll in front of your hotel room.
Luckily, zebras are a gentle breed and the ones we encountered seemed entirely disinterested as we weaved around them to our cottage.
It was a typical evening on our two-week road trip through Cape Town this Easter, a first proper bucket-list holiday with our six-year-old.
We flew on Norse Atlantic Airways, the affordable airline whose budget prices meant we could fly Premium Economy on our overnight flight and stand a decent chance of getting some sleep.
Everything in Cape Town is so accessible that we landed at 8.30am, got our hire car, checked into the hotel and were on the glorious Camps Bay beach in swimsuits by 11.30am.
Camps Bay suburb feels like a cross between Cannes and a fancy California town, with its white sandy beach, backdrop of Table Mountain and smart restaurants lining the beachfront.
Better still, the one-hour time difference meant we had no jet lag, so we could get stuck in straight away without the need to sleep it off.
The famous mountain was the first adventure spot on our list. And it made for a great family day out thanks to the rotating gondolas that slowly spin to offer panoramic views on the ascent to the top.
Best Value Winter Sun Long Haul Destinations
You will also see plenty of cute dassies (a type of large rabbit, native to these parts) that can be spotted scurrying across the rocky landscapes or munching on plants .
Once there, the flatness of the peak meant there was a vast area to explore, with circular two-hour hikes across the top.
Easter is a great time to visit, because that's Cape Town's autumn, meaning it is relatively crowd-free at this time, with 20C to 29C temperatures.
The next stop on our road adventure was Kalk Bay, a cute little boho town where ramshackle restaurants and hippy boutiques line the seafront.
At the town's upmarket Harbour House restaurant, we dined on seafood and good wine for the price of a Pizza Hut meal in the UK — all while watching seals swimming in the harbour.
Our accommodation was the charming Chartfield Guesthouse, staying in a huge two-bedroom apartment. It was bigger than my house back home, and cost only £94 a night.
Kalk Bay is a prime spot for visiting the endangered African penguins of neighbouring Simonstown.
There must have been around 100 on the town's shoreline, Boulders Beach, when we visited, swimming in the sea, waddling about or protecting their nests.
That wasn't our only wildlife encounter in the area, though.
Kalk Bay is also close to the 17,300-acre Cape Point Nature Reserve, with its sweeping ocean views and 200ft cliffs, where we spotted ostriches and baboons, among other creatures.
Aside from its excellent wildlife, Cape Town is known for one thing: Wine.
To sample some of its finest bottles, we headed to the historic town of Stellenbosch, set among the vineyards of the Cape Winelands.
Here, we checked into the Evergreen Manor and Spa, a quaint property that felt like the home from the Anne Of Green Gables novel, and an outdoor pool to relax in after a day's wine tasting.
Stellenbosch is the perfect base for exploring the region's family- friendly vineyards.
We saw whales, sharks, dolphins, penguins and seals on our morning at sea, with our favourites being the bronze whaler shark and colony of Cape fur seals.
At the Warwick Wine Estate, we relaxed on the lawn with a gourmet picnic, while my boy was more than content in the playground and water fountain.
Another brilliant spot for the whole family was Soetmelksvlei, an immersive farming experience that recreates an 1800s farm, on the grounds of the Babylonstoren wine estate.
We sat at the kitchen table of the manor house while the cook rustled up snacks, and learned how the staff churned milk.
From here, we made our way to the coastal town of Gansbaai, aka 'great white shark capital of the world', to go on Marine Dynamics' Big 5 Marine Safari.
We saw whales, sharks, dolphins, penguins and seals on our morning at sea, with our favourites being the bronze whaler shark and colony of Cape fur seals.
The team on board were outstanding, too.
I've been on plenty of marine-life spotting trips and never experienced that level of care.
7 The city skyline at sunset is a sight you'll always remember
7 A stunning view across Cape Town for our explorers Credit: Supplied
Our hunt for Africa's animals continued afterwards, with a stay at the De Hoop Nature Reserve, an 84,000-acre area that is home to free-roaming zebras, baboons, ostriches, mongoose and eland. Because of the non-predatory nature of the animals, guests are free to walk among them.
Which is how we found ourselves bumping into a dazzle of zebras on our way back from dinner.
It was an eventful night. Apparently the baboons also snuck into the restaurant kitchen to steal some bread that evening.
We'd already been warned about keeping the windows of our cottage closed when out, as the cheeky primates liked to break in for snacks.
I could hardly blame them for wanting to have a nose around.
The De Hoop Collection cottage we stayed in was gorgeous — spacious and designed in a country-chic style, all chintz curtains and huge squishy sofas.
It was the perfect warm-up for our penultimate destination, where we splurged on a three-night safari at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve.
It is one of South Africa's largest privately owned nature reserves, with around 150,000 acres of land and a handful of 5* lodges, as well as the all-important 'big five' — lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, among others.
A whirlwind 14 days with so many memories made, that it felt like five holidays wrapped into one.
My favourite wildlife spots had to be a herd of elephants and pride of lions, and both came within a few metres of our safari truck.
But we had so many encounters, from giraffes and hippos to Cape buffalo, zebras, springboks and hyenas, that we felt truly spoilt.
As we did by the hospitality at Sanbona, where we stayed in the 12-suite Gondwana family lodge.
The hours between the morning and evening game drives were spent eating delicious food, sunbathing, swimming in the pool and playing one of the many board games, which are free for guests.
Given we had packed so much in, it felt only right to spend our last 36 hours in Cape Town chilling. And there was no better place to do just that than the Radisson Collection Hotel, Waterfront Cape Town, a 5* hotel in a prime coastal spot with far more reasonable rates than most of Europe.
Last year, South Africa's tourism minister touted the region as such great value that 'British visitors can afford our 5* hotels'.
7 A bird's eye view of penguins at Boulders Beach Credit: Supplied
7 Luckily, zebras are a gentle breed and the ones we encountered seemed entirely disinterested as we weaved around them to our cottage Credit: Getty
And the city was crowned the world's best-value long-haul destination in the Post Office Travel Money Report.
Pitched up on sun loungers, we drank delicious wine — fancy stuff at just £4 a glass — while our son played with the other kids in the infinity pool, as dolphins played in the ocean 20 metres away.
If it sounds like the trip was a dream from start to finish, it really was.
A whirlwind 14 days with so many memories made, that it felt like five holidays wrapped into one.
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Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
Trump criticized the idea of presidential vacations. His Scotland trip is built around golf.
The White House isn't calling Trump's five-day, midsummer jaunt a vacation, but rather a working trip where the Republican president might hold a news conference and sit for interviews with U.S. and British media outlets. Trump was also talking trade in separate meetings with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump is staying at his properties near Turnberry and Aberdeen, where his family owns two golf courses and is opening a third on Aug. 13. Trump played golf over the weekend at Turnberry and is helping cut the ribbon on the new course on Tuesday. Advertisement He's not the first president to play in Scotland: Dwight D. Eisenhower played at Turnberry in 1959, more than a half century before Trump bought it, after meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. But none of Trump's predecessors has constructed a foreign itinerary around promoting vacation sites his family owns and is actively expanding. Advertisement It lays bare how Trump has leveraged his second term to pad his family's profits in a variety of ways, including overseas development deals and promoting cryptocurrencies, despite growing questions about ethics concerns. 'You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,' said Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication and courses on American culture and the modern presidency at American University. 'In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.' A parade of golf carts and security accompanied President Trump at Turnberry, on the Scottish coast southwest of Glasgow, on Sunday. Christopher Furlong/Getty President Trump on the links. Christopher Furlong/Getty Presidents typically vacation in the US Franklin D. Roosevelt went to the Bahamas, often for the excellent fishing, five times between 1933 and 1940. He visited Canada's Campobello Island in New Brunswick, where he had vacationed as a child, in 1933, 1936 and 1939. Reagan spent Easter 1982 on vacation in Barbados after meeting with Caribbean leaders and warning of a Marxist threat that could spread throughout the region from nearby Grenada. Presidents also never fully go on vacation. They travel with a large entourage of aides, receive intelligence briefings, take calls and otherwise work away from Washington. Kicking back in the United States, though, has long been the norm. Harry S. Truman helped make Key West, Florida, a tourist hot spot with his 'Little White House' cottage there. Several presidents, including James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison, visited the Victorian architecture in Cape May, New Jersey. More recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama boosted tourism on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, while Trump has buoyed Palm Beach, Florida, with frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate. But any tourist lift Trump gets from his Scottish visit is likely to most benefit his family. 'Every president is forced to weigh politics versus fun on vacation,' said Jeffrey Engel, David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who added that Trump is 'demonstrating his priorities.' Advertisement 'When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time,' Engel said. It's even a departure from Trump's first term, when he found ways to squeeze in visits to his properties while on trips more focused on work. Trump stopped at his resort in Hawaii to thank staff members after visiting the memorial site at Pearl Harbor and before embarking on an Asia trip in November 2017. He played golf at Turnberry in 2018 before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Trump once decried the idea of taking vacations as president. 'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' Trump wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.' During his presidential campaign in 2015, he pledged to 'rarely leave the White House.' Even as recently as a speech at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington on Wednesday, Trump derided his predecessor for flying long distances for golf — something he's now doing. 'They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back,' he said. On the green... Christopher Furlong/Getty ... and in the sand. Christopher Furlong/Getty Presidential vacations and any overseas trips were once taboo Trump isn't the first president not wanting to publicize taking time off. George Washington was criticized for embarking on a New England tour to promote the presidency. Some took issue with his successor, John Adams, for leaving the then-capital of Philadelphia in 1797 for a long visit to his family's farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. James Madison left Washington for months after the War of 1812. Advertisement Teddy Roosevelt helped pioneer the modern presidential vacation in 1902 by chartering a special train and directing key staffers to rent houses near Sagamore Hill, his home in Oyster Bay, New York, according to the White House Historical Association. Four years later, Roosevelt upended tradition again, this time by becoming the first president to leave the country while in office. The New York Times noted that Roosevelt's 30-day trip by yacht and battleship to tour construction of the Panama Canal 'will violate the traditions of the United States for 117 years by taking its President outside the jurisdiction of the Government at Washington.' In the decades since, where presidents opted to vacation, even outside the U.S., has become part of their political personas. In addition to New Jersey, Grant relaxed on Martha's Vineyard. Calvin Coolidge spent the 1928 Christmas holidays at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Lyndon B. Johnson had his 'Texas White House,' a Hill Country ranch. Eisenhower vacationed in Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy went to Palm Springs, California, and his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, among other places. Richard Nixon had the 'Southern White House' on Key Biscayne, Florida, while Joe Biden traveled frequently to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while also visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. George H.W. Bush was a frequent visitor to his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, and didn't let the start of the Gulf War in 1991 detour him from a monthlong vacation there. His son, George W. Bush, opted for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than a more posh destination. Advertisement Presidential visits help tourism in some places more than others, but Engel said that for some Americans, 'if the president of the Untied States goes some place, you want to go to the same place.' He noted that visitors emulating presidential vacations are out 'to show that you're either as cool as he or she, that you understand the same values as he or she or, heck, maybe you'll bump into he or she.'
Forbes
a day ago
- Forbes
3 Overseas Havens Where Retirees Can Live Rich On Social Security
Santa Marta, Colombia. getty In June, the average monthly Social Security check for retired workers hit $2,005.05. It's a source of income that millions of Americans rely upon when they leave the workforce—but is it enough? According to Consumer Expenditure Surveys data, the average retired household in the U.S. spends around $5,000 per month. That's quite the shortfall. For those looking to get the most bang for buck from their retirement income, a move overseas could be the answer. First, it's important to note that while there are many retirement havens where you can live well on a budget of $2,000 a month or less, making a move overseas does involve additional expenses. You will need to factor in the cost of moving—yourself, your belongings, your pets—and getting legal residency. It's also advisable to have a contingency fund set aside for other expenses such as health care, a rental deposit, trips back home, etc. In addition, you will need to meet the income requirements for the residency visa in your chosen country. Some countries don't require proof of income for residency or have no set minimum amount. Others come with a high income threshold—Ireland's is €50,000 per person per year. All this considered, here are three great overseas options for those looking to stretch their retirement income without compromising on their standard of living. Freedom Beach, Phuket, Thailand. getty Phuket, Thailand's biggest island, is adorned with white sand beaches, turquoise waters, verdant jungle, and majestic limestone cliffs. It's located close to the equator, so enjoys hot to warm weather throughout the year. The average high is 90°F and average low is 75°F. This exotic spot is home to an expat community of more than 100,000—many of them English-speaking—so settling in and making friends can be an easy process. There are two private hospitals in Phuket: Bangkok Phuket Hospital and Phuket International Hospital. They treat thousands of foreigners and locals every year and offer superb quality care and English-speaking staff. The low costs are a big draw, too. Here, many indulgences—from dining out at nice restaurants to spa treatments to fishing trips to health and wellness services—cost much less than what you'd pay in North America. Phuket is a dream destination for outdoor recreation lovers with every kind of water sport imaginable available. Hiking, golf, and padel are popular here, too. Social groups organize around diverse interests and you'll find sports leagues, volunteer opportunities, get-togethers at bars, trivia nights, charity events, networking events, and more on offer here. Thailand's retirement visa is called the Non-Immigrant O-A Visa. The basic requirements are that you are at least 50 years old, receive an income of about $2,000 per month, and carry health insurance. This visa is valid for one year at a time and can be renewed indefinitely. Southeast Asia is famous for its affordability, and while Phuket's popularity with tourists and expats has driven up prices in recent years, it's still budget-friendly by most people's standards and a monthly income of $2,000 would afford you a comfortable life here. Long-term rentals start around $500 a month. Mendoza, Argentina Mendoza, Argentina. getty Mendoza is Latin America's first wine-growing region, and where vines grow, the living is generally good. Here in the interior of Argentina, food, wine, and interesting conversation are the priorities of life. This region's laid-back atmosphere, safe cities, developed infrastructure, unspoiled culture, affordable cost of living, and friendly people combine to create an idyllic lifestyle. This is a good choice for active retirees who aren't ready to sit back and rock on the front porch. You could spend your days skiing, hiking, climbing, playing golf, bird-watching, white-water rafting, kayaking, and even kite-surfing, and your evenings practicing tango. Mendoza has a reputation as one of the most affordable places to live in Argentina, so for North Americans, it's super affordable. You can rent a semi-furnished, two-bedroom apartment for $400 to $1,000 per month. Catch a bus for 50 cents and dine out for $25. A monthly budget of $2,000 would see you living well here. Argentina's retirement visa is known as the Pensionado Visa. The basic requirements are that you're 65 (men) or 60 (women) and receive pension income of five times the minimum salary. This works out to around $1,400. The initial residence permit is valid for one year, but it can be extended for up to three years. You can apply for citizenship in Argentina after just two consecutive years of residency. Mendoza has an arid, four-season climate with average highs of 76°F and lows of 11°F. Summer in Argentina is from December to March and winter is from June to September. Santa Marta, Colombia Santa Marta, Colombia. getty A 90-minute flight from Colombia's capital, Bogotá, on the country's Caribbean coast, lies Santa Marta. Colombia's oldest colonial city, Santa Marta is an under-the-radar gem popular with well-heeled, in-the-know Colombians who vacation here for reasons including its affordability, great climate, soft golden sands, and warm Caribbean waters. It's a geographically diverse spot, with the Caribbean Sea to the north and west, Tayrona National Park to the east, and Colombia's Sierra Nevada mountain range to the south. The historical center is filled with quaint, narrow lanes, white-washed Spanish-colonial architecture, and squares lined by everything from pizza joints to burger bars to more upscale Italian and Mediterranean food. The newer part of the city features an attractive seafront park, plenty of small cafés and bars, as well as boutique hotels, excellent seafood restaurants, and a cruise-ship port. There's also a 256-slip marina and new, tasteful condo projects all around. And, of course, golden sand beaches offering a wealth of recreation activities. Colombia's overall standard of health care is the best in Latin America—better ranked by the World Health Organization than both Canada and the United States. There is less English spoken in Santa Marta than in other Latin American beach destinations so you'll need to pick up some Spanish to get by here. Colombia offers a handful of different residency options, including a retiree-specific visa (the Pensionado Visa). The basic requirement is that you receive a pension of about $1,000 per month. This gets you residency for one to three years at a time. Santa Marta has a tropical dry climate with average high of 91°F and lows of 75°F. A budget of $2,000 a month will go a long way in Santa Marta. Monthly rentals start at around $400. MORE FROM FORBES Forbes Retiring Abroad On A Military Pension—3 Expat Havens For U.S. Veterans By Kathleen Peddicord Forbes 5 European Towns Where You Can Buy Property For Under $100,000 By Kathleen Peddicord Forbes Claiming Social Security Overseas: A Quick Guide For U.S. Citizens By Kathleen Peddicord
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Trump once decried the idea of presidential vacations. His Scotland trip is built around golf
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — During sweaty summer months, Abraham Lincoln often decamped about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of the White House to the Soldiers' Home, a presidential retreat of cottages and parkland in what today is the Petworth section of northwest Washington. Ulysses S. Grant sometimes summered at his family's cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey , even occasionally driving teams of horses on the beach. Ronald Reagan once said he did 'some of my best thinking' at his Rancho Del Cielo retreat outside Santa Barbara, California. Donald Trump's getaway is taking him considerably farther from the nation's capital, to the coast of Scotland. The White House isn't calling Trump's five-day, midsummer jaunt a vacation, but rather a working trip where the Republican president might hold a news conference and sit for interviews with U.S. and British media outlets. Trump was also talking trade in separate meetings with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer . Trump is staying at his properties near Turnberry and Aberdeen, where his family owns two golf courses and is opening a third on Aug. 13. Trump played golf over the weekend at Turnberry and is helping cut the ribbon on the new course on Tuesday. He's not the first president to play in Scotland: Dwight D. Eisenhower played at Turnberry in 1959, more than a half century before Trump bought it, after meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. But none of Trump's predecessors has constructed a foreign itinerary around promoting vacation sites his family owns and is actively expanding. It lays bare how Trump has leveraged his second term to pad his family's profits in a variety of ways, including overseas development deals and promoting cryptocurrencies, despite growing questions about ethics concerns. 'You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,' said Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication and courses on American culture and the modern presidency at American University. 'In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.' Presidents typically vacation in the US Franklin D. Roosevelt went to the Bahamas, often for the excellent fishing, five times between 1933 and 1940. He visited Canada's Campobello Island in New Brunswick, where he had vacationed as a child, in 1933, 1936 and 1939. Reagan spent Easter 1982 on vacation in Barbados after meeting with Caribbean leaders and warning of a Marxist threat that could spread throughout the region from nearby Grenada. Presidents also never fully go on vacation. They travel with a large entourage of aides, receive intelligence briefings, take calls and otherwise work away from Washington. Kicking back in the United States, though, has long been the norm. Harry S. Truman helped make Key West, Florida, a tourist hot spot with his 'Little White House' cottage there. Several presidents, including James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison, visited the Victorian architecture in Cape May, New Jersey. More recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama boosted tourism on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, while Trump has buoyed Palm Beach, Florida, with frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate . But any tourist lift Trump gets from his Scottish visit is likely to most benefit his family. 'Every president is forced to weigh politics versus fun on vacation,' said Jeffrey Engel, David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who added that Trump is 'demonstrating his priorities.' 'When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time,' Engel said. It's even a departure from Trump's first term, when he found ways to squeeze in visits to his properties while on trips more focused on work. Trump stopped at his resort in Hawaii to thank staff members after visiting the memorial site at Pearl Harbor and before embarking on an Asia trip in November 2017. He played golf at Turnberry in 2018 before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Trump once decried the idea of taking vacations as president. 'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' Trump wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.' During his presidential campaign in 2015, he pledged to 'rarely leave the White House.' Even as recently as a speech at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington on Wednesday, Trump derided his predecessor for flying long distances for golf — something he's now doing. 'They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back,' he said. Presidential vacations and any overseas trips were once taboo Trump isn't the first president not wanting to publicize taking time off. George Washington was criticized for embarking on a New England tour to promote the presidency. Some took issue with his successor, John Adams, for leaving the then-capital of Philadelphia in 1797 for a long visit to his family's farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. James Madison left Washington for months after the War of 1812. Teddy Roosevelt helped pioneer the modern presidential vacation in 1902 by chartering a special train and directing key staffers to rent houses near Sagamore Hill , his home in Oyster Bay, New York, according to the White House Historical Association. Four years later, Roosevelt upended tradition again, this time by becoming the first president to leave the country while in office. The New York Times noted that Roosevelt's 30-day trip by yacht and battleship to tour construction of the Panama Canal 'will violate the traditions of the United States for 117 years by taking its President outside the jurisdiction of the Government at Washington.' In the decades since, where presidents opted to vacation, even outside the U.S., has become part of their political personas. In addition to New Jersey, Grant relaxed on Martha's Vineyard. Calvin Coolidge spent the 1928 Christmas holidays at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Lyndon B. Johnson had his 'Texas White House,' a Hill Country ranch . Eisenhower vacationed in Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy went to Palm Springs, California, and his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, among other places. Richard Nixon had the 'Southern White House' on Key Biscayne, Florida, while Joe Biden traveled frequently to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while also visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. George H.W. Bush was a frequent visitor to his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, and didn't let the start of the Gulf War in 1991 detour him from a monthlong vacation there. His son, George W. Bush, opted for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than a more posh destination. Presidential visits help tourism in some places more than others, but Engel said that for some Americans, 'if the president of the Untied States goes some place, you want to go to the same place.' He noted that visitors emulating presidential vacations are out 'to show that you're either as cool as he or she, that you understand the same values as he or she or, heck, maybe you'll bump into he or she.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
