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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Keith Bellows
Aired February 09, 2002 - 09:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you like to be pampered and are searching for a romantic getaway, or even if you're on the hunt for some unknown destination, we've got some tips for your travels.
One place to look is "National Geographic Traveler" magazine, and joining us now is its editor in chief, Keith Bellows. Keith, good to have you with us.
KEITH BELLOWS, "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: All right. Where are we headed?
BELLOWS: Well, where do you want to go? The real story right now is that deals are everywhere. You know, it's pretty hard to go anyplace and not find some kind of deal to be had.
But let's take -- let's start out west, let's start in Maui. Great place, Olinda Hotel, which is a resort halfway up the crater of Halekila (ph). Now, what we normally think of Hawaii is water, but this is not, this is just lush, incredible, beautiful, beautiful country.
I don't know what you're seeing up here now on the television, but it looks to me like it's the -- it's -- it's probably the area resort, but I'll tell you what...
O'BRIEN: It's the something country, you know, oh, the Olinda Country Inn.
BELLOWS: OK, there it is, you (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you've got it.
O'BRIEN: There it is.
BELLOWS: Good, good, good.
O'BRIEN: Wow, it looks very, very nice.
BELLOWS: Yes, and the beautiful thing about this is, you get out onto the balcony and you have your own two-couple bath. You can see, you know, for miles and miles around in this incredibly lush, lush area.
O'BRIEN: Two couples in the bath, huh? BELLOWS: Two couples in the bath.
O'BRIEN: Very interesting. The Olinda.
BELLOWS: Yes. And the other...
O'BRIEN: Pretty racy place, huh?
BELLOWS: It's gorgeous. And the great deal about this, of course, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's not that expensive. You can do this for about less than about $220.
O'BRIEN: Of course, if you go with two couples, you can take separate baths if you like.
BELLOWS: There you go.
O'BRIEN: OK, good. Where else -- All right, I'm already vicariously moving myself to Hawaii, but we do have to press on here. What else, what else is a good place to go, you want to be pampered? Let's talk about -- what about mountains? You know, we -- we're going to be talking a lot about Salt Lake City, people be thinking about the Rockies.
BELLOWS: Goat Lake. Well, there's a couple, there's Goat Lake Mountain Retreat, which is in Colorado, terrific place. This used to be a summer camp. It's at a ranch, and it's been turned into sort of a year-round resort. This is a place where you can go spa, spa-ing. They have four hot pools outside, incredible camping in wilderness, sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) wilderness country.
And terrific range of options, everything from kayaking to canoeing to, you know, hiking and camping. It's a really marvelous, marvelous place.
O'BRIEN: All right. And let's get a little bit, well, shall we, we're kind of moving easterly. Excuse me.
BELLOWS: OK.
O'BRIEN: What do you like on the East Coast? Charleston, I see in the notes here, Charleston, South Carolina?
BELLOWS: Charleston, for my money, is probably this -- the best small romantic town in America. You've got -- you think of sunset cruises, you know, dolphins come into the harbor, you've got Fort Sumter, you've got this wonderful sort of Old World feeling, great places to stay, like Two Meeting House Inn. It's high cotton (ph), which is a terrific place to sample Southern food.
This is a place to...
O'BRIEN: ... I love that, you love that she-crab soup. I love that stuff.
BELLOWS: That's where the -- that's where you'll find it. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's good stuff. That's a great city, and certainly for us a quick weekend-type visit.
BELLOWS: Yes, exactly.
O'BRIEN: Now, the one that surprised me here on the research I have is Hershey, Pennsylvania.
BELLOWS: Hershey, Pennsylvania -- the spa at Hershey actually lets you take chocolate baths, fondue dips. You know, they've got virtually every kind of...
O'BRIEN: Two-couple chocolate baths, if you want? I mean...
BELLOWS: No, seriously -- seriously, they've got virtually every kind of thing you can do with a spa...
O'BRIEN: Wow.
BELLOWS: ... and chocolate.
O'BRIEN: I think there are a lot of people in our audience who are booking a trip right now, they're probably on the Internet at Travelocity.
Now, talked about a lot of these places. How expensive are they, though? They sound expensive. A chocolate bath, after all.
BELLOWS: You know, they're really not expensive, and with anything, get on the Net. We actually have a thing called the A-list, which is A for Affordable on our Web site and in our magazine. The deals are out there. And, you know, you just have to do the research.
But none of these places that we've got in the magazine or on the Web site are more than about $300 a night, and that's really the high end. I mean, you can get the big suites, but if you stick to the basics, you're going to get a really good deal.
O'BRIEN: At that Hershey place, I guess they really would call it a sweet, wouldn't they?
BELLOWS: Yes, they would.
O'BRIEN: Anyway, suite, sweet. Anyway, all right, Keith Bellows of "National Geographic Traveler," thanks for dropping by. We appreciate the ideas, and I'm ready to get out of here right this moment.
Anyway...
BELLOWS: My pleasure.
O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you again soon, we hope.
BELLOWS: Happy travels.
O'BRIEN: All right, same to you.
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