Amanda's Adventures and New Product Reviews

Tennis anyone? | Group Tour Magazine Blog THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012 Photo: Wimbledon Championships The grounds of Wimbledon are open to tours year-round and include a visit to the museum. Tennis anyone? By Amanda Black Wimbledon closed with a bang this year: Serena Williams proved her strength and won her fifth title while Roger Federer smashed records on the way to a Grand Slam title. The same grass courts of Wimbledon will host the Olympic tennis events , beginning July 28. Both Williams and Federer will be playing in the games, and I’m sure I’ll be watching. I don’t follow tennis all the time, but it’s always enjoyable when I do. The big events are worth watching, and few events are bigger than the Olympics. Curiously enough,  odds makers  have Williams as their favorite, but they chose Novak Djokovic to win the gold over Federer. Djokovic lost to the eventual Wimbledon winner in the semi-finals. Part of the excitement of the Olympics is seeing how it all unf...

Take flight | Group Tour Magazine Blog MONDAY, JULY 9, 2012 Photo: Amanda Black This duck doesn't mind one bit when people come to see him, especially when they bring food.  Take flight A blog explores how birds of a feather — and group tours — flock together By Amanda Black It’s one of those rites of passages, something that signals you’re grown up — like purchasing insurance or talking about oil prices. This, however, is much more pleasant. I’m not sure how I became a birder, but somewhere along the way, I crossed the line from casual admirer to a hobbyist. I dutifully fill the feeder once a week and enjoy the views out my window often. I’ve spent time learning the difference between a grosbeak and a grouse, and I frequent the  webpage of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology . I’ve spent a lot of time playing Angry Birds, too. Doesn’t that count? When I was flipping around this weekend, I ran across a showing of  The Big Year , a 2011 movie starring Owen...

In fashion | Group Tour Magazine Blog MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012 Photo: Murray Close Fashion played an important part in The Hunger Games; seen here is a scene from the 2012 movie.   In fashion It’s been sweeping through the office lately. I’m not talking about an illness or an inside joke—I’m talking about reading  The Hunger Games. My colleague Erin, wrote an excellent  article about tours based on the Hunger Games , so I don’t feel like I need to write about the book per se. What impressed me the most was its description of  fashion , so I thought I’d check around to see how groups can incorporate fashion-forward locales into their tours. The first idea that comes to mind is to visit the centers of the fashion universe: New York, Milan and Paris all have untold riches for group tours. Manhattan’s famed  Metropolitan Museum of Art  is home to the Costume Institute, a collection with more than 35,000 items of clothing and accessories. While the enti...

Voyager boldly goes | Group Tour Magazine Blog Voyager boldly goes By Amanda Black A tiny planet in a tiny solar system has finally branched out. The Voyager I spacecraft is reaching the end of our home solar system — and it’s the first manmade vessel to reach this milestone. The spacecraft was launched at the end of the 1970s, and it’s been tooling through outer space ever since, sending back data along its journey.The recent information it’s been gathering has really excited scientists. It’s reaching a point between our solar system and “interstellar space” as NASA scientists have called it. NASA scientists can do a much better job than me explaining Voyager’s amazing journey at the spacecraft’s  homepage . Radiolab, a masterful public radio show also does a fantastic job of this too with a  recent story . I hope this wonderful story captures the attention of a new generation because I fear that attention to and awe of space is on the wane. A few years ago, ...

My latest blog for Group Tour Magazine.... 'Dallas' icons return | Group Tour Magazine Blog MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012 Photo: Mark Seliger JR, Bobby and Sue Ellen have returned to 'Dallas' with a new generation of Ewings. 'Dallas' icons return I’m finally old enough to watch this now: a blog about the return of the TV show ‘Dallas’ as group tours to Southfork Ranch continue By Amanda Black I watched a lot of TV growing up, but the risqué network TV of the ’80s was off limits. I was not ready for prime time, at least according to my mother. Not to say I didn’t watch them…I used to sneak over to a friend’s house to watch taped copies of Moonlighting , which was much too frisky of a show for us to watch. But we did anyway. And there was my grandparents’ house. They didn’t have the same limits on TV, so I watched what they watched. That meant  Oprah  (back before she was a national icon and queen of the media),  Golden Girls , Murder She Wrote , and  Da...

Here's my latest Group Tour Media blog: Rock on - Culture/Entertainment Group Travel Rock on © 2012 Group Tour Media Blog, June 6, 2012 Without irony, I want to admit a love for a certain genre of music that’s having another day in the sun. This music involves big sounds and even bigger hair. The movie  Rock of Ages  hits the movie theaters June 15, building on the success of the Broadway musical. I have to admit, I loved it as soon as I saw the trailer. Seeing Tom Cruise dressed like Axl Rose and singing Bon Jovi should have struck as some kind of heresy, but I found it really delightful. That’s the thing about late '80s rock (or hair metal), it’s all about the fun. Perhaps I love it because I am too young to remember the classic rock of the ’60s and ’70s. When I first started listening to the radio, long-haired musicians like Poison, Warrant and Slaughter ruled the airwaves. It wasn’t quite heavy metal or rock ’n’ roll, but my 13-year-old self thought it was great. ...

Goodbye Cubs, hello Tigers  Goodbye Cubs, hello Tigers The Chicago Cubs broke their  losing streak , but they’ve lost me. This was not an easy decision. I’ve loved this hard-luck baseball team literally as long as I can remember. The love of the Cubs was passed down from my grandfather to my father to me. It’s one of the few things that we shared in common. I asked my dad if his grandpa was a  Cubs  fan. It is possible, but he can’t remember which team he loved. He does recall watching the CBS game of the week with Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean with him, though. So I’m a possible fourth-generation Cubs fan, but surely a third. That’s why it’s so hard to say I’m done. When I flipped on the radio last week and heard the Cubs hadn’t had a lead in 53 innings, it was then I decided to resign — to quit, throw in the towel, return my credentials, tender my resignation, give up, etc. I can’t do this any more. Just watch this awful throw from pitcher Matt...