New Zealand + Tahiti = A Unique South Pacific Getaway!

Welcome to shoulder season! Here are some of our favorite hotel sales happening this month. CARIBBEAN • FLASH SALE: You can save up to 50 percent on rates at the Grand Lucayan on Grand Bahama Island when you book a stay of three or more nights this Labor Day Weekend for travel Sept. 1 thru Dec. 20th. Not only will rates start at $89 a night, but you'll also score a $250 resort credit per stay to use towards perks like spa treatments, dining, and resort-style golf. Click here for more info and to book your trip by Sept. 1st. • IBEROSTAR Hotels & Resorts are extending their current special that allows kids to stay and eat free at their properties throughout Mexico and the Caribbean including Playa Mita, Cozumel, Paraíso Beach, and Paraíso Del Mar, among others. Book your all-inclusive stay now thru Oct. 31st for travel thru Dec. 23rd; blackout dates apply Nov. 22-29, 2014, during which regular children's rates will apply. HAWAII • If you're planning a trip to Hawaii this September, you can save on a stay at The Equus in Waikiki, offering rates from $149 a night from Sept. 6th thru 27th just in time for the Aloha Festival events happening all around Waikiki. Just call 808/949-0061 and mention Aloha Festival when you book. • Worth the splurge: Now thru Nov. 27th, you can stay in a newly renovated luxurious ocean-view room at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's gorgeous North Shore for from $209 a night. Regular rates usually start around $269 a night, so don't miss the opportunity to stay at this magnificent hidden gem of a property. FLORIDA • Interested in visiting Orlando, Florida, to see the latest Harry Potter attractions at Universal Studios? Sticking around for the 2014 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival starting Sept. 19th? Planning your trip around Orlando's Magical Dining Month? Consider staying at the Wyndham Orlando International Drive, where you can save 25 percent on select stays from Sept. 1st thru Nov. 1st, with rates starting at just $69 a night. Use promo code DIS15 when booking this deal online. Or, book your stay at the Orlando World Center Marriott by Sept. 28th for travel thru Oct. 21st and enjoy room rates from $179 a night, plus a $50 resort credit per night when you use promo code ZX0 and refer to the Endless Summer deal. • Several hotels in Miami are running specials during the month of September: You can save 30 percent on rooms at The Freehand Miami with rates starting at $103 a night when you book by Sept. 30th. The Redbury Hotel is offering rooms from $260 a night, but has a Stay 2, Get 1 Free special now thru Sept. 30th, which breaks down to from $173 a night. Call 855/220-1776 or book online and mention promo code 3FREE. (Minimum three night stay required). The Impala Hotel has a similar 3rd Night Free package with rates starting at $131 a night. The SoBeYou Bed and Breakfast is also having a sale, with rooms starting at $116 a night including complimentary full breakfast and mimosas. Sonesta Coconut Grove Miami has rates starting at $152 a night now thru Sept. 30th, including full American breakfast for two and complimentary valet parking. • Rates at The Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg start at $189 a night now thru Oct. 31st when you book by Sept. 28th and use promo code ZXO. COLORADO • Save on a stay at The Village at Breckenridge and Mountain Thunder Lodge by visiting after Labor Day weekend when rooms are about 30 percent lower. Come to see the fall colors in this beautiful part of Colorado and stay close to all the action on Main Street with rates starting at $120 a night for a four-night stay. • Visit Keystone this fall for post-Labor Day rates as low as $128 a night when you stay three nights (including taxes and resort fees). You'll also get access to complimentary golf, yoga classes, a free hour of tennis court rental per person, and vouchers for free draft beer or house wine per person. VARIOUS CITIES AROUND THE U.S. • Don't miss the Endless Summer sale at several Marriott Resorts around the country. Book your stay by Sept. 28th for travel thru Oct. 31st and use promo code ZXO to score rooms starting at $139 a night—you'll also get a $50 or $100 nightly resort credit depending on where you stay. Participating hotels include Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa; Fort Lauderdale Marriott Pompano Beach Resort & Spa; Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center; Hilton Head Marriott Resort & Spa; Hutchinson Island Marriott Resort & Marina; JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes; Key Largo Bay Marriott Beach Resort; Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort, Golf Club & Spa; Orlando World Center Marriott Resort, Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Beach Resort & Spa; Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa; Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa; The Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club; Turnberry Island Miami; Coronado Island Marriott Resort; Gaylorg National Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center; Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center; Kauai Marriott Resort; Lodge at Sonoma, A Renaissance Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Ihilani Ko Olina Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE; JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa; Renaissance Esmeralda Indian Wells Resort & Spa; Vail Marriott Mountain Resort; Waikiki Beach Marriott & Spa; and Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. • Dog lovers, rejoice! The Blue Palms Resort, located close to Mariner's Pier and Raging Waters Water Park in Wildwood, New Jersey, is offering pet-friendly accommodations from Sept. 5-9 with the Wildwood Unleashed package, with rates starting at $81 a night. A perfect way to wrap up the summer at Morey's Piers & Waterfront Water Parks with the entire family. A two-night minimum stay is required. Please call 609/522-0606 to book your stay. Guests staying at other Morey Hotels & Resorts properties like the Pan American Hotel, Port Royal Hotel, Starlux Boutique Hotel, and Blue Palms Resort can save up to 70 percent on water park and ride passes thanks to the Play & Stay package now thru Sept. 14th. • Visiting San Diego in September? Rates at the Lakehouse Hotel & Resort start at $129 on weekdays and $169 on weekends now thru Sept. 30th. Kids also eat free in the Grill, one child per adult, and receive a special milk and cookie welcome. • Visitors to the Mission Point Resort in Mackinac Island, Michigan, can enjoy rates starting at $145 a night during one of the most beautiful times of the year to see Lake Huron. • Rates at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Grand Geneva, Wisconsin, start at $199 a night now thru Sept. 29th. Guests also score a $50 resort credit to use at the property, located 90 minutes from Chicago and 50 minutes from Milwaukee. • Worth the Splurge: You can save 25 percent on rates at the Waldorf Astoria Park City in Park City, Utah, when you book your stay now thru Sept. 15th, with rooms starting at $229 a night. • St. Louis Cardinals fans, rejoice! The Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch has a special package just for you. For from $249 a night, you'll get accommodations, two tickets to a Cardinals home game at Busch Stadium, a voucher for a Louisville Slugger bat, and a $25 food and beverage credit per day at Brewhouse or Red Kitchen & Bar. (The package starts at $339 for four tickets). Click here for more info and to book this package. • Travelers ages 59 and up can save up to 15 percent on rates at Red Roof Inn properties around the country this fall with the Red Roof September Senior Discount. Refer to promo code 607564 when booking in September to receive this special discount. Red Roof Inn also gives seniors a 10 percent discount on stays year-round.

The mist slowly dissolved and trees and vines became visible. Other shapes, not from nature, also materialized through the morning drizzle. It was my first glimpse of Guayabo, Costa Rica's ancient lost city. The patina of antiquity on these rock walls and roadways made them look like they have always been here in the highland jungle. Guayabo's earliest structures date from 3,000 years ago. The peak of the city was between 800 and 1300 AD when up to 5,000 people lived here. By the time the first Spanish arrived in 1502, the site had long been abandoned and overgrown. The remains seen today are stone cobbled roadways, foundations, aqueducts, fountains, and drainage systems, and the waterworks still function after 3,000 years. One fountain reminded me of the Inca royal baths near Cuzco. Below Guayabo's bathtub-sized pool is a larger reservoir, replenished from the smaller pool. Cattle watered here 50 years ago in the same place where kings and queens once bathed in the regal splendor of cleansing ceremonies. Little is known about the way of life because the archeological context is lost, with most of the more intricate objects looted or re-purposed by local people over the past century and a half. Until 1973, when it was declared a national monument, the Guayabo site was used as a cattle pasture. Petroglyphs carved into the larger stones depict animals, including an alligator and a jaguar. One controversial example is a spiral design that has been theorized as a map of the community. Other curvilinear forms carved into rock might have been a form of writing. The extent of Guayabo was only realized after NASA images taken from space were analyzed. Based on these photographs, archeologists are certain that the excavated portion that is on display is the true center of the community. Several similar cities, along with connecting cobbled roads, were recently found with the help of NASA space imagery. Only a small part of Guayabo has been cleared from the jungle. A still smaller portion has been fully excavated. Among the objects unearthed are small jade and gold ornaments, as well as larger stone statues depicting jaguars, crocodiles, and other powerful predators. Anthropologists think these had religious, shamanistic, as well as political significance. In 1882 Anastasio Alfario, director of Costa Rica's National Museum began digging at the site shortly after it was discovered by farmers who colonized the area. In 1968, Professor Carlos Aguilar and the University of Costa Rica began excavations in a plan that is still being followed. Today excavation and interpretation are being carried out by the University of Costa Rica with the National System of Conservation Areas. Researchers from American and British universities are also involved. Guayabo is located at 1,150 meters above sea level where the atmosphere is a little cooler, but the Caribbean watershed is a very damp place and nothing made of wood or fabric lasts too long if left exposed. The structures that have been restored include stone foundations in a circular pattern that were the base for huge conical residential buildings, like teepees of wood. To get to Guayabo, you must first travel to Turrialba, a city with a population of about 30,000. A mid-morning bus leaves Turrialba's main station and you can catch the return bus at 3:30 p.m. The route is very scenic. If you're driving, take Highway 1 from San Jose, through Cartago and Turrialba, continuing through town and across the bridge. It is 84 kilometers from the capital. Admission is six dollars and guided tours are available twice daily. There is also a nature trail where you might get a glimpse of toucans, woodpeckers, thrushes, and other birds, as well as coatis, armadillos, sloths, lizards, snakes, and butterflies. You can camp near the ruins, though services are limited to just restrooms and picnic tables. Archeological tourism is on the rise in Costa Rica. The Park and Museum of the Stone Spheres opened in April 2014, and other new sites are also being considered for excavation and interpretation. Born in The Hague, Andrew Kolasinski arrived in Canada as a small child riding in the luggage rack of a DC-7. Since then he has felt at home anywhere. As the publisher and editor of Island Angler, Andrew spends half the year fishing for salmon and trout, and in the off-season he travels the world looking for a story. He wrote this article for South American Vacations, specialists in Costa Rica tours and travel all over Latin America.

The way I traveled as an 18-year-old college student is not the same way I travel as a 27-year-old full-time writer. The one aspect my two selves have in common is that we are of the Millennial generation, categorized as people currently between the ages of 16 and 34, or anyone born after 1980. Our parents were lured in by exotic vacations packaged neatly by travel agents that would accommodate their two-weeks' paid time off from their jobs. But with an unemployment rate that's still dogging many of us in the US, Millennials don't have the income to justify those kinds of experiences. We've gotten creative with our lack of funds and non-structured time off. Our needs as travelers have changed as a result. It may be true that most travelers are looking for some, or all, of the aspects listed below. And not all Millennials fit the mold. But from interacting with new travelers on a daily basis—as well as analyzing my own behaviors abroad—these are the desires I've noted when it comes to the next generation of traveler. Constant connection The #1 request on any Millennial traveler's wishlist is for the world to offer free wifi, everywhere. We base our choices on how many outlets a hotel has, which airlines have in-flight entertainment, and which attractions are the most Instagram-worthy. We desire to be constantly connected to the outside world, and in real-time. We've also managed to maintain long-distance friendships with people we've met along the way much more easily than previous generations ever did. Comforts of home We don't want to know we're sleeping in a hotel—we want our accommodations to feel familiar. We like hunkering down at "broken-in" spaces—a la AirBnB and, to a lesser extent, CouchSurfing—where we come "home," greeted by roommates, or to a quiet space just for us. We don't want to be bothered by housekeeping knocks at 8 a.m., or inconvenient check-in times. We would rather rent an apartment for a month than stay in a hotel for two weeks. We enjoy feeling like we're a part of the community, and are more likely to accept a homestay as an option. Authenticity and personal experience We are driven by the emotional connection of travel. We want to see the Eiffel Tower, but only as a Parisian would see it. We want to eat pasta in Italy, but help make it fresh in the kitchen of a Sicilian grandmother. We choose to sit in trendy cafes for hours, surrounded by locals and unfamiliar languages, rather than pack our trip itineraries with must-see attractions. We are all right with taking a week to drive across the USA, because we know it will result in life-changing personal experiences. Low-cost luxury This is a given for most types of travelers, but especially for Millennials. We don't have the income to drop $500 a night on a hotel room, but we still want to feel on top of the world. Our definition of luxury has changed as well. For us, luxury equates to a feeling of ease and low-stress—a taxi ride from the airport instead of using public transportation, or a glass of wine at dinner that isn't the cheapest on the list. We revel in simple touches that aren't part of our daily routine: designer bath products, complimentary Fiji water, in-flight amenities kits. Independence and permission to explore Millennials are plotting their own course in every aspect of life—their travel experiences are no different. The next generation of traveler is not looking for a guided or group-tour experience. We want to see the world our way, free of tour managers, of admission tickets, of guidebook recommendations. We don't want to be tethered to a large group, be constricted by a detailed itinerary, or sit on a tour bus for half a day. We are renting cars for easy stop-and-go, collecting our meals from local markets, and soliciting suggestions from social media, as we need them. Style, and a connection to the creative world Part of the hostel appeal is that the spaces are decorated in unique, inviting ways. We look for rooms that have been designed by famous artists, or restaurants with signature dishes featuring locally harvested ingredients. We favor catching a live jazz ensemble we've never heard of at an underground club in Prague over an evening at the Moulin Rogue. Our souvenirs include handicrafts, fashion, and utilitarian wares that were designed within the local area. This article was written by Katka Lapelosa and originally appeared on the Matador Network. It has been republished here with permission. If you liked this article, check these out, too: The 6 Most Significant Changes In Travel In the Last 20 Years, 6 Tips For Explaining Travel To Your Parents, and 6 Things We Stand To Lose By Traveling Too Fast.