Traveler Editor Discusses Three-Day Getaways

National Geographic News

May 4, 2001

Susan Roesgen, co-anchor of the TV news show National Geographic
Today, talked with Traveler magazine editor Keith Bellows
about ideas on where to go when you need a vacation but time is limited.

Let's say the most time off you can get is a long three-day weekend. Instead of going to the same old beach, where can you go that's not an obvious choice? This month's National Geographic Traveler magazine has some ideas, some great three-day escapes, and here to tell us about these places is editor Keith Bellows.

Keith, some of the places you list seem pretty far to go in three days—Honduras, for instance.

We're taking a little bit of liberty here, but not a lot, because we're saying three days on the ground, not necessarily time to get there. And even if you do that, if you plan the flights right, do a little bit of red-eye action, you can probably do it in four days, including the airfare.

More like a four- or five-day vacation, a mini-vacation, not a two-week vacation that we like to think of.

Exactly. We sort of lust after what the Europeans have, which is the big trip, but we get sort of itty-bitty trips, and that's what we're trying to cater to here, which is what I think, really, most of our readers are looking for.

And the destinations that you chose really go all across the country?

They do. I mean, Honduras, which is out of the country, obviously, Las Vegas, the Ozarks, Brandywine Valley. We take you to the Exumas, and then we take you to Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake. We try to give you a pretty diverse [mix].

Is this enough time, do you think, to unwind in these places?

I think it is. I think most people, you're either going to commit to the long vacation, and if you don't, for all of us, it's just sort of a restorative. It's to get away, just clean out the mind a bit, and just have that short, quick hit.

That seems to be the most that some people are getting these days. We're all workaholics.

I don't know about you, but I don't get a lot of time to take real, real long trips, so I think this is the way to do it. At least get a little bit of a respite.

I noticed that some of your cities are a little bit off the beaten path. You may fly in, but drive a little bit farther to get to the destination. Do you list some tips for travelers on how to get to these places?

Well, we give all the basic information in the magazine, and certainly what you want to do, I mean, you fly into Buffalo, you go 40 miles from Buffalo, and you're in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is probably one of the prettiest towns in Canada, and that's certainly off the beaten track, right in the middle of a great wine-growing area…not too far from Niagara Falls.

I'm daydreaming with you. Sounds great. Thanks, Keith.