Travel News

Personal Picks: Travel Editor Millie Ball

Locations in this article:  Moscow, Russia New Orleans, LA Pittsburgh, PA Venice, Italy

Open RoadIf you’re looking to vacation somewhere that doesn’t yet have a Club Med or Starbucks, take a tip from a travel editor.

Since 1990, Millie Ball has been the travel editor for the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Last week, she appeared on Peter’s radio show and we checked in with her to uncover some of her favorite places. A veteran traveler and lover of unique destinations, Ball offers some recommendations that should top your list for your next vacation.

Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia

Shopping MoscowBall has visited Russia four times in her life and, as she reports, “each visit, I’ve seen a different country.” When she traveled to Russia in 1991, “I just happened to be there four days after the aborted coup. That was the day communism was—in effect—over.”

On her most recent trip, Ball notes that “it was radically different … the consumerism was extraordinary.” She points to examples like her Marriott hotel room that cost a minimum of $300 a night—“fortunately, we got the room with [frequent stay] points”—, and remembers that “somebody tried to use the U.S. dollar, and it was totally scorned.”

In her travel blog, Ball writes, “Today’s Russian capital is a city full of light and life as well as good things to buy and eat—for those who have enough rubles.” However, she does admit that she indulged in some capitalist consumerism herself, in the form of a McDonald’s meal.

Ball also shares some of the edgier details of her recent trip, including her brush with bribery in St. Petersburg. “It begins with me being stopped by the police for taking a photo in the subway.” After handing over two 100-ruble notes (about $8), she and her friend were let go. “A few rubles in the palm can work miracles in Russia,” she writes.

Learn more about this unique destination with our Off-the-Brochure Travel Guide to Moscow.

Torcello, Italy

Venice Italy“One place I visited this past year that received a lot of feedback was Torcello, an island in the Venetian Lagoon.” Torcello is thought to be the oldest continuously populated region of Venice, and once contained the largest population of the Republic of Venice. Today, there are about a dozen full-time residents, making it an ideal getaway for those looking to truly … get away.

Ball and her husband first lunched in Torcello years ago, and vowed then to return for a visit. “We did so this summer, spending two nights at Locanda Cipriani, which is a restaurant with four guest rooms. It was opened by the same man who opened Harry’s Bar and the luxury Cipriani hotel in Venice, and is now run by his grandson. It’s simple and lovely.” She also reveals, “Hemingway wrote a book in the room next to ours. … We liked it so much, the day we left, we reserved a room for three nights surrounding New Year’s Eve 2008.”

As an example of the island’s low-density population, she writes “the full tour of Torcello is complete after a visit to its small two-story museum with terrazzo floors and pristine white walls. In the late morning, I was the only visitor wandering around the museum and its attic annex … I was awestruck, desperately wanting to say to someone—anyone—‘Look at that! And that!’”

New Orleans

New Orleans street“We do festivals better than anyone else,” says Ball of her home city. “We just finished hosting—within a single week—the Sugar Bowl and BCS national championship football games, the total monetary effect being almost equivalent to the Super Bowl, which was a total triumph for the city.” With Mardi Gras coming up February 5, and Jazz Fest and the French Quarter festival taking place in the spring, the city is primed for visitors.

“In New Orleans,” she points out, “some shops in the French Quarter have had to close because of the lack of tourists … It’s difficult to explain that the city is ready to welcome visitors—the Quarter, the Garden District and Uptown all are fine, but other areas of the city still need help desperately. God bless Brad Pitt, who has bought a house in the French Quarter, donated $5 million to the effort and has gone on national TV repeatedly in his efforts to help rebuild.”

If you have some time to tour the region, she suggests a visit to the Marriott Grand Hotel.

“It is the nearest resort to New Orleans—about three hours, a half-hour east of Mobile, Alabama. New Orleans families have been staying there for generations, literally, and while it’s now bigger and attracting conferences and small conventions, it still has the appeal of a gracious southern hotel, with azaleas, oak trees, and a fire in the fireplace in winter. The old part of the hotel was flooded by a surge from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005—something we New Orleanians know way too much about—the surge was so strong it shoved the pier into the ballroom. But it reopened about a year ago, with the old part looking just as it did before the devastation.”

Favorite Place

“For favorite places, I am not a beach person, but I absolutely love Hawaii, and I can’t quite say why. The air is soft; it’s beautiful.”

Secret Travel Tips

“We also just returned from Australia and New Zealand, buying three hotel stays from luxurylink.com … Next month, we’re going to Morocco and staying in two small hotels in the medinas of Marrakech and Fez that we bought on auction at Luxury Link. [This is] an amazing Web site offering some of the world’s best hotels at auctions, usually (but not always) beginning at half the regular price.’

She continues, “Another Web site that’s interesting is www.flightbliss.com. It’s all about how to fly up front without paying the usual prices. I haven’t used any of the tips yet, but am fascinated by them.”

Don’t miss the interview with Millie Ball from Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio.

Millie Ball has been the travel editor of The Times-Picayune since 1990, and before that worked in almost every department but sports. She has won multiple Lowell Thomas awards from the Society of American Travel Writers. You can find links to her articles and blog at https://blog.nola.com/millieball.

By Dara Bramson for PeterGreenberg.com.

Want more top destination picks? Find out what Pittsburgh Post-Gazette travel editor David Bear chose for his Personal Picks.

Looking for lots of destination ideas? Visit our Travel Destinations section for more.