Most of us have caught wind of the shoddy cleaning that takes place in even the nicer hotels – the same glove that just scrubbed the toilet now scrubbing the rinse glass in the bathroom, that sort of thing.  But there are some hotels that take dirtiness to a whole new level, and TripAdvisor has just announced the winners.  Or losers, as the case may be.

Chances are that if you’re remotely interested in a decent hotel stay, none of these were on your top five anyway.  But we have to say, it’s fun to read the reviews that TripAdvisor members gave to some of these spots. When someone points out graffiti on the wall that says “If you want an STD, stay here,” well, we’ll just take our business elsewhere, thank you very much. (And of course, we should point out that TripAdvisor also has a Best Hotels list, a good antidote for the hives you’ll get after reading about these dumps…)

We’ve written before about Context, the tour company specializing in walking tours led by scholars.  The company has now joined with Insider’s Italy to provide not only a family tour, but one with a sustainable bent.  Whoo-hoo – get your family travel on AND be (relatively) earth-minded? We love it!

The “Farm to Fork, Roman Food Culture for Families” tour was designed for families to bring a new twist to attacking that bastion of cultural travel – Rome. Not forgoing the scholarly aspect, the tour will be led by scholars, cultural historians and yes, food professionals, all of whom have specific experience dealing with children.  Kids will get fantastic opportunities to experience the history and culture of Rome through such unique experiences as visiting the Markets of Trajan, tasting ancient Roman recipes, and preparing basic Italian cuisine at the home of a noted Roman chef. Kids should also enjoy the one day set aside to exploring a seasonal product; depending on the time of year, they could make cheese in the countryside or pick olives and watch the production of olive oil.  And they’ll love the excursion to Naples to make that kid-friendliest of foods – pizza!

With a max of 8 people or 2 families per trip, the trip can really be customized to fit both the interests and the ages of all travelers.  Should you want to make it even more special, Context will happily arrange a private tour just for your family.  For more information, visit the Context website.

This is the kind of package we can’t wait to take with our daughter – alas, it’s only for big girls and their moms, so we’ve got several years before we’ll do anything like this.  For now, our tea parties are replete with stuffed animals and pots of sugar water – but we’re passing this on to those of you eager to connect on a more adult level… (more…)