Box of moon cakes for the Chinese autumn festival. These are from Singapore. Mooncakes are cheaper in Taiwan.
Photo of the copious cutlery on the table at The Harrow Restaurant at Little Bedwyn, England.
Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
LUXURY HOTELS
To me luxury is five-star hotels, and the so-called six-star hotels. Luxury is gourmet foods and five star restaurants. Michelin restaurants. Places which don't do boil in the bag. The chef alters the dish to suit you, and can make any dish you like.
The perfectly luxurious five-star hotel
Luxury is hotels where they make up the room when you leave it for breakfast so you come back and find fresh towels. Luxury is when you leave a room looking like it was hit by a hurricane but come back to find they folded your night dress and the room always looks like a film set.
Luxury is being able to put your shoes outside the door and half an hour later invisible goblins have polished them. Luxury is when the hotel concierge desk books your restaurant or evening out and calls the taxi at the right time to take you there.
The hotel has an oo-ah entrance hall, a waterfall, artwork, something stunning to look at. Books or brochures to read. Historic paintings with interesting captions. Information on the history of the location.
Drinks
You are greeted with a cocktail on check-in, and if it's alcoholic, they ask if you would prefer non-alcoholic. In Europe, Champagne is the luxury. In Singapore, a Singapore Sling or better still the Millionaire's Cocktail on the bar.
You are shown the label to be sure there is no mistake, and you haven't changed your mind. The wine is chilled, if required.
Food
A five star hotel has food available 24 hours. A great restaurant always has something new. Colourful. The Asians are the best at cutting vegetables into shapes and arranging patterns and contrasting colours. Not just for a grand buffet on a special occasion such as New Year's Eve.
However, in the last decade hotels and restaurants worldwide have improved presentation.
Even a single piece of fruit is beautifully presented. At a parador (historic hotel in a converted building). I asked if they had any fruit. They offered me a pear. I thought that sounded rather dull, but I ordered it. What a delight!
The cutting of the pear by the waiter was an entertainment. The skin was removed in a spiral and placed on the pretty plate as a decorative cone. They added
sprig of something edible and green and an edible flower. The pear was cut into four fans and looked like a butterfly. We just looked at it, stunned.
The coffee comes up with a small biscuit on the side. The spoon is at the right angle.
After the coffee you receive petit fours. Something special is presented with the bill, or for guests as they leave. Maybe a rose for the lady on Valentine's Day. Or a cake or a couple of biscuits with the embossed business card in a fancy box. Maybe a brochure offering ten per cent off your next meal, or a free glass of wine on Mondays.
Luggage
In the hotel your luggage stays with you, whilst the porter makes polite conversation. No playing find the lady with assorted staff! No disappearing luggage and that nasty feeling that you could be one item short, either from inside your handbag or indeed an entire bag gone for an afternoon stroll.
No luggage abandoned in the middle of the lobby, or the far corner, whilst coach parties surround it and knock it over like surfing waves. Then it goes missing and turns up an hour later when somebody who went off duty returns and locates it in a store room.
The lift (elevator in the USA)
Hotel Suites
If you are staying longer than 6 days, it's usually cheaper to book a suite hotel or negotiate a reduction for a weeks stay. If you can't get a reduction, ask for free breakfasts, or ask what extras they will give you. As for an upgraded room.
Bedroom
The Hotel Scala, Bucharest, Romania, red net bags with ribbons in the bathroom.
Honeymoons
Make sure you tell the hotel it's your honeymoon. On honeymoon at the Mamounia in Marrakesh, we were given a room with twin beds. All the other rooms had been given to a coach party who checked in just ahead of us.
It was three days into our honeymoon before we were able to move into a double bedded room. Meanwhile, we had discovered how to convert single beds into a double. You push them together and turn the mattresses. Cover the dip and ridge where they meet with an extra duvet or blanket under the lower sheet.
Hotel's Meet and Greet
Luxury is the vehicle waiting to meet you at the airport, pointing out landmarks on the way to the hotel so you know the city. They take you back, no charge, making sure it's the same person who met you.
The fleet of Rolls Royces.
Luxury for less is having tea in the grand hotel, admiring the Rolls Royces.
Luxury is staying at, or eating in, the top hotel in the city, often the most historic hotel. For example, Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
Hotel Freebies
So what is luxury for less? Off-season offers. Free drinks included. Three nights for the price of two. Reductions if you book a suite for a week. Free flowers and chocolates and biscuits in the room on arrival.
Clothes
Luxury is clothes you buy for labels, designer labels. Luxury is clothes which make you look great whatever your figure. Silk. Clothes with big hems and spare buttons because it is assumed you will wear them forever and might want to alter them or repair them. Luxury is clothes which never look like you need to iron them, and stains disappear or wash out or can be covered by one of the buttons in assorted sizes. Luxury is the hotel where somebody will sew on a button.
Upmarket Toilets and Rest Rooms
Luxury is the hotel or restaurants which has both perfumed soap and moisturizer. The spa has an assortment of combs and the same toiletries supplied for free in the bedroom.
Luxury is when soap is by both the basin and the shower. When you are halfway through the soap or shampoo another magically disappears, as if the toiletries were breeding.
Luxury is the restaurant or hotel which knows your name, when you booked, how many in your group, and where you would like to sit.
Packing Suitable Clothes
Always pack one good outfit and a gift and wrapping paper and a card. One year on a plane to India, another passenger on his way to a wedding invited me and my companion. We had no suitable gift, so we bought duty-free bottles of alcohol on the plane. After we got off the plane, and presented our gifts in advance, somebody pointed out that we had given alcohol to a family whose religion prohibited alcohol.
We eventually found the host managed to ask if we could speak to him privately. My boyfriend asked, "We made a mistake. We gave you alcohol, not realising it was forbidden. Could you subtly retrieve the gift? We could either give money instead, in an envelope, or send a replacement gift later. Which would you prefer?"
He grinned and replied, "No, no - I'm delighted to receive the alcohol - which would be ridiculously expensive and hard to obtain here! It's a most welcome gift. Thank you so much. Just keep quiet - and don't tell any of our elderly, religious relatives about it!"
Celebrations
They know it's your birthday if you told them. They know it's your birthday when you didn't tell them. (If it's a hotel, they had your passport and checked. If not, they looked you up on Facebook, and asked one of your group when you checked in. The restaurant manager always asks if you are celebrating anything special. If so, a cake and candle appears.
Luxury is the meal you remember twenty years later.
Beautiful Bargains
Luxury for less is the bargain you remember twenty years later. Luxury for less is the bargain offer you must share with your friends.
When Higher Prices Mean Better Value
One way of judging the value of the garment is the number of times you wear it. The coat, or dress or shoes I wore every day which cost £100 are better value than the item I wore once which cost £50. (Unless it was a wedding dress, and I sold it for more than I paid for it.)
Airlines
Luxury is is First Class on any airline, Economy on Singapore Airlines, especially if you are on a loyalty programme. I am always impressed by anybody who uses a budget airline such as Ryan Air, buying all the extras, and travelling several times a year back home, or to a different city every time, just for a change, a weekend away.
Luxury for less - buying your way into an airport lounge. Travelling by day long-haul so you can watch all the latest films without losing sleep.
An airport with a private lounge. (The smaller airports don't always have them, or there my be one shared by all the airlines and crowded.)
The best I have experienced were Singapore Airlines in London and Singapore's Changi and Virgin in New Jersey.
The Airport
Changi Airport is great. Try to see the Butterfly Garden. It is free.
My favourite Luxuries:
A bedroom suite with a four-poster bed. Not a half tester, a proper four-poster.
Cocktails made with fresh fruit.
Freshly squeezed fruit juice.
Free glasses of champagne included in the price of a meal.
Free champagne, unlimited at a buffet breakfast or lunch.
What are yours?
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
The perfectly luxurious five-star hotel
Luxury is hotels where they make up the room when you leave it for breakfast so you come back and find fresh towels. Luxury is when you leave a room looking like it was hit by a hurricane but come back to find they folded your night dress and the room always looks like a film set.
Luxury is being able to put your shoes outside the door and half an hour later invisible goblins have polished them. Luxury is when the hotel concierge desk books your restaurant or evening out and calls the taxi at the right time to take you there.
The hotel has an oo-ah entrance hall, a waterfall, artwork, something stunning to look at. Books or brochures to read. Historic paintings with interesting captions. Information on the history of the location.
Drinks
You are greeted with a cocktail on check-in, and if it's alcoholic, they ask if you would prefer non-alcoholic. In Europe, Champagne is the luxury. In Singapore, a Singapore Sling or better still the Millionaire's Cocktail on the bar.
You are shown the label to be sure there is no mistake, and you haven't changed your mind. The wine is chilled, if required.
The Harrow restaurant at Little Bedwyn.
Food
A five star hotel has food available 24 hours. A great restaurant always has something new. Colourful. The Asians are the best at cutting vegetables into shapes and arranging patterns and contrasting colours. Not just for a grand buffet on a special occasion such as New Year's Eve.
However, in the last decade hotels and restaurants worldwide have improved presentation.
The Harrow restaurant at Little Bedwyn.
Even a single piece of fruit is beautifully presented. At a parador (historic hotel in a converted building). I asked if they had any fruit. They offered me a pear. I thought that sounded rather dull, but I ordered it. What a delight!
The cutting of the pear by the waiter was an entertainment. The skin was removed in a spiral and placed on the pretty plate as a decorative cone. They added
sprig of something edible and green and an edible flower. The pear was cut into four fans and looked like a butterfly. We just looked at it, stunned.
The coffee comes up with a small biscuit on the side. The spoon is at the right angle.
After the coffee you receive petit fours. Something special is presented with the bill, or for guests as they leave. Maybe a rose for the lady on Valentine's Day. Or a cake or a couple of biscuits with the embossed business card in a fancy box. Maybe a brochure offering ten per cent off your next meal, or a free glass of wine on Mondays.
Luggage
In the hotel your luggage stays with you, whilst the porter makes polite conversation. No playing find the lady with assorted staff! No disappearing luggage and that nasty feeling that you could be one item short, either from inside your handbag or indeed an entire bag gone for an afternoon stroll.
No luggage abandoned in the middle of the lobby, or the far corner, whilst coach parties surround it and knock it over like surfing waves. Then it goes missing and turns up an hour later when somebody who went off duty returns and locates it in a store room.
The lift (elevator in the USA)
Hotel Suites
If you are staying longer than 6 days, it's usually cheaper to book a suite hotel or negotiate a reduction for a weeks stay. If you can't get a reduction, ask for free breakfasts, or ask what extras they will give you. As for an upgraded room.
Bedroom
The bedroom and bathroom in the Hotel Scala boutique hotel in Bucharest, capital of Romania. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Bathroom
The Hotel Scala bathroom with double basins and mirrors, bidet, toilet and shower.
The Hotel Scala.
Honeymoons
Make sure you tell the hotel it's your honeymoon. On honeymoon at the Mamounia in Marrakesh, we were given a room with twin beds. All the other rooms had been given to a coach party who checked in just ahead of us.
It was three days into our honeymoon before we were able to move into a double bedded room. Meanwhile, we had discovered how to convert single beds into a double. You push them together and turn the mattresses. Cover the dip and ridge where they meet with an extra duvet or blanket under the lower sheet.
Hotel's Meet and Greet
Luxury is the vehicle waiting to meet you at the airport, pointing out landmarks on the way to the hotel so you know the city. They take you back, no charge, making sure it's the same person who met you.
The fleet of Rolls Royces.
Luxury for less is having tea in the grand hotel, admiring the Rolls Royces.
Luxury is staying at, or eating in, the top hotel in the city, often the most historic hotel. For example, Raffles Hotel in Singapore.
Hotel Freebies
So what is luxury for less? Off-season offers. Free drinks included. Three nights for the price of two. Reductions if you book a suite for a week. Free flowers and chocolates and biscuits in the room on arrival.
Clothes
Luxury is clothes you buy for labels, designer labels. Luxury is clothes which make you look great whatever your figure. Silk. Clothes with big hems and spare buttons because it is assumed you will wear them forever and might want to alter them or repair them. Luxury is clothes which never look like you need to iron them, and stains disappear or wash out or can be covered by one of the buttons in assorted sizes. Luxury is the hotel where somebody will sew on a button.
Upmarket Toilets and Rest Rooms
Luxury is the hotel or restaurants which has both perfumed soap and moisturizer. The spa has an assortment of combs and the same toiletries supplied for free in the bedroom.
Luxury is when soap is by both the basin and the shower. When you are halfway through the soap or shampoo another magically disappears, as if the toiletries were breeding.
Luxury is the restaurant or hotel which knows your name, when you booked, how many in your group, and where you would like to sit.
Packing Suitable Clothes
Always pack one good outfit and a gift and wrapping paper and a card. One year on a plane to India, another passenger on his way to a wedding invited me and my companion. We had no suitable gift, so we bought duty-free bottles of alcohol on the plane. After we got off the plane, and presented our gifts in advance, somebody pointed out that we had given alcohol to a family whose religion prohibited alcohol.
We eventually found the host managed to ask if we could speak to him privately. My boyfriend asked, "We made a mistake. We gave you alcohol, not realising it was forbidden. Could you subtly retrieve the gift? We could either give money instead, in an envelope, or send a replacement gift later. Which would you prefer?"
He grinned and replied, "No, no - I'm delighted to receive the alcohol - which would be ridiculously expensive and hard to obtain here! It's a most welcome gift. Thank you so much. Just keep quiet - and don't tell any of our elderly, religious relatives about it!"
Celebrations
They know it's your birthday if you told them. They know it's your birthday when you didn't tell them. (If it's a hotel, they had your passport and checked. If not, they looked you up on Facebook, and asked one of your group when you checked in. The restaurant manager always asks if you are celebrating anything special. If so, a cake and candle appears.
Luxury is the meal you remember twenty years later.
Beautiful Bargains
Luxury for less is the bargain you remember twenty years later. Luxury for less is the bargain offer you must share with your friends.
When Higher Prices Mean Better Value
One way of judging the value of the garment is the number of times you wear it. The coat, or dress or shoes I wore every day which cost £100 are better value than the item I wore once which cost £50. (Unless it was a wedding dress, and I sold it for more than I paid for it.)
Airlines
Luxury is is First Class on any airline, Economy on Singapore Airlines, especially if you are on a loyalty programme. I am always impressed by anybody who uses a budget airline such as Ryan Air, buying all the extras, and travelling several times a year back home, or to a different city every time, just for a change, a weekend away.
Luxury for less - buying your way into an airport lounge. Travelling by day long-haul so you can watch all the latest films without losing sleep.
An airport with a private lounge. (The smaller airports don't always have them, or there my be one shared by all the airlines and crowded.)
The best I have experienced were Singapore Airlines in London and Singapore's Changi and Virgin in New Jersey.
The Airport
Changi Airport is great. Try to see the Butterfly Garden. It is free.
A free travel gift with the purchase of four wheel suitcases in snazzy colours at Bucharest airport.
Travel coffee maker. Our first version took ground coffee. Then we were given one as a birthday present by our son. It took capsules; less mess when travelling.
Hotel Scala, Bucharest, Romania.
E n o m a t i c in wine shop within the Old Bridge Hotel, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England.
Wine tasting at a winery in Romania.
Petit fours at The Don restaurant in London.
H M The Queen, always impeccably dressed with a hat to match her coat. This model of her is at a shop featuring British goods at Stansted Airport, England. You might find cheaper wines and chocolates in some UK shops, such as Aldi and even Poundland for small size boxes of chocolates, to eat on the plane, with your free drink on arrival at your hotel, or put in your suitcase in case you need a quick small gift.
My favourite Luxuries:
A bedroom suite with a four-poster bed. Not a half tester, a proper four-poster.
Cocktails made with fresh fruit.
Freshly squeezed fruit juice.
Free glasses of champagne included in the price of a meal.
Free champagne, unlimited at a buffet breakfast or lunch.
What are yours?
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
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