An ex-pat balcony in a condo in Singapore, by daylight.
There's the sunset. it doesn't last long. Catch it while you can. Catch it with your eyes, your clinking glasses, your camera.
Cocktails In The Sunset
I used to admire the sunsets from the balconies of successive condos where we rented in Singapore.
This year I've made a point of actually sitting on balconies enjoying the view for an evening break.
If you are planning a first night or last night cocktail party or couples drink on the balcony of a hotel, check out the balcony. Tell the reception in advance that you want a room with a good view. See two rooms before allowing your luggage to be sent up.
Check the balcony actually has a table and two chairs. In one hotel, ou balcony had no chairs and table. I phoned and asked.
In the Pestana hotel in Madeira, while waiting for family, I wandered along the corridor to see the views from the pbulci areas and take photos. I found the hotel was deisgned with balonies all along the side. So in areas without bedooms by the lift (elevators if you are reading in the USA) the hotel has two public balconies - with tables and chairs.
The tables and chairs were to heavy and inconvenient for me to move. But I knoew the hotel had spare tables and chairs. (So we could have had a third or fourth chair if we had been entertaining.)
Alternatively, instead of moving more chairs into the bedroom, we could have held our mini-party on the public balcony.
You may find they want to charge more for a better room. You might decide it's worth paying extra. If not, at very least, you can get a photo from a better room's balcony whilst there is still light.
I remember reading a reviewer's comment that the bedrooms of a hotel were kept clean, but nobody had cleaned the chairs or tables on the balcony. You could ring housekeeping on arrival and ask them to do this.
I never thought of that. I just got toilet paper and wiped down the chairs and table.
I thought, next time I'll bring my own tablecloth. An alternative is to make a clean area for setting down glasses by using the cheap coasters from the hotel bar (I'd ask the bar server if I can borrow and bring them back).
If I'd had forethought and space in my luggage, I would have packed a lightweight plastic tablecloth. Two cheap cardboard coasters won't take up much space.
What about making the balcony chairs clean to sit on? Maybe two spare pillowcases from home. (Maybe not a white pillowcase in case a hotel staff think it's theirs. If it vanishes in the wash and they offer to look for it, they'll never find it.) How about the spare pillow in the hotel wardrobe? Either the whole pillow or just the pillowcase.
I would not want my family using that dirtied pillow later on the bed. I would remove the pillowcase and/or hand the pillowcase to the people collecting the bedrooms' dirty linen.
I would not want the next people in the room to receive a dirtied pillowcase either. Even if it didn't look dirty, I'd be worried about whether I'd infected somebody with a low immune system.
So now that we have a clean place for the glasses - did I mention glasses?
Save one from the bar and carry it upstairs. Ask for Champagne or Prosecco in the hotel bedroom on day one and keep the glass.
Ask if you can keep the glass used for the free drink you get at the reception desk on check-in.
Buy a plastic Champagne style glass from the local supermarket.
Maybe buy a bottle for pre-dinner drinks on the hotel balcony. (Although I'm not a fan of drinks without food, nor drinks combined with balconies.)
On the other hand, if you drink in the bedroom or a conference room, and then go down to the restaurant, you can avoid your group crossing roads.
Madeira
We tried that in Madeira. It can save money if you are eating in a hotel restaurant. Especially if they charge for bottled water and won't give you tap water.
However, it won't save if you get inebriated and order more drinks when you get down to dinner!
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photogaprher, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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