My forthcoming website - Luxury travel for less - my experience and yours?

I have started drafting the home pages for my forthcoming website on WordPress which I hope to have running within the next fortnight. Here's a peek at the draft of one of the home pages:

What is my experience and how does it compare with yours?

Travels Overseas
My first holiday overseas was at the age of five. Quite adventurous in the 1950s. My husband started traveling later and then overtook me. He likes to go hiking and trekking, Everest, Kilimanjaro, that sort of thing, wearing out special boots and poles with spikes.

Romania Hiking
I know because I did that last year in Romania. with a group. Anybody can make a mistake once.
He prefers a smart car such as a Rolls Royce of a Jaguar. Failing that, he is happy with a yak.  And a porter carrying the tents. I once rode on a camel to Petra in Jordan. A camel lets you off by bending its front knees so its back becomes diagonal, like a water chute. If you are not expecting it, you shoot forward over its head. I was less scared shooting the rapids in the USA and in New Zealand. Frankly, I would rather sit in the club lounge of a hotel or shop for shoes, thank you very much.

Camel in Jordan
I once rode on a camel to Petra in Jordan. A camel lets you off by bending its front knees so its back becomes diagonal, like a water chute. If you are not expecting it, you shoot forward over its head. I was less scared shooting the rapids in the USA and in New Zealand. Frankly, I would rather sit in the club lounge of a hotel or shop for shoes, thank you very much.

I'll try anything once. I usually try it again, ten years later, and find my memory was right. Things have not improved.

In Romania I didn't have sufficiently waterproof shoes. As a result, I was abandoned on one side of a puddle which had turned into a pond. Left alone for three hours, I watched the puddle (which has a technical name) thinking that there must be something alive in it. Sure enough, there was.

I stayed still and it came out. Then another. A whole army of them!

 I amused myself watching and videoing them - they were either toads or frogs. A day later, with renewed interest, I read the information boards about wildlife. They were yellow-bellied frogs.

Everest
I was horrified to learn that most of those out in the wild trips to placeEverest Everst, with all the porters and permits, and special clothes, can cost more than staying in a five-star hotel.

My husband regards hiking like this as easy. He prefers something more challenging like Everest. He goes off with a yak and a personal porter carrying the tents and a birthday cake on the top of the mountain.

I would rather sit in the club lounge of a hotel, enjoying the free drinks, or shop for shoes in the hotel sale.

Up and Down
So I frequently veer from the expensive to the cheap and cheerful, from Singapore Airlines to Ryanair, from feast to famine. Since I and my husband are both freelance, our income goes up and down.

I understand the desire to try something new, whether its truffles or pink champagne, but everybody likes a bargain.

Comedy
Yes, I am still married, which surprises most people. I went on a stand-up comedy course. My opening line was: "My husband and I have separate bedrooms. Mine is in London. His is in Singapore." I am reminded of a badge (Americans call it button) which I saw in San Francisco. It said: If you're rich, I'm single.

Morocco Honeymoon
When we got married, we honeymooned in Marrakesh, in the Mamounia hotel where Winston Churchill stayed. We were given twin beds!

I became obsessed about double beds, and four-poster beds and honeymoon suites.  Everywhere hotel I went into, I asked to see the honeymoon suite. I wrote for Brides magazine.

Camping
Quite a contrast to the camping sites in the UK and Europe which I wrote about for Good Motoring and Camping and Caravanning magazines. I also wrote about Butlins for a mother and baby magazine. Whilst I was earnestly and happily chatting up a woman whose daughter had lost her front tooth, and a man in tattoos, my husband declined to join in the sing-songs.  He stayed upstairs lying on the bed reading motoring magazines.

Polite Praise
I used to have a goal of visiting a new country every year. Now my goal is to learn a new language every year. My aim is to tell you the truth, but politely, as they say, to damn with faint praise. I would never want to hurt the feeling of the majority of people working in restaurants and hotels who sometimes appear completely incompetent but are doing their best, like so many writers having achieved success in one area, start again at novices in another, earnestly trying to do something new for the first time, like me and you.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author and speaker. My books are on Amazon.com and lulu.com Please share links to your favourite posts.

Luxury for less?

Box of moon cakes for the Chinese autumn festival. These are from Singapore. Mooncakes are cheaper in Taiwan. 

What is luxury? What is less?

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.

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.

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.

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.

How to get help from hotel receptions, concierges, car parks

Problems
1 You arrive at a hotel but they have no room for you and they are full.
2 You are on honeymoon and your room has twin beds.
3 You want an upgrade to a room with a sea or garden view but the hotel is full.
4 You want help because you've lost your car.
5 You want help because your car won't start.

Answers
1 a) Offer a tip to reception (countries such as India and Malaysia). It may be they are waiting for a bribe before granting you a room. Stand and chat. Ask for help. Check the names of bookings to see if your name has been wrongly spelled or listed. In Asia the surname is first. A room for John Smith will be listed as Smith John.
2 a) Push beds together. b) Put mattresses on the floor. c) Turn the mattresses sideways to make a double. d) Change rooms next day.
3 Don't unpack. Find out when people check out and check in. Get an empty room in the late evening from a 'no show'. Get a room next morning before rooms are allocated to newcomers. Get room changed next day.
4 Chat up and ask for help from the car park supervisor.
5 Befriend the Automobile Association people in the vicinity.

Stories
LILLE - LOST ROOM BOOKING
I arrived with a group of journalists, four of us, for a festival opening event in Lille, a city in Northern France. The hotel had no bookings in our name.
The others travelling with me were in despair, wondering where to find another hotel. Besides we had free rooms from the paid for by the tourist board. We did not want to have to pay. The tourist board had clearly chosen an out of town hotel at cheap prices since the city was full.
I asked reception if they had any empty rooms, no shows. She had four beds not yet claimed, booked by the local tourist board.
I gasped, "They must be our rooms! They've booked in their name instead of ours." Problem solved.

Not quite. The suspicious receptionist insisted on phoning the tourist board to verify our story. But the office was closed - everybody was already on their way to the grand evening reception.

By now all my journalist friends were on the case and convinced the rooms were rightly ours. Another journalist persuaded the receptionist to let us take our suitcases out of the car to leave them at the hotel. We unpacked out our evening clothes, changed, and rushed off to the reception. The tourist board people, of course, were glad to ring the hotel and explain that the rooms were for us.

MOROCCO - TWIN BEDS ON HONEYMOON
On honeymoon, I and my new husband arrived at our hotel (The Mamounia in Marrakesh). A large coach party was ahead of us. By the time we are seen, last, the only bedroom left had twin beds.

I have never forgotten this. I spent the next ten years checking the honeymoon suite of every hotel I visited. I became a honeymoon specialist. I wrote for Brides magazines and talked on radio stations about wedding etiquette and honeymoon hotels.

2 SINGAPORE
Our first names and surnames were reversed. It happened at least once at a hotel. At least once on an airline reservation.

3 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
We were in Sydney for about a week, staying at a grand hotel with a view of the harbour. But our room was on the back, facing a building site with scaffolding and noise. My husband was out at business meetings. I had to sit in the hotel room all day waiting for him to return. I sat there thinking, at home in London I would be looking out at my garden. I have just paid several hundred pounds to cross the world and sit looking at scaffolding. I went down to reception. I asked if I could change rooms. Sorry, no luck.


I told them, "I have booked into a room at a four star hotel facing the harbour for a week. I have travelled half way round the world, leaving my lovely home, for a view of scaffolding. Can you change my room for free? If not, how much extra will it cost? If I cannot get a room with a better view, I will check out of the hotel when my husband returns from business this evening. I will never use your hotel chain again. And I will never come back to Australia." The girl on reception said, "Just a minute, Madam." We got a changed room. I did all the packing and unpacking from drawers. The porters moved the items on hangers.

I could not contact my husband at work. He did not want to be interrupted. He had gone to a different office. He had said he had no time to change rooms.
But when my husband came back, it was fait accompli. Nothing for him to do - except try to find out which room I was in because his hotel key opened to an empty room!


Tips
1 Print a copy of your room reservation in advance. Keep the copy of your room reservation handy in your right hand pocket.
2 Make friends with the reception and concierge on arrival even if you don't need help.
3 Before your trip find out the foreign language words for common problems such as:
Where is the restaurant? Do I need to make a booking? I need a table for two. Now. Any time.We would like double beds. We would like twin beds. We want a room with a view. We are prepared to pay for an upgrade. We do not want to pay for an upgrade. It is our anniversary. It is my birthday (show passport or keep copy of passport if reception keeps passports).

Actions
Print your list of hotels, restaurants, businesses, friends you are visiting.
Check trip advisor for problems at your destination or hotel such as rooms on the road side are noisy, restaurants close early. Check for special deals.
Always have a second choice hotel and restaurant in case you need a quick decision or see special offer.
Find a favourite restaurant or hotel even if it is out of your price range. Every now and then on a trip you are offered a treat. You may need to treat a host who has invited you to their home, or boss who has bought you meals. You might want to recommend something to new friends. You never know your luck = you might see a special lunch time offer as you walk past on an off-season Monday. You might see a special offer when you open a tourist map, a local newspaper and magazines.

AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker.
See my other travel posts on this blog. Read other blogs on grammar, spelling, language, speaking. Like my pages and share them. Link to me on Facebook and LinkedIn. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Watch me performing my poetry and speeches on Facebook and Toastmasters International club pages and on YouTUbe.
Author of:
Wedding Speeches and Toasts. (Ward Lock/Cassell. Several editions. In some libraries. Also second hand copies on the net.)
The Best Man. (Ward Lock/Cassell.)
Quick Quotations. (Lulu.com - or buy from me when you see me.)
Who Said What When. (Lulu.com - or buy from me and get it signed when you see me.
New copies of my books are mostly £10 / 20 Singapore dollars. One of two books which are thicker, cost me lots of postage to get delivered to my home and /or with lots of illustrations are £20. Sometimes I have an old battered copy which I will sell cheaply.