The Silver Lining Blog

Possibly the most beautiful hotel in the world...

GB — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:39:00 +0000

Midnight at the Huka Lodge in New Zealand. We stayed here in April and will be posting a full report later this week. More amazing pictures to follow!

Night falls over Bora Bora

GB — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:34:00 +0000

The sun disappears as storm clouds gather over the Intercontinental Resort and Thalasso Spa in Bora Bora. I've posted a full report with lots more pictures here on the Silver Lining Travelogue.

Air New Zealand, Hong Kong

GB — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:22:00 +0100

Our B747-400 is refuelled at Hong Kong International before the second leg of the journey to Auckland. Read the full account of this journey here.

Queenstown, New Zealand

GB — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:41:00 +0100

A view from the terrace of our room at the Azur Lodge on the edge of Queenstown. I'll be posting a full report on this incredible location in the next few days.

Autumn in Auckland

GB — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:15:00 +0100

A view of Auckland's famous Sky Tower from Albert Park on a glorious autumn day in March 2009. We will be posting many more pictures from the beautiful parts of North and South Island in the next few days.

Beit Al Mamlouka, Damascus, Syria

GB — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:42:00 +0100

Hidden behind a high wall in the Old Town of Damascus, the tranquil courtyard of the exquisite Beit Al-Mamlouka luxury boutique hotel. Read about our stay in Damscus here.

Palmyra, Syria

GB — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:05:00 +0100

The ruins of the Temple of Bel, the pagan god of the ancient city of Palmrya, Syria. This is one of the best-preserved Roman ruins in the world, and new discoveries are being made all the time. Of particular note is the work being done on excavating the elaborate tombs of the wealthy citizens of Palmyra. Our guide reckons there will be more unveiled in the next two years. For a full report of our visit to Syria, click here.

Pic of the week - inside the Emirates A380 First Class

GB — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:04:00 +0000

Read here for an account of the fabulous flying experience in the First Class cabin of the Emirates A380.

Review of Emirates A380 First Class, EK001, Dubai – London Heathrow

GB — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:57:00 +0000

I know it’s becoming a little bit of a cliché to talk about how quiet the plane is. There is so little ‘roar’ from the engines on take off that you wonder how this giant hulk of an aircraft is going to build up enough speed to get off the ground. Not sure if it was the quietness of the aircraft or the noise reduction headsets, but I was particularly impressed by the sound quality of the ICE entertainment system on this flight. The large TV screens (23 inches?) in the First Suites help too.

Review of Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal, Mosconi Restaurant

GB — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:43:00 +0100

FOR most Europeans, I would guess, Luxembourg features very little in our thoughts. It sits oddly, permanently in the background of our lives, a minor detail on the map of Europe as we scan for more glamorous locations in Italy, Switzerland or France. For some reason, we had a rising curiosity about the Grand Duchy in 2008, partly inspired by the search for well-regarded Michelin-starred restaurants on the continent. It turned out that Luxembourg was home to Mosconi, a two-star Italian restaurant - the only one with such status outside of Italy itself. So we packed a party of six ...

Review of Beijing Olympics - Opening Ceremony

GB — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:20:00 +0100

THERE are very few occasions when the eyes of the world turn, almost as one, to a single location. That’s what makes attending any Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games one of the world’s great travel experiences. To be there when billions are tuning in to watch; when you are standing in an astonishing new structure that has stretched the limits of architectural and engineering possibilities; when you can look across and see the President of Russia sitting a few feet away from the Presidents of the USA, China, France and almost every world leader you can think of; when ...

Review of The Capital, Knightsbridge, London

GB — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:58:00 +0100

With the economy collapsing all around us, the obvious response is to splash out at one of London's top restaurants. The Capital is tucked away discreetly inside a small hotel just around the corner from Harrods, and has two Michelin stars. I first went there for a birthday dinner two years ago, and have been dying to go back ever since. Recovering from a horrendous overnight flight from JFK, I wasn't in the best of moods when we set off on the Piccadilly Line, but The Capital soon worked its magic and restored my spirits.

The dining hall is very ...

Review of Savoy restaurant, Prince Street, New York

GB — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:46:00 +0100

I always struggle to know where to eat in New York, so it was great to discover the Savoy restaurant, tucked away on a little corner of Prince Street, Soho, this intimate, warm venue is an excellent place for dinner a deux, or with a small group of friends. As it happens, I found myself here on business when it was my birthday, so six colleagues took me out to the Savoy for a slap-up dinner. The downstairs dining room at the Savoy is all honeyed wood and gentle lighting. It is tiny, and I was a little worried they ...

Review of Air New Zealand, Business Class, London to Los Angeles

GB — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:00:00 +0100

How much is a national airline brand tied up with our perceptions of the country it represents? Think Finnair - generous quantities of booze on board, straightforward but efficient service, and the grit and indefatigability to take off and land in conditions which would utterly defeat the big softies at Heathrow. How more Finnish could it be? In some cases, those airlines help to define what we think about a nation. How much goodwill has Singapore Airlines generated for the city state over the years? A fair amount, I would imagine.

Review of La Reserve, Lake Geneva

GB — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:17:00 +0100

Getting to La Reserve is super easy from London, as long as you use the Swiss service from City Airport to Geneva. Thank Heavens for London City Airport on a Bank Holiday weekend - no Heathrow, no desperate lines at security, no long queue to get on the plane. Once you land and get through passport control (with typical Swiss efficiency), it’s only a ten minute taxi ride before you are pulling into the gates of La Reserve. As you can see from the picture above, the building isn’t going to win any architectural awards, but once you get inside, this is one luxurious resort.

Review of Balconies Restaurant (Searcys), Royal Opera House, London

GB — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:46:00 +0000

There are few experiences finer in this world than spending an evening at London's Royal Opera House. For last month's production of 'Die Zauberflote', we decided to go the whole hog and have dinner at Searcy, the restaurant inside the ROH.

Sunset at the Miraflores Park Hotel, Lima

GB — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:09:00 +0000

Miraflores is one of the wealthiest parts of Lima, and home to most of its best hotels. It sits on the cliffs high above the coast, and has very pretty gardens which run along the front.

Review of Sanctuary Lodge, Machu Picchu

GB — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:43:00 +0000

The defining feature of Machu Picchu is mystery. Even though the buildings are bare and decaying, there is still the sense that the place has just been abandoned with great haste. You half-expect to come across a dinner plate with half-eaten Alpaca bones in one of the tiny houses below. But who was here and why did they leave?

Review of Monasterio, Cusco and Sol y Luna, Peru

GB — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 22:14:00 +0000

After serving as a monastery for hundreds of years, the palace is now Monasterio, without question the finest hotel in Cusco. And the ‘Best Hotel in South America’, as voted by Conde Naste Traveller in 2007. Monasterio, part of the Orient Express group, is certainly a fine place to stay, in a unique setting. The staff are first class, and there are two excellent restaurants which serve Peruvian cuisine (think Alpaca, think Guinea Pig) with a contemporary twist.

Review of Explora en Atacama, Chile

GB — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:49:00 +0000

Trekking through the Atacama desert is the closest that I will ever come to being on another world. The resemblance to satellite pictures of the the surface of Mars is not so far-fetched. In 2003, a team of scientists from NASA found ‘Mars-like soils’ in the Atacama. In other words, the samples they analysed produced very similar results to those of NASA’s Viking mission to Mars in the 1970s: no sign of life and virtually undetectable organic material. This strange result gave the researchers hope that life on Mars may be found one day.

Review of La Tremoille & Le Pre Catelan, Paris

GB — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:55:00 +0000

There are five of us here for a special occasion - KB’s birthday - and I can’t imagine a better place to stay than Hotel Tremoille. It has been undergoing an extensive renovation itself, 16 months of upgrading which has turned Tremoille into a very fine mid-sized hotel in the heart of Paris’ ‘Golden Triangle’, just a few minutes’ walk from George V Avenue and the Champs-Elysees.

Review of Sumahan on the Water, Istanbul

GB — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:59:00 +0000

Sumahan was created from the shell of a 19th century Ottoman distillery. It has been renovated with a great deal of care, and sits in perfect harmony with the quiet little village next door.

Review of Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten and Tantris restaurant, Munich

GB — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 20:28:00 +0000

With its bulbous yellow lamps and multi-coloured pillars, Tantris is more like a Tate Modern installation than a restaurant.

Review of Thai Airways Royal First Class, London to Bangkok

KB — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:35:00 +0000

The Royal First Lounge at Bangkok is very impressive - better even than Qatar Airways Premium Terminal at Doha in my opinion. There are nice private rooms to relax in (photo shown), sleeping areas, shower suites and a full service menu. The lounge staff were extremely attentive and were constantly offering to bring me food and drink. They also made me an appointment to visit the Royal Orchid Spa where I had a nice complimentary neck and shoulder massage. When the time came for me to board my connecting flight, I was personally escorted all the way to the aircraft.

Review of EOS airlines, London to New York

GB — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:01:00 +0000

The pitch seems too good to be true: an all-business airline, less than 50 passengers on a 757, flying from Stansted, fast track all the way, and considerably less expensive than BA or Virgin. Could EOS possibly live up to the hype?

As one of the world's biggest cynics, I have to say that it's almost all true! This flight to JFK was one of the smoothest I have ever had, and probably the best business class service.

The EOS staff whisk you through the check-in and security process as fast as possible to the smart lounge where attentive staff ...

Review of Hollmann Beletage, Vienna

GB — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:20:00 +0000

Looking for the Hollman Beletage Hotel? Do we have the right address? you may ask yourself as you head down Köllnerhofgasse, a short street about five minutes walk from St Stephen’s Cathedral. You stop at the entrance to a grand old apartment building and enter a secret code which opens the heavy door. Once inside, your eyes wander around the cavernous hallway, which looks little changed from the late Imperial era.

Restaurant Review : Zuma

GB — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 19:34:00 +0100

I have a strange addiction to Japanese restaurants. It's strange, because I have a severe allergy to most fish and seafood. Therefore, seventy or eight per cent of the menu is off limits to me. However, I persist for two reasons: KB is with me and he loves sushi; and I can content myself with a superb bottle of Sake and a real treat: Wagyu beef.

Where better to sample these delights than Zuma? Tucked away in a Knightsbridge side street across the road from Harrods and Harvey Nichols, this place is one of the best Asian restaurants in London, ...

Review of The Astoria, St Petersburg

GB — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:49:00 +0100

There are a small number of world class hotels in St Petersburg, and this is one of them. The Astoria has been around since 1912, when the unfortunate Nicholas II was still living in style down the road at the Winter Palace. Just about every world leader who has visited the city since has stayed at the Astoria.

Restaurant Review : Smiths of Smithfield, Top Floor

GB — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:33:00 +0100

It's been a tough week, and I'm feeling as old as Sir Menzies Campbell. The embattled, geriatric Liberal leader looks like he needs cheering up, and so do I. We head for Smiths of Smithfield, very much a local for KB as he lives round the corner, and one of our old favourites. This is about familiarity and comfort food.

City Hotels : Kurhaus Hotel, Den Haag, Netherlands

GB — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 17:26:00 +0100

I could write a novel set in the Kurhaus. Having much work to do in the Dutch capital last year, I must have stayed there at least a dozen times. Last week I found myself back there for the day, and had to take the tram down to Scheveningen for a quick visit to the grand old lady of the Dutch hotel trade.

For those unfamiliar with the Netherlands, Scheveningen is the small outpost which sits right on the North Sea, about three miles from Den Haag city centre. There is a very long, straight drive down to the coast, ...