San Gimignano is another one of these small Italian medieval cities that are famous for one thing or another. In its case, it is known as “The Town of Fine Towers“, for the reason that the noble families of this…
Trip Report – RTW – Part 7: Italy Day 1: Siena
Siena is the capital of the province of Siena (which doesn’t help very much), but is the city that can be seen in the background of the Val d’Orcia pictures. It is a magnificent antique city in the middle of…
Trip Report – RTW – Part 7: Italy Day 1: Val d’Orcia
I have written a lot about hotels, lounges and premium cabins, but, maybe somewhat contrary to my post on the Savoy, not *all* travel (and travel reporting) *has* to be about these, ultimately, tools of the traveler. Sometimes, it’s worth…
Trip Report – RTW – Intermission: Bologna Airport
This, together with the Ferrari F40 and the Porsche 959, represented the average teenage boy’s idea of pornographic posters in the 1990s. I present to you… the Lamborghini Countach. And a more modern, and less pornographic one. Because really –…
Trip Report – RTW – Part 6: London Day 4 – Drive to Heathrow, BA European Lounge
So now that our adventure in London was complete, it was time to head back to the airport. I called the same taxi driver from day 1 who picked us up at Days Inn and dropped us off at the…
SPG’s Third night’s the charm: stay two, get one night free at Aloft, Element and Four Points
This is a very interesting promotion. The marketing talk states that if you do a stay that begins between Thursday and Saturday and book three nights, you will only pay for two – as long as you pay for them…
Trip Report – RTW – Part 6: London Day 3 – The British Museum
One of the most impressive achievements of the British Empire was to meticulously collect artefacts, pack them up and drag them to London, where they were all hoarded and put on display over the centuries that the British Empire prospered.…
Do you *have* to travel round-the-world with Aeroplan for best value?
A reader asked me: “is RTW (round-the-world) the only Aeroplan reward worth pursuing?” It is almost true that the best value for Aeroplan is round-the-world trips in premium cabins – what better to do than to visit a few continents…
Trip Report – RTW – Part 6: London Day 3 – High Tea at The Savoy
One of the things that are special about a hotel like The Savoy is the “high tea”. What it basically is is a glorified tea and cookies: you get all you can eat sandwiches, and all you can eat desserts,…
Hertz upgrades
Mentioned this in my Element review, but felt this deserves another post. It’s important to ask for upgrades at the counter. Maybe you can get a free one because of status – or maybe you can negotiate a cheap upgrade…