At Your Service

Even when choosing self-catering accommodation over a hotel, it is possible to have a concierge, as entrepreneurs offering to take the guesswork out of your holiday arrangements are popping up all over the world.

Like a hotel concierge, these individuals or agencies can recommend and reserve restaurant tables, organise for a personal shopper, make onward travel arrangements and even find caterers and baby-sitters.

In Barcelona the website of Alberta La Grup offers (in rather clunky English) ‘a personal assistant to manage exceptional lifestyles’. Services include party planning for those that are coming to the city to celebrate a birthday or anniversary, devising bespoke sightseeing agendas, private gallery viewings, specialist tours and so on. A quick google search will reveal similar such companies in other major cities.

Whilst Alberta la Grup and others offer their services for hire, some other private concierge companies require a membership. Quintessentially charges £ 1,000 per year for ’24-hour access to the world’s finest lifestyle management service’ (or £ 2,500 for a ‘Dedicated’ membership). Working more akin to an exclusive club, Quintessentially claims they can actually save you money by securing discounts and cut rates on the world’s most exclusive hotels and services.

With over 700 people on their staff globally, including in far-flung destinations in the Middle East and Africa, they certainly seem to have the resources to be able to provide you with complete concierge and lifestyle management services on your holidays.

My weekend in Raffles Hotel in Singapore

On my recent trip to Singapore I made a spur of the moment decision to stay at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore instead of the Four Seasons – and enjoyed every minute of my stay there! And, after spending a weekend at Raffles, I realised that this was one hotel that knew the meaning of luxury and indulgence.

Built in 1889, Raffles is the region’s most historic hotel and as a result makes for a very interesting stay. The staff there was so helpful and friendly and seemed to anticipate my every need, I was delighted to find that they were also very well informed about Singapore and could give me directions to any place I wanted to visit in addition to providing suggestions on activities and places I might like to visit.

On my second day here, when I had asked to be taken on a tour of the hotel, I was regaled with stories about the hotel’s past and famous guest list which included the likes of Michael Jackson, Ava Gardner, Hugh Jackman, Elizabeth Taylor, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Sofia of Spain and Singapore’s last tiger.

The suites at the Raffles were decadently furnished and it seemed as if every piece of antique furniture had earned its place there along with the Oriental rug and rich, elegant furnishings. I always make it a point of interest to rate the comfort factor of the bed and Raffles gets a ten on ten in this department.

The hotel also houses the Raffles museum and Long Bar renowned all over the world for its famous cocktail: the Singapore Sling, which I personally recommend.

Staying in this hotel that has hosted queens and being served by staff who make sure that every guest is treated like royalty, makes you feel pampered and very good about yourself. Needless to say, I will be going back to Raffles the nest time I am in Singapore! in Asia, you might also be interested in holidays in Korea.

Pamper your Pooch on Holidays

It’s a dog’s life these days. Especially when we choose to take out best friends on holiday with us. And even if we are forced to leave them at home, luxury alternatives to the old-fashioned kennel are popping up everywhere.

One of the first countries to go the extra mile with doggie care was Australia. At the Bark Hyatt in Sydney, dogs and cats are cared for in the lap of luxury at their spacious, green ‘day care centre’. In the just- opened Pan Pacific Hotel in Seattle (US), bottled water, ice-cream and other gourmet treats from a local ‘dog bakery’ are just some of the services that await four-legged guests that check in with you.

As the name suggests, Pet Airways is an airline exclusively for cats and canines or indeed any ‘non-aggressive’ domestic animal. Instead of going in cages in the cargo hold as they would on regular flights, animals become ‘pawsengers’ and fly in the main cabin, albeit inside a carrier.

Owners need to bring along their pets vaccination certificates and other documentation, as well as food for the journey, which will be fed to them by the on-board ‘pet attendants.’ Pet Airways currently operates in the USA only—and regularly participates in post-disaster animal rescue work.

Niche dog beauty products were waiting to happen. Sexy Beast (www.sexybeaststyle.com) makes designer-packaged doggie fragrance (it’s bergamont and vanilla infused), shampoos, conditioners and other coat-care products. For a real treat take them to a pet day spa. Growing in popularity all over the world, places such as The Ritz Canine in the UK offer massage, coat treatments, pedicures and even acupuncture.

The Best Restaurants in the World

The Pellegrino ’50 Best Restaurants in the World’ list has always been somewhat overshadowed by the Michelin star system. That is until this year. Why? Because after four years in the number one position Ferran Adriá’s El Bulli has dropped to second place and to add insult to injury he was de-crowned by a Dane.

The Pellegrino Awards are voted for by an 800–strong panel of international, industry professionals, making them vastly different from the secretive Michelin system of single anonymous judges. They can only allocate three votes to restaurants in the their own locations and two must be allocated to ones outside, and they must have eaten in them in the last 18 months. One could also argue that the Pellegrino Awards are more focussed on the food, as the Michelin reviewers must also take into account the quality of the table settings, crockery and cutlery and service when dishing out their ‘stars’.

This year, four Spanish restaurants made the top ten list, but the biggest surprise of all was that the

number one position went to Noma in Copenhagen. Located in an old warehouse on the city’s waterfront, Noma is run by René Redzepi, who has quietly been toiling away at recreating Nordic classic dishes and re-introducing local ingredients, often foraged from the Danish countryside, to a new audience. Some of the produce that features on his menu includes elderberries, whey, and lovage

Some of the chefs that were left off this year’s list include Gordon ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Ramsay. In fact British haute cuisine, despite the hype that has surrounded it in the past years, fared badly with restaurants such as St. John slipping well-down in rank from previous years.

Premium Class Air Travel

Perhaps it was only to be expected; some airlines have started to introduce private cabins, upping the ante on ‘first class’ by providing full-size beds, bathrooms, room service and - perhaps the greatest luxury of all on the long-haul flight - privacy.

So far its only Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Etihad (another Middle East carrier) that has taken the plunge, but I am sure their initiative will set a trend. The truth is that over the years first class and business class facilities have been getting more and more elaborate. One of the first to recognize the fact that continent-hopping executives were prepared to pay for a little pampering was Virgin Atlantic. Their ‘Upper Class’ offers one of the largest flat beds around and an onboard bar for socializing with fellow passengers. Gourmet in-flight meals are another way airlines are competing with each other.

Qantas Airlines offers an eight course tasting menu designed by Rockpool, one of Sydney’s top restaurants whilst Cathay Pacific has a rice cooker, toaster and skillet in the galley, ready to whip up any food whims on request. Airlines also use amenities to vie for the luxury dollar. Here, Qantas come up trumps again with products from the French company Payot and toiletry bags and complimentary pajamas created by two top Australian designers; Colette Dinnigan for women and Akira Isogawa for men.

Of course, the question remains is whether these ‘little extras’ are worth the (often) 150 percent more that First Class airfares cost over economy ones. But with long-haul travel on the rise again (up 13 percent from 2009 figures) it seems that some people will always be prepared to pay for a comfortable night’s sleep.

The most famous squares in Europe

In the last post I talked a bit about Europe’s most emblematic streets, and this time I thought I’d take the topic a bit further and talk about its most gorgeous squares. My criteria are fairly simple; they need to be architecturally stunning and have a handful of outdoors cafes from which you can enjoy their beauty.

Probably the grand dame of all European squares is Venice’s San Marco, a simply divine stage surrounded by richly detailed baroque and renaissance architecture, including the basilica of the same name. Has there anyone that has not been captivated by it? I actually prefer it at night, when tourists have retired to their hotels and the resident pigeons have flown home. To admire its beauty you can’t beat an outdoor table at the Florian, a café seeped in the city’s history.

Also in Italy, Rome’s Piazza Navona has Bernini’s gorgeous fountain, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi as a centrepiece surrounded by sumptuous palazzi. As the foal point of the centro storico, it’s also busy most of the time. My favourite thing to do here is buy a gelato and sit of the edge the fountain to watch the passing parade.

In Barcelona, the Plaça Reial, just off Las Ramblas has a faded glory that is particularly lovely during the day, whilst Madrid’s Plaza del Sol, scene of medieval bullfights, never fails to impress with its perfect symmetry.

In Paris, the Place de la Concorde, is the largest in the French capital and of course has the famous Obelisk. But my personal favourite is the Place de l’Opera, with the beautiful opera house and the Café de Paris, one of the nicest terrace-cafes in the city.

The Most Famous Streets in Europe

When you stop to think about, every major European city has its Champs Elysees: a grand avenue, generally boasting beautiful historic architecture that has somehow played a major part in the city’s biography. I thought it would be fun to take a virtual stroll down a few of these.

In Barcelona it’s the Passeig de Gràcia (and not, as is commonly thought, the more downbeat Las Ramblas), the Passeig de Gràcia is an elegant avenue that acts as main artery in the Eixample district, or the 19th century ‘New Town’. Florid, grey blue tiles line the pavements. They are reproductions of a design by the great modernista architect Antoni Gaudí and two of his most famous works, the Casa Milá and Casa Batlló are also on the Passeig de Grácia. In between are some more glorious buildings and big name boutiques such as Chanel and Loewe, the luxury Spanish leather goods manufacturers.

In Rome the dog legged-shaped Via Veneto is legendary, largely thanks to Frederico Fellini’s classic 1960 film ‘La Dolce Vita’, which was largely shot on the Via Veneto. The street is home to the (in) famous Café de Paris, the American Embassy and some of the city’s most exclusive hotels.

In Amsterdam the PC Hooftstraat is THE shopping street, with stores and boutiques from Gucci, Cartier, Bulgari et al. The street is named after Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and poet and naturally, it contains the most expensive real estate in the city. Locals often jokingly refer to SUVs as PC-Hoofttractors, as these large vehicles proliferate in the immediate area.