Blythswood Square, Glasgow
“You’d miss the five-star Blythswood Square hotel if you didn’t know where it was. Barely any signs make note of its existence on the pristine green of the same name in the centre of Glasgow.”
Browsing: The Explorer
Hospes Alicante
“Last week I had the misf-…occasion to go to the Costa Blanca. I know, I don’t know what possessed me either. In many ways I should have known what I was letting myself in for.”
The Possibilities in Porto
“It may well be that the northern Portuguese are uniquely equipped to withstand the rigours of the economic crisis. It’s perhaps due in part to their nature, more placid and patient than many of their neighbours.”
Into the Red: Amsterdam
“The No5 tram pulled round the corner, sending a few loitering pigeons into the grey sky. I was somewhere close to Rembrandtpark to the west of central Amsterdam, looking for the towering Ramada Apollo hotel.”
Voyages Extraordinaires: Paris
“The time is around 10.30am, but rather than coffee, I brought a bottle of champagne: Möet – Vintage 1966 – which we’ve dispatched, so we’re in rather high spirits.”
Lime Wood Hotel
“The first thing I did with The Beloved when arriving at Lime Wood was to lose her. This is easier than it sounds…” Alex scampers to Hampshire…
A Cornwall Artscapade
“I don’t need to check your tickets, do I?” the inspector beams, before guffawing, as he enters the swanky Pullman Dining Carriage…
Return to Baku: Azerbaijan
“It doesn’t look like much beneath the wing of the plane. A sand coloured, shrubless land and a low, pale sky, not exactly tourist board porn; if anything it looks like a biblical landscape, Old Testament.”
Royal Mansour Marrakech
Before I visited The Royal Mansour Hotel, I thought I was only really interested in old hotels; venerable properties with a real sense of history and perhaps a little faded grandeur.,,
Conrad Hotel Algarve
“I don’t golf. Or is it I don’t play golf? I don’t even know how to describe the fact that I don’t play golf. I don’t putt, I don’t chip, I don’t drive. I don’t even drive cars.”
Ventnor or Bust!
Harry ventures to Ventnor, wife and toddler in tow, taking in the annual Fringe and Film Festival, late summer swims and traditional tea rooms as he goes…
Guerlain Spa: Edinburgh
I arrive at the Guerlain Spa located in Edinburgh’s Waldorf Astoria Caledonian Hotel on a grey, grizzly weekday afternoon. Even the nearby castle looks sad…