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What's New for the Frequent Traveler

By Walter Glaser

AIRLINES

AFGHANISTAN. The government of India has very generously just handed the first of three airbus 300-B4s from the fleet of Air-India to Ariana Afghan Airlines. It is a very real and positive step in rebuilding that shattered country. 

SINGAPORE AIRLINES. This airline’s management does not believe that launching a three-times weekly B777-200ER service to Las Vegas is any kind of gamble. We agree. Routing the flight via Hong Kong to pick up Hong Kong’s and China’s high-rollers was also a safe bet. It’s South East Asia’s first direct service to America’s capital of glitz, glamour and entertainment.

US AIR has filed for chapter eleven, an indicator that United States carriers are still under huge financial pressure. Rumors are rife that United Airlines and American Airlines are considering a similar move.

AIR CHINA is launching an innovative Boeing 747 service from Beijing to New York. The flight will pass over the Arctic Circle and will reduce the flying time dramatically – from 21 to 13 hours.

CATHAY PACIFIC, hurt by last year’s air-traffic downturn and disruptive pilot strikes, is slowly lifting itself back out of the doldrums. CX will add three services to Auckland, New Zealand, flying A320-300 Airbus aircraft fitted with Cathay’s new Business Class cabins, and will also add an extra flight to its Bangkok service, bringing to five the number of daily flights to Thailand’s capital.

HOTELS

SANTIAGO

If you want to stay in what is arguably the most impressive hotel in Chile, then the Hyatt Regency Santiago is a very hard act to beat. Request a room that looks across to the stately, snow-capped Andes mountains, and you will have a location that you will long remember. Santiago is the most modern city in South America, and is safe, interesting and visitor-friendly. And if you want to see what makes Chilean wine so special, why not ask the concierge to arrange a tour of the Conch Y’ Toro Winery, forty-five minutes from the hotel.

Av. Kennedy #4601, Santiago, Chile                                     Tel: ++562 363 3280

SCOTLAND

Visiting Scotland with time to spare and want to live like a lord? Try the Kinnaird hotel near Dunkeld, around 100km from Edinburgh.  Built in 1770 as an aristocratic family home and set in a nine thousand acre estate it only offers eight rooms and one suite – but what a place to be! Deer stalking, country walking, salmon fishing and local sightseeing make Kinnaird a wonderful Scottish experience.

Perthshire PH8 OLB, Scotland                                                 Tel: ++4401796 482440

SYDNEY

Small, superbly elegant, and with a dream location directly facing an over-water view of the famous Sydney Opera House, the Park Hyatt Sydney is a most unusual hotel with décor, service and ambiance that matches anything in the world. A five minute walk to the Central Business District, and only minutes from the ferry terminal and the historic Rocks area, it would be hard to imagine a better place to stay in Sydney.

7 Hickson Road, The Rocks, Sydney, Australia                       Tel: ++ 612 9241 1234

BALI

In a place where the extraordinary is common-place, the Bali Oberoi is one of our favorite hideaways. The rooms are actually self-contained cottages that you will never want to leave, and the resort is an island of tranquility – the absolute opposite to the hustle and bustle of some of the international mega-hotels popular with tour groups. The Oberoi is right on the beach, has every facility, and is only a stone’s throw from other excellent restaurants at Legian – if you can drag yourself away from the hotel’s delicious cuisine.

Legian Beach, Jalan Kayu Aya, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia            Tel: ++ 62361 730361

RESTAURANTS

LONDON

L'Incontro. If you are in London, like Italian food, and want to see where London’s upper crust comes to dine, try L’Incontro.  Venetian Italian dishes are excellent, and formally dressed waiters keep the well dressed crowds coming in for sublime seafood, risottos and freshly made pastas.

87 Pimlico Road, SW1, London, England                                    Tel: ++ 0207 730 3663

Maze @ Legends. Och aye! Don your wee kilts if you have them, and you’ll feel even more at home in this restaurant.  Here's your chance to try Scottish food such as cock-a-leekie  and salmon fishcakes in this modern styled room attached to the Legends nightclub.  Open for lunch and Saturday dinner only.

29 Old Burlington Street, W1, London, England                                    Tel: ++ 0207 437 9933

PARIS

When Napoleon took Josephine out to lunch it was often to the restaurant, Le Grand Vefour. Subsequently Victor Hugo, Colette, Malraux and Cocteau regularly dined here. And no wonder. The restaurant has a style and charm that is ageless, and chef Guy Martin creates dishes that are both traditional and innovative. You have to book well ahead here, but I never mind phoning half-way across the world to make sure of getting a table two or so weeks later. I think you may agree that it’s one of the finest dining experiences in Europe.

17 rue de Beaujolais, 75001 Paris, France                          Tel: ++ 331 42 96 56 27

TOKYO

To really impress someone with a lunch or dinner invitation in Tokyo, you may want to book a table at Mikuni. Chef Kiyomi Mikuni takes classic French cuisine and combines it with the culinary traditions of Japan to create a truly memorable dining experience. And there are some splendid French wines on the Wine List. But don’t forget to bring a bottomless credit card. Quality doesn’t come cheap in Japan.

1-18 Wakaba, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 160-0011, Japan                 Tel: ++ 813 33 51 38 10

WASHINGTON (VIRGINIA)

For an outstanding dining experience, head for The Inn at Little Washington, one of America’s most famous country retreats at the foothills of the Blue-Ridge Mountains. The cuisine is American with French/International overtones, the service is impeccable, and the place only has one drawback, once you see the rooms at the inn, you may not want to leave.

Middle and Main Street, Washington, Virginia, USA               Tel ++ 1540 675 3800

WORTH NOTING

QANTAS. Since the demise of Ansett, once the major competitor of Australia’s biggest airline, Qantas is one of the few airlines expanding in the current climate. But its position of a semi-monopoly may be leading to some bad decisions that will result in customer dissatisfaction. Qantas is leasing some retired British Airways 747s that appear not to have been updated, resulting in less-than-impressive service and maintenance. Items like broken seats, cabin lights that won’t shut down at night, mechanical breakdowns and other problems with these ageing aircraft are creating howls of protest from Qantas passengers. If you want to risk sharing our experience on a recent flight – without hot-towel wake-up, be served food that is only warm, not hot, get poached eggs for breakfast that are rock-hard, and spend twelve hours in which the only water that you’re offered is at meal time, you may want to fly Qantas as a preferred carrier. We don’t! 

WORD OF WARNING

If you are planning to head for a destination that is located at a higher altitude than eight thousand feet, give yourself time to get acclimatized. We recently flew from Lima, Peru, which is at sea-level to Cusco which is over nine thousand feet and were immediately assailed by the grandfather of all headaches and shortness of breath. It is wise to spend your first day in any high altitude city just resting. If you have any heart problems or other ailments, don’t hesitate to ask your doctor what precautions to take before you leave home. Remember that your oxygen levels in such places drop dramatically, and can lead to medical complications.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Laugh alone, and the world thinks you’ve gone mad.

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