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Varun is taking a break from his Daily Diary for a few days and has entrusted this responsibility to Tim & James
Filming of the 2010 series of Inside Luxury Travel is near completion. During 2010 Varun and the Inside Luxury Travel film crew travelled to Melbourne, Hawaii, KwaZulu-Natal, Quebec, Istanbul, Prague, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, French Polynesia, Barcelona and Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the filming locations for 2011 - Malaysia, Antigua, Napa Valley, Sydney, Big Sur, Wales, Geneva, Sweden, Botswana, Egypt, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Over the next few weeks there will be a series of Look Back Diary entries. Our sixth filming location was Prague.
The two properties that we filmed in Prague were Four Seasons Hotel Prague (www.fourseasons.com/prague) and the Kempinski Hybernska Prague(www.kempinski.com/en/prague)
 The traditional start of show photo...
 The Kempinski showcased it's own collection of modern art, amongst the displays, there was was a sculpture and canvas on the main staircase. As you walk up the staircase it looks like the sculpture is punching the canvas.
 Varun and the general manager of the Kempinski, Peter Knoll.
 Varun's private tram! There are 940 in the city - 150 kms of track and with the Metro - 1.1 billion passengers a year! There's been a tram system in Prague since late 19th century. First horse & cart ... then it was all electrified!
 "My suite is undoubtedly the most sought after on this side of the River Vlatva ... it's 200 sq metres in area ... has a jacuzzi on the balcony ... and erm - is very comfortable! The views ... THE VIEWS!!!" - Varun
 In the museum you learn about garnet and then buy some! Like the greenstone from New Zealand, you NEVER buy garnet for yourself ... ALWAYS someone else!
 Varun with ballerina Nikola Marova on the stage of Swan Lake at Prague State Opera House. It opened on 5th January 1888. It was built by the Germans - during the Habsburg period. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe ... filled with gold leaf, frescoes and statues.
 "So - I basically got into a bath of beer at 35 degrees for 20 minutes ... while knocking back super-strength Budvar! After that, I was wrapped up like a baby and slept in a dark room on a bed of hay/straw! This draws out much of the toxins. I am pleased to say that the treatment was very effective but I did smell of yeast for much of the day!" - Varun
 Varun having a drink straight from the barrel at Pilsen - the home of Pilsner Urquell - that famous beer. It has been produced here since 1842 ... firstly in wood barrels and now in huge stainless steel vats.
 Varun and Davide Barnes on the roof of Four Seasons Hotel Prague.
"Prague IS one of the most beautiful cities in the world - with certainly the most beautiful women AND a more than generous helping of Cocker Spaniels!" - Varun
Varun is taking a break from his Daily Diary for a few days and has entrusted this responsibility to Tim & James
Filming of the 2010 series of Inside Luxury Travel is near completion. During 2010 Varun and the Inside Luxury Travel film crew travelled to Melbourne, Hawaii, KwaZulu-Natal, Quebec, Istanbul, Prague, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, French Polynesia, Barcelona and Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the filming locations for 2011 - Malaysia, Antigua, Napa Valley, Sydney, Big Sur, Wales, Geneva, Sweden, Botswana, Egypt, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Over the next few weeks there will be a series of Look Back Diary entries. Our fifth filming location was Barcelona.
The two properties that we filmed in this Catalan city were Hotel Arts Barcelona, (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Barcelona/Default.htm)and Gran Hotel La Florida (http://www.hotellaflorida.com/index.cfm)
 The traditional team photo.  Barcelona is a city of Art, living up to this reputation is the sculpture in the garden of Hotel Arts in Barcelona.
 "Barcelona has a plethora of Michelin stars and here at Arts - there is the 1-star Enoteca - whose head chef is Paco Perez. He taught me how to prepare a lobster dish, with white asparagus and Grey Mullet roe. My Spanish is worse than his English so we had a "fun" time filming the piece. The end product looks great and the dish tasted ... SUPERB! Also Paco is a lovely chap ...Tim in the background. He may look like a scary monster ... but in reality, he's just a monster!" - Varun
 "Rosemary Trigg has been the PR for this property for over a decade! That means I have known her for over a decade. She has not aged a day ... unlike me! She's one of the best ..." - Varun
 "Norman Vilalta ... one of the greatest bespoke shoemakers in Europe. He takes over 200 hours to make each pair from the design to the final product. He makes around 100 pairs a year ... and the start price for a pair is around Euros 2500!! I totally fell in love with every shoe I saw ... all for men and all totally unique. I have my shoes made for me ... or buy from Tod's ... I like shoes ... I LOVE shoes ... did I order a pair? Well, that's between me, Norman ... and my bank manager! haha!" - Varun
 The entrance to Gran Hotel La Florida
 "A giant bubble which is filled with 99.5% oxygen … you sit in there for 23 minutes and are given reflexology! It was rather special and rather relaxing!" - Varun
 Varun relaxing in style.
 "General Manager Andreu Canals. What a nice chap! Ex-Ritz-Carlton, he leads his team where respect, care and professionalism are at the fore. I was very impressed with him and how he runs this lovely property." - Varun
 Varun at the Circuit de Catalunya. He had the chance to drive around the circuit, in a Lamborghini, he certainly wasn't hanging around. As his crew we can confirm Varun was going VERY fast!For Varun a highlight of Barcelona was also getting a ride in an Ariel - a British open-top sports car. 0 to 60 mph in ... 2.2 seconds! It was a hair-raising experience!
Varun is taking a break from his Daily Diary for a few days and has entrusted this responsibility to Tim & James
Filming of the 2010 series of Inside Luxury Travel is near completion. During 2010 Varun and the Inside Luxury Travel film crew travelled to Melbourne, Hawaii, KwaZulu-Natal, Quebec, Istanbul, Prague, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, French Polynesia, Barcelona and Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the filming locations for 2011 - Malaysia, Antigua, Napa Valley, Sydney, Big Sur, Wales, Geneva, Sweden, Botswana, Egypt, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Over the next few weeks there will be a series of Look Back Diary entries. Our fourth filming location was Durban.
The two properties that we filmed in Durban were The Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga (www.oysterboxhotel.com) and &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve (http://tinyurl.com/Phinda)
 The traditional start of show photo
 The Oyster Box has 86 rooms & suites. It was originally opened in the 1940's but in 2007 was bought, closed and refurbished ... it took around 2 years to do the work and it opened again in October 2009.
"The refurb was very sympathetic to the original design ... but there have been some wonderful additions like the Turkish tiles on the ceilings of the main restaurant." - Varun
 Genera Manager,Wayne Coetzer and Executive Chef, Kevin Joseph
The fabulous General Manager Wayne Coetzer who has kept us smiling and on our toes in equal measures. He has worked here for nearly a decade and has seen it blossom & help guide it into one of the finest hotels in South Africa.
 The Oyster Box was all about attention to detail.
 "The Lighthouse! I have never stayed in a hotel that has its own lighthouse! The Lighthouse at Umhlanga Rocks was commissioned on the 25th November 1954 andtook just 4 days and 19 hours to build. It is 21 metres tall ... and the beam produces1.6 million candle power that can be seen by ships 24 nautical miles away! There are 121 steps internally ... and I climbed them to get to the top!" - Varun
 "The monkeys at Phinda are VERY cheeky and in fact Happiness at the restaurant has to walk around with a stick shooing them away. At lunch one of these little chaps managed to get past her and whipped a bread roll from a diner’s table. It was actually quite funny – but Happiness was NOT amused… I know this happens at nearly every reserve but sometimes I wish something like this would happen in New York or London!" - Varun
 Rhino's blocking the road
 "We met loads of the children … it was just lovely. Sadly half the children are orphans or come from very poor backgrounds. The school ensures that these kiddies get food, water and an education that would not have been available if Nomusa and Phinda were not around. The school gets gifts of love in the form of books & pens … I raided The Oyster Box for at least 1600 sweets … every child in the school received sweets today … and I LOVE that & THEY loved that too!" - Varun
 Jane has been with &Beyond (formerly CCAfrica) for 14 years and along with Jonathan – her husband – is a veteran of running successful properties. The private reserve is 23,000 hectares of land … looking after this and the staff is a major undertaking!
 Our fantastic guides, Jono and Thembinkosi.
South Africa was the first location of it's type for the 2010 series. It must be one of the finest safari experiences in the world.
Varun is taking a break from his Daily Diary for a few days and has entrusted this responsibility to Tim & James
Filming of the 2010 series of Inside Luxury Travel is near completion. During 2010 Varun and the Inside Luxury Travel film crew travelled to Melbourne, Hawaii, KwaZulu-Natal, Quebec, Istanbul, Prague, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, French Polynesia, Barcelona and Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the filming locations for 2011 - Malaysia, Antigua, Napa Valley, Sydney, Big Sur, Wales, Geneva, Sweden, Botswana, Egypt, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Over the next few weeks there will be a series of Look Back Diary entries. Our third filming location was Istanbul.
The two properties that we filmed in Istanbul were Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet www.fourseasons.com/istanbul/ and The Ritz-Carlton Istanbul www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Istanbul
 The traditional pre-filming photo!
 Varun meeting with the GM of Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet, Tarek Mourad, "The General Manager is a lovely Egyptian chap called Tarek Mourad. He is so passionate about this property ... and so he should be! It's truly lovely ... and peaceful ... and happy! He calls Sultanahmet the "centre of world" and he has a point. At one stage Istanbul (aka Constantinople and Byzantium) was capital of the Latin, Ottoman and eastern Roman Empires ... the centre of the world!" - Varun
 Opening of the show from a balcony. In the background is the St Sophia Mosque. The hotel features in the movie "Midnight Express" ... and became a Four Seasons hotel in 1996.
 This little kitten was fast asleep on some slippers. There are 1000's of stray cats & dogs in Istanbul BUT they are looked after by the locals.
 Varun arriving in style "I have two travel "heroes" ... my Papa and Michael Palin. Mr Palin travelled the world in 80 days and stopped over in Istanbul & visted a hammam. He was basically twisted into a pulp by a man that could have been called Adbul The Angry ... and he didn't get this name because he took in stray kittens and puppies! Poor Palin was beaten to a pulp! It was fun to watch ... and today I had a taste of what he had ... albeit a very tamer version!" - Varun
Istanbul was our first European filming trip on the 2010 series, it is a city rich with culture, but just as importantly, it is full of animals that are looked after!
Varun is taking a break from his Daily Diary for a few days and has entrusted this responsibility to Tim & James
Filming of the 2010 series of Inside Luxury Travel is near completion. During 2010 Varun and the Inside Luxury Travel film crew travelled to Melbourne, Hawaii, KwaZulu-Natal, Quebec, Istanbul, Prague, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, French Polynesia, Barcelona and Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the filming locations for 2011 - Malaysia, Antigua, Napa Valley, Sydney, Big Sur, Wales, Geneva, Sweden, Botswana, Egypt, New Delhi and Mumbai.
Over the next few weeks there will be a series of Look Back Diary entries. Our second filming location was Tasmania.
The two properties that we filmed in Tasmania were The Henry Jones Art Hotel (www.thehenryjones.com) in Hobart and The Priory Country Lodge http://www.thepriorycountrylodge.com.au/ located in Bothwell. We started our Tasmanian journey at the Henry Jones Art hotel. Our first impressions of Hobart/Tasmania were ... clean air, a laid-back stress-free lifestyle, a love of the outdoors.
 In one of Par Avion’s Cessna aircraft we first flew for 45 minutes and arrived in Melaleuca in the South West National Park. The scenery was stunning, we ventured into the park in search of the rare “orange bellied parrot." In true Inside Luxury Travel style as soon as we arrived, so did exactly what we were looking for. The Parrots were sitting, waiting to be seen.
 The staircase in Varun's room was believed to be the oldest in Australia.
 Once we had checked-out from Henry Jones we headed to the Bonorong Wildlife Park in Brighton - 30 minutes from Hobart. Varun claims: "Tasmanian Devils are like pussy cats (not angry and dangerous) , wombats may look cute but are slightly bonkers and kangaroos are just gorgeous!"
 Located near to The Priory Lodge our second property was Ratho golf club, Ratho was "formed" in 1822, which would make it the world's oldest golf course outside Scotland. At Ratho they painstakingly make traditional style golf clubs... accidentally Varun broke one.
 We meet up with Roger Butler from Red Tag Trout Tours for an all day fly-fishing session Varun caught a five pound trout.
 The Priory is owned & run by Greg Peacock. The house was built in 1848 and was originally home to a Scottish priest as this whole area was "mini-Scotland". It became the home to the Postmaster General of Hobart, a doctor's surgery ... and NOW is a fabulous 7-bedroom hotel. There are 4 bedrooms in the main house and 3 in new buildings that will be ready in a few days.
 The Agrarian Kitchen - The Kitchen is a cooking school where you basically pick all the produce from the "back garden" and are taught how to make a meal of it. On the menu - goats cheesericotta & greens wrapped in pasta with a butter/garlic sauce! The teacher is Rodney Dunn - ex-food magazine editor and apprentice of Chef "famous Japanese Tetsuya He runs the place - a wonderful old converted schoolhouse - with his delightful wife Severine.
We met some fantastic people in Tasmania, we were certainly correct with our first impressions of Tasmania.
Varun is taking a break from his Daily Diary for a few days and has entrusted this responsibility to Tim & James Filming of the 2010 series of Inside Luxury Travel is near completion. During 2010 Varun and the Inside Luxury Travel film crew travelled to Melbourne, Hawaii, KwaZulu-Natal, Quebec, Istanbul, Prague, Edinburgh, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, French Polynesia, Barcelona and Tasmania.
We are pleased to announce the filming locations for 2011 - Malaysia, Antigua, Napa Valley, Sydney, Big Sur, Wales, Geneva, Sweden, Botswana, Egypt, New Delhi and Mumbai.Over the next few weeks there will be a series of Look Back Diary entries, starting with Melbourne.
 The first hotel of the series was Chateau Yering (http://www.chateauyering.com.au) located in the Yarra Valley. Varun had a suite overlooking the 250 acre estate with stunning views.
 On arrival, we were met by GM Sue O'Brien. On the first day we remarked how we knew we would not want to leave the property. On the last day we certainly felt the same.
 To see the Yarra Valley from above, we arrived at a hot air ballon launch site 20 minutes away from the hotel at 6am. The views were spectacular.
 Varun enjoying his dinner with a dingo, one of the most memorable experiences from Australia.
 The Peninsula Hot Springs ... an area of natural hot mineral springs. There are over 45 pools that range from 42 degrees to freezing plunge pools. Our guide was Aleshia Commons. Varun let Aleshia jump into the freezing plunge-pool first ... ladies first - of course!
 We then moved to Melbourne, to Crown Towers, http://www.crowntowers.com.au/ The picture above is of the weather in Melbourne. It was the worst weather in 40 years. A huge number of roads & shops were flooded with hail stones the size of golf balls.
 Tony Poletto was our guide and driver in Melbourne, Tony is one of our most memorable guides, he loved his job and looked after us well.
 Varun at "Tiger Moth World" flying a newly restored Tiger Moth.
 We were looked after by the wonderful Tara Bishop and Melissa Pinder from Crown Towers.
 Varun interviewed GM Andrew Cairns in the Crystal Club at Crown Towers. The views of the Melbourne skyline were spectacular.
The trip to Melbourne was thoroughly enjoyable and a fantastic way to start the series.
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The traditional start of show photo... 
The Kempinski showcased it's own collection of modern art, amongst the displays, there was was a sculpture and canvas on the main staircase. As you walk up the staircase it looks like the sculpture is punching the canvas. 
Varun and the general manager of the Kempinski, Peter Knoll.
Varun's private tram! There are 940 in the city - 150 kms of track and with the Metro - 1.1 billion passengers a year! There's been a tram system in Prague since late 19th century. First horse & cart ... then it was all electrified!
"My suite is undoubtedly the most sought after on this side of the River Vlatva ... it's 200 sq metres in area ... has a jacuzzi on the balcony ... and erm - is very comfortable! The views ... THE VIEWS!!!" - Varun
In the museum you learn about garnet and then buy some! Like the greenstone from New Zealand, you NEVER buy garnet for yourself ... ALWAYS someone else!
Varun with ballerina Nikola Marova on the stage of Swan Lake at Prague State Opera House. It opened on 5th January 1888. It was built by the Germans - during the Habsburg period. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe ... filled with gold leaf, frescoes and statues.
"So - I basically got into a bath of beer at 35 degrees for 20 minutes ... while knocking back super-strength Budvar! After that, I was wrapped up like a baby and slept in a dark room on a bed of hay/straw! This draws out much of the toxins. I am pleased to say that the treatment was very effective but I did smell of yeast for much of the day!" - Varun
Varun having a drink straight from the barrel at Pilsen - the home of Pilsner Urquell - that famous beer. It has been produced here since 1842 ... firstly in wood barrels and now in huge stainless steel vats.
Varun and Davide Barnes on the roof of Four Seasons Hotel Prague.
