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 tenth filming location was Hawaii.
The two properties that we filmed in Hawaii were Halekulani (www.halekulani.com) and Four Seasons Four Seasons
Maui (FourSeasons.com/Maui)
The start of the show
The lovely hotel PR - Diane AkoThen - my suite review. It's one of the three Premier Suites on property. It has a fabulous view of Waikiki Beach, the Ocean and Diamond Head ... it's quite romantic ...
"SO my Halekulani suite: 250 square metres in area, 1 bedroom with king bed and 50" HD plasma, an amazing bathroom with plunge pool, a dining room for 6, Sub-Zero Wolf Chef's Kitchen and entertainment room with a $500,000 Steinway & Sons Speaker System. As I write this, I am listening to Puccini and feel like I am at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - front & centre. The quality is THAT good!" - Varun
"SO my Halekulani suite: 250 square metres in area, 1 bedroom with king bed and 50" HD plasma, an amazing bathroom with plunge pool, a dining room for 6, Sub-Zero Wolf Chef's Kitchen and entertainment room with a $500,000 Steinway & Sons Speaker System. As I write this, I am listening to Puccini and feel like I am at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - front & centre. The quality is THAT good!" - Varun
The executive chef - Vikram Garg popped round to show me how to make a fish dish - Onaga with salad. Yum!
"The Halekuani swimming pool. The pool is made up of 1.25 MILLION individual pieces of glass in a huge mosaic ... impressive indeed." - Varun
"Surfing - The last time I tried this "sport", I fell in several (hundred) times, swallowed most of the Pacific Ocean and vowed never to get on a board again. It was in La Jolla at Surf Divas ... and if I remember, my tutor was tall & blonde ... maybe a wee distracting! Today, my tutor Hans Hedemann, ex-Pro surfer, had me on my board ... and surfing within 20 minutes and I mean standing and riding the waves for at least 30 - 40 seconds! Oh Joy! oh Joy! So Gena ... and my friends at Surf Divas ... yay!" - Varun
4000 ft!
"Spent the afternoon at the Maui Ocean Center ... measuring baby turtles and feeding rays ... in a 750,000 gallon tank! I was the guest of curator John Gorman. I had so much fun ... all recorded by Tim and James on several cameras." - Varun
We met with ukulele expert Uluwehi Guerrero. The location was at one of the most beautiful sandy beaches in Hawaii, with many surfers enjoying the waves. Uluwehi has been playing ukulele for over 40 years and gave Varun his first lesson. Although Varun's ukulele skill is questionable, he did learn a traditional ukulele piece and picked it up VERY quickly. Needless to say, we were impressed.
Mark Simon is Director of Marketing at Four Seasons Maui (He also has a surprising obsession with sporks.)
The view from the fabulous Four Seasons Maui.It is clear from the people we met in Hawaii that they live an active lifestyle and know how to relax. We had a fantastic time at Halekulani and Four Seasons Maui. The highlight was seeing Varun surfing!
