Unemployed Brit Richard Conway is tasked to travel the world and report back via this travel blog.
Want to contact Richard? Got some useful travel tips to share? Email him here: oneheckofasummer@lastminute.com
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If someone had told me at the start of June that I would spend the majority of my summer travelling round the world for free I would have probably arranged an intervention to make sure they were ok. I’d never even contemplated a career as a travel writer yet here I was having a three month test run!
My favourite trip as a whole has got to be visiting Las Vegas in mid-august, this is where living a 5-star lifestyle really started to hit the heights that I imagine; travelling around in limousines, eating in the finest restaurants and partying in the most exclusive clubs.
When I tried to come up with my top from favourite moments from the summer, it was almost impossible but I managed to whittle down the list:
I must point out; my top five does tend to change on a daily basis as I think back on all the amazing experiences that I’ve been able to share with my friends. From struggling to breathe on the log flume at Alton Towers because we were laughing too much, to jumping out of my skin on the Ghost Tour in Edinburgh, I can guarantee that most of it wouldn’t have been as fun if I hadn’t done it with them!
There are so many things that I would recommend trying on the lastminute.com website. At least now I know if I’m ever stuck for any ideas of how to spend my free time I’ll definitely know where to look!
The last three months have passed by in a complete blur it actually makes me thankful that I have kept a blog about all my different exploits so I can read back through and remember.. It’s also something that I will definitely keep doing after my ‘one heck of a summer’, starting off in Vietnam at the end of November. My experiences as the lastminute.com globe trotter have meant that I have been well and truly bitten by the travelling bug. My only problem now is going to be finding another way to fund it all. Getting back into the rat race is most definitely going to be a bit of a culture shock!
When Toni and I were told we had won the Birmingham Mail/lastminute.com ‘One heck of a summer’ search for a globe trotter we decided from the start that we would make the most of every trip. We tried to fit in something new, a culinary experience, something cultural and a bit of fun everywhere we went.
For each of our trips there are special memories
Birmingham – Millennium Point (pride in our industrial heritage); Sealife Centre and a Balti lunch
Barcelona – Great tapas; a crowded beach; Gaudi architecture; air-conditioned Metro system; Picasso Museum; views from the top of the hill and ‘people watching along La Ramblas’.
London – Cleanliness of the streets; our first West End show (‘Sister Act’ – fantastic); The Tate Modern; London Eye and a boat trip.
Paris – ‘Rock en Seine’ festival’ (this is how all festivals should be); Eiffel Tower and trip on the Seine; ‘Mona Lisa’ in the Louvre; a meal with a friend; EuroStar.
Tunisia – relaxing on the beach and in the pool; quaint blue mountain villages; evening ‘cultural’ entertainment; the bustle of the market.
London II – St James’s Park; Albert Roux Brasserie; lunch at ‘Babylon’; the roof gardens (surreal); ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
Edinburgh – The Royal Mile; The crown jewels at the Castle; The Royal Yacht Britannia; Comedy night
Alton Towers – The Water Park; evening cabaret; behaving like kids; white-knuckle rides; keeping breakfast intact.
New York – Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow (we could have spent all weekend there!); meeting friends; Ground Zero Workshop museum (the most emotional time); another show (‘Altar Boyz’); Central Park and Macy’s
Spa – Relaxing treatments, great food and a time to reflect on our experiences.
We have had a wonderful time the weather has been kind and we have learnt that it is possible to fit in so much into short weekends away (or at home). On many occasions we have been treated like real VIPs and must confess we could get used to that.
We know we have been very privileged to have experienced this and all good things come to an end. However, we have already started to plan more travel and are trying to keep to the philosophy of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Would we do it all again? Of course!
I sit thinking now it’s ‘one heck of a shame’ that ‘one heck of a summer’ has come to an end. It’s finished nearly as quick as it started but has left me with a treasure chest of memories and unforgettable experiences which I will hold for a lifetime.
Along the way I’ve visited places that I wouldn’t have previously contemplated and tremendously enjoyed. I have made some great friends along the way and hold some memories that perhaps should not be recounted publically!
After living abroad for so many years, the opportunity to take a different friend with me to each location proved a great way to catch up on the past.
So many memories stick to mind, but my top 10 would have to be.
10. The view of the London Eye from my balcony at the Park Plaza County Hall.
9. Fellow globetrotter Paul’s wife - nothing was ever quite straight forward for Toni! I was highly entertained from trip one from this great lady!
8. Being ushered onto the coach for a Tunisian desert safari at 6.30 am. Everyone was so proud of me thinking I’d got up especially for it. Needless to say, I was just arriving back to the hotel from the night before.
7. The rather grand balcony at the Hotel Cervantes, Paris. Eva Peron didn’t stand a chance to my serenading and performance to the streets of Paris after a night out.
6. Being treated to Business Class by American Airlines on the flight to NY….‘More champagne sir?’
5. Experiencing the pampering treats of New Hall Spa, Birmingham, an exquisite meal with Caroline (in an evening gown and huge heels), and then me insisting she climbs over the turnstiles down the dark country lanes to go and have a drink at the local.
4. After only the second ride at Alton Towers watching fellow globe trotter Paul’s face as he had to take time out to compose himself and regain his balance (and stop his breakfast from returning). Some people just can’t hack it.
3. Dining Al Fresco at Babylon on the rooftop terrace of Kensington Roof Gardens. Drinking cocktails with an old friend from Spain, it brought back memories of life in the sun (surprisingly enough it was a sunny September day in London).
2. Topping up that tan to a lighter shade of black in Tunisia. Combined with the Arabic tattoo it’s unsurprising they thought I was a local with the typical blonde girlfriend in tow.
1. My birthday in Paris with my friend from Texas. Rock en Seine, Moulin Rouge (free champagne all night) before a night of partying. ‘Désolé pour mon ami’ could be heard all night!
All in all it will feel strange having to make my own bed again, pay for meals when in restaurants and have to go onto lastminute.com to book the theatre tickets for myself! What a great summer I’ve had!
With so many skyscrapers in New York it was almost hard to decide which one would be the best to go to the top of. I luckily had a tip that the best views are from the ‘Top of the Rock’ on the Rockefeller Centre. The amazing Central Park seems to stretch out for miles and yet still seems out of place in such an urban jungle. Then 10 steps over to the other side of the platform and you can see the huge Empire State building and in the distance, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
We took a quick trip downtown to get the ferry trip over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island which is of particular interest to me as my great-grandparents both came through it to settle in America. What many of the immigrants had to go through just because of the rumours of a better life in America was an incredibly humbling experience. I was extremely glad that I did get to visit the memorials so I can describe it all to my grandma when I get back home.
As I sit at JFK waiting for my flight back to Heathrow I realise that my One Heck of a Summer is over. It has been a completely amazing three months and I have had the opportunity to see and do so many. Being the lastminute.com globe trotter has been the best career break I could possibly wish for, my only problem now is going to be trying to get back into normal working life – somehow I don’t think a normal 9-5 office job is for me anymore!
With that in mind I’m already looking forward to my next adventure: a short trip to the Far East taking in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Vietnam. I’ll keep on blogging and who knows maybe I’ll be able to carve out a full career as a travel writer one day.
Arriving in New York the noise and colour that fill your senses is definitely unlike any other city I’ve visited in my one heck of a summer and all I had done so far was walk from the subway to my hotel on Lexington Avenue!
Our first sight seeing trip was to the New York, Times Square. The huge video screens come at you from every building with everything from the latest events on Wall St. to football and baseball!
And then, my first taste of Broadway - Mary Poppins! A really entertaining show with impressive stage designs, thoroughly enjoyable and a great one for the family crowd.
New York is extremely popular for shopping. I cnormally get my clothes shopping done in approximately 15 minutes but on 5th Avenue and in Soho, I managed to spend a day visiting everything from Macy’s to Abercrombie & Fitch.
Having spent way too much and way too long shopping, we decided to made our way across the city and I was transfixed by the Manhattan architecture. The Chrysler building, the Rockefeller Centre and of course the huge Empire State buildings all seem to dominate the skyline and it is even more apparent at night when they are lit up.
New York was to be my final destination, and it was essential that I would finish the summer in style and I certainly did by choosing to fly with American Airlines. Access to the Admirals Lounge at Heathrow Airport was like escaping to a quiet haven away from the hustle and bustle of the main terminal building. Complimentary everything… a wide selection of snacks, every drink imaginable and an abundance of warmth from the staff.
Onto the plane and the ‘American Airlines Flagship experience for business’ was like no other. The lie-flat seats (combined with super snuggable duvets) would certainly compete with some of the beds I’ve slept in over the last 3 months. A four course lunch and wine list to die for made this an in-flight experience like no other!
Staying at the Affinia Shelburne we really couldn’t have picked a better location. Out of the side windows the towering Empire State building was casting a shadow. The front windows played host to a magnificent skyline including the beautiful Chrysler building. A truly impeccable modern New York City boutique hotel, and only a stones throw from Times Square.
Having started the weekend off as a celebrity on American Airlines I thought I would continue with the theme and visit the famous locations. What a day! Starting by looking for Lois Lane in the News Building, visiting the Friends’ apartment building indulging in an infamous ‘cupcake’ in the ever so cute ‘Sex and the City Magnolia Bakery’ hangout and even knocking on for the Huxtables.
The Metro is so easy to use, and extremely fast that we opted for this mode other than the usual sightseeing bus. New York is such a huge city but is so easy to navigate once you realise the avenues go down in number order with the streets going across. A great way to see the skyline of New York (as well as some of the sights) was to take the ferry over to Staten Island. A great way to take in the city’s skyline.
On to shopping, and the department stores made famous in the films certainly left me lost and confused (11 floors of shopping – not even I can manage that). Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s wore me out and I never even made it to Saks.
Passing through Times Square in the evening is like nothing you would imagine before. It really is the city that never sleeps. Everywhere I look up puts me in a state of dizziness as I try to capture the buildings as they never seem to end. Each building appears to be in competition with the next in terms of style and grandeur. The advertising signs are bigger than buildings back in England.
As you can probably guess over the last few months I am a huge theatre fan. From seeing the musicals of Le Cage, Priscilla, The Jersey boys and We Will Rock You, the adaptation that is ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’ and even the infamous ‘Moulin Rouge’ I was left wondering what New York would hold. Many of the shows on Broadway I have already seen (and the seats left were not the best) so I chose an off Broadway number. ‘Altar Boyz’ is a spoof on boybands at the New World Stages. The musical left me crying with laughter based on a group of choir boys who form a boyband.
It really did give me one heck of a good end to one heck of a summer!
Perfect beginnings
When we found out we would have a four hour wait at Heathrow we were expecting an excruciating wait in airport limbo. This all changed when we were greeted by the Virgin staff and whisked through to their state-of-the-art (and enormous) ‘Clubhouse lounge. It was simply out of this world! There is so much to do here that we needed a guided tour just to get our bearings. From roof garden to business centre; bistro to bar and play room to spa there is something for everyone. After a ‘Virgin Redhead’ cocktail we settled down to full three course meal. We still had time to each have a treatment in the ‘Cowshed’ spa before being dragged reluctantly to the waiting plane. If only all airports were like this.
Arrival
We were booked into the Affinia Shelburne suite hotel in lower midtown. Our room had views of the Hudson River and others looked out to the Chrysler Building (my favourite) and the Empire State. We were soon in a cab and heading for SoHo to ‘Il Corallo Tratatoria’, 176, Prince Street . Friendly atmosphere; good value fresh food and wonderful insights into real NYC life. Followed by a stroll through Greenwich Village to Washington Square where students gathered informally to sing acoustic versions of familiar songs.
Sightseeing
After exploring Grand Central Station, and the UN building Toni needed a rest so I headed off on my own to explore Fifth Avenue; the TV district and the Rockefeller Centre. A couple of lads were selling their own CDs and I was amazed that they were big English soccer fans so we spent a few minutes discussing the relative merits of Aston Villa and other teams.
We had never tried Korean food before and we noticed that ‘Hangawi’ a highly rated vegetarian restaurant was nearby (12 E 32nd St) www.hangawirestaurant.com On arrival everyone removes their shoes and we sit on the floor with a foot well under each table for comfort. We tried the taster menu to get as much experience of Korean cuisine as possible.
Twin Towers
We had visited New York as a family in July 2001 and had been inside (but not up) the Twin Towers so the events of 9/11 were particularly felt. As a means of paying our respects we had planned a visit to the Ground Zero Museum Workshop www.GroundZeroMuseum.com .It features stunning, intimate but respectful images and artefacts of the days and months following the destruction of the iconic buildings. It is no wonder that we were there for the full two hours and used many of the tissues provided. We were also privileged to meet the founder of the museum Gary Suson whose images form the backbone of the museum and the accompanying audio guide has a hundred or so moving, inspiring and even occasionally funny stories behind the images.
We then travelled by subway to the actual Ground Zero site and could see work in progress. The Tribute WTC Visitor Centre www.tributewtc.org reveals more of the personal stories of the people who experienced the two attacks on the World Trade Centre.
The Show
We joined Craig and his guest for one more joint activity and went to see ‘Altar Boyz’ at the intimate and modern New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street. A strange morality tale with a religious theme told through a spoof performance of a boy band. Great sound and high energy performances had the crowd on their feet at the end with plenty of fun and laughter throughout.
A walk through the bright lights of Broadway and Times Square (complete with rowdy hen parties; uniformed sailors and spray paint artists) rounded off a unique day.
Central Park
There are supposed to be 500,000 trees and shrubs in Central Park which helps to describe the size of this natural haven given over to runners, bikes and the like. As we stroll in the sunshine we can’t help but be reminded of scenes from films such as ‘Home Alone 2’.
We walked through to ‘Strawberry Fields’ a peaceful area created in memory of John Lennon who lived nearby
There is so much more to see that we certainly would not rule out another visit to the Big Apple at some point in the future.
It seems so long ago that we embarked on our ‘One heck of a summer’ and have been ‘on-the-go’ so it seemed appropriate, as a finale, to recover from the jet lag of New York with a ‘Deluxe Spa Break’ at the 70 room Rookery Hall country house hotel and spa
It was the first time I had been to a spa and I was relieved that it was relatively quiet and I was not the only male!
We lazed in the ‘Amber Lounge’ before our first two treatments; a full body scrub and massage and then, a deep-cleansing aromatherapy facial. Pausing only to take photos for the blog, various creams and oils were worked into my face (or at least the half without the beard!)
After all this hard work Toni and I retired to the ‘relaxation room’. This was a warm dark place with individual loungers and soft furnishings. We both fell asleep for a while - dreaming of all the places we have visited over the last couple of months.
You don’t need to book into the hotel to have a spa treatment but I would recommend booking at least one night to allow the full benefits to take effect.
The restaurant serves high quality locally-sourced foods (such as venison and partridge) in a polished mahogany panelled setting.
Our bedroom had great views over the 38 acres of gardens. We slept soundly and were not disturbed by anything, not even the famed ghost of the ‘Grey Lady’ who died whilst hanging curtains (obviously pre-Health and Safety at Work Act accident!)
Having a weekend at home will actually be quite a novelty. The summer of 2009 will be one we remember for a long time. We hope to continue the feel of the experience by occasionally booking something a little different and maintaining the life-work-holiday balance.
Many people would argue that the best way to travel around London is by underground. I decided to try something different. The open top bus tours around London let you jump on and off at the various attractions round the city and you can at least see the different sights even if you don’t have time to visit them all.
The London Aquarium is based in the Westminster area of central London and has great views of Big Ben over the river, and the London Eye just a few yards down the road. There are quite literally thousands of fish and underwater creatures in the aquarium and I found myself trying to spot many of the different types that I had encountered on my diving course in the Egyptian Red Sea.
The main attraction in most aquariums is the shark tank and the London Aquarium is no different. The huge predators stalk around the massive tank staring back at the school children peering in at them. I was just glad that I wasn’t in the water with them this time!
Heading over to Piccadilly I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the descriptions do not really do the place justice. Spread over five floors there is everything from strange memorabilia to a mirror maze. I originally thought we would have been in and out within an hour or so….little did I know that three hours later we would still be wondering around laughing at some of the strange displays!
Take for example, this man who decided to carve a hole in his head for a candle so that he could do tours round the city at night! If only the torch had been invented slightly earlier!
A great plus of the open top bus tours is that you get a free boat cruise down the River Thames. Even though the weather wasn’t the best (it is now October after all!) it was still a nice way to end my day in the capital.
Overall it was a fun day and I would even recommend the trip to residents of the capital. There is so much to see and do and if you want to make it feel like an actual day off…take the bus!
Some of the most popular attractions in Edinburgh are the ghosts! Starting off on the famous Royal Mile, our host for the evening stresses that the key to enjoying any tour such as this is to let your imagination run wild. There was no doubt in my mind that the story telling flair of our guide would make this a chilling evening!
In the group, we follow the guide down a few of the many small winding paths that lead away from the Royal Mile. The poor lighting and cobbled bricks only add to the spooky atmosphere.
The tour moves on to some of the many underground passageways underneath Edinburgh. The vaults on Blair Street are undoubtedly eerie. The temperature is far higher than outside and yet the walls are damp. The tales of various ghosts such as ‘Jack’ and ‘Mr. Boots’ have everyone huddling together. The creaks of the building upstairs and the flickering of the candlelight get our imaginations into overdrive. I really couldn’t wait to get out of there!
The Ghost Tour is a fantastic display of storytelling from a guide who is clearly passionate about her subject. I would most definitely recommend going on one if you are visiting the city.
For dinner we decided visited one of the most famous pubs in the city. The Greyfriars Bobby pub, named after the famous terrier that stayed by his master’s grave for 14 years only ever leaving for food. The pub itself is as traditional as you can get in Edinburgh and the food definitely hit the spot for me. Although having a choice of seven different types of sausage for my dinner was always going to keep me happy!
My weekend in Edinburgh has absolutely flown by. I have enjoyed staying in the stylish Missoni Hotel and the city itself is so full of character it is almost impossible not to find something that appeals to you.
