Best & Worst of 2009
Best Hotel 2009 The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata, India
I like to have a list of hotels in the Best Of category and that’s pretty easy since I stay in so many all over the world every year. This year, though, one hotel stands apart. In no hotel I visited this year (or maybe ever)… not in Hyderabad or Kathmandu or Antwerp or Gothenberg or Chicago or Shenzhen or anywhere else… was I treated or fed so well. This hotel is also beautiful. I stayed in more expensive places this year, but nowhere did the environment, the location, the service and hospitality or the food all add up the wonderful experience we had in the Oberoi Grand Kolkata. No hotel compares. Mrs. Ranju Alex, then the Rooms Division Manager, greeted us personally and had all sorts of special treats for us throughout our stay. I wondered if perhaps they’d confused us with VIPs! It was a wonderful experience.
So that you know, the Oberoi does not know I’ve written this and did not endorse or sponsor this in any way (though I would not be adverse to future offers!). I found a pretty good rate through American Express, if I remember correctly. The rates on the hotel Web site are sometimes outstanding, too. May you all have an opportunity to enjoy this fine place. It was one of the highlights of our year.
Worst Hotel (honorable mention)
Naila Bagh Palace, Jaipur, India
I read the reviews and looked at the photos on tripadvisor.com and wonder if it’s possible we somehow stumbled into the wrong joint. I actually asked Stefan to have a look at the photos again… “Are you sure that’s the place we went?” He assures me we were in the same hotel. We were not there long enough to unpack — something I’ve never done before. I rated it honorable mention because clearly from TripAdvisor some people really like this place. We arrived in the dark, so it is possible I missed something. Or I may just not be their demographic, but the photos do not show the holes in the carpeting, how old and dirty things were. Heritage is one thing… in desperate need of repair is another. It’s still a shock to compare the photos online with what we saw first-hand. The guy who runs the place was very nice. If you’re looking for a budget place in Jaipur this may be for you. I am so glad we left because a whopping case of Delhi Belly hit me at 2 a.m. and I spent the next day and half in a hotel room. For us, leaving here worked out perfectly.
Best Travel Experience/Day Trip
We had so many travel adventures this year, from the Caribbean to India and Nepal, all across Europe and North America… here are the ones that stand out:
Bones, British Virgin Islands
We loved our day aboard Bones on St. Thomas and wished it had lasted longer. Fun music, beautiful snorkel with turtles, great BBQ. The whole thing is quite touristy, but great fun, too. We went on some other boating day trips in the Caribbean I would not recommend and will not mention. This was fun and is great for all ages.
Mother Theresa’s home, Kolkata, India
I was surprisingly moved by the story of Mother Teresa displayed in the place she called home for decades in Kolkata. Her story reminds me in some ways of the profound commitment demonstrated so many people we’ve met through the European Summit for Global Transformation — people whose lives are driven by a commitment to something that goes way beyond personal fulfillment, paying the bills, etc. I appreciated seeing that and it was quite memorable.
Tamina Therme, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland
We had several great days this year at the Tamina Therme, a mineral springs resort, in Bad Ragaz. My Mother has a thing about water. That’s how we discovered this place. We’re always on the lookout for hot springs for when she visits. This is a good one. We like to stay at the Hotel Schloss Ragaz and walk along the golf course to the therme. This is very near Heidiland, which is really just hiking and a rest stop on the highway. The food is good at the roadside Marche after a long day in the water. Quintessential Switzerland. We happenend upon the Maienfeld town festival the last weekend in September. That made for a great weekend!
Segway Tours of Puerto Rico, Old San Juan, PR
We had a lot of fun toodling around old San Juan with Segway Puerto Rico. (Beware the music when you click the link.) Nothing fancy, the guide is very nice, it’s a fun, short introduction to Old Town. I’d recommend it for people of all ages. They deliver exactly what’s described on their Web site, or as my British friends would say, “It does what it says on the side of the tin.”
Worst Travel Experience
Royal Caribbean Southern Caribbean Cruise
I’ve never really full-out ranted on this site. Consider yourself warned; that’s what’s coming: We rang in 2009 on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Before I get going, I asked my mild-mannered husband what he thought about the first draft of this paragraph. He very calmly said, “There was a huge discrepancy between, on one hand, the price and Royal Caribbean image and on the other, the reality of the food and onboard ship experience. … Uh, at least the staff was very helpful.” So now here’s the rant: The cruise, the ship, it was touted as this and that online and I was so excited I could hardly stand it. Then we got there. The plumbing was broken in our cabin so it smelled like urine (We did eventually, days later, get upgraded.). The ship was PACKED, so crowded you couldn’t get a chaise lounge and you’d be touching people in the pool, crammed in like sardines. There was not a single place that was quiet on the ship. I even got up at sunrise and went out on the quiet deck; totally obnoxious music was piped in there, too. A week with no peace and quiet = UGH. The food…hmmm… there were people who seemed to enjoy themselves in the dining areas. If you’re going for quantity and like packaged, processed, food-like substances, this is your place! There were more deserts made with gelatin than I have ever seen in my entire life. I don’t mean the really good stuff on the top of paté. All week, we saw almost no fresh, high-quality foods; I was *starving* by the end of the trip. Johnny Rockets was the highlight of our on-board food experiences and the music was great in there, too. I notice as I write this I’m still upset about this trip. I know there are people who love cruising. I’d like to enjoy cruising. I may have just been on the wrong ship. I also hate a rip-off and we paid a small fortune. Which brings us to our next “Worst of” experience. This time in Nepal.
Everest Experience, Buddha Air, Nepal
This wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been built up by people we’d met and the airline — it’s promoted and sold as something it simply isn’t. We never got anywhere near Everest. Plus, the flights from Lugano, where I live, to Zurich and Geneva are more beautiful and usually much cheaper! Other people onboard got so upset, it was as close as I’ve ever seen to a public disturbance on an airplane. This is just an expensive tourist rip-off, as far as I can tell. We explained afterward that we did not receive what we paid for; they wouldn’t refund any of our money. I was happy to see our pilot, complete with leather bomber jacket, was a young woman.
Memorable Meals of 2009
Dim Sum in Shenzhen
Dim Sum in the huge 2nd floor restaurant in the Huaan International Hotel, Shenzhen, China was outstanding. Fun, tasty, modern and traditional all at once. Loved it!
Profiteroles near home
Just down the street from our house, in Sorengo, Switzerland, you can find the best profiteroles (cream puffs drenched in chocolate mousse) on the planet at a restaurant called Giardino. We also get pizza, fondue, and wiener schnitzel (the waitress will not understand if you call it that) there, but it’s simply a prelude to the profiterols. They are world-class… and simple, homemade-like, nothing fancy here, just the neighborhood joint.
Leg of ??? in Mumbai
At Peshawri in the ITC Maratha hotel in Mumbai we ate a tandoor-grilled leg of meat; I suspect it was mutton, and wonderful roti. It was tasty and fun!
Chef Martin Herrmann’s Pasta with Truffles
As I’ve mentioned recently, the Michelin-starred Chef, Martin Herrmann, at the Hotel Dollenberg in Germany’s Black Forest has ruined pasta for me. None will ever top the dish with fresh truffles he made specially for me at Christmas dinner this year.
Best and Worst Airline Experiences
Like last year, I don’t particularly feel like discussing my airline experiences. Even Emirates was a disappointment. Overall, airlines were spotty at best in 2009, and not nearly as bad as 2008, when I was kicked off planes as they were boarding (by USAir, which didn’t surprise me too much, and Lufthansa, which really did!) and flight attendants actually talked on the cell phones instead of working (USAir).
A couple of notable items from 2009: even long-haul flights for my multinational clients are now in economy class. This year I learned: never fly for 13 hours straight in economy class, even if it is SWISS.
A final, much more upbeat note: I particularly like the potato salad in the business class lounges of Lufthansa. Not the wurst, they’re cheap-looking little brown things, just the potato salad. I’ll be sharing more with you in 2010 about the chocolates served aboard SWISS flights. It’s the only milk chocolate I’ll eat.
So those are some of the highlights from 2009. Here are some of my favorite posts:
I’m partial to my little videos. Here’s the one from Nepal and India
This post introduces you to Maggie Doyne and the kids of Kopila Valley Children’s Home
Scoring a SwirlyGirl book at Squam (while not songwriting)
Some portraits from the European Summit
One Night in Paris. Ooh. La. La.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }