Category: Retro places
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Vietnam’s Hanoi and a shining ritual
I do love tradidition, especially ones that have a gentle message.
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Travel: How to explore Tangier
Tangier, top of the continent and a name that conjures myth, legends and exotic stories of decadence is a city of intrigue. Go see for yourself. There’s the labyrinthine medina, an expat dream town, cafes and souks, tempting tagines – there is so much to uncover in Morocco’s top town. It’s a city on the edge,…
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Miss Saigon? Sure do.
A day or so in Saigon is like a week anywhere else, staying in District 1 at the delightful Caravelle Hotel (yes, still the best breakfast in Asia). I’m a sucker for a good hotel breakfast, and as one who has the simplest morning meal at home I go crazy when I’m at a brekkie…
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Art Deco capital of New Zealand (and possibly the planet)
Not often you get to thank a natural disaster and community tragedy for a splendid architectural creation. In February 1931 a bastard of an earthquake rocked Napier, a town on Hawke’s Bay on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand. The ‘quake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and rocked the Hawke’s…
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How to do ‘heritage hotel’
Amid the tall and slender, new and shiny and fair and funky, there’s a place where refinement and coolness resides in Sydney . . . Primus Hotel Sydney. The Presidential suite. When is a hotel not a hotel? Well, it’s always a hotel if it’s a hotel! But if it’s not a tall, shiny new…
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USA: how to indulge in Waikiki
At a recent visit to Hawaii, staying a the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort, I had time to seek out a couple more experiences at Waikiki. I decided to sleep, swim, read and eat – three necessary holiday activities that I have not practiced for many years. I was a bit rusty, but I made an…
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Bali: then and now
NEWS . . .NEWS . . .NEWS . . .Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach becomes the first 5-star rated Hotel Indigo in the world. The five star rating is from LSU Pariwisata Bali Mandiri, a tourism association in Bali responsible for all Indonesian property ratings, which is part of the National Accreditation Committee in Indonesia.…
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Six fab things to do in Seville . . . or is there a barber in the house?
Discovering a city that oozes personality. Arriving in Seville on a sun-drenched early autumn day will set you up for your senses to be tickled and your spirit to be enriched. This Andalucian metropolis has personality to spare and the sevillanos are out and about in force on a saucy Saturday. Layers of history here…
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How to explore Catalina
Oh Catalina! A respite from the glitz and noise of the mainland, this little island is a joyful discovery. “Twenty-six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is a waitin’ for me, Santa Catalina, the island of romance” . . . and so starts the old song that turned a holiday island, off the coast of Long…
Travelgal on the move 