Travel Tips, Part 5: Hotels, Flights, Luggage

I've often wondered how middle-class people (such as my parents) are able to afford to go overseas every year to places as exotic and as far-flung as Patagonia, Alaska, the Arctic Circle, the Galapagos, Africa, and remotest parts of Asia?

Answer: They're not only frugal; they're also savvy travellers.  

Here are some tips and tricks to travelling in frugal  glamorous style on a great budget.

ONE FINE STAY

This is one of the best accommodation websites in the world. I subscribe to their mail-outs, and often make small noises of excitment when the latest additions lob in. It's true travel porn: beautiful places at affordable prices.

 (Please note: I'm not affiliated with any of these companies.)

Particularly good for families or groups, One Fine Stay offers upmarket, multi-bedroom homes to rent in London, Paris and New York – much like airbnb.com, only far more luxurious. So you don't get the smelly spare bedroom in the back of the SoHo artist's loft. 

My favourite is the converted Carriage House in New York's Greenwich Village (top image), but there are amazing properties to rent for a few days or a week, from a Malibu beach house right on the sand to a gorgeous cottage with a pool in the Hollywood Hills, plus elegant apartments in London and Paris. Many of them have their own gardens, terraces or  courtyards.

www.onefinestay.com 

{link}

HOPPER.COM

A new venture started by a couple of entrepreneurial Aussies, hopper.com is a little like Skyscanner.com in that it allows you to find the cheapest flights to a destination, however it also shows you a graph of the cheapest days in a month. The only downside is that it only seems to include economy prices. 

I typed in Melbourne-Paris and it showed the cheapest dates showing up were mid-November.

(NB Skyscanner used to be a fav, but I've realised they only show their preferred airlines.)

TUESDAY TRAVEL

This tip has been mentioned on the blog before. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday really are the cheapest days to travel. It's been proven that airlines discount their Tuesday flights by as much as 20–30%. Look at the difference in prices here between Sat Oct 11 and Wednesday Oct 15 – $700.

(NB Can't remember sources, terrible journalist that I am!)

FLY IN AND OUT OF THE MAJOR HUBS

The major travel hubs are London, Singapore, LA and New York. Okay, perhaps Washington DC too. If you can get to one of these cities, your flights from these cities to your final destinations will be cheaper. The idea is to use frequent flyers to get to these hubs, or cheap hoppers such as Jetstar, Jetblue or Ryanair.

For example. 

If I booked a direct flight with Singapore Airlines (one of the best airlines in the world) from Melbourne to London, it would cost around A$ or US$2200. 

But if I booked a cheap Jetstar to Singapore ($450 return), then picked up a Singapore Airlines flight for the straight-through leg to London, the latter flight is only $1000 (booked direct via the Singapore Airlines website), making the total fare $1450. (If you need to stop in Singapore, the city's gardens are gorgeous, and the Airport Transit Hotel is only $70. You also have more to spend on your London hotel, such as the new Ham Yard, above.)

Even if Jetstar's fares are $550, you're still saving a lot of money on a top-tier airline.

PARIS

That said, there is an exception to the rule. Paris. 

Flights to Paris are increasingly becoming $400 or so cheaper than London. 

I don't know why? Perhaps airlines realised everyone was flying into London?

The problem with Paris is CDG (Charles de Gaulle), which – even after new renos – is impossibly difficult to navigate and clear security. 

Still, let's not complain. It's still Paris, after all.

FLEXIBLE TRAVEL DATES

If you're flexible, look at events that may be on, or great times to be in town, and coordinate your trip around them. 

1. For example, if you love fashion, Hermès in Paris has a great sale in January and June/July. (Dates vary; details are usually on Internet.) (I would love to find a cheap version of this Macpherson bag, above, to hold my camera!)

2. Most major fashion exhibitions begin in October each year (although a few start in May, such as the Met's Constume Institute's shows), so research to see if there are fantastic fashion shows opening.

3. If you love gardens, the various Open Garden Days and Weekends in April and June allow you to peek inside someone's home. (The best private gardens in the US usually open April; the best ones in England usually open June.) 

4. Sydney is best seen over the New Year's Eve period: the fireworks over the harbour really are the best NYE displays in the world. Similarly, Venice has an amazing atmosphere and fireworks show for Festa del Redentore during the 3rd weekend of July.

5. Paris is TERRIBLE in May (it rains constantly) but beautiful in April when the blossoms open and summer exhibitions begin, and again in late Sept, when Fashion Week peeps descend on the city and the weather is still balmy and warm.

6. Monet's garden at Giverny is perfect for one week in late May or early June, when much of the garden turns a stunning shade of purple. The beautiful mauve ladies’ rockets blend with the big rhodos, the blue lupines and the blue sages, amongst other flowers. The scene doesn’t last long, but it is spectacular. The beds turn progressively pink as summer errupts. The 'Blue Period' is a brief but memorable week between the bulbs and the summer blooms. {link}

7. New York is glorious in either April, when the blossoms and bulbs are out, or the 'fall' period during October, when the autumn leaves are changing. Christmas is also magical if you have kids: NY does windows like no other city in the world. Avoid summer like the plague.

SELF-SELECT PLANE SEATING

Airlines now allow you to select your seat when you book your ticket online. Do take advantage of this, but there are tricks to choosing. There are lots of tips and reviews on www.seatguru.com, which shows you the best seat on your chosen flight, but here are few more:

BUDGET FLYING

1. If you're a couple, try to book either side of a three-seat section at the rear of Economy. Most people don't like the rear, and the middle seats fill up last because people naturally prefer aisle or window. Odds are the middle seat will stay empty and you'll have a spare seat to throw your things.

2. NEVER BOOK THE VERY LAST ROW. For some reason, the last seats in most airlines don't recline due to the design of the rear area. You'll be vertical the whole flight.

3. Some airlines have an odd configuration of seating in Economy where a middle row narrows or widens and one of the aisle seats in the middle has massive leg room (See 48D above). BOOK THIS SEAT for best Stretch Factor.

PREMIUM ECONOMY CLASS / BUSINESS CLASS / FIRST CLASS FLYING

There are lots of tips to choosing seats in the premium classes on this website – Business Traveller magazine

AVOID THE DEAD BODIES

The Exit Seats are great, but just remember that the Body Cupboards (used for storing dead bodies of people who die in-flight) are often located near those central areas for ease of storing the, er, cadavers. 

(NB This is a new thing on the A380s; previously dead people were often shoved in a toilet, or in First Class with a blanket over them.)

TRY NOT TO WORRY ABOUT THE BUMPS

I once wrote a cover story for the Sydney Morning Herald's magazine about in-flight antics, and heard a story (which turned out to be true) of two male pilots who put the plane into autopilot and had sex in the cockpit. (Must have been a spacious cockpit?) I still think of that when the plane lurches and drops suddenly at 10,000 feet.

FRUGAL FIRST CLASS TRAVELLER

Jo Karnaghan is a Sydney doctor who travels the world when she's not seeing patients. Jo's started a fantastic website called Frugal First Class Travel, which covers how to travel well for cheap – link. She's one of those people who's so well informed you'd love to have her as a friend, and indeed she and I have been emailing because I'm so enamoured with her and her insights.

Here's one of her great posts called HOW TO REDEEM FREQUENT FLYER FLIGHTS WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH POINTS link  

http://frugalfirstclasstravel.com

MUSTS FOR YOUR LUGGAGE

Packing is an ongoing learning curve, and I still get it wrong. That's just Travel Law. But here are the things I've learned, and never leave home without:

1. Only take a carry-on bag. If you want to buy things, cheap suitcases can be bought overseas for $50. In the meantime, a carry-on (with wheels) gives you greater flexibility, less waiting time, and more security/peace of mind. 

2. Cut back on luggage weight but only taking an iPad rather than a laptop, a smaller Leica camera (great camera) rather than a big DSLR, minimum toiletries (buy more there: Boots and US chemists are very cheap), and a travel hairdryer – or use the hotel's. Also, take only 2 pairs of shoes – flat walking shoes and a nice pair. (You can buy more there if you need to!) Funnily enough, some fabrics weigh more – linen is very heavy; cotton is light. Wool is heavy; cashmere is light. Also, take only x2 pairs of bras/undies – and wash them out. (Really, how many are you going to need? Most people are too tired at night to do anything but sleep!) Electronics are heavy too – take ONE multi-country international adaptor. (Apple make them for their products.) And load books and itineraries onto your iPad so you don't have to take paper (also heavy). Your total hand luggage should not weigh more than 10 kilos to be allowed through, so buy a little portable, hand-sized weigher. We use ours constantly!

3. Don't apply foundation before a flight as it's too heavy and will clog your skin. A tinted moisturiser or BB cream is great because it also moisturises the skin. If you want you can wipe it off with some handy wipes when you're seated, but I don't bother as it's so light.

4. Pack a few travel-sized Klorane Dry Hair Shampoos. Klorane Dry Shampoo not only cleans and lifts your hair after a long-haul flight, it actually makes it look like a salon blow-out! 

5. Buy compression socks or stocking. They really do stop swelling and potential blood clots. But don't buy the expensive $30 ones at chemists: supermarkets sell compression stockings for $5, which do the same trick. 

6. Aspirin. if you're over 40, always take 2 aspirin before you board a flight to avoid clotting. Also walk around – constantly. Stretch, or just stand for 10 minutes. It will make your muscles work again and get the blood flow moving.

7. Clarins' Beauty Flash Balm. Beauty editor friends swear by this and so do I. It's an intense moisturiser that acts like a mini-mask. Don't rub in it. Just smooth it over and let it dry. Your skin will look amazing afterwards.

8. Pack a portable recharger or portable phone / laptop battery. You may need it. I bought one from Rose Street Trading which is the size of a credit card and recharges both an iPhone and MacBook (you buy the adaptor for Apple products). You simply recharge the battery before you go and then keep it in your handbag for emergencies.

9. Consider noise-cancelling headphones to cut out the throbbing white noise of the engines – Bose are good. They really do make sleeping easier.

10. Be considerate of your fellow travellers. Say hello to the person next to you and "have a safe trip" when you leave. Strike up a conversation if they're chatty. Ask where they're going/where they've been/if they had a nice time? Let them out to stretch without frowning. You're on the plane for a while. Make it pleasant.

AND LASTLY, TRY NOT TO COMPLAIN

Did you see the hilarious article about real, but ridiculous, travel complaints – here? Here are a few:

1. "It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair."

2. "We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning."

3. "My fiance and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."

4. "No one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared."

5. "Although the brochure said that there was a fully-equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers."

6. "The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun."

7. "There were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners."

8. "We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow."

Some people should just never leave home...

Life, Gardens, And Everything Inspirational In-between

Ever since I returned from England in June, life has been very Down The Rabbit Hole-ish. Very  Lewis Carroll meets C.S. Lewis, with a surprising amount of strangeness (a very Carollesque word).

Sometimes our life does veer into the Crazy Lane – just like everyone else's – simply from juggling too much work, travelling too many miles, or meeting the demands of too many people (because nobody ever wants to let anyone down). But then life goes back to being blissfully ordinary again.

But for some reason, these past few months have been more than crazy.
They've swung around and around like a turn-of-the-century carousel in Paris's Arts Forains Museum.

Alongside these crazy weeks have been curious – and often crazier – conversations.
Let me explain.

A surprising number of people we know have had near-death experiences this year.
We even had a phone call from one lovely friend asking if we had a copy of his and his wife's Will?
If our friends haven't had close encounters, then they've been faced with mortality in other ways.

As such, we've talked a lot about life and death a lot this year – and of course all the good bits in between. 

We've also pondered Heaven and Hell; a subject that came up after I interviewed Joan Lindsay's housekeeper for the Picnic at Hanging Rock book. She said – and this is a very strange tale indeed  – that Joan Lindsay had a near-death experience just before she died. (This lovely housekeeper was at her side in the hospital.) She said that Joan claimed there was indeed a 'Hell' or a 'dark underworld' waiting on the other side, and that Joan had almost gone the wrong way.

"Did I think Joan Lindsay had done anything or lived a life that would cause her to receive a ticket to The Wrong Side" the housekeeper asked me. (Because I had obviously spent 2 years researching the Lindsays). "No," I said firmly. "No more than the rest of us."

And then I drove home wondering what, if anything, awaited us on other side?

Now before you scoff and scowl at all this Esotericism, Tim Smit, the co-owner of the magnificent Lost Gardens of Heligan in England (the most popular garden in the UK), also questioned the existence of such a thing in his bestselling memoir (above). (Which I'm reading and which is fantastic, and very unnerving in parts.)

Tim had to call in a priest to 'cleanse' Heligan's gardens and perform a horticultural exorcism after all the gardeners complained of feeling melancholy, or dread, or even seeing strange things that nobody could explain. 

When a dear friend, who's also a gardener, was around here for tea the other day, I asked her about Hell. She's quite spiritual, so I thought she'd have an interesting answer. "Do you think Hell really does exist?" I said. But she simply laughed and shook her head. "What if there's no room left in Heaven?" I persisted (half tongue-in-cheek). "What if there's a queue? Do we stand around outside, then go off, and come back later? Maybe we can't all get in? Where do we go then?" 

"The Maldives," she said dryly.

As Tim Smit knows, gardens teach you a lot about life. And not just about the passing of seasons, and of time, and of the dark things that lurk beneath the Ligustrum. 

Gardens give you hope for life. They're better than a dirty martini and a disingenuous therapist.

And that, perhaps, is what we've learned most this year.
Life can be crazy, and there are some corners we'd all rather not go down, but there will always be a garden – the earthly version of Heaven – to retreat to.

As Dorothy Frances Gurney's much-loved quote says: "One is nearer to God in a garden, than anywhere else on earth." (NB Half our family is devout Catholic; the other half is firmly atheist. But I tend to sit between them, on the fence, by following Mother Nature.) 

So here's my little slice of advice for the weekend... If you're ever feeling overwhelmed – with work, life, or personal issues – go and sit in a garden. If you're annoyed at somebody, go wander down a cool green allée. If you're upset at nasty slander (as I was last year), go and dig over flower bed. And then plant some roses. (The act of stabbing manure into the soil is cathartic, I assure you. Just dig that sh*t in!) And if you've simply forgotten how to 'be' – how to be kind; how to be courteous; how to be socially aware; how to be grateful for what you have – and indeed for life itself – grab some secateurs and go and snip a fragrant bouquet. (Don't worry about fancy flower arranging. Just toss them all in!)

Ruth Ostrow recently wrote a great article in The Australian called 'Digging Deep For True Grit'. She said there were three types of people in the world: optimists. pessimists, and people who have 'grit'. The 'gritters' are the ones who always go the distance.  They feel the pain and press on anyway. 

Gritters get things done.

Gardeners are like that. Mother Nature may smack you across the face like one of those nasty, shallow girls from The Bachelor, but you just chuck some more manure over the problem and dig away! 

Grit. 

Gardening and grit. 

It's all you need to survive and succeed, really.

In honour of October and turning over a new leaf (bad metaphor, but there are no Pulitzer Prize winners here), here are some 'heavenly" things happening around the world. 

Including these divine leaf-green shoes from Oscar de le Renta's latest collection.

Stuart Rattle's Musk Farm

Published November by Lantern/Penguin, with a foreword by Paul Bangay.

Beautiful.

(RIP Stuart.)

The Gardener's Garden

Another new book published by Phaidon in October. 

It features one of the world's best gardens, Villandry.
It's an enormous tome, at 480 pages, and 250 gardens, so will no doubt keep gardeners happy this Christmas.

LINK

Kate Spade: 

Places To Go, People To See

Yet another gorgeous title from the colourful world of Kate Spade. 

This book follows on from the success of Things We Love, and is about places and destinations and the inspiration you can find in the world.

One for creative and colourful globe-trotters.

Hermès Australia’s Festival des Métiers

Another inspiring company, Hermès has brought its hugely successful Festival des Métiers to Sydney this week. If you haven't seen this sumptuous show about the French fashion house, it's on for five days from October 2 – 6, 2014 at MCA’s Foundation Hall (140 George St, The Rocks.)  The exhibition will recreate the working environment of the artisans in the Hermès workshops, and feature eight craftsmen at work, including scarf makers, engravers, gem setters and tie makers. A few of us saw it in London last year. It's well worth seeing - and FREE!

NB Have you seen the delightful little videos entitled 'Petit H' showing all the behind-the-scenes action at Hermès, which the company has posted on Hermès website? LINK HERE

Haute Couture Ateliers

Something that's always ephemeral is fashion, and Hélène Farnault covers the ever-changing nature of The Style Game in her gorgeous new book, Haute Couture Ateliers (Vendome, $75). 

The pages are full of exquisite detail, from feathers stitched into a jacquard pattern for Jean Paul Gaultier to the meticulous process of hand-pleating fabric, a two-person job that results in folds as delicate as origami.

Aman and Louis Vuitton

According to the financial media, the LVMH group (which owns Louis Vuitton) is reportedly in talks to buy Amanresorts International. 

Amanresorts create what are arguably the world's most beautiful hotels – next to Six Senses and Four Seasons (not that we've ever been able to afford them, at $1000/n). Aman hotels are famous for their architecture, settings and service. There's been a lot of press about the behind-the-scenes money troubles, but there is no doubt that their front-of-house is first class.

 Ed Tuttle and Australia's Kerry Hill are two of the architects employed by Amanresorts, and their designs are often beyond this world, as with the extraordinary Amanjiwo (above). 

If the LVMH group does buy the company to expand their hotel portfolio, it will be interesting to see if they change the aesthetic.

Hotels For Less

This is something of a little aside, but if you're looking for reasonable hotels this Christmas and have used Booking.com to book places in the past, check whether you're eligible for their 30% discount. (You only need to have booked 3 hotels to be eligible.) 

I'd forgotten about it until I started trying to find our escape from the Christmas madness and became alarmed at the prices of Hawaii, the Maldives, and Europe/the US over December. One hotel – the Four Seasons in the Maldives – was $2500 a night. That is the true meaning of CRAZY. 

In desperation I tried our normal sources – Tablethotels.com, etc – and then tried daggy old Booking.com. Bamn! This famously beautiful, newly renovated Art Deco hotel came up in my 'Favourites' file at 30% discount. We really can't afford Park Hyatts at rack rate but 30% means it's (just) within budget. With the discount, it was even cheaper than booking the hotel directly.

Hotel bargains. Just love them!

Tory Burch In Colour

And finally, a few months ago I received a email from Tory Burch's head office in New York. Could they use a couple of my photos of the Petit Trianon trelliswork at Versailles for Tory's new book? 

"That's very kind of you," I said, feeling surprised but somewhat embarrassed, "but I don't think my photos are good enough for your beautiful book." 

They persisted. Lots of emails were exchanged. When I finally searched for the pix it turned out I no longer had those images because I'd trashed them, thinking they were terrible. I told Tory's PA I might be able to find some more on the archives. She went and asked Tory. (This all took a LOT of time! Books are THE most time-consuming things on the planet! Good thing we all love them so much!) Tory said yes to different photos. More emails were exchanged. 

A fee was offered but by this time the Tory Burch girl and I were getting along so well (I told her I'd just bought Tory Burch fabric to make a gown; she told me about her mother's wedding) that it seemed, well, silly to speak of cash.

All of this friendly, back-and-forth shenanigans left me with the impression that Tory Burch was one of the nicest fashion companies in the world. 

So here's a great big plug for her new book, Tory Burch in Colour – LINK HERE

Her blog – www.toryburch.com – and tumblr are beautiful too. 

And now she's hired Ralph Lauren's former bigwig to be co-CEO, there's no stopping her from reaching Ralph-esque heights.

Lastly, there's a fascinating article about Tory's heady rise to success here on fastcompany.com's website (a great business site) – LINK HERE

"Last spring’s collection featured floral prints inspired by the gardens of her 10-acre Southampton, N.Y., estate. The Tory Blog offered glimpses--a boxwood hedge here, a trellised walkway there--but never a wide-angle shot that would show how rarefied it all is. On Instagram, there was a blue-and-white Delftware vase spilling over with daffodils, the orange blooms of the dwarf Poinciana, and, one Saturday, an extraordinary bouquet of burgundy peonies.

This is how Burch makes luxury accessible..."

{Fastcompany.com}

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

x

Gardens in Green and White

We've had a reflective week here with the passing of someone close to us, so to counteract that we've spent a lot of time in our garden, where the sight of fresh green shoots and new spring growth (Australia's transitioning from winter to spring) has eased the heartache. (Fertiliser is often just as good for the soul as it is for the soil.) 

Fortunately, our new gardener started work this week, so there was a 'pro' in the house.

Formerly one of Dame Elizabeth Murdoch's gardeners, Geoff is one of the quietest, kindest, most knowledgable plantsmen I've ever met. One of our family may have gone up to Heaven but Heaven has been kind enough to send a replacement. I think Geoff and my mother-in-law would have liked each other.

Here are a few favourite garden places and pieces to offer some some horticultural inspiration for the gardening months ahead. 

{Top 3 images are my own, from my kitchen garden book.}

PARISIAN GARDENS

A beautiful new book for both Paris and garden lovers is Private Gardens of Paris, by Alexandra dArnoux and Bruno Laubadère. It's set to be published in 2015, but Flammarion are considering pushing the pub date forward, so keep an eye out.

Published by Flammarion. {link}

TROPICAL GARDENS

One of Hawaii's most beautiful gardens, Doris Duke's Shangri La.

Have you see the book? It's just as beautiful as the garden.

We're considering spending this Christmas in Hawaii to have a rest from a busy year, and this magnificent place is definitely on the To See List. 

(A lovely reader recommended it, and I'm so grateful to her.)

FRENCH FLORISTS

This is one of Paris's most beautiful florists.  It was called Saint-Pères Fleurs, but now seems to be called La Boutique des Saint-Pères. It looks like the luxurious salon of a grand old home, only one filled with vases and blooms. I believe it's been renovated, so if the images you find on Google aren't inspiring, don't worry – it's remarkable in real life.

14 rue des Saints-Pères, Paris. www.flower.fr

GARDEN RESTAURANTS

Ralph Lauren's restaurant, Ralph, in Paris, is one of the prettiest restaurants in Paris for garden lovers. 

It's been so successful that Ralph is opening a New York offshoot (sorry for the pun) on the Upper East Side later this year.

173 boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris, 75006.

GARDEN HOTELS

Another lovely Parisian hideaway for horticulture followers, the Hotel de l'Abbaye is tucked behind glamorous iron gates and a charming front courtyard. Its rear garden and terrace are wonderful for breakfasts and a relaxing wine at the end of the day.

10 rue Cassette, Paris, 75006. www.hotelabbayeparis.com

GARDEN APARTMENTS

If you can't afford a plush Parisian hotel, try a garden apartment. This one, available through the wonderful apartment rental site, One Fine Stay, has its own lush, private oasis in the middle of Paris, reached by walking through the apartment's charming conservatory. It's called Rue Lhomond, and it's in the Latin Quarter, a neighbourhood that's currently going through a revival.

www.onefinestay.com

GARDEN STORES

I adore this quirky garden architecture store. It's part of the famous flea market in the village of L'isle sur la Sorgue in Provence, and is near the main parking area in the centre of town. (I'm not sure of the address and it doesn't matter because, like many French places, the store may move around anyway.) Just look for all the rusty-but-still-glamorous greenhouses lined up in a dignified row. You can't miss them.

GARDEN SCARVES

Don't you love this new silk square by Hermès? 

It's based on the illustration for  Hermès' perfume Un Jardin Sur Le Toit ('A Garden on the Roof').

So simple. So beautiful.

GLAMOROUS GREENHOUSES

Spotted this image on Instagram recently via Ben Pentreath's Insta posts (another garden lover). It was posted by Soane Britain and is an image of the absolutely gorgeous orangery at the Horniman Museum in London. (There are more amazing pix on Google.)

100 London Road, London. www.horniman.ac.uk

WHITE GARDENS

Vita Sackville West's famous 'White Garden' at Sissinghurst launched a thousand white imitators. Even after all these years, Vita's is still one of the most magnificent.

{This was photographed in June this year, when it was truly glorious.}

Biddenden Rd, Cranbrook, Kent. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle

GRAND GARDENS

If you haven't seen Villandry, then try to see it next time you visit France. It's one of the most majestic gardens in the world. This is the topiary garden, but the estate has several gardens, including a delightful parterre and the spectacular ornamental potager – made entirely of vegetables (pictured at the top of the post). My parents and I once flew to France to do our own private garden tour and my father confessed that this garden was worth flying across the world for.

3 rue Principale, Villandry. www.chateauvillandry.fr/en/

GARDEN PERFECTION

And finally, this was one of the most exquisite gardens I saw at Chelsea Flower Show while living in London in the 1990s. It's the Chanel Garden by Karl Lagerfeld and Tom Stuart Smith. It was, at the time, the most expensive garden ever produced for the Chelsea Flower Show, at a cost of 1 million pounds. There's a great article about it here – Link.

{All images my own, excluding One Fine Stay, Shangri La and Hornman Museum, which are from their websites and are properly credited. 

If you use or repost my images, please credit me out of courtesy.}

Secrets of Paris, Part 3

For those who are heading to Paris soon and planning their itinerary, here are a few ideas and suggestions for memorable places to visit. I'm currently working on the next Paris guide and have included these in the 24-hours-in-Paris section. They're a little different from the usual Seine-to-St.Germain-to-Eiffel Tower stroll. I don't know about you but I like getting off the beaten (Parisian) track and seeing the city from new perspectives. These places will show you the City of Light in, well, a new light!

Finally, thank you all for your kind emails about the book offer. I've received more than 60 requests so far and have now run out of books! It was really a gesture of thanks to those who have kindly left comments on the blog or emailed me directly to say hello. However, I'll see what I can do to accommodate those more-private souls who prefer not to leave comments but would like a book anyway.

Thank you, too, for those wonderful stories. I wish I could post them but they're clearly private. I'm now emailing individual thank-you notes to everyone.

THE BEST ROOFTOP TERRACE RESTAURANT 

FOR A SPECTACULAR PARISIAN VIEW

La Terrasse at the Hotel Raphael

A lovely place for a special meal, this rooftop restaurant has spectacular views over Paris, including the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, plus all the charming rooftops in between.

17 avenue Kleber, 75016 (16th), Paris.

www.raphael-hotel.com

THE BEST PLACE TO PHOTOGRAPH THE EIFFEL TOWER 

(PARTICULARLY AT DAWN OR DUSK)

From high atop the top level of the Trocadéro gardens. If you head for the City of Architecture and Heritage (Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine), you'll see a parallel line of gold statues. It's here, particularly at sunrise or sunset, where the best photos of the Eiffel Tower can often be taken.

THE BEST HOTEL BAR FOR A CLASSIC FRENCH CHAMPAGNE

The Radisson Blu Le Dokhan's Hotel

A former 18th-century residence, this charming boutique hotel is beloved by fashion designers (Armani books it out each Fashion Week), and the Louis Vuitton trunk-lined lift will make your ascent to the top-floor suites even more magical. The suites themselves are sublime (ask for the Eiffel Suite, with some of the best views in Paris), but if you can't afford to splurge, go to the exquisite Champagne Bar for a little bubbly instead. It's one of the prettiest bars in Paris.

117 rue Lauriston, 75116 (16th), Paris.

www.radissonblu.com/dokhanhotel-paristrocadero

A GORGEOUS HOTEL FOR DISCERNING DESIGN LOVERS

Newhotel Roblin

It's sometimes difficult to find style at an affordable price in Paris, but this cutie delivers. The foyer is fabulous, the rooms are elegant without being frou-fou or over-the-top, and the other spaces, such as the sitting room (above) are dignified, quite and completely welcoming after an exhausting day traipsing around town.

6 rue Chauveau-Lagarde, 75008 (8th), Paris 

www.new-hotel.com/fr/hotels-paris/roblin

A WONDERFUL PLACE FOR A POSH LUNCH

The Hotel Meurice

Most people wander straight past this place without realising the architectural riches that are inside. It's one of the most beautiful hotels in Paris, and the best way to see it (if you're on a budget) is to book a table for lunch. There's a fancy restaurant or the (slightly more casual) bistro. Alain Ducasse heads the kitchens so you can be sure the food is top-notch. But it's the people watching you should be going for. That, and the interior design.

228 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 (1st), Paris.

A SECRET PARIS MUSUEM FOR GARDEN LOVERS 

I'd never heard of this place until recently, and I imagine others will be just as surprised to learn of it. It's a lovely place for a sunny day; a whimsical, slightly quirky museum that's an homage to gardens around the world.

Albert Kahn Musee et Jardins

14, rue du Port, 92100, Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris.