Travel review: The Four Season’s Hotel George V in Paris August 22, 2013 I have a confession to make. I don’t like Paris and I don’t find Paris romantic. On the contrary I find it dirty, crowded and unsympathetic in every way. But I have family in Paris, so I often find myself there. On this particular occasion, it was my father’s 70th birthday. He’d summoned three generations [...]
Alternative Orlando is blooming August 18, 2013 There is more to the Sunshine State’s theme-park capital than Disney Land I WAS in Orlando for the Florida Film Festival. A film I had produced called The North London Book of the Dead was in the British Shorts Now! programme. Great, right? Except… Orlando? Seriously? It’s hardly renowned for its thriving arts scene. But [...]
A tropical triathlon paradise August 11, 2013 Tempted to give it a tri? Laura Williams discovers you could do a whole lot worse than St Lucia I USUALLY associate triathlons with unflattering wetsuits and cold, murky water, so it was welcome news that the Caribbean island of St Lucia will be hosting its first ever triathlon in November. Forget shivering changeovers – [...]
All smiles on the Teardrop isle August 4, 2013 British Airways’ new Colombo route will help open Sri Lanka up to a new generation of tourists, says Lisa Young EARLIER this year British Airways’ only Sri Lankan Boeing 777 pilot landed one of the company’s jets in his home country for the first time in 15 years. Touching down in Colombo, the capital of [...]
South America’s capital of glamour July 21, 2013 With its sprawling sandy beaches, iconic landmarks and buzzing atmosphere, Rio de Janeiro is in a league of its own, says Gabriel O’Rorke WITH the World Cup and the Olympics on the horizon, Brazil is preparing to become the focus of the world’s attention. One city that is used to the limelight is Rio de [...]
Paradise found at Canyon Ranch February 24, 2013 Newsreader Emma Crosby finds Canyon Ranch is the perfect antidote to the punishing daily newsbeat IT’S 7AM and the thermometer is already pushing 80 degrees centigrade. I’m cycling in what must be one of the most stark but beautiful places on Earth, the Sonora desert in the foothills of the Rincon Mountains in Arizona. My [...]
Choose The Black Run for a painless trip to the slopes February 24, 2013 ALL SKIERS know the feeling. Waking the family at four o’clock in the morning, squeezing them into the car alongside bulky bags of equipment, only to arrive at the airport and find an hour long check-in queue waiting for you. The children are tetchy, and towers of luggage are balanced precariously atop a trolley that [...]
Small but perfectly formed: why Brides les Bains is a ski paradise February 17, 2013 BRIDES les Bains may be the smallest place you ever visit. With a population of just 600, it’s reminiscent of those little Irish towns where everyone knows everyone and the pharmacist is also the butcher and the local mechanic on Tuesdays. In fact, while dinning at the town’s main restaurant, La Petite Auberge (where 80 [...]
School’s Out February 10, 2013 WHETHER YOU crave sea air and sunshine, meadows and mountains or lush forests, now’s the perfect time to plan a spring break to blow away the winter cobwebs. Jump in the car and make tracks to a beautiful UK bolthole, lace up your walking boots and tackle some of Italy’s most scenic hill climbs, strap [...]
It’s Davos, but not as you know it February 3, 2013 DESPITE being a 30-something supposed grown-up, I must confess to still suffering from the occasional nightmare. While on duty as a night editor of this newspaper, for example, my sleep can be disturbed by a recurring dream in which I’m culpable for printing over 130,000 front page headlines of “UK ECOMONY DIPS AGAIN” (yes, reread [...]