Ann Benjamin's Blog, page 287

Most mind blowing place I’ve spent the night. #30stays

While my previous post about favorite hotels does highlight some of my favorite rooms, it’s still difficult to pick just one.  The Maldives was incredible – literally perched above the gorgeous waters of the Indian Ocean.  Banyan Tree Al Wadi was straight baller – the villa was bigger than our apartment!  However, and I’ve made reference to this before, I think the most ‘mind blowing’ place I’ve ever spent the night was during my time on the American Orient Express.  Literally, in a train car on a small twin bed in a tiny cabin, on the train tracks directly next to the Pacific Ocean (outside Santa Barbara).  What makes my train life special is that I was able to spend the night in places that few will ever get to spend the night.  Sure, there were nights in some pretty dodgy train yards, but there were others spent on siding in a beautiful locations.  I miss you GLR crew!

Favorite road trip. #30stays

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few great and memorable road trips.  In fact, I love road trips so much my current work in progress is all about one.

1.  Favorite high school road trip

We’ve already established I’m a band geek. While many an interesting memory occurred on these rides to and fro across the great state of Georgia and beyond (the crushes!  the singing!  the completely inappropriate activity!), probably my favorite and the most random had to be on the way back from winning the state football championship (a major upset!  Go Broncos!) my junior year.  Because the last game was so late in the season (December 21st?), a lot of the band had already left for various holidays and vacations.  The rag tag team that was left did their best.  I think this trip stands out to me because it was such a perfectly definitive marching band bus trip…  Inside jokes would mean nothing here, so I’ll leave this as is.

2.  Favorite adult road trip

While a recent race through the French countryside with Hubs and a good friend does come to mind, I think the most life changing one was with Hubs (then boyfriend).  After graduating from UGA, Hubs had a job lined up in Southern California.  We packed up our college apartment (of which, none of the furniture made it back across country), put our cat in a carrier and drove from my parent’s house in Atlanta to a scorching day in the Valley, California.  We listened to Harry Potter and Steven King on audio tape.  One of the tires towing my car went flat.  Our moving van and car got blocked in at a random hotel in Texas!  But still… We made it!  Somehow in that trip we started leaving our young adult selves behind and started the path towards adulthood (not that we’re there yet).

To drive on my next road trip.

Best person I met on holiday. #30stays

I had to think about this question for awhile.  To date, travel (for me) has been about traveling with or towards friends and family.  However, I managed to come up with two – one of which I’m still in touch with (and walked me down the aisle this summer).

1.  Frank – the best friend of my brother in law, Frank was a great addition to my trip to Barcelona last year.  He was a great host and, as the Best Man to my Maid of Honor this summer, I was glad we had the chance to meet before his BFF and my sister married.

2.  Our bartender in the Maldives who I have forgot his name.  On an all inclusive package, he was exceptional in providing Hubs and I with lots and lots and lots of drinks.  His positive and laid back attitude really hlped make our relaxing trip even better.

 

Place I visited at the wrong time. #30stays

I could take this question a few different ways – was I in a place at the wrong time in my life, or the wrong time of year?

Anyway…

There were a few hints of a recent trip to Istanbul that could have gone the wrong (soldiers everywhere!), but I think the place I most visited at the wrong time was Amsterdam, December 2001.  There were a lot things that went wrong on this particular trip to Europe, none of which the least was getting high for the first time in the middle of what felt like an actual riot for New Year’s 2001.  I didn’t have the right clothes for cold weather, we barely found a place to stay and I swear we walked around more than half the city.  Firecrackers seemed to be lit haphazardly and magnums of Heineken seemed to be spraying everywhere.  When we finally made it back to our room, I passed out for 13 hours.

Nope.

The experience was so upsetting that the very first thing I did upon getting back to school was plan for a belated New Year’s party.  Thus, one of the most memorable parties of my college career followed what was certainly a city I now love, but visited at the wrong time.

Favorite hotel room. #30stays

Tough choices!  And since I don’t feel like choosing and will give my Top 3.  And of course, my fictional Room 702 is pretty far up the chart.

1.  Majeka House (Stellenbosch, South Africa).  This was a last minute booking and I would go back in a heartbeat.  The on property restaurant is definitely worth a visit.

2. Reethi Beach over water bungalow (Maldives).  I would go back in approximately one second.

3. Banyan Tree Al Wadi (RAK, United Arab Emirates).  We didn’t leave the villa for 24 hours.  It was awesome.

Place I Didn’t Expect to Love. #30stays

Hmmm….  This is a good question because I don’t think I ever approach a trip like, ‘Wow, you know what I should do with my hard earned money and time off?  Go to a place I don’t think I’ll like.’  Instead, I will say that I had some very unexpected but incredibly fun times in two American cities, Albuquerque and Williams, AZ.  Neither are particularly known as tourist destinations, but because of the people I was with, I had an absolute fantastic time (and somehow managed to get up for work the next morning).

Much love to the AOE/GLR.

I may or may not have laid upon these tracks the night before…

First holiday with my partner. #30stays

It took me awhile to think of this answer, before I realized the first trip was a big one.  I guess Hubs and I were never going to be ones to mess around.  I began dating my husband in the spring of 2001.  At that time, I had already booked tickets for and was planning on spending the summer in Sydney, Australia for an internship.  After a bit of a whirlwind romance, it was decided that Hubs would come over to see me at the end of my time in Oz.  So, we went to the post office and applied for his first passport.

After a frustrating number of weeks running out of phone credits and conversations over e-mail, Hubs arrived one day early – surprising me entirely.  We spent three weeks together non-stop and I even changed my ticket to come back early with him.  Lots of inside jokes came out of the trip and even though we didn’t have a lot to spend, it was a wonderful, memorable trip.

Pepper Tree vineyard – one of my favorite stops on our trip.

We’ve not made it back yet – but we’re hoping to soon.

Reason I Travel Alone. #30stays

Oops, I kind of skipped this one.  Yay for my reading comprehension skills!

I used to travel alone a bit more for work.  Now, it’s on a pretty limited basis.  This is mostly because I love traveling with Hubs.  Why would I go somewhere and experience a new place without him?

Anyway, I do have a great (recent) example of traveling alone and how much fun it was.  Through some mechanism or another, I went to the States for work.  Business class flight by yourself for 13 hours?  Pure delight.  Meeting your mom at the end of the flight?  Even better.  Having your sister roll one you’ve arrived in town?  Yes.  Solo train travel from D.C. to New York?  Perfect.  Meeting an agent about one of my books?  Top 3 days of my life.  Watching the musical Newsies?  Geeky heaven.  Drinks with a long time virtual friend?  Yes, please!

The author in repose (Georgetown, Washington D.C.).

In a 9 day period I managed to fit in visits with a lot of family (always a treat for a long time expat) and spend a lot of time on my own.  I found my way around two cities I’d never been to.  I was on my own schedule.

Would I have been able to do this trip with Hubs along?  Of course.

Did I have a sense of accomplishment without him?  Yes.

Now, I’m hopeful for another work trip to the States later this year and while it would be fun to once again return and do it all again by myself, I really do hope Hubs is able to join.

Best hotel freebie. #30stays

Fantastic question – an fully revealing one of my biggest nerdy traits -I LOVE SAMPLE SIZE TOILETRIES!  I am in nothing short of heaven walking into a hotel and finding all the bottles and tiny packaging.  In fact, nothing frustrates me more to walk in and find things in large pots that I cannot take home with me.  While I’m not Ross from Friends, I do tend to take anything I don’t use home with me.  If you look under my sinks (or stay as a guest in my home), you will find quite a variety of shampoos and conditioners.

However, I think the straight up fanciest products I ever walked away with were the lush Hermes treats from the Sofitel in Macau (I still have the soap case).

While these days, Hubs and I tend to opt for AirBnB – I am therefore always looking forward to my next hotel stay and know I won’t be let down at the Shangri La Boracay.

Ooh la la…

All that being said, the best freebie I ever got was the idea for a novel!  A night (when I couldn’t sleep)  at the W brought me the idea of Room 702.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

 

Best Meal on Holiday. #30stays

That’s easy – Noma.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had lots of lovely meals – but nothing tops the best restaurant in the world.