Luxury Patrol

It’s not usually atop most travelers’ wish or bucket lists. It’s not a place to go and relax, refresh, recharge and enjoy a vacation there.
No, Berlin is a destination, and usually with a purpose.

BERLIN – a city that stands alone,  mired in its own history, feverishly working to lead in the 21^st Century. It is a city of Ghosts, of great architecture, enormous cultural activities in all the arts.  A city with as decadent a nightlife scene as proclaimed by Sally Bowles in CABERET!  BERLIN is a MUST SEE CITY for most people, especially ones with a special interest in the immediate past.

Do you remember the first time you fell in love?  You fell in love with a person, a place, a thing, a piece of music, a book, a play, a piece of art, an artist?

The everyday food onboard ship is absolutely amazing!  Kudos to the Executive Chef, his sous-Chefs, and “the lines”,  plus all the kitchen workers who so diligently produced fine food at every meal.  Breakfast is a wonderful mixture of choices – the traditional English fare, solid, well cooked and tasty (bacon being the biggest treat it seemed!).  There were the Continental breakfasts more on the French style, and then the hearty German ones laden with processed meats and cheeses.  It seemed that everyone subscribed to the English tradition of eating a hearty breakfast to set you up for the rest of the day.

Sea and ship travel nowadays just isn’t the same as it used to be.  People cruise nowadays, they’re not traveling to really get anyplace, and they’re traveling on holidays, with friends and families, with work groups, with associations. They’re cruising to relax, have a good time, be entertained and fed all day, and when they arrive, well, some of them fly straight back!  (And by the way – Cunard has a reciprocal arrangement with British Air for special fares, make sure you enquire about it before leaving).

REMEMBER WHEN?   LUXURY WAS A GIVEN, AND THE CUNARD SLOGAN WAS “GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN”? That was in the Golden Age of transatlantic crossings. When people really going to or from someplace had to resort to sea travel to go long distances.  With the advent of jet planes, carrying more passengers at greater speeds, ocean travel has become almost extinct. But, the QUEEN MARY 2 keeps it alive in all its luxury and splendor on its run from New York (“Brooklyn!”) to Southampton (and some other European destinations).  And I’m telling you, if you have the time, and the money, then treat yourselves to 7 days of luxury, elegance, grand living, and of being suspended in time and place. Getting there really was more than half the fun!!!

If you travel west, take the Highway that’s the best… So go the lyrics of one of the most famous songs of bygone days. Well, that Highway, Route 66 really isn’t one of the most beautiful in the world. HIGHWAY 101, between San Francisco in the north, to Los Angeles in the south, is truly one of the world’s most scenic routes.

You know it has to be close to Paradise, when one of America’s truly richest men at the time buys a part of Heaven on Earth and sets out to create Paradise.

What you will remember most about Switzerland is how refreshingly clean and clear it is.  It sparkles, even on dull, grey, rainy days; it has a clarity of its own.

SWITZERLAND is one of the smallest countries in Europe, in the world in fact. SWITZERLAND has, however, one of the most powerful reputations for many things. All well deserved!