Julie

We booked the 4* Harbour Plaza North Point for our 6 night stay in Hong Kong, the hotel was celebrating it’s 17th anniversary on our arrival. We were invited to a breakfast meeting on our first morning by Billy Wan, the Director of Business Development for this hotel. It was fascinating to learn the history and portfolio of properties including within the hotel group, understand their clientele and seasons, as well as gaining lots of local knowledge about Hong Kong.…

When I asked Mike what he’d like to do on his birthday in Hong Kong, there was no hesitation in his response which was to have afternoon tea at The Peninsular. This nostalgic British tradition remains very popular in Hong Kong and although there are many places offering an afternoon tea service, The Lobby at The Peninsular is high on the list of the top ten recommendations. The Afternoon Tea service is classically British, served on a silver tiered stand,…

We’ve enjoyed being out and about in Hong Kong, with 90% of the population not owning a car here, the public transport is frequent, low cost and easy to use. The first thing we did was buy our Octopus cards, you can pick these up at any MTR station. We used the local ones, which are loaned to you, the initial cost is a deposit of 50 HK$ plus a credit of 100 HK$. There is a tourist version available…

Our flights from Lanzarote to Madrid with Ryanair and Madrid to London with Iberia were uneventful, although the Iberia A320 felt too cramped for comfort after the Boeing 737-800 with Ryanair. I’m doubtful we’ll use this airline as a codeshare with British Airways from the Canaries in the future. The Iberia seat pitch in economy is 28 compared to the 30 in Ryanair, which left us short on legroom, although both have the same seat width of 17. Our flight…

Normally when we fly to Madrid we head straight for the centre via the Metro, this time, as we were flying out again the next day, we needed an airport hotel. The Hilton Madrid Airport is only a few minutes drive away and they offer complimentary minibus transfers, every 20 minutes. The hotel has 284 rooms and suites, including guest rooms, suites and executive rooms which are situated on the upper floors. We booked a standard guest room which was…

Mike was born there, he left when he was 13 years old, so I’m fascinated to see what he remembers by visiting the family’s old haunts and what has changed over the decades since they moved to the UK. March is also the 20th anniversary of when we first met and Mike’s birthday, so it’s going to be a very special week for the two of us. At the moment we’re working in excess of 80 hours a week booking…