Sardinian Treasures – Agriturismo Ca’ La Somara
If you’re visiting the beautiful island of Sardinia and are looking for a green retreat that’s quiet, relaxing, breathtakingly gorgeous, friendly, inspirational and also has donkeys and a cool pool, Ca’ La Somara is just the place for you.
Friendly staff, enough grounds to loose yourself and let your thoughts fly mixed with a communal dinner table allowing for fun and light conversation with the other guests, a modern spa and an authentic barn and farmhouse design and decor, this hidden treasure (yes, literally hidden, as the local taxi driver had a bit of a hard time finding it) suits almost everyone. Read more…
Hotel Concorde – Best place to stay in Veliko Tarnovo
As getting to Bulgaria is extremely easy for those of use fortunate enough to be living in Bucharest, a lot of the short gettaways I have been on included a place in Bulgaria. Their lovely beaches when I was in mood for a few relaxing days spent sunbathing and diving into the Black Sea, and Veliko Turnovo when I was in the mood for a mountain top sceneray.
Every time I go to Veliko Tarnovo, I stay at Hotel Concorde. I felt so great the first time I stayed there, I just did not feel the need to try another one! Only a few minutes away from the colorful center with the town hall, purring bikes, great looking cars and delicious ice-cream that I never seem to have enough of, Hotel Concorde is a chic and small venue, with only 18 rooms, all extremely big and all looking chic, a restaurant, a bar on the top floor where you can enjoy an amazing view, conference rooms and a small and intimate breakfast room.
If you’re like me and just can’t breathe without an Internet connection, don’t worry, they have both wireless and wired Internet, all free, but the wireless might play a few tricks from you if you stray from the lobby. Read more…
New tool to help you better plan your DIY vacation: Stay.com
As you have probably guessed by now, I am all for taking charge of your vacation and planning it just as you want it to be. Being able to do it requires a few things: good knowledge of what’s available where you’re going, from hotels to places to visit to good restaurants, reliable advice from people who have been there before and a well thought plan that allows you to both experience everything you want, rest and have fun.
The new public beta release of social trip planner Stay.com gives you all that information: spots to check out on 50 major cities around the world, recommended guides created by Stay’s travel experts, a community to discuss your trip and to share your advice with, personalized travel guides you create from scratch with all the relevant data you need, from opening hours to maps and pictures of the place. Read more…
Take online hotel reviews with a grain of salt!
All major online booking sites ask their customers to post reviews of the hotels they have stayed in. It’s a great way to have them briefly share their experience and help other customers have a clearer picture of the hotel they will be staying at. But these reviews are quite subjective and you always need to keep that in mind when you read through them. And always stop and think for yourself and decide if things said actually make sense. Here are a few aspects you should keep in mind when reading such reviews:
Review date – Old reviews (two-three years old) are not as significant. Try to compare them against newer ones. Other than being more accurate, you will also see the evolution of the hotel. Most of them get better and better over time. Read more…
Online Travel and the Myths Surrounding it
Nowadays, you can find everything online: hotels, cheap flights, information on what to do in any corner of the world. With agencies and travel shoppers moving online, what’s really happening behind the myths? Are young travellers really shopping online only? Are travelers really moving back offline? Here’s an interesting piece on myths and the statistics contradicting them. Enjoy!
Travel Tweaks + Booking.com = Love
All my friends know I’m a Booking.com fan! I preach about it quite a lot. And although I put my love affair to test every chance I get by comparing destinations and prices, Booking.com is always my number one. I’ve booked hotels in Istanbul, Trier, Oludeniz, and the Golden Sands through them and they never disappointed me. So I decided I could whole heartedly recommend them.
That is why, soon after starting my very own travel blog, I also applied for their affiliate program and got in! So you’ll see a whole lot of them in my links and banners. But no matter how big of a fan I am, I promise to keep checking up on them and make sure you get access to the best offers out there.
And to prove I’m not kidding about being their hard core fan, here’s a photo I just had to take last summer in Amsterdam featuring my visit to…their headquarters (or one of he buildings they have offices in). I never went in. Will do so next time.
In case you were wondering, all the reviews I write are for hotels I’ve been to and I’d like to keep it that way. Writing about hotels one has never set foot into seems a little weird to me.
- Keep mixing the travel spell recipes!
- Love,
- The Travel Wizard
Hotel Review: DoubleTree – Chicago/O’Hare
Rosemont was my next stop in the US ever. I had come to the States for an industry event held near Chicago, in the Donald E. Stephens Convention and Conference Center, which is practically across the street from the hotel I stayed in: DoubleTree.
It was a heart warming welcome, as the young woman at the reception desk was born, yes, you guessed it, in Romania! Although she only spent a few years there, she still remembered a few words and we had a nice conversation. And they also gave us some nice, chocolate filled warm cookies that simply made us forget about the 16 or so hours that had passed since we left our homes in Bucharest.
DoubleTree is extremely close to the O’Hare airport and that’s both an advantage and disadvantage. We all know there’s nothing better than a cookie and a nice shower after a flight, especially a long one. But hearing airplanes taking off and landing all the time might have some impact on your sleep, especially if it’s helped by the jet lag.
Having breakfast there was a bliss. Although I am used to more types of cheese and vegetables for breakfast, it was my first time experiencing American bacon and waffles! And the restaurant staff was hilarious! Everything you needed for a good morning start.
As the whole Rosemont seems to be dedicated to business travelers, displaying convention centers and lots of hotels, most of them above 3 stars by European standards, DoubleTree is a wonderful choice for business events, conferences or business meetings. The only problem is if you come with European electronics, you won’t be able to plug them in and have them charged and the hotel won’t be able to help you. Your solution is going to the nearby mall and buy what you need. You’ll get a full package, allowing you to travel around the world and have no problem charging your laptop.
If you’re there as a tourist, beware: it takes quite a while to get to downtown Chicago and back. So if you’re hoping to mix some fun with the work assignments, don’t waste any free time on resting! Otherwise you won’t get to see anything!
Photos from the DoubleTree site.