Will be traveling the next few weeks (starting with a return to Budapest) and plan on posting a few postcards and mini dispatches from the road.
Shot taken with a point and shoot camera – Fisherman’s Bastion, Budapest, Hungary
Postcard: Under An Ink Blue Sky
March 6, 2010
Snapshots of Luxury and Latest News
March 3, 2010
While attending the festival in London last weekend, I also hopped into the 5-star luxury boutique hotel, The Milestone(*) to do a review for an online publication. While I no longer choose to bunk down in 24-bed hostel rooms mostly due to noise and stench, I am certainly not accustomed to luxurious digs and prefer down-to-earth 1-3 star properties or family-owned lodging.
For one, the cheaper the hotel, the more likely they’ll include free internet and breakfast!
Sarah Menkedick has so eloquently (and thoroughly) verbalized my shared feelings on luxury that you best read her post – The Luxury Orbit.
Yes, the property was lavish, attention was paid to every single detail, and the staff was extraordinarily warm so trying to pick apart the hotel and keep digging for negatives when there were clearly no significant misses would be an injustice on my part – personal preferences aside.
Here are a few more pictures from the property…
My photography challenge last weekend was to shoot London through new eyes. After all, the city has been seen and photographed from every position possible. Without sounding too artsy-fartsy, I opted to follow the “light” and flow of life this time around.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”…Eleanor Roosevelt
Travellers’ Tales Festival – Saturday brought in the crowds with women outnumbering men almost 4 to 1. It really didn’t surprise me as we women love to be constantly inspired. Hence our dedicated magazines and self help books.
Explorer Benedict Allen opened up with a rousing and harrowing tale of his 300 mile trek through the Amazon…with practically nothing. I could feel the crowd’s breath collectively catch as he talked about how his then-perceived Samaritans robbed him blind and left him to die in the jungle.
National Geographic nature photographer Frans Lanting followed up with some breathtaking photographs that showed the relationship between various elements of nature; from the mundane to the awe-inspiring. We were also treated to a sleek preview of his multimedia orchestral performance of Frans Lanting’s LIFE: A Journey Through Time.
Foreign correspondent Fergal Keane took us on a moving journey from his childhood to the midst of darkness and despair around the world and back out of it in a poignant talk. From witnessing Rwanda and South Africa to other war-torn regions, I found it surprising at first, then totally heartwarming when he said he’ll never go back to war-torn countries again. That he was done covering that aspect after seeing so much. That it was okay for a war correspondent to feel that way.
That it finally made them human…
“One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else.”… Eleanor Roosevelt
The chattering of kids grew louder. Feet stomping quickly through the tunnel. Wheels from luggage being dragged. Noises bouncing off the walls, making the narrow half mile tunnel seem like it was slowly getting narrower. I had to get out. To get some air. Normally not claustrophobic, very little sleep in three days was throwing off my internal radar.
Quickly darting out of the next exit I saw, one of many sprinkled alongside the tunnel, I popped up beside the Natural History Museum, eerily illuminated against murky dark skies.
So I snapped the photograph below using my day bag as a makeshift tripod…
