New York, USA

Posted on by Nisa Patel

I’ve lost track of the number times I’ve been to New York. It’s as familiar to me as London, and I love them both just as much. This time, however, I owe a debt of gratitude to my cousin Priyanka, who earned an expensed trip as a reward for her hard work. She kindly chose me, and our sister in law, Krupa, as her travel companions. This five day break was as therefore, as much about quality time with family, as it was the world class settings.

It wasn’t all perfect. Our Virgin Atlantic Flight was the worst long haul I’ve been on in years. They didn’t even have salt and pepper. On arrival, immigration took 2.5hours; I can’t remember it ever taking this long. But rant over, moaning out of the way, the rest of the trip was a truly refreshing break. I came back to England reenergised.

Softside Icecream
Manhattan Skyline, View From Our Room in NoMo SoHo
The Grand Banks

Over the course of the trip I got to catch up with relatives on both Hamel’s and my side of our family, as well an old friend from London. These connections made the trip that much extra special. But, on top of this, I also managed to find some time for myself. With some early morning runs, I pushed myself to strengthen both my mind and my body. ‘If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere’, right?!

I’ve always loved the food in New York. This time, I got to visit an old favourite pizza joint, Rubirosa, and also got my Taco Bell fix before the end. I compensated for this indulgence by doing a lot of walking and rowing on the boating lake in Central Park.

On a trip where socialising was the focus, I’ve got to give mention to all the different eateries and drinking establishments I got through this time. In no particular order, I loved all the following: El Vez, Grand Banks, Juniper, Boqueira, Los Tacos @Chelsea Market, Buddakan, Baar Baar, and Mr Purple Rooftop Bar.

I’ve got to give a special mention to the Speakeasy at Beauty & Essex, in which you get a complimentary Prosecco in the female toilet (sorry gents).

In search of a unique view, we paid $44 to go up to the Observation Deck at The Edge. This was perhaps a little over priced for what it was. But if you do decide to go, then a free attraction next to The Edge, The Vessel is also worth a visit.

The other special thing I managed to do on this trip was take in a Broadway Musical. These are world renowned for a reason. Hamel was green with envy because somehow I combined Aladdin (no longer showing in London’s West End) with a date with one of his closest cousins, Shivani. We had an amazing evening.

Mr Purple Rooftop Bar
Aladdin
Rowing in Central Park

Prices seem to have gone up considerably in New York, since I visited last. Despite this, the City still retains its magic, and I know it will draw me back again soon.

Ras Al-Khaimah

Posted on by Nisa Patel

As we move towards a post-COVID world, each country has its own set of rules and requirements for entry. So to ease ourselves back into exploring the world again, we picked an ‘easy option’, and booked an all inclusive resort based holiday in the UAE. However, but this time, we ventured out of Dubai for a slight change of scenery. One thing that hadn’t changed though, was the company we went with. As on a number of previous travels, we once again went with the Khimasias, with whom we have now visited four continents.

Hilton Ras Al-Khaimah Beach Resort
Hilton Ras Al-Khaimah Beach Resort
Hilton Ras Al-Khaimah Beach Resort

Our flight out on Emirates was as good as it always has been, but on arrival we had a problem with our transfer which temporarily soured the mood. We had pre-booked with a reputable company, and followed the instructions on arrival. To cut a long story short, after waiting around for an hour in the place were told to, we were informed we had ‘missed’ our driver. It took some forceful persuasion, and a refusal to accept ‘no’ for an answer, but we were eventually given our transfer with the original driver, and an hour and a half later, we made it to Ras Al-Khaimah. Thankfully our return ride back to the airport at the end of the holiday was smooth and uneventful.

After that, the rest of the vacation was as expected. The Hilton Beach Resort at Ras Al-Khaimah is by no means the nicest luxury hotel we’ve stayed in, but for the price we paid, we have no complaints. At 30ºC, the weather was pleasantly hot, and the pools and sea all the more inviting. The staff were extremely warm and obliging. Our ‘all inclusive’ package had some restrictions with where we could eat and what we could drink, but there was enough to satisfy each of us without needing to spend to much extra money. We divided our time between the Salt Water Pool, Kids’ Pool and the Private Beach during the day, and played games in the communal lounges and bars after dinner. It was a week sun, sand and relaxation, and just the break abroad we needed.

Skydive Dubai
Skydive Dubai

The highlight of my holiday was my tandem Skydive from 13,000ft in Dubai. It was exhilarating and liberating, and every bit as amazing as my previous skydive in Taupo, New Zealand 11 years ago. My husband, Hamel, Vishal and Parita, opted for slightly less white knuckle experience to enhance their own experience of the holiday, and spent a few hours in the spa instead. Judging by the glow on all their faces, they found their hammam, rasoul and massage treatments were a perfect end to their trip.

Athens, Greece

Posted on by Nisa Patel

This mini break was a ‘trip of firsts’. My first holiday abroad for over two years. My first trip alone with my sister-in-law. My first time in Athens; and my first international travel in my new avatar as an independent travel agent!

The opportunity came about as my sister-in-law asked me to accompany her for a formal engagement she had to attend. We flew out on Sunday, and returned on Tuesday, and stayed at the Electra Metropolis Hotel, which provided a lovely stop for lunch with a view of the Acropolis from its rooftop bar.

Electra Metropolis Hotel
Acropolis
Acropolis

As we walked around the city, some of the little streets reminded us both, of the gulleys in India. We soon realised that everywhere has a view of the Acropolis when we went up to Sense rooftop bar at the AthensWas Hotel. This was confirmed the next day, when we went rooftop hopping to: Hyper Astro Bar, MS Roof Garden, 360 Degrees, Attic Urban and finally Misafir (a shisha bar). We ate gyros and pastries at an outdoor restaurant, Bairaktaris, and I would highly recommend trying the Peinirli at Ergon House.

With only a limited time for sightseeing, we prioritised the Acropolis, and made an early start to avoid the crowds. As the flagship attraction for Greece, we felt it was the one place we had to go and see, however with the amount of renovation it is currently undergoing, meant much of what we saw was sadly obstructed by scaffolding.

Athens
Attic
360 Degrees

I had a bit of free time on the final day, and made the most of it by doing a little research for my planned trip back here in the Summer, with my family. I found out some very useful information about day trips and excursions to the nearby beaches and islands, and am really excited about bringing the kids, and sharing what I’ve learnt with clients.

Farm Stay, East Sussex

Posted on by Nisa Patel

In the year of Staycations, this one was our highlight. We had an amazing week away in August, with six other families from one of our closest friend circles. Amazingly we were able to find somewhere that could accommodate all 26 of us. We booked out the entire New House Farm Country Retreat, which meant we didn’t disturb anyone else, and felt completely secure as our children roamed freely from dwelling to dwelling.

It’s taken me a while to write about this because it was a really special trip, and I’ve been struggling to find the words to do it justice. In terms of our day to day activities, there are a lot of highlights to speak of. I will talk about them first, as fundamentally, this blog was created to share my holiday experiences with fellow travelers. However, there has always been a deeper philosophy underpinning it all, and this staycation, more than any other trip in the past two years, has given me pause to reflect on it once again.

The holiday itself had a little bit of everything. It was bookended by visits to Bodiam and Hever Castles, which are so different from each other, but equally worthy of going to see. In between, we filled our time on the farm with some wholesome, family centred activities: eating, drinking, playing games, swimming, and relaxing in the hot tub together. We took advantage of our countryside surroundings and went hiking in the woods, built a den in the forest with the kids, admired the vast array of animals around us, stoked up the fire pit, and gazed at the star-lit night sky, in which I saw my first ever shooting star.

Bodiam Castle
Etchingham
Hever Castle

All the unfettered free time around the Farm Stay was balanced by some structured excursions. Keeping to a rural theme, we visited Bedgebury National Park, where there was so much to do, we made two trips. On our first visit, we first explored the grounds on foot along the 3.25mile Hidden Secrets Of The Pinetum Trail, and then took the children to Go Ape after a picnic lunch. The second time out, we hired some good quality light weight mountain bikes. Taking one of the family friendly 5.6mile ‘blue’ biking trails, we got immersed ourselves even deeper into the forest for a few hours.

However, as a large group coming from London, we were never going to stay away from urban living completely. Therefore it was no surprise, that we found time to go shopping at the McArthurGlen Outlets in Ashford, and gave our patronage to a couple of nearby country pubs: The Milk House, and The Queens Inn. So as to not to leave the children out, we took them on the Rye Murder Mystery Walking Tour, which was a great way to keep them entertained, while we got see this really pretty historical town.

Rye
Etchingham
Bedgebury National Park

But as I was trying to say earlier, what made this a special trip, wasn’t the collection of sights we saw, nor the particular experiences I’ve listed above. When I reflect on this staycation, it’s clear that the source of our joy was the quality of our interactions with our friends, and the amount of time we afforded ourselves to spend in their company. What we actually did each day, didn’t really matter in the end. This seems very obvious; hardly a profound revelation. Yet, perhaps too often in the past, we have been guilty rushing around to do so many things, and when we could have spent more time sitting in the company of the many fascinating people we have met on our journey so far.

My husband and I have chosen to spend most of our lives traveling the world at every opportunity, and our experience has been a rich one. We’ve stopped briefly, because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, but I’m sure that next year, we will be going abroad again, as there is still so much more we want to see. Our time in East Sussex was with some of our closest friends, who are as family to us. However, the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, (वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् ), – the whole world is one family, remains at the heart of this blog, and we will remember this as we hopefully return to international travel very soon.