2010 travel summary

So 2010 is rapidly drawing to a close, something I am on the whole grateful for. I spent a lot of this year in transit, covering over 20 countries over the past 12 months. As a result, and given my obsession with composing generally useless list, the below represents a summary of my best/worst of travel notes from the past year, in no particular order:

1) best new travel accessory- Bose noise cancelling earphones. After several flights trapped next to screaming toddlers (and why are toddlers allowed in business flights anyway?) I concluded that these were essential to my survival. Not only do they block the sound, they are incredibly comfortable. I still love my kindle, but I have to say the new ipads, which I haven’t indulged in yet, have increasingly caught my eye.

2) Best airport- either Hong Kong or Singapore Changi. This is a tough call- they both have great shopping, great food, and great functionality. I like the logical layout of Hong Kong’s system (if you are going to Macau or the mainland, you can go straight, with out mucking about with HK’s immigration etc) both have great staff, both are efficient. Why cant European airports produce this quality?

3) Consolation prize, Most efficient European airport- Helsinki Vantaa. For a small provincial city, Helsinki has good connections, especially to Asia. It has decent shopping, a good shopping food selection at the Stockmans, and an excellent layout. Unlike in Western Europe, planes take off in the middle of winter, regardless of the temperature and the amount of snow on the ground, because the airport is well prepared to cope. Connections can easily be made in 15 minutes, and everything is clear. The staff are multi lingual and helpful. But compared to Asia, this is indeed a consolation prize.

4) Best airport bookshop for oil and gas books- Aberdeen Dyce. Ok, this is a very specialist category, but useful to me, and no doubt a few others. The WH smiths there has an entire bay of oil and gas books, a great place to grab a book before the flight home.

5) Coolest business class lounge- Madrid Barajas terminal 4. I love the exposed concrete beams and the colour scheme, plus the BA/ Iberia lounge has a decent selection of international papers. Actually, even if they only had el Pais, I would be happy, damn good paper it is.

6) Wierdest place- the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace. Run by His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, this place is strange. Wealth is everywhere and happiness is enforced. This love of the populace for their leader is stunning. But in addition, the country has many other oddities to behold: proboscis monkeys, Mangrove snakes, sun bears, and peat swamps. Rowing down a swamp, in total quiet other than the occasional greetings when I passed some fishermen, when I suddenly passed the enormous gold roofed house of one of the Sultan’s palaces was certainly one of the years odder moments.

7) Biggest overrated place- Bali. It is not that I didn’t like Bali, maybe my expectations were just too high. The food was ok, the hotel was ok, the monkeys were nice, but it didn’t hold any surprises. The large numbers of drunk Russian and Australian tourists was fatiguing, and I came to feel like vomiting every time I saw a western woman approaching middle age wandering about alone, clutching her copy of Eat, Pray, Love and looking wide eyed for the love of her future.

8) Best place to have an expense account- Moscow. Hands down, this place wins on ridiculous prices. And spending money can be necessary to get quality, and even then there are no guarantees. Charging £15 pounds per bottle of water drunk in my hotel wins the ‘rip off of the year’ category. Thank god for the company card.

9) Worst place to get stranded by snow/ Icelandic ash/ BA strikes- Aberdeen. This has to be one of the most miserable cities on earth. There is nothing to do and no decent way to get around. Meetings are always held on industrial estates outside the city, and there is no transport. Even if you have loads of the company’s money to spend, there are not many decent restaurants to spend it on. The weather is horrid all year round- the warmest the air got on any my 12 trips to Aberdeen this year was 12 degrees in late July. The only saving grace is my hotel/ manor house, which is lovely.

10) Best hotel bathroom- la Griffe in Rome. Don’t ask me why, but I just love the red tiles.

11) Best find shop- Kingsley Heath, Cape Town. Like the South African Abercrombie, but with a more creative twist.

12) Work travel essential- my 2010 moleskin- I am not an organised person so I like to keep everything in one place. I put directions to hotels, maps, tickets, reservation numbers, everything, in my moleskin. I would be lost without it.

13) Best place to stock up on bribes (I mean gifts)- the caviar house & prunier in Heathrow terminal 5. this place is designed for Western people flying to Russia. Everything you ever need to smooth over Russian receptionists or PAs is there- grotesquely expensive chocolate, caviar, alcohol and everything else.

14) Best place to pretend I am a celebrity- Manila, the Philippines. Strangely, my surname makes me famous there, for no legitimate reason. People ask for my autograph and I get to travel with a private driver and my name goes to the top of the list at all top restaurants, which is why I will also add the below…

15) Best surprise- Manila. Maybe this was just the opposite of Bali. My expectations were low, and as a result I was blown away. I loved the Ayala Museum, learning fascinating details of a national history I had failed to pay sufficient attention to. Great food too.

16) Best history lesson- the Sandakan death marches, Sandakan Malaysia. We don’t study the history of the Asian front of the Second World War here in Europe. Learning about the Sandakan Death Marches and reading the testimonies of the few survivors blew me away

17) Best Meal- Rome. My only regret is that I couldn’t eat everything put in front of me. The waiter pretended (well, I hope he was pretending) to be hugely insulted. The interior is lovely, and the food was unbelievable, especially the cheese selection. The food was so fresh it seemed to melt in my mouth. The pasta (cacio e pepe) was mind blowing. The wine selection exhaustive and the service perfect. Unlike in London, there was no rush, dinner lasted 3 hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.

18) Best curry- Tiffin Room, Raffles Hotel, Singapore. I never had a bad meal in this country. i love the selection of excellent Chinese, Malay and international food. but the curry deserves special mention in my view, and the curry in the Tiffin room is probably the best i have ever had in my life. absolutely perfect.

19) Best emergency clothing buy- Thomas Pink in any of the Heathrow terminals. Whenever I get a last minute email informing me I will be gone longer than I expected, I run into Pink and grab whatever there is in my size and preferred cut. Sometimes I even go in and grab a shirt pre-emptively.

20) Worst place to do business- Rome. Conducing a meeting in Italy is like attempting to keep cats in a basket. Best not to even bother really.