The Great Jet Set Divide

Julie Carpenter writing in the Express this week quoted our very own David Wickers for his comments on what you get when you upgrade your long-haul flights.

Here's an excerpt:

David Wickers, an experienced travel writer and director of holiday specialists Bridge & Wickers, says: “The most opulent experiences are going to be had on the new Airbus A380 which is two storey. If you’re flying on the Singapore Airlines 380 in first class you have your own suite – you can actually close the door and have total privacy. On the Qantas 380 there’s a presentation area designed for businessmen to host a meeting. On the Emirates 380 you have the likes of showers and top-end bars. You can expect to be picked-up by limousine from your home and dropped off when you get back. In the lounges, before you even get on the plane, you can have massages, spa treatments, get your shoes shined and have free drinks and meals.”

If you’re a BA first-class customer you have the option of a range of these lounges, which all boast ­restaurants, private concierges and suites should you wish to change or take a nap. Arguably the most sumptuous is The Galleries First Lounge at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 which even features The Gold Bar, which is covered in gold leaf and is lit by a Swarovski crystal chandelier. 

“First-class passengers still have to go through security like everyone else but they are fast-tracked through and have dedicated ­check-in,” says a BA spokesman.

So is it worth upgrading?

“What you get by upgrading your class of travel is obviously ­dependent on individual airlines,” says ­Wickers. “It’s also worth bearing in mind that the benefit of a better seat increases in direct proportion to the distance you travel and the time of your flight. If for example you can’t afford to upgrade your seat for both the outbound and inbound flights pick the one when you’re ­flying overnight for your upgrade.

“Premium economy in most cases offers more space, a better choice of food, a dedicated cabin on the plane and often dedicated check-in at the airports. However many airlines merely use the same seats as ­economy but with more leg room. Other airlines use their own ­business-class seats. The jump from premium to business class is the biggest both in terms of comfort and price.”

Indeed business class has become so good, with many airlines offering flat beds, that some people now argue first class cannot survive for much longer.

Go with the flow: The traveller's guide to waterfalls - pulished in The Independent 3 July 2010

We were featured in Harriet O'Brien's excellent piece on waterfalls yesterday.

Here are some excerpts that cover our world of travel:
 

The world's most visited?

Putting on a magnificent show on the border of the US and Canada, the Niagara Falls receives around 25 million visitors a year. Yet in terms of size, the water features here are relative minnows. With the longest drop measuring 57m, Niagara Falls is only about the 50th highest waterfall in the world. What makes it spectacular is the combination of volume, height and width. During the summer, 154 million litres of water cascade here every minute, with four of North America's Great Lakes – Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie – funnelled through this space en route to Lake Ontario. There are actually three separate falls: on the US side, the American Falls and the narrow Bridal Veil Falls are divided by little Luna Island. These pale in comparison to the stunning Canadian Horseshoe Falls that form a great curving wall of water some 670m across. Contrary to national stereotypes, it is the Canadian side that is the most commercialised – wax works, amusement malls, casinos, you name it they have it. But that's because the views are best here: simply walk along River Road and you get stunning panoramas of all three falls. In Canada the Niagara Falls is an easy day-trip destination from Toronto, about a 75-minute drive away, while in the US the falls are a 45-minute drive from Buffalo airport.

Elsewhere in the Americas?

Canada, meanwhile, boasts several "reversing" falls, a phenomenon in which fresh water tumbling into the sea appears to be forced back in the spray and turbulence of incoming tides. The most accessible – and best known – are the pragmatically named Reserving Falls (actually more rapids than waterfalls) just outside St John in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick.

Making a splash in Africa

A great curtain of water falls between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Measuring some 1.7km across, Victoria Falls is said to be the world's widest and is known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya, or the Smoke that Thunders. Both sides are fairly easily accessible – via Livingstone in Zambia and Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe, each with a well-served airport.

Which side of the falls is best? Tourism in Zimbabwe all but stopped recently yet with the country now slowly showing signs of recovery, visitors are starting to trickle back.

While in Africa, visit the world's second-highest waterfall: the 948m-drop Tugela Falls in the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Bridge & Wickers (020-7483 6555; www.bridgeandwickers.co.uk ) offers a trip to this area in its new, luxury programme of African holidays. Its two-week KwaZulu-Natal self-drive itinerary starts with a visit to the Drakensberg Mountain region, with three nights spent at the beautifully positioned Montusi Mountain Lodge, an easy drive from the Royal Natal National Park. The Tugela Falls can be seen from the road into the park; better still there are two spectacular hiking trails – one to the foot and one to the head of the water. The 14-day holiday costs from £2,645 per person (based on two sharing) which includes accommodation, most meals, and car hire but not international flights. 

And the very highest?

Equally inaccessible and majestic is the Sutherland Falls in New Zealand's South Island. This dramatic, tiered waterfall is in the remote and beautiful Fiordland National Park and can be visited only on foot. It lies off the Milford Track, a spectacular walking trail that takes four days to complete, with accommodation provided in Department of Conservation huts along the way. Adding to the challenge, from the track you see the 580m waterfall at a hazy distance and you need to take a tough, 90-minute detour to get a close-up view. Information and booking from the Department of Conservation – 00 64 3249 8514; doc.gov.nz .

New Zealand's best boutique lodges

From The Sunday Times

December 13, 2009

Forget backpacking: the country’s wilderness is best enjoyed from a hot tub, with a glass of sauvignon

We arranged for Max Anderson to travel down to New Zealand and this is what he wrote in the Sunday Times:

The New Zealand lodge is almost a travel genre in its own right; and, like the safari lodge,the ranch and the spa resort, it comes with a set of defining experiences. Chief among these is wilderness, something that NZ — populated by just 4m people — has in excess. The North Island is as emerald as Ireland in spring, with a lively topography sculpted by volcanoes; the South Island is dominated by the snow-capped Southern Alps, ranges as commanding as their namesakes.

Traditionally, the lodge was a Highlands transplant where the well-heeled enjoyed the fruits of hunting, a clubby sort of place, hung with antler racks and stuffed fish. Today, the trophies are the lodges themselves, precariously hung on coves, ridge lines and mountains.

Here, then, are six lodges offering something fresh and fine. The experiences are as rich and “gourmet” as the price tags suggest; but while wealthy guests like to lodge-hop (slowly killing themselves with kindness), three nights at a single lodge in the midst of, say, a camper-van holiday would be just as rewarding.

The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, Hawke’s Bay

Cape Kidnappers is what happens when Manhattan money piles into a 6,000-acre sheep farm on cliffs overlooking a premium wine district. The Farm is “agricultural chic”: hyper-designed, and a hit with even the most conservative of its 56 guests. When they installed a golf course on a series of “fingers” poking into blue skies over Hawke’s Bay, Kidnappers rocketed up American golfers’ must-do lists. When Farm guests aren’t receiving extra-fine service, they’re exploring the property. Walks lead to forested gorges, hidden beaches and cliff plateaus that are snowy with squawking colonies of gannets.
Don’t miss: the kiwi experience. There are 37 kiwis on Cape Kidnappers, all regularly weighed and measured. Radio-tracking, catching and handling the national icon is a thrill as rare as the bird itself.Doubles from £780

Whare Kea Lodge and Chalet, Otago

You wake at Whare Kea to a Disney tableau of mountains, lake and lawn, populated with bunnies, quails and goldfinches — all of which are sent scurrying in terror by the arrival of a thudding helicopter. It’s arriving to take you on a 20-minute flight over snow-cloaked mountainsto a black speck clinging tothe side of Dragon Fly Peak.
It’s your overnight chalet accommodation and, at 5,700ft, very much a rare-air experience (the only other access is via a two-day hike) — that night, your chef will prepare five-star fare and the night sky will put on a stellar performance. Back at the lakeside Lodge, the mood is casual and contemporary. The 60-acre grounds are filled with native plants and lambs, and the mountain-view spa would be a very good place to die.
Don’t miss: riding around nearby Rippon winery, one of the world’s most beautiful vineyards.
Doubles from £610, chalet stay £2,160, all-inclusive

Wharekauhau, Wairarapa

Architecturally, this is a curate’s egg, nested between ferocious bay and strident mountains, but for all its oddness, Wharekauhau is a beacon of comfort and cheer. Most lodges won’t take under-13s, but this one keeps them — ergo parents — totally happy, with all-action distractions including riding, quad bikes and tours of the sheep station (5,500 wild and woolly acres).
Indoors, it’s the simple things that work best — the big, goofy labrador, the 24-metre heated pool and the movie and popcorn nights in the attic, leaving parents free to enjoy the work of Anthony North, a forager/chef de cuisine who does sensational things with the local bounty.
Don’t miss: Texel lamb. It’s marbled, like the finest steak.
Doubles from £420, children’s doubles from £360

Blanket Bay, Otago

The savage, snowy peaks crowded around this mountain country lodge have appeared in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, while the suites have done service to some of Hollywood’s top players. Helicopters take you into remote locations and jet boats fire you up the Dart Valley; but to get properly Lordly over the scenery, try riding horseback into the foothills. The sublime lake-view spa will soothe post-saddle aches. A lodge at the peak of its game, Blanket Bay is rightly celebrated, but it’s also surprisingly relaxed.
Don’t miss: a 4WD trip upthe Rees Valley with Dick Watson, an old bushman and gold-getter. LOTR fans will be thrilled to learn that he was also a Rider of Rohan in The Two Towers.
Doubles from £640

Manawa Ridge, Coromandel Peninsula

Using love, Zen and exotic timbers, Carla and Willem van de Veen have handcrafted a Gaudi-esque eyrie with 360-degree views over the Kaimai Ranges and Pacific bays. But the soothing artistry of the place soon has you looking inwards: to the music-filled courtyard, the cushion-filled watchtower and three suites with furnishings that are artworks by any other name. (A bathroom basin is fashioned from a giant tree burl.)
In the Asian-inspired garden, Carla is happy to help you paint, draw or sculpt using volcanic rock 1.3m years old; Willem will lead you across the insanely angled 250-acre farm to collect herbs for dinner. A steep 45-minute walk has you in Homunga Bay: edged by soaring gulleys and ancient pohutukawa trees, with a waterfall spilling onto yellow sand, it should have been photographed to sell products invoking perfection. But it hasn’t.
Don’t miss: a starlit bath in your private, pebble-skinned spa.Doubles from £285

Otahuna Lodge, Canterbury

In three short years, this has become a jewel in the crownof luxury lodges, and there’s not a piece of polished steelin sight. Otahuna is an 1895 manorial show stopper, revived by two thirtysomething New Yorkers who spent £4.5m on making “old school” fashionable again.
Whether you’re in one of the seven lavish suites, the elegant dining room or the 30-acre grounds, you’re left feeling distinctly regal. Ironically, period photos show that guests such as the Duke of York, later George VI, never had it this good. Dining is extra-special: the chef, Jimmy McIntyre, invites guests to pick their favourite veggies from the kitchen garden, then devises five-course dinners around the selection.
Don’t miss: the reflection of Otahuna in the lake.Doubles from £660


Max Anderson travelled as a guest of Bridge & Wickers. All prices are for two people sharing, in high season (usually November to March)