Shopaholic and traveller

Some good offers from Lufthansa

2010-12-28T05:41:00.003+01:00

Hurry up, the sale ends today! Some of the very good offers are Miami and New York return Bergen, 3500 Nok! I so wished I had something to do in Miami or New York!

KLM offer, Europe

2010-12-28T05:29:00.004+01:00

Until the 13th. of January KLM has some really good offers for fairs within Europe. The prices are 1195 Nkr return from Oslo and around 2-400 extra from other cities in Norway.

Fortnum and Mason

2010-12-11T20:10:00.003+01:00

I think 50% of the people who have found my blog have been searching for information about Fortnum and Mason. The funny thing is that they have not been searching for FORTNUM and Mason, but Fortune and Mason... that's a different thing... :)

D'Angleterre Hotel, Copenhagen

2010-12-02T09:44:00.003+01:00

For many years I have been dreaming of staying at this hotel. I have had lunch there, but never stayed.

Now I have... And to be honest, it looks better than it is! The first impression wasn't that good. The receptionist was kind of grumpy, didn't welcome us and didn't smile. The room was small and the bathroom were dated with stains in the bathtub. At least there were Molton Brown products!

We had dinner in the restaurant. Very, very good food, but it felt more like a bistro than a restaurant.

The breakfast was also very nice, with Champagne. I would say the breakfast was 5*, but the rest a good 4*. However I would def. return next time in Copenhagen! The hotel is all over nice, although not a true 5*, and the location is the best.

Hotel Radisson Gothenburg 4*

2010-09-01T18:22:00.001+02:00

Very central and nice hotel. The breakfast was ok so was the hotel. Nothing special, very typical Radisson.

Looooong time no see!

2010-09-01T18:03:00.001+02:00

I feel terrible bad for neglecting my blogs the last year. I will take a quick summary of where I have been since last time. (I had to check when "last time" was! :-))

Well, where have I been...

4* Radisson Blue Gothenburg, Sweden
5* Cordial Mogan, Gran Canary, Spain
5* Grand Hotel, Oslo, Norway
4* IC Toronto Yorkville, Toronto, Canada
4* IC Toronto Center, Toronto, Canada
5* IC Dusseldorf, Germany
5* IC Berlin, Germany
5* IC Rome De la Ville, Rome, Italy
4* Crown Plaza, Liverpool, UK
4* Crown Plaza, Nottingham, UK
4* Crown Plaza, Copenhagen, Denmark
4* Crown Plaza Caserta, Naples, Italy
4* Holiday Inn Marghera, Venice, italy
4 * (?) Holiday Inn Munic South, Munic, Germany
5* IC Park Lane, London, UK
5* Montebello Splendid, Florence, Italy

I will make some small, quick reviews of the hotels and places later. When in Italy we visited lots of outlet villages, some I can recommend and some that are not worth the fuel! :)

Betty in the sky with a suitcase

2009-11-10T14:40:00.003+01:00

Betty is a flight-attendant and she tells about her "traveling-life" in this podcast. I listen to it when walking to/from work and I find the stories amusing, interesting and sometimes hilarious. People must think I am totally out of control seeing me laughing by myself.

Batavia stad outlet-village, Amsterdam

2009-11-10T14:24:00.004+01:00

We went to this outlet with train from the central-station. Mind you, all the information at this train-station is in Dutch! The train takes about 1 hour and 10 min. depending on the route, how many times you have to change train, 1 or 2.

From the train-station in Lelystad there is a bus, bus number F, which takes you to the outlet-village. The bus takes about 10 min.

The bus stops at the Mexx outlet, which is outside the village itself, but only 100 meter. The selection were good, with some very good offers and some 30% discounts.

In the outlet-village there were some nice shops (look at the link), but the offers weren't very good. Some of the shops had mainly 20-30% discounts! Seriously, I don't mind paying for clothes, but if buying clothes from last season, or even older, I demand 50%. This is what you get at the ordinary sale, so why not at an outlet-village? With regarding the discounts, this is the least exciting outlet I have ever been to.

If I would go back to the outlet? Maybe, to go to Mexx...

Crowne Plaza Amsterdam 4*

2009-11-10T13:51:00.005+01:00

I went to Amstedam with my best friend and we booked a 2 room suite.

Checking in went very quick and we were escorted to the room, which was on the 6th. floor, at a corner. The bed-room was like a normal hotel-room but the living -room was huge. Some weeks before we arrived I had called the hotel to ask for an extra bed, but she said it would be 50 Euro extra per night so I said we didn't need it. When we arrived to the room I asked the receptionist for an extra pillow and duvet. He asked if we wanted an extra bed as well and when I asked if it would be any extra, he told me to not think about it! :)

Bed-room

Bath-room connected to the bed-room

Toiletries

Nespresso-machine in the bed-room

Living-room

Toilet connected to the living-room

Terrasse with entrance from the living-room

Everybody at the hotel were very nice, warm and smiling.

We had lounge-access in our rate. The lounge was very small and, except from the breakfast, there were almost no food, only some snacks. There were coffee, tea, mineral-water, beer and wine all day. We had continental breakfast in the lounge the first day. OK, but not impressive. The second day we had breakfast in the restaurant. This was much better and nicer, full English with somebody making egg/omelet.

Having a 2 room suite was an excellent choice when going with a friend as you are together but still it is easy to get some privacy.

At this trip I didn't bring my camera, just the iPhone, so the pictures aren't that great.

Soon in Amsterdam

2009-11-07T10:38:00.003+01:00

My best friend and I have decided to take a 2-days shopping-spree in Amsterdam. I am not bringing my laptop but you can follow me on Twitter @micacosmetics

We will stay at Crowne Plaza Amstedam and we have booked a 2 room suite. I have not seen any pictures of those rooms so I am very curious. Will upload pictures to Twitter.

Club/executive lounge

2009-08-31T13:58:00.003+02:00

Usually it is worth paying the little extra to stay at the club/executive lounge. Mostly because you always get breakfast. Very often there is complimentary coffee, tea and mineral-water all day, some snacks at tea-time and some evening snacks. It varies a lot from hotel to hotel how much food they provide. At Corinthia in Budapest you got a lot of food and both mineral-water and alcohol all day long. In Orlando there were no other drinks than coffee and tea throughout the day, but they served hot food at the evening-service, no complimentary alcohol. At Conrad Tokyo there weren't that much food, but coffee/tea and mineral-water all day. At Ana-Intercontinental there were coffee/tea/, mineral-water and beer all day and a nice selection at the evening-service.

The evening service is not supposed to be dinner, but a pre-dinner.

For me it would be worth it to stay at a club/executive room when going by my own. I don't like going out alone and I don't like to go in the bar. Going to the lounge is a much better option and much more relaxing.

Intercontinental Ambassador membership

2009-08-31T13:47:00.002+02:00

This membership costs 150 Usd. a year. If you have the intention on staying at an Intercontinental hotel, I will highly recommend to become a member because you get a one night stay for free with the membership. Usually a one night stay at a IC-hotel is more expensive than 150 USD, so all in all, you get your membership-fee back.

What you get for the membership?

Guarantied upgrade
Fruit and mineral-water at arrival
A small present (sometimes)
Newspaper
Late check-out

You also get a membership in Priority-club.

Ana Intercontinental Tokyo 5*

2009-08-31T13:16:00.005+02:00

Because I am an Ambassador member (I will write about that later) we could check-in at the Ambassador-counter. No problem with check-in. I had booked a club-room so we could get access to the club-lounge. Because of my Ambassador membership we got an upgrade to a suit at the 35th. floor!

The room was very nice and we got fruit and a little present (again, because of the a-membership).

The bathroom was not very big, but not very small, with L'occitane and Shiseido products.

This little machine was placed in the room. I haven't tried it, but it looks like you can put the oil (a lavender oil to get you to sleep)

The downside with this hotel is that it is situated in the Rappongi area. The area is the business-area in Tokyo. All the embassies/consults are in this area. There is not much to do or to see! Luckily there is a tube-station close to the hotel.

Another downside is that we didn't get new toiletries at turndown. This is not good for a 5* hotel!

The lounge is BIG. At tea-time there were some sweets and coffee/tea/mineral-water. The coffee is from a machine and the cappuccino was not good... Grrrr... BUT the evening-service was great with sushi, "finger-food" and some cakes. There were also REAL Champagne, red- and whitewine, beer, whiskey, Campari etc... etc... The atmosphere in the lounge is nice and very international. We even saw some other Scandinavians! There are also two massage-chairs in the lounge, the only downside was that all the descriptions were in Japanese! Well, well, I tried it and it did SOME kind of massage!

The hotel has an out-door swimming-pool. Because the weather has been very bad today, we haven't tried the pool yet. Maybe tomorrow!

I will also write about the breakfast tomorrow, after breakfast... :-D

Harajuku

2009-08-31T12:55:00.005+02:00

This is the place where the young people goes to shop and to "hang". The bridge to the right of Harajuku station is famous because every Sunday young people dressed in strange clothing (everything from gothic to lolita) meet at the bridge. We went to the bridge, but there were nobody there, maybe because there were a festival close to the bridge.

Instead we went to the street where all the young people buy their clothing. It was... interesting... :)

Look at all the people!

Not my cup of tea! :-D

This sign hung in the street!

There were lots of stalls selling crepes with different "stuffing" like ice-cream, bananas, strawberries etc... etc... They made it like a cone with paper outside, so it was easy to eat. Not very healthy but .... yummi.... :-D It was very popular, everybody ate it!

By accident we past a wedding. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the anything but the backs, but we could hear the music!

Outside the wedding-chapel

Tsukuba festival

2009-08-31T12:50:00.002+02:00

don't know exactly what this festival was about, but there was a "march" and there were lots of stalls to buy food and small things. It looked like the Norwegian "17-mai".

Flea-market in Shinagawa Intercity building

2009-08-31T12:36:00.004+02:00

They say you can find some very nice and cheap kimonos at flea-markets in Tokyo. Well... We didn't find much, but it was fun to have a look!

Online again!

2009-08-31T07:54:00.003+02:00

We moved hotel today, to Ana Intercontinental Tokyo. Nice, nice, nice, will write about that later.

Today it is raining heavily and there is going to be a typhoon. Not used to typhoons so don't know exactly what it is... :)

It's too warm today!

2009-08-29T03:58:00.002+02:00

Today I tried to have a walk between 10 and 11 (am), but it's unbearable outside today. I don't know the temperature, but it is very humid and sunny. Luckily we asked for a late check-out so I will have the room until 15.00. I don't think I am going outside before that time...

Speaking about heat... Some days ago, when browsing through some shops, I found a stall with lots of different "heat-controllers" for children (and grown-ups that can't stand the heat.. :-)). You can get ties, pillows, small cloths, wristbands etc... etc... which you can put in the fridge. I also found small bags with some chemical inside. When you hit it, something inside will burst and the bag will become ice-cold. I can remember we had those when I did sports (long time ago... :-)), but I haven't seen them in the shops at home. They may have it, but I can only guess they are expensive. Here they cost only 0,5 GbP. Needless to say, I bought some.

At 15.00 there is going to be a festival here in Tsukuba. I don't know what it involves, but somebody told me they are going to close some of the roads and there will be stalls where you can buy food and all kinds of things. We are going back to Tokyo tonight, but will have a look at the festival before we return.

London Fashion Week, fall 2009

2009-08-28T15:04:00.000+02:00

I am going to work backstage at this event! :-D

A sight-seeing around Tsukuba

2009-08-28T14:50:00.005+02:00

Our group had three buses leaving Tsukuba at 08.30. First stop was Mt. Tsukuba Shrine Station. We took the cable-car, which reminded me of “Fløyen” in Bergen, to the top.

It was steaming hot down at the station so it was VERY nice to get up in the mountain where it was a little bit cooler. From the top of the cable car we walked for 15-20 min. to Nyotaisan Station where there were a rope-way (hanging in the air, similar to Ulriken in Bergen). The rope-way took us down to Tsutsujigaoka. From there we drove in about an hour to Mito Drive-in where we got Japanese lunch. Surprise, surprise! I am not sure about what I ate and to be honest, I didn’t taste everything…

After lunch we drove in 30 min. to Yamasa fish marked. The marked was a little bit disappointing as there were no live fishes/crabs, like in Hakodate. It didn’t smell very nice, while in Hakodate it smelled nothing! Maybe because it was 12 degrees c. in Hakodate and 30 in Yamasa???

Well, I lied… there were some live “sea-things”: Oysters! I don’t think I have seen oysters before, so it is difficult to compare, but the others said those oysters were the largest they have ever seen! The people who ate it said it was impossible to eat the whole thing in one “slurp”! I have never tasted oysters and didn’t today… Lots of people ate/slurped and it looked… sorry… disgusting…

After the fishmarked we had to drive for one hour to get to Hitachi Nippon Mining Museum. For those interested, I am sure it was great, but I have to admitt I was tired and my interest for mines have never been great..  I walked very quickly through it and then went out in the garden. Much more peacefull and lots of well-manicured trees!

I don't know what this means, but I liked it... :)

I was very happy when we arrived to Tsukuba after 1,5 more hours in the bus! Where exactly I have been today? I don’t know… around Tsukuba… 

Negishi restaurant in Tokyo

2009-08-28T14:48:00.003+02:00

is located in Sotobori Dori, close to Nikko Ginza hotel. The restaurant is not fancy, more like a café, but the food was very nice. You can choose between different grilled meat complimented by tororo (grated jam), rice and ox-tail soup. Everything was delicious except from the tororo, which had a very slimy consistent without taste. The restaurant claims that the menu is very healthy.

OMG!!!!!

2009-08-27T09:32:00.005+02:00

Today, when I went for a walk, I "bumped" into this small shop. First I thought it was "fake", but after browsing around for... eeeeewwww... well.. some time... looking inside the bags and purses, looking for stamps etc.. etc... I found that it had to be original. Haha, after all, with all the designer-stuff the Japanese are buying, it has to END somewhere when they get tired of it! :-D And it ends here, in this shop... Some of it looked a little bit used, but most of it looked perfectly new! And the prices? OMG... I have been looking for a brown bag/purse for a long time and I found it here! Normally I am not very fond of LV as it "flashes" too much (in my opinion), but these purses didn't look very LV and they were what I have been looking for.

I also bought the white Ferragamo. That neither "flash". I would never have bought it full price, as it's not that usable, but I got it for... hahaha... 25 Gbp (it had some scratches, but not much. The steel also has to be polished.)! The reason why I like Ferragamo is that it is very good quality and I HOPE LV is the same. I have a Ferragamo-bag I bought 5 years ago. I have used it VERY much, all over the world, at planes, airports, trains, buses, cars... you name it... and it still looks very good. There are a few scratches here and there, but it doesn't look *used*.

And the price for the small LV was 45 Gbp. and the big 250 GbP. I saw a red LV on sale... I MIGHT NEED that too... :-D

The shop is very close to the hotel. Unfortunately it's kind of difficult to explain, but I can try... If you go from Tsukuba Express. Go to Q1 center, follow to the next shopping-center (J-something, can't remember the name) and follow that shopping-center to the end. At the corner go straight ahead (over the road) and follow the buildings there. After walking for about 5 min. you should see a 7/11 at the left side of the road. The shop is the house before the 7/11. Hmm... I think this is the direction... :)

High-tech Japanese toilet

2009-08-27T09:27:00.003+02:00

Food-hall in Japan

2009-08-27T09:14:00.004+02:00

Yesterday I went to the food-hall for lunch. Oooooh, I LOVE the Japanese food-halls. There
are lots of small stalls where they make food, so it is always fresh. And the best, you always get small "tasters". I am never afraid of eating anything in Japan, the hygiene is the best here!

This is for my father! :-D

2009-08-27T09:06:00.003+02:00

I couldn't bring those owls home!

(There is a story behind this... My father is one of the wisest man I know. As a symbol I started collecting owls for him. He now has owls from all over the world! Haha, I don't know if he really LIKES the owls, still he always gets one every birthday and Christmas... Poor man... At least I always have something to give him! :-))

Okura Frontier Hotel Tsukuba, Tsukuba 4*

2009-08-27T08:52:00.003+02:00

Not exactly Conrad… A little bit sad compared. In another way, it is perfectly ok and we have wired internet connection.

The hotel is very close to the railway-station. We had planned to take a taxi, but looked at the map at the railway-station and found it there. It was 5 min. to walk!

You have to pay 1000 yen (about 5,5 GbP) a day to get an international TV-card! And no, we are not in Japan to watch television! :)

The rooms are ok, but the bathroom is very small. On the other hand, who wants to stay at the bathroom all day? :)

The toiletries are dispenser soap, shampoo, conditioner and facial wash. You also get tooth-brushes, combs etc...etc... Good hygiene is very important in Japan!

There is a fridge/minibar. I stuffed some food into it and it worked perfect (not too small) and it is cold enough.

There is a pool here and it costs 1000 yen. So far I haven't used it, but I may try it out later. It is big and there are lots of swimmers using it. It looks like a pool for professional swimmers.

The breakfast is ok. Not Conrad-standard, but egg (you will get your own egg cooked while waiting) and bacon, ham, salad and Japanese breakfast.

Who said it is expensive in Japan?

2009-08-26T07:59:00.003+02:00

You can eat very cheap and very expensive in Japan. We have eaten sushi and tempura twice for about 20 GbP for both of us!

For a strange reason I don't like the sushi I get here in Japan. I think there are two reasons why. 1. It smells very heavy of vinegar (which is in the sushi-rice). 2. The fish-slices are too big. 3. Sometiems you don't know what you have gotten and I don't like surprises.

Today I decided to buy myself some lunch at the supermarked.

I got all this and 2. l. of water, 1 l. of Coke and two small bottles of water for about 15 Gbp! And yes, it was too much. I only ate 1/3... :-D We have a refridgerator at the room, luckely... :-D

One thing I LOVE with Japan is that I am never afraid to get sick when eating here. Everything is so clean and tidy.

Shopping in Tokyo

2009-08-26T07:40:00.005+02:00

The prices are pretty much the same as in Europe and USA, some of the European brands are even a little bit more expensive, but they are also more expensive in the USA. Like Ferragamo, as I am always looking for, are less expensive in Europe than in Japan and USA.

It’s only in Tokyo they have 4-5-6 Hermes and LV shops (I don’t know how many, but I have seen at least 4 Hermes at different places in Tokyo!) As I said previously, it also now looks like it can be possible for a size M. to get clothes in Japan.

You get Chanel, Burberry, Ferragamo, Hermes, LV, Prada… everything… They even have a Harrods!

I have always thought that Ginza was the place to shop. It is, but nearly everywhere you can find nice shops with most of the high-ends designers. Some places are even better than Ginza because they are not that busy.

You can find perfume and cosmetics everywhere. Kanebo, Shiseido and Shu Umuera are made in Japan. You can get Kanebo and Shiseido cheaper than home, but they are sold under another name. Kanebo is sold as Lunasol. I never saw any Kanebo-products, only Kanebo signs and Lunasol products. I bought some Lunasol last time I was in Japan and I am going to buy some more now.

This is the floor-plan from the Sony-building. The Sony building is a 7 floor building where you can try and see all the newest Sony-products. They have one floor with overseas products, more expensive, but with English manuals and international key-board etc... You also get a 1 year warranty. I fell in love with a VERY small Vaio-pc, in fact, it is the lightest notebook in the world! I haven't seen it in Norway yet, so don't think it has come..... I WANT IT! :-D

Tokyo today, compared to 2006.

2009-08-26T07:37:00.001+02:00

I don’t know if this is only something I am feeling or if it is true, but in my opinion something has changed. The people seems to be more international now. More people speak English, they do not have the Japanese politeness and it looks like they are beginning to gain weight! Mostly people are very thin, but I can also see some thicker people in between. Last time I did only see the slim once! I haven’t been browsing for clothes yet, but had a little “sneak-peak” today and it looks like the clothing sizes also are bigger. I don’t feel like an elephant longer! :-D Last time in Tokyo, in 2006, I didn’t buy anything because they didn’t have my sizes! (I am a 38-40, an European M

The Conrad Tokyo, Tokyo 5*

2009-08-26T07:19:00.006+02:00

This picture is taken from the Hamarikyu Garden. Look at the contrast, the tea-house and the big, big, big buildings around. Very typical Japanese!

When we arrived we were escorted up to the 28th. Floor, where the reception was. It looks like lots of the Japanese hotels are on top of office-buildings. This hotel is located at floor 28-37!

I had booked this hotel through the hotels web-site as they had an offer, stay two nights, pay for one. I would not have choosen this hotel if it hadn’t been for the great offer, as I think it is too much to pay about 400 GbP for one night!

We had an executive room, with access to the executive lounge.

We arrived at 10.30 and the room was not ready. We were asked to take a seat in the lobby-bar. We asked if it was possible to go to the lounge, but she said it was full!?! Strange… It was also strange that we weren’t escorted up there to check in, as that was included. Well, I refused to pay 10 Gbp. For a drink in the lobby-bar when I knew it was free upstairs…

We went for a walk and came back after 1 hour and the room was ready. And what a room! It was some of the best rooms I have ever had!

Inside the little red box at the picture above... :-D

And the toiletries? Shiseido…. 70 ml. Bottles, replased twice a day… The soap, shampoo and conditioner were…. Lovely…. The bodylotion was kind of strange, like water! Maybe because it is very humid in Tokyo, at least in the summertime, and a more “milky” lotion would have felt very greasy in the heat? The “Conrad bathing-duck” were placed at the bath-tub.

We also got two “Conrad-bears” at turn-down the first afternoon. (I have heard that people are collecting these bears!) Sweet!

The breakfast in the executive lounge were very good with salmon, ham, serrano-ham, sausages, beacon etc.. etc… The were a cook making eggs too! We also got cupons to get breakfast downstairs. The breakfast there were continental, but nice. Although I prefered the breakfast upstairs.

The hotel does not have free wireless internet and you have to pay about 15 Gbp. To use the pool! This is insane if you have paied 400 GbP for a night! You are allowed to use the spa-facilites like steam-room and sauna for free (not treatments), but not the pool.

This hotel is a definite 5*, BUT I never got the very good feeling as I got at the Corintia in Budapest. I was expecting that, as it had gotten very good reviews, it was expencive and because it is in Japan, but I was a little bit disappointed.

This small tree was in the lobby at our room. And yes, it is "real" (not plastic)!

Hope Street Hotel, Liverpool 4*

2009-08-26T07:03:00.004+02:00

After check-in we were escorted to our room. The man who escorted us wanted to show us the high-tech shower, the problem was, he didn’t know how to use it!

This hotel is supposed to be a “chic boutique-hotel” and it is said that is it the celebrities first choice. It is a 4*, but incredible expensive. The rack-rate is 150 GbP for a double-room without breakfast!

For my liking, this hotel was too minimalistic. We had a good laugh when we opened the closet and ther were only 2 hangers there! VERY minimalistic! There were also no place for the soap to be, so it was kind of “sliding” around the basin, not very chic…

The bath-room was nice (apart from the soap-thing) and the toiletries were REN-products. VERY NICE!

So what’s wrong with this hotel? The lacking of service… Every day there were something. The first day we ordered one chicken-salad and one sandwich. After we had ordered the waitress confirmed the order: “Two sandwiches?” We corrected her and she wrote it down, we thought. After 30 min. we got… guess what? Two sandwiches… We said we ordered one sandwitch and one chicken-salad and the waiter (another one) looked at us with an empty look, mumbled something and took one of the sandwiches away. Not an excuse! After waiting for 30 min. we decided to take the sandwich, we were not ready to wait another 30 min. We asked the waiter to give us the sandwich and he gave it to us without an excuse at all! To get the bill was another 15 min… The restaurant were nearly empty so I don’t understand why it took them so much time!

At the first afternoon we found an used underwear at the floor. YACK! When we went out for dinner I went to the reception and told them. The woman there looked at me, with the same emtpy loook as the waiter, like this was perfectly normal. I then said she may wanted to tell the house-keeping and her answer were: “Will you bring it down for me?” :-0 I was SHOCKED! I said I did not want to do that, and that I exepcted it to be taken care of when we went for dinner. It WAS taken care of, but NO excuse! This was not the only “insident” with house-keeping. Every day we had to ask for either water, toiletries or towels! One day I asked the front-desk to bring all three, as they had forgotten. She asked me if there had been anybody there at all, and I said yes, they had done the bed. When I came back we had gotten only towels…

This is NOT mine...

Breakfast was good, if it hadn’t been for the very slooooooow waitresses. I can understand it was busy, but to wait for 20 min to get butter one day, 20 min. for toast another day, and 20 min. for coffee is too much for me.

I can fully understand that things can happen everywhere, the problem is when they don't know how to take care of it WHEN it has happened.

I don’t know if this hotel treat everybody the same, or maybe the celebrities get a higher level of service? When I went out I could understand there were something going on as the people at the front-desk were “tip-toeing”. I was right…. I don’t know WHO it was (I am not familiar with English celebrities), but a man, from the pavement outside the hotel, came in to get his autograph! I wonder if this important man found used underwear at his room… 

The good thing with this hotel was the REN-products (when we got them), the free wireless internet, the DVD player and the close location to where we were going. I am NOT going to stay here again. Next time in Liverpool I will try the new Hilton, whitch is going to open in sept. 09.

Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport, 4*

2009-08-26T06:50:00.003+02:00

We only stayed here for one night. I booked through Hotwire and payed about 40 Usd for three persons! There were no problems with check-in and the room was nice and clean. A little bit cramped, but ok for a night between two flights.

We didn't have breakfast, but there are lots of places to eat at the airport.

Some of the good things with this hotel are:
The hotel is located AT the airport!
They have an out-door swimming-pool. You can use this after checking-out, just ask for a card in the reception. You get access to the showers and bath-rooms at the fitness-room, so you can always make yourself ready for the air-flight! :)

The not so good things:
No free internet-connections
You had to pay 1 Usd. per item if you want the hotel to keep it for you between check-out and your flight-dep.

Arrived at Okura Frontier Hotel, Tsukuba

2009-08-25T12:22:00.003+02:00

It's not Conrad, but it's ok. :) will write about it tomorrow.

We are leaving Tokyo today

2009-08-25T03:35:00.002+02:00

We will take the fast track train (not bullet) to Tsukuba today. The journey will take about 1 hour from Asakusa. Our next hotel will be the Okura Frontier Hotel. Fortunately we will have wireless connection there.

Hello from TOKYO

2009-08-23T10:13:00.001+02:00

I don't have internetconnection, but there is a computer at the executive-lounge, so have to be quick. Just wanted to say we arrived safe. There were no delayes and we had no problems with reaching the flight in Paris, although we only had 1 hour.

The temp. is about 30 degrees c. and overcast. It's warm, but not as humid as in Orlando.Conrad Tokyo (our hotel) is VERY nice. I will write about that later. I think we will have wireless connection in Tsukuba, so will have some more time to write from there. Will also upload pictures.

Signature at MGM Grand 5*

2009-07-09T18:26:00.005+02:00

Signature is a part of the MGM Grand, but there are only suites and junior-suits. The property consists of about 5000 suits/junior-suits!

Check-in went without any problems and we were escorted to our room. WOW, the room was FANTASTIC! We had a room at the 30-or-something floor and we had a spectacular view!

The room had a kitchen with lots of ”gadgets”, everything from toaster, to knives and forks, to a blender. I really liked the room and the hotel, but there were some problems with the service, mainly the house-keeping. Every day without one (out of four) we had to call house-keeping to do our room. One day we had to call three times, and even after the third call they forgot it. In the evening it was too late so we just asked for towels. NO excuse were given!

The bath-room was HUGE with shower and jacuzzi. I never tried the jacuzzi, as I am a little bit skeptic to how it has been cleaned… Clean-freak, that’s me!

The toiletries were Judith Jacobs. The bottles were nice, but I didn’t like either the soap nor the body-lotion. It dried out my skin!

Complimentary bottles of water were given every day.

I don’t remember if we had wireless connection, but IF there were, it cost something, because I remember we didn’t use the wireless.

The pool at the Signature was great. Quiet and relaxing. The pools at MGM Grand were noisy, packed with young people and "party-party". I can imagine this must be the ultimate party-place for young people. The pools by itself was very nice, but because of the drinking youngsters it wasn't a place for children, although our son loved the "river-pool".

Check-out were VERY slow. We had to wait for 20 min.! I would expect a property with over 5000 rooms to have more than one person at the front-desk at check-out time!

Las Vegas

2009-06-14T16:17:00.002+02:00

This is the most strange city I have ever been to. All the hotels are like a big shopping-centers. Yesterday, when walking from the mono-rail, inside my hote, I saw all this in 5 seconds:

A newly married couple
Girls in bikinis
A "hen-party" group (with all that is following)
People too drunk to speak
Business-people
People shopping
Families

What a strange mix of people, only in Vegas!

We are staying at The Signature at MGM Grand. I will write about the hotel later.

More from the Peabody Orlando

2009-06-12T02:15:00.004+02:00

What I like with this hotel is that the duck-theme is all over. This is my pillow!

Chocolate at turn-down.

The pool. Very big with almost no people!

What I didn't like was that the only way to get a parasol you had to rent this "cabana". You can see under the prices and what you get. I would expect a 4+* hotel should provide the guests wit free parasols... I would NEVER pay the fee to rent the cabanas. Seriously... TELEVISION outside????

Wet'n wild, Orlando

2009-06-12T02:09:00.003+02:00

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from this park, but I didn't go there myself. T and J went there. They took the I-trolley and payed 44,9 USD for a pass for a year. It cost the same as a day-pass, so why not? :) The first day they didn't pay the 25 USD fee to get the express pass, but they did the second, and they really recommend it.

J say the "disco H2O" was the best ride.

WHOOOHOOO, Tokyo in August!

2009-06-10T20:12:00.001+02:00

Haha, somebody told me I am going to Tokyo in August... My absolute FAVORITE city over all. I can't wait!!!

The duck-parade at the Peabody hotel

2009-06-06T17:01:00.005+02:00

Hahahaha, this was funny!

Every morning at 11 you can see the ducks when they walk from... their homes??? I don't know from where... and into the pod.

The I-trolley in Orlando

2009-06-06T16:53:00.002+02:00

This is GREAT for getting around. We had day-tickets included in the resort-fee, so I don't know what a day-ticket cost, but the cost of one trip is 1,25 USD. The I-trolley is air-conditioned and that is very convenient as it is HOT and HUMID here.

The Peabody Orlando 4,5*

2009-06-06T16:30:00.005+02:00

I booked this hotel through hotells.com I could choose between a standard room or an upgraded standard club room. The club room cost some more, I don't remember exactly, but think it was about 30-40 USD per day per person. You get continental breakfast, free entrants to the gym (haha, no, I will not use it...:-)), pre-dinner food and coffee and tea all day. I thought this would be like the lounge at Corinthia Grand, but it wasn't... I thought at least there would be soft-drinks all day, but nope. On the other hand, I am glad we payed for it as it is not possible to get to the grocery-store from the hotel. The club-room are at the 3 top-floors so we have a very nice view. The breakfast is at the 26th. floor and only some steps away from out room.

This picture was taken from our room at the 27th. floor.

The bathroom has a small TV! Haha, I had to remind my son that we are in America now! :-D

The toiletries. Look at the cute duck-soap!

A HUGE television! :-D

The breakfast was ok. Not the best, but not the worst either. After all it is only continental. I wished the coffee was better!

The swimming-pool is huge and there are enough sun-beds. As this hotel is across the street from the convention-center, it looks like there are mostly business-people here so the pool is not very crowded. Good! You can help yourself to towels, as many as you want!

The location of this hotel is very good if attending a conference at the convention-center, but I am not sure if I would have chosen this hotel for vacation as you have to take the I-trolley to get to shops and grocery-stores. That's what the concierge told us, but we walked home from the restaurant yesterday. It must be the Americans not used to walk...:)

The resort-fee is 15 USD per night. It give you wireless internet, two bottles of water and day-tickets with the I-trolley. I don't mind paying it, but I really don't understand why the Americans can't put the FULL COST into the price, instead of adding extras all the way. When going to shops here all prices are shown WITHOUT taxes, why? And the tipping... It makes me mad when it is mandatory to tip 15-20%. Why can't they just put it in the price?

This is something for me!

2009-05-24T16:09:00.001+02:00

Design Go Weigh To Go

Széchenyi Baths

2009-05-16T19:06:00.002+02:00

Take the metro #1. to the next-last stop.

I went to this thermal bath at a day with 30 degrees c. Not the best day to visit I think. It was crowded and it looked like they had some problems with cleaning because of all the people. The water in this bath has a temp. at 40 degrees c. Since it was very warm in the air, I never entered the hot bath, but lots of other people did. I can believe it must be amazing at this bath in winter-time!

The spa at Corinthia Grand

2009-05-10T14:22:00.003+02:00

The spa was great. It was not very big, but it was clean and had some beds to sit/lay down in. Two saunas and one steam-room. Two jacuzzies. The swimming-pool contains real hot-spring water! I read, somewhere at the internet, that there were some workers who accidentally stumbled upon the underground spring that now feeds the hotel's spa facilities!

I missed some more steam-rooms and bubbles in the pool! There were drinking-water from a dispenser. There were some people when we were there. I can believe it can be crowded. After all, the hotel has over 400 rooms and I don’t think there were more than 30-40 beds. I wished there were some individual soaps/shampoos/body-lotions.

Swine-flu "detector" at the airport!

2009-05-10T14:02:00.002+02:00

When we arrived to the airport in Budapest, men in white met us and we all had to go through a heat-detector. I take it it was to trace if we had any signs of fever. I have been to several airports the last two weeks and this was the first time I have been scanned for fever.

Corinthia Grand Hotel, Budapest, Hungary

2009-05-10T08:57:00.008+02:00

This is a true 5* hotel!

We had booked an executive room with lounge access in the mezzanine/lounge. It cost a little bit more, but I can now say it was worth it. When we checked in we were told to check in at the mezzanine. We went upstairs for check in and while we did the paper-work, we were given a glass of sparkling wine. We were told we had been upgraded to a suit!

The suit was HUGE. We had one bathroom with toilet and one separate toilet. There were a sleeping-room with television and a desk and there were a huge living-room with a television and a desk. In between the two rooms were a hall.

The living-room

The hall which connect the two rooms

The bedroom

Our very small, but nice, balcony.

The toiletries. With turn-down we were given new toiletries.

The bathroom

The toilet

When we were going down to the lounge we met a porter. He smiled and wished us a good afternoon. The same happened later, when we met another person from the staff. How nice to meet people who care. However I don’t think they care, but at least they have been tought to pretend to care. I don’t care WHY they are polite and friendly, I just like it.

In the lounge we were given drinks and ”finger-food” and cakes. Because we were tired we decided to not eat dinner, but simply eat there. It’s not enough for a real dinner, but it was enough to not be hungry.

In the halls, reception, public toilets and lounge they played classical music. I liked this. It gave me an even better feeling of being at an old, luxurious place.

From the main-restaurant. The picture is taken from a little bridge at the second floor.

If I am going to Budapest again, I will stay at this hotel. I just LOVE the hotel. Even if it is a big hotel, with over 400 rooms, they have managed to make it personnel. Next time I will also book the executive room, to get the access to the lounge. I would not bother to pay extra to get a suite as I really don't need all the space. After all we have mostly used the bedroom. Some evenings we have used the living-room just because we felt we HAD to use it...:-D

Downtown Dough, Cedarburg, WI, USA

2009-05-01T21:24:00.004+02:00

Wow! This is some of the BEST shops I have ever seen, for bakery-things. There were walls of walls with baking-forms. Well... the pictures tells it all... I wished I lived here... I will make sure to have an extra suitcase next time I am visiting Cedarburg!

The owner of Downtown Dough, Patricia, told me they send all over the world!

Cedarburg, WI, USA

2009-05-01T21:14:00.004+02:00

What a friendly and romantic city! When taking a walk, everybody said "hi", "good morning" or "good afternoon". The city center is one road, besides, it IS a city!

All the shops had painted, kind of old, signs like this.

And there were lots of small, "cosy" and strange shops. If you like "nick-knack" (is that a word, or did I make a new word?) this is the city for you.

In between the shops I found this little, romantic house!

This is from Amy's chocolate house (I think). YUMMI!

Washington House Inn, Cedarburg, WI, USA

2009-05-01T20:47:00.004+02:00

This is not a hotel, so no stars here!

I had written an e-mail to tell the that I would have a late arrival. When I came, they already knew who I was. Very smooth and easy.

Well, this is not Chicago Intercontinental, but it was a very romantic and charming (although I am sure my son would have called it a home for old people....:-D). The sink was not in the bathroom, but outside. The toiletries were Neutrogena, and surprisingly, they were very good!

I got two of these small bottles with water, every day.

I did only eat breakfast once. Not because it wasn't good but because I didn't have time to eat the other days. This is the breakfast room. The breakfast was continental and it was included.

The hotel also had free wireless internet.

If I would stay here again? Well, if this hotel was in another city, with lots of 5* hotels, I think I would have chosen different. In Cedarburg I don't think there are many other options. Besides that, the hotel fits very well into this small, "cosy", romantic city, so yes, next time I am going to Cedarburg, I'll stay here again. I may choose a bigger room if going with my family, but for only me, this was more than enough.

Swine flu?

2009-05-01T17:06:00.004+02:00

In the beginning I was very concerned to get this flu, but now... Well... There is nothing I can do to not get it, if it happens it happens. I am going home to Norway today and have to go to Chicago O'Hare airport. Chances there are somebody there with the flu is very high, this is one of the worlds most busy airport. I will do as I always do, WASH MY HANDS and I also have a small hand-sanitizer I can use if I can't wash myself.

I am also going to Budapest next Friday and to USA again in June. I WILL continue travelling!

Nail-stuff has been moved

2009-04-27T02:53:00.002+02:00

to my other blog: www.thenailblog.blogspot.com

Wyndham O'Hare Hotel 3*, Chicago, USA

2009-04-25T20:06:00.004+02:00

Well, not exactly Intercontinental Chicago...:)

The lobby was HOT, could need some air-conditioning. There were a fan there, but it didn't work very well. The cheking in went easy, without any problems.

I had read reviews of this hotel at tripadvisor and was expecting something very bad. The room is bigger than at the Intercontinental and the bed looks nice. There *is* air-condition here, but it's not very effective. The temperature when I came to my room was 28 degrees C! I tried to speed it up, but nothing happened. The good, old, "opening the window" worked better!

The bathroom is very small and the shower/bathtub was not very attractive...

I am curious about these toiletries as they look good!

Thumbs up for the coffe-maker with pods AND cups of paper! Maybe not very environment friendly, but very friendly for a clean-freak. :-D Nice with bottled water too! (However, not sure if it is complimentary or not...)

It will be interesting to see how the conference-rooms work if there is no air-condition there... We'll see tomorrow. I would NOT have stayed at this hotel in the middle of the summer!

I am going to investigate the area now, see if there are any places to eat/drink. When driving in it looked like it's in the middle of no-where, but close to the airport. Right now, when having the windows open, I can hear the traffic from the airport very well, but it may be different when I close the windows. Eeeeh, I will either be cooked or troubled with the noise from the airport.... :-/

It's raining!

2009-04-25T16:58:00.005+02:00

Today it's raining and it's going to be thunder-storms today, tomorrow and the day after. I'm going to move hotel at noon, Wyndham O'Hare which is close to the airport, where my class is going to be held. From now on my little holiday is over and it's going to be work, work, work. BUT I am sure it will be both interesting and fun and I now I will learn lots of new things.

Swine flu in the US

2009-04-25T16:48:00.002+02:00

It's not in Chicago, but I have to admit I've become a little bit anxious about this. It's in the news over and over again and it's difficult to understand exactly how anxious one should be when being outside Mexico. This is the worst about the big information-flow. In one way people get scared to death about small things, but in another way, people are thinking that it can't be that bad and don't take cautions.

Well, I suppose the only thing I can do is to wash my hands, get enough sleep and eat healthy.

Unclassified pictures :-D

2009-04-25T04:51:00.003+02:00

Only because I don't remember what/name/who etc...

I remember this... This is going to be a building, created as a Christmas-tree. I am not sure, but I THINK the bus-driver said this is going to be the biggest or tallest when it's finnished.

The queens fountain, I think...

Chicagos oldest Italian restaurant

2009-04-25T04:48:00.001+02:00

This restaurant has three floors. One expensive, one less expensive and one cheap...

Hersheys's chocolate

2009-04-25T04:44:00.001+02:00

More sweets for free with my bus-ticket.

Garrett popcorn

2009-04-25T04:40:00.003+02:00

Well, I have only heard about popcorn with different tastes, until today. Luckily I got a bag for free with my bus-ticket. Either you hate it or you love it, I have to admit... I LOVE IT! CaramelCrisp popcorn... yummi....

Millennium Park

2009-04-25T04:35:00.002+02:00

Sculptures

2009-04-25T04:32:00.001+02:00

Unfortunately I don't remember who/what/when etc... At least I have seen them! :-D

The next biggest

2009-04-25T04:30:00.001+02:00

Oprah Winfrey's house

2009-04-25T04:27:00.002+02:00

One of them.... :-D

Water Tower Place

2009-04-25T04:22:00.002+02:00

This is a shopping center and inside the shopping center I found this shop

This is a BIG shop for... girls... Pink, pink, pink....

NBC

2009-04-25T04:19:00.002+02:00

The NBS building is very close to my hotel. The Jerry Springer show

is being made here.

High, higher, highest!

2009-04-25T03:21:00.005+02:00

When looking through all my photos from todays bus-trip, I discovered that there are lots of high houses in Chicago. For every high house we passed the bus-driver said: "This is the next highest, was the highest, the third highest.... house..." And people said oh and ah and took pictures. Of course I did the same!

Would you be the builder here? Scary....

This was the highest house in Chicago in 17 (or was it 18?) something. The house is built in brick, even the walls inside!

This is Saers tower. The highest building in Chicago. I'm a chicken, I didn't dare to go up...

This is yet another high building, but the funny thing with this building i that they have the parking-deck in the middle of the building! You can see the way to the parking-deck in the ceiling.

This is not the highest, but the biggest in square meters.

Good morning Chicago!

2009-04-24T16:08:00.004+02:00

The weather is lovely today, sun and 23 degrees C! My plan for today is to take the hop on/off bus. It's a little bit expensive, it's a very convenient way to get to see all the touristic places. Another plan is to visit my "friends" at Ferragamo. They are going to have a preview of the summer (or was it autumn?) collection today and of course, they invited me... Wonder why......:-D

Shopping in Chicago

2009-04-24T03:42:00.006+02:00

All the GOOD shops are in the North Michigan Ave. You have Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Maceys and all the designer-shops.

Some days ago I got an e-mail from my favorite shop in the USA, White house, black market. They invited me to a two days sale with 25% off all items. Luckily the two days were today and tomorrow, the two days I have in Chicago downtown! The shop is across the street from my hotel, more luck...:) Although I was pretty jet-lagged and woke up with a terrible head-ache that continued throughout the day, I managed to do some shopping... Retail-therapy... :-D I "spaved" a lot today! Here is some of it....

After spending some money at White hous, black market I went to Salvatore Ferragamo. And guess what? I found a purse I have been looking for all over Europe. I saw it at Hawaii and have been regretting I didn't buy it ever after. I didn't buy it at once, I still had a head-ache and was afraid it would affect my judgment. I headed for the next shopping-center...

I went in, looked at the cosmetic department and found my perfume. Well, I don't actually need a new one, but if I bought it, I would get a small present... After all I have used this perfume for ages, as my summer-perfume, so I WILL need it sooner or later!

I REALLY liked the bag... It's not leather, and it's not very exclusive, but nice when going to the beach! I needed a new beach-bag! The makeup and the small purses were another bonus! :-D

After lunch I headed back to Ferragamo. The head-ache was gone and I could think very clear!

Hahaha, the shopping-bag and box from Ferragamo really suits my red coat! :-D

Shopping in Chicago has been a pleasure. The people who work at the shops are so very friendly. At White house, black market I was offered a bottle if water and biscuits and at Ferragamo I got a bottle of Pellegrino. I know, I know, they all do it to sell more, but it's better to shop from friendly people than from the grumpy people working in Rome or London...

Hotel Chicago Intercontinental, Chicago, USA 4+*

2009-04-24T03:09:00.006+02:00

April 2009

There were two people in front of the check-in counter. You should think that would go pretty easy, but it took ages. I’ve never waited that long to check-in before…

When I got to my room, at the third floor, the air-conditioning was blowing like crazy. I asked the bell-boy to turn it off, but it was broken. I had to change room. The new room was exactly the same as the first one except that there were no shampoo/soap dispensers in the shower. At the first room there were the dispenser PLUS individual toiletries. There were also a questionnaire that said they had started using the dispenser, but then found that their guests may would prefer getting the small toiletries so they had some questions regarding that. Thumbs up for the small toiletries from me!

I tried the toiletries and they are good, and they look nice! Me like! :-D

The shower and bath-tub could need to be replaced.

I would believe the room is small compared to US standard, but compared to European standard it's big enough. Since I booked a double room, but came by my own, they gave me a twin room. The beds were BIG. Not sure one bed would fit for two... well... it depends on how big you are (and how much in love you are...:-))!

The hotel is in the middle of the shopping-district. Very convenient for a shopaholic... :-D

I went to see the swimming-pool. The hotel is famous for the swimming-pool! In my opinion it looked nicer at pictures than in real... I wished there were steam-rooms, a jacuzzi and a spa connected to the swimming-pool.

I booked this hotel through Hotwire and only payed about 110 USD per night for bed only. For that price I would have stayed here again, but not for the full rack rate, that is about 250-300 USD. There is a Starbucks in the lobby so I didn't went for breakfast at the hotel.

Copenhagen to Chicago O’Hare airport.

2009-04-24T03:05:00.002+02:00

When flying out from Schipol you have to go through a new security-control and interviews, before boarding , to get to the USA. In Copenhagen there were nothing.

After a 3 hour delay in Copenhagen, because of a faulty air-conditioning system, I finally landed in Chicago. With that said, SAS was a very nice company to fly long-distance flights with. Compared with KLM, the plane was a little bit smaller (2+4+2) and the bathrooms were spotlessly clean all the way! Luckily the flight was not fully booked so I got 2 seats all by my own. Fingers crossed it will be the same at the return trip!

When I reached the passport-control I saw lots of people filling in the green card. I thought I didn’t need that since I had done it at the internet. Well, people said it didn’t work. So yes, you still have to fill in the green card to get in/out of the USA. The queue was long, so I had lots of time to fill in the card.

I was not in the mood for taking the El, the train, so I jumped into a taxi. It cost me 40 USD, but was well worth it!

A new hotel in Liverpool!

2009-04-15T20:37:00.002+02:00

The Ramada Plaza will open in Liverpool, in 2010. I welcome that, the city is in need of a good hotel. Although this will be a 4* property, it looks like it will be nice. Wonder if Liverpool will ever get a 5* hotel...?

Varun Sharma and "Inside Luxury Travel"

2009-04-13T19:58:00.003+02:00

The program will be back!

I don't know when it will be showed, but in these days they are filming for the new programs.

In the beginning I really liked these programs, but now, I am not sure anymore. Varun shows some very nice hotels and the service he gets. Always big suits and the best restaurants. The problem is... He is coming there, with a camera. Everybody "knows" him and everybody wants to be shown at their best at TV. Sure he will get the best service and the best rooms!

Another thing... In my opinion it's a little bit "tacky" to pay 2000-3000 Gbp./night for a suit. I love luxury, but when it become insane and without sense, it's "tipping over". One person is not in need of two TV's, two bathrooms, two walk-in-closets etc...

I wished this program could show normal rooms at these nice hotels, not the "fairytale" view....

What to shop in Aberdeen?

2009-04-13T19:15:00.004+02:00

Well... I didn't shop much in Aberdeen. They have all the department-stores, but if you don't like shopping there, it's not much to shop. I bought some books at Waterstones, as I always do while in UK. Since it was close to Easter I also filled my suitcase with... Easter-eggs! :-D

Buying Easter-eggs is a tradition in UK. In Norway we have smaller Easter-eggs, with marzipan. In UK they have those very big eggs made of chocolate. I bough a lot for presents to friends and family.

Because of all the chocolate, I had to buy some tooth-paste too... Haha, no... It's just that I LOVE this tooth-paste and we don't have this in Norway. Since it was on sale at Boots, I filled up my suitcase... Chocolate and tooth-paste...:-D

Malmaison 4*, Aberdeen Scotland

2009-04-10T18:54:00.005+02:00

April 2009, 6 days.

This hotel was surprisingly good!

The check-in went smooth and the receptionist was very friendly and nice. She asked us about the trip etc...

Our room was in the old building, with no elevator. If you have problems with that, you can ask for a room at the newer part where they have an elevator. We had a superior room with shower and bath-tub. The room was big, so was the bath-room. And the shower? The BEST I have ever had. The only thing I could have wished for here was heated floor at the bath-room. The toiletries were full-size bottles and of their own brand.

There were only shampoo, conditioner and soap. I wished there were body-lotion and some bath-salt as there were a nice bath-tub. However I didn't fancy the smell or the feeling of the toiletries, smelled like cheap stuff...

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I don't have pictures from the hotel. The pictures at the hotels web-site are good.

The breakfast cost about 14 for full *Scottish* (very important!), 12 for continental and 6 for a bacon-roll and coffee. The breakfast was ok, not the best, but ok. Some of the last days I found that the "Olive-tree" (don't remember the exact name, but you will find it if going there, it's close to the roundabout) opens at 06.30 and they have coffee to take away and sandwiches.

The spa was fantastic! Oh-la-la! I tried to book an appointment, but they were fully booked! However they have a "relaxing-zone" with 4 massage-chairs. Massage-chairs are not as good as a real massage, but it's better than nothing and it was free!

We had dinner at the brasserie twice. Very good and a nice place to have dinner!

The bar was also very nice. It was always busy, but not too busy. I like when the hotel-bars are busy, it makes a better atmosphere.

The location is not the best, as it is a 15-20 min. walk to the city-center. On the other hand, there are buses going right outside the hotel, every 15 min.

What I really liked with this hotel was that it looked like everybody enjoyed working there. Everybody was VERY friendly, always. At Saturday evening we decided to have a rental car for the Sunday. The people in the reception called the rental-company and helped us a lot.

If I ever go to Aberdeen again, I will stay at this hotel.

The Liner 3*, Liverpool, UK

2009-04-10T18:53:00.001+02:00

April 2009, 3 days.

I NEVER choose this hotel! The problem with Liverpool is that they don't have 5* hotels and the best 4* are in the outskirt of the city-center.

Checking in was efficient and the receptionist was friendly. When entering the room we could hear some noise, it was like a generator or a fan. We went straight down and asked for another room. The receptionist knew about the noise, as she said she could move us to another room, at a lower floor, but not before the day after, as the hotel was fully booked. After reading some reviews it looks like all the rooms at the sixth floor have this incredible, disturbing noise. The worst thing was that it went on and off every 5 minutes, all night through. I didn't sleep much that night as I woke up every time the noise came on.

When we got a new room, we still heard the dreaded noise. We asked the concierge, who brought our luggage, to listen, if he heard it. And yes, he did. He said he would check it out and come back to us. He never came back. The good thing was that the noise was on the whole day, and went off about 11 in the night.

However, the room was ok, so was the bathroom. I didn't care about the toiletries. I knew how they were, so I brought my own Molton Brown (that I got at The Goring...:-)). At least I could PRETEND to stay at a good hotel when showering! :-D

The breakfast was surprisingly good. Egg, bacon, sausages etc...

Next time in Liverpool I will stay at another hotel.... This must be a... true 3*....:-D

Steigenberger Park hotel 5*, Dusseldorf, Germany

2009-04-10T18:52:00.010+02:00

March 2009, 3 days.

THIS was a TRUE 5*!

I got the true 5* feeling at once entering the hotel. In fact, I got the feeling before I went in! :)

The check-in was efficient and the receptionist small-talked and was very friendly. Why don't the other hotels understand the importance of the small-talk?

The room was nice, with fruit and bottled water.

The bathroom was... oooooh, very nice.... And the toiletries? Mmmmm... Although they were their own brand it felt very luxurious. You got everything from toothbrush to soap to bath-salt to "high-shine" nail-files. And everything packed in luxurious packages. Heaven for a "toiletries-freak"!

The breakfast was not the best I have had, but it was nice and quite and you could get sparkling wine.

Everybody at the hotel always smiled and were very friendly. THIS is how a tr

The location of this hotel is one of the best. It's close to the fine shopping and it's close to the metro. I never tried the sauna/wet-room, but it looked very nice. I wished they had a spa at this hotel!

The Goring 5*, London, UK

2009-04-10T18:52:00.007+02:00

March 2009, 4 days.

I booked this hotel through Expedia and got a fantastic offer. I payed about 120 Gbp./night in a single room without breakfast. I think the rack-rate is about 330!

I have read several good reviews from this hotel. Since it's also a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, I was sure this would be good.

The hotel is situated about 5 min. walking from the Victoria station. The check-in was efficient and quick and I got my room. When arriving at my room there were fruit and a bottle of water waiting for me. Nice!

The bathroom was nice and with Molton Brown toiletries. My favorite!

I never tried the breakfast, as it was not included. However there is a "breakfast/lunch-bar" down the road where I bought my breakfast and coffee every morning. I don't remember the name, but it was around the corner and through a small alley and then to the left. I recommend it highly instead of paying 23 (or similar) for the breakfast at the hotel. It may be very good, but so was the breakfast for 6 Gbp. too! :)

What I didn't like with this hotel was.... There were a Fitness and a spa connected to the hotel, but you have to walk for 5 min. to get there. I didn't use the spa because I don't like to walk outdoor after a spa-session. The internet was expensive, 20 Gbp. (I don't remember exactly) for 24 hours!

I would have thought this hotel to be like a true 5*. Everything was very nice, but it was lacking some of the personal touch. I felt more connected to the place where I had my breakfast than to the hotel!

Radisson SAS Plaza 5*, Oslo, Norway

2009-04-10T18:51:00.005+02:00

February 2009.

I stayed at this hotel mainly because I was going to a show at "Oslo Spektrum", which is connected to Radisson SAS. This hotel is supposed to be a 5*. As usual, when staying at Radissons, I wonder why they don't rate it as a 4*, then nobody would be disappointed. I don't see any difference from a 4* Radisson to a 5*, it's mainly the same.

The bathroom was standard Radisson, so was the toiletries. No surprises here! And to be honest, that is what I like with the Radisson. Where ever you are, you know what you get, a decent 4* hotel.

Breakfast was ok, nothing special which could indicate this as a 5* either.

Don't go to this hotel if you want a real 5*!

Hotel H10 Meloneras 5*, Grand Canaria

2009-04-10T17:12:00.009+02:00

January 2009, 2 weeks, full board.

When we arrived the receptionist looked like we bothered her. This was not a very nice first impression of the hotel. We arrived late in en evening, we didn't expect to get any food, so we were happy when we were told that there were food for us in the restaurant. Well, it was food, but not very delicate. It was very clear that this was "leftovers" from the buffet.

The breakfast was very nice. There were even Champagne and caviar! However I found it strange that there were no cappuccino or espresso for breakfast! When my husband asked to get a cappuccino for me he was told: "You're not in Italy now!" I am sure it was supposed to be funny, but it wasn't...

I didn't take pictures of the room, simply because there were nothing that impressed me. The pictures you can find at the internet will tell you mostly how it was. The room was run down and could need some upgrades. There were no slippers or no bathrobes and the toiletries were not at all 5* Another thing I also found strange with this hotel was that there were no coffee or tea making facilities in the room. You had to pay 4 Euro a day to get this! With that said, I have to tell that you can pay 28 Euro/person/day to get something they call "privilege service". You then get to eat breakfast in another restaurant, you get tea/coffee tray in your room, turn down service etc... All what I would expect to get at a true 5* hotel.

The cleaning was not the best I have seen either.

What I liked with this hotel was the exterior/garden/pool-area. FANTASTIC! There were two pools, one heated and one with sea-water. There were lots of space and I can imagine it would have been great to have small children there.

We had breakfast, lunch and dinner included in our rate. As told, the breakfast was very nice, so was the lunch. The dinner COULD have been nice if they had made some effort on changing the menu every now and then. It was nothing wrong with the food, it was just very boring to get the same day after day for 14 days! The food could also have been prepared a little more delicate.

My son, at 14, really enjoyed the daytime activities, which were also great for the grown ups.

We had a rented car for two days. We got packed lunch both the days. It was ok and we ordered it since we already had payed for it, but I wouldn't bother paying for it.

The spa? Seriously, DON'T PAY TO GET IN! It costed 20 Euro for two hours and it was dirty and not at all worth a 5* hotel. I asked if you had to pay the 20 Euro if you had a treatment, and yes, you have! We didn't pay 20 Euro as they open up for children some hours a day and at that time they charge 5 Euro/person. Do that if you want to try the spa, it's not worth more.

All in all I would say this is a good 4* hotel, but never a 5*. With that said, this is a cheap 5*, I guess you get what you pay for!

Le Meridien Piccadilly 5*

2008-12-28T14:37:00.007+01:00

December 2008, 2 days.

Well, what can I say? I have always dreamed of staying at this hotel. When I found a fantastic offer at the internet (www.lastminute.com) I couldn't resist booking it.

Checking in went all well and the room was ok. Nothing special, but ok for a London-hotel to be. There were complimentary bottled water and the toiletries were their own brand. It may be good, but I never get the luxurious feeling when a hotel has their own brand of toiletries.

The beds were ok, but NO duvets here either! I can understand the "blanket-thing" in warm countries, but not in UK where the weather can be cold.

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We didn't have breakfast in the room-rate, but there are both Cafe Nero, Starbucks and other places to get food and coffee nearby the hotel. The room also had a nice sitting area where we ate our breakfast.

In the mini-bar we found this thing, a relief-pack..... :-D

The best with this hotel is the location. Unfortunately I never got the feeling of staying at a true 5* at this hotel either. If I had payed the full rack-rate I would have felt extremely disappointed. There were nothing I really disliked with this hotel, but there were nothing extraordinary with it either. It's a pity that hotel-managers never seem to understand that they are selling accommodation AND a "feeling", not only the accommodation.

If I will stay here again? Well, if I could get it for 129 pound a night, like I did when staying there in December, I would. But I would never pay rack-rate at 330 pound. Never, it's not worth it.

Mac Donald Spa Bath Hotel 5*

2008-12-28T14:05:00.006+01:00

December 2008, 2 days.

The entrance

From the garden and the sitting-area outside. I can imagine it would be beautiful here in the summertime.

We arrived to the hotel late in the evening. There were no problem with checking in.

The room was nice so was the bathroom. The toiletries were from Molton Brown.

The only complaint about the bed was that there was no duvet. I would believe a 5* hotel should have real duvets, not only blankets.

It was nice to have a sitting-area. We also got complimentary bottled water. Nice touch!

The hotel is situated in the outskirt of Bath, about 15 min. walking distance from the city-center.

We had continental breakfast in our room-rate. We could get cooked, full English breakfast for 6 pound extra, but found the continental breakfast to be enough. There were cerials, milk, juices, water, bread, butter, marmalade, fruits and even some ham.

I tried to get an appointment at the spa, but it was fully booked. However I had an hour in the swimming-pool and the spa-area and really got "my eyes up" for visiting the spa-area. There were a large swimming-pool inside connected to a smaller one outside. The outside had bubbles and it felt very nice to swim in the hot water while there was only 5*c outside! There were also 6 different steam-rooms. Do I need to say that I liked this after a hectic day? :-D

Was this a true 5*? Well, it looked like, but I never got the 5* "feeling". It's difficult to explain that feeling, but I got it at Palacio Estoril in Portugal.

Gmex Oct. 2008

2008-11-30T17:27:00.005+01:00

In October I went for a new competition in nails. This was the Professional Beauty North 2008.

I stayed at Radisson Edwardian Manchester, where I stayed last time in Manchester. I then had some bad experiences and wrote a complaint. I was promised an upgrade at my next visit. I got a junior suite!

The junior suite was bigger than a classic room. It also had a terrasse outside! I got complimentary water every day and wine and chocolate at my first evening.

I went to the restaurant for one evening. I went there with a friend and we both agreed it was a mixed feeling. The food was very good and we also got all those small dishes in between, which felt we were at a really nice restaurant. The only disappointment was that it was difficult to get in contact with the people working there. The seamed busy, but there were few people in the restaurant, so how come they were busy?

The breakfast is not extraordinary at this hotel. Not at all 5* breakfast. BUT the most irritating thing was that there were always a queue to get in to the breakfast. There were lots of free tables, but they were not clean. The first rule when working with people is, IF you are busy, never let the client see it. The people working at the breakfast ran around, they really looked stressed. AND it was stressing eating when people were running around.

When I booked this hotel I knew I would never get the feeling of a true 5* here. I only booked it because it's very close to the competition arena. It's a blessing to have the opportunity to walk to the room, have a rest or a nap, and then walk back. I will stay here next year too because of the location.

The best thing with this journey was that I won the competition! This competition was not as big as that in London, in May. It was a national competition in UK. But winning was a victory!

Liverpool

2008-11-30T17:05:00.002+01:00

In the summertime I was in Liverpool. I stayed at Radisson SAS Liverpool. As I have another blog from that hotel, I'm not writing a new one now...:)

I haven't been in Liverpool for two years. The city has changed since last time. The docks are the same, but there is a new shopping-center in between the main shopping area and the docks, Liverpool One. It was a real disappointment. For me, it seamed like the shops from the main shopping area just had moved to the shopping-center.

Radisson SAS Hamburg, Germany 4*

2008-11-30T16:42:00.004+01:00

1 week
August 2008

The hotel was easy to find, traveling with car. The best way to find it was to follow the direction to the "messe-center".

The hotel itself is like other Radisson SAS hotels. You know what you get. However the breakfast is one of the best I have had. There were something for everybody.

There were a swimming-pool at the second floor (or third?). The weather wasn't nice, so we didn't sit outside, but there were some sun-beds outside. If the weather had been better I am sure I would have liked sitting there. :) The swimming-pool was quite big, for being at a hotel and there were sun-beds alongside the pool.

Don't go to the wax-museum! It was a really disappointing site. We were finished after 5 min...

If you like walking in a nice park, I can recommend the park close to Radisson SAS. I don't remember the name, something with "bloomen". The park is big, have lots of chairs and things to do for children. The flower-arrangements are beautiful! In the evenings there are light-shows with some (crappy :-D) classical music. It lasted for 30 min. and, in my opinion, that was too long. 5 min. would be enough! :)

Hamburg is a place for shoppaholics. However I never came in "shopping-modus". I didn't buy anything there! A pity...:)

Cascais Miragem, Cascais, Portugal, 5*

2008-11-30T16:17:00.006+01:00

5 days
April 2008

Not as nice as Palacio. On the other hand, it's the best conference-hotel I have been to. Normally there are always lots of queuing at coffee-breaks and lunch. There were a little bit of queue, but nothing to complain about. At the coffee-break they served sweets, but there were always a choice to get "real food" (bread or bun).

The rooms were very nice, turn-down service with chocolate etc... At this hotel they also gave new toiletries at turn-down. It was an unknown brand for me.

The little dark chocolate given at the turn-down service was mmmmmm.... :)

I never ate breakfast as we didn't have breakfast in our rate and it cost 20 Euro. There was a shopping-mall very close to the hotel and we bought some bread, butter and ham for breakfast. The swimming-pool was nice, but because of unusual bad weather, for May to be, we didn't use the pool.

I liked Cascais better than Estoril. Cascais was more charming and had more nice restaurants.

Hotel Palacio Estoril, Estoril 5*

2008-11-30T15:56:00.004+01:00

3 days
April 2008

This hotel gave me the feeling of a TRUE 5*.

The hotel had sent me driving directions and we had no problem with finding the hotel. Outside the hotel they had a private parking place for free! Fantastic!

The hotel was impressive, so was the service and room. The toiletries were Molton Brown. Small chocolates with a note with the weather-forecast at the pillow at the turn-down service was also very nice.

The breakfast was FANTASTIC. Full English, sweets, cakes, champagne, juices etc... I could have sit there forever!

We never tried the swimming-pool as the weather wasn't that nice. BUT it looked very nice, so did the garden.

So far this is one of the best hotels I have been to and I will go back. I can highly recommend it.

Thalassa Nahrawess hotel, Hammamet, Tunisia 4*

2008-11-30T15:40:00.005+01:00

1 week
Charter with Detur
April 2008

The hotel was average. The rooms were nothing to write home about, but ok. However the spa-center was very good. I had a facial and the famous 4-hand massage. I only wished the beauticians spoke better English.

The breakfast was boring, but ok. The dinner was very nice! Lots of dishes!

I will not go back to Tunisia as it wasn't "my cup of tea". But if I HAD to I would have gone to Port El Cantaoui. A more charming place than Hammamet.

All of the above pictures are from the spa-center. I didn't take many pictures of the hotel.

I came third in Nailympics!

2008-06-07T22:22:00.004+02:00

The competition was held at Olympia exhibition-hall in London. It was a hassle to get to London because there was a strike at the airport in Bergen, so I had to go directly from Lisbon to London. All my products and nail-things was in Norway! Luckily I have lots of friends in UK, so I ended up lending some products, buying from Creative Nailacademy in London and buying some at the show. Luckily the competition was held the day after I arrived to London, so I had some time to get together everything.

I was scared my nerves would ruin the whole competition. The strange thing was that I didn't get any nerves, the only thing that pressed me was the time. You only have 2,5 hours. It seems like lots' of time, but when being very particular, it's not much time at all. I was so scared not to finish, but I did. I even had some time left to get a last finish.

Right after the competition I was not very happy about my work and I can still see lots of faults. I was sure I would come last. But, as the heading said, I came third. I was beaten by two Koreans!

Long time no see!

2008-06-07T22:18:00.002+02:00

It's been a long time since I last blogged. I have been to Tunisia, Portugal and London but haven't gotten the time to blog. I will try to follow up very soon. All I can say is that Palacio Estoril was a fantastic hotel, a true 5*!

My first competition nails, ever!

2008-04-01T23:06:00.003+02:00

Today I practiced at a model. I thought she had perfect nails, but I had thought wrong... She had quite flat nails so I had to build her nails to be more curvy. I am NOT very happy with the result, but for being my first competition nails and not having the perfect model, it could have been worse.

Competition nails have to be one hand with French manicure and one with red polish. Well, well, I have a new model at Thursday...

Jeg trenger modeller!

2008-03-29T14:47:00.004+01:00

Vil du har GRATIS negler?

Jeg trenger modeller for konkurranse-trening. Her er hva jeg trenger:

Do må bo i Bergen
Du må ha tynne/slanke fingre
Neglesengen (det roså på neglen) må være lang og ha en fin kurve
Du får IKKE bestemme form, farge, lengde osv. selv

Du får settet med negler gratis! (Normalt tar jeg 1490,- for nye sett.)

Hvis neglene dine er veldig fine kan du bli konkurranse-modellen min og reise med meg, på min regning...:-D

In need of a model

2008-03-29T14:37:00.002+01:00

Do you want FREE nails?

I am in need of a model, for competition training. Here is the deal:

You have to live in Bergen
You have to have thin/sleek fingers
Your nailbed (the pink area at your nails) have to be long and curvy
You will NOT be able to decide form, color, lenght etc. yourself

You get the set for free! (Normally I take 1490,- for a new set.)

If your nails are FANTASTIC you may get the chance to be my competition model and to travel around with me, at my costs...:)

My latest work

2008-03-18T22:32:00.003+01:00

I did these nails, at myself.

London in May, maybe...

2008-03-15T10:19:00.002+01:00

The 18th. to 19th. of May Nailympics (Olympics in nails) will be held in London. I so want to be there, to see and prepare for competing myself. The only problem is that I will be back from Portugal the 16th. and I know it's heavy to have such a tight schedule. On the other hand, I really want to go... Decisions decisions... it's hard for me to decide...

Dusseldorf - international?

2008-03-09T12:58:00.002+01:00

After being in Dusseldorf for two days I find it strange that very few people speak English. I thought Dusseldorf was an international city, with all the international fashion , hair and beauty-shows. When going to shops lots of people even have problems with telling you the price in English! I find it strange that, when you ask for the price in English, they just answer you in German.

Even at the tram to the exhibition they don't speak English, there is no information in English and at the show-area very few spoke English and there were little information in English. Again, strange....

Beauty International Dusseldorf

2008-03-08T20:26:00.003+01:00

WOW, WOW, WOW!

This is the largest beauty-show I have ever been to. There were 9 halls. I don't know if all of them were used, but at least 5-6 were.

The nail-section was as big as half the Excel in London! After hours at the nail-section my feet couldn't bare me to the other halls! All the well known brands were there, but also lots of brands I've never heard of.

The world championship in nails was held too. This picture is from the competition area.Today it was gel category. I don't know how many countries that entered, but I could see the Norwegian, the Danish, the German, the Swedish and the Finish flag. (I am not very good in flags...) As I know the Finish girl, from the internet, I met her and we had a chat. It was very nice getting to know her!

I'll go back tomorrow, before my flight home. I promise, I'll be back next year!

Spring in Dusseldorf

2008-03-08T20:04:00.006+01:00

Before the beauty-show I went to the city-center. In a city-guide for Dusseldorf it was said that the shops opened at 09.00. That is not true, most of them opens at 10.00. It was sunny, but freezing cold.

Because I was freezing and needed something to do from 09.30-10.00 I ended up at a Heinemann. On ground floor there is a very nice chocolate-shop and upstairs there is a cafe. I bought myself a cappuchino with cream and chocolate on top. Nice!

I also ended up bying myself some chocolate.... As I collect boxes, I needed those two....:-)

I haven't heard about Heinemann, but I think it's a well known place. When I walked upstairs, to the cafe, I could see pictures of lots of famous people who had been to the cafe, among them, the Pope.

I went to Ferragamo, but I didn't find anything this time! (Good for my bank-account....:-))

The food at Radisson SAS Dusseldorf

2008-03-08T17:30:00.002+01:00

The breakfast was... once again... cold... At least the cold food WAS cold and didn't look like it had been there for hours, but the hot food was not hot enough.

There were scrambled egg, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes etc.... A selection of cold meat, juices, some cereals and a wide selection of bread. You could also make your own waffles.

I had room service today too. I ordered steak. It was very nice, and again, plenty of food.

PS I love you

2008-03-07T22:18:00.003+01:00

I bought this book today. I tried to read it at the flight to Dusseldorf, but it was so heart-breaking I had to put it away. I was afraid my eyes would overflow...