Discovering Cuba

It's a little out of the blue to launch a blog about Cuba. I mean, it's been a few years since I have been, but it randomly became a topic of convo this week that it triggered some great memories and I figured Cuba was a place that was well overdue some blog attention.

Kind of timely, albeit belated, my Cuba experience was a long time coming and finally happened over a Christmas and New Year. Travelling for Christmas is not something I often do, I'm a traditional girl who likes a family time, but Caribbean sunshine beckoned and off I trekked.

I had had a Cuba calling for years. And a growing desperation to make it there before any political change that would soften embargoes and see the stunning long 50's Cadillacs suddenly queue up at a Golden Arches drive-thru. 

I wanted to see Havana in its time-warped state and understand what that mean to the Cuban people. Of all the cities I have visited, Havana had a charm and heart that I have found only in few others.

Sadly, history and politics has driven a stark juxtaposition of poverty and restriction, just miles from the glam and decadence of the USA. I shall refrain from a position on the political state of the country, but I would share that Cuba is a place your passport needs stamped from and, in time, my American friends will enjoy it, too.

My trip started on the beach at Varadero. Not too much to write home about here - typical all-inclusive resort but , in my view, there are much better beaches to be found elsewhere in the Caribbean. I stayed at the Blau Varadero and, like every hotel on the coast, it came with previous traveller warnings about the quality of food. I didn't see any limitation, not least for a country that has limits on imports and depending on local produce. Plentiful supply and plenty to choose from. Maybe not your Costa del Platter of all things homelike, on the promenade, but that's not what I travel for, anyway.

A break from the beach, I took a trip in-country to local villages and crocodile farms and made a point of experiencing the local 'restaurants', which are no more than a family cooking up a meal served in their backyard or living room. A Spanish speaker, this was as authentic as it could get, a great afternoon of chat and food and outrageous hospitality. My jury is out on crocodile meat though, you may like it more!

My stay in Varadero took in the Christmas period. Hot sunshine and Santa hats a plenty, but great gala evening meals and entertainment to mark the occasion. Particular memories are of Christmas Eve, and a spine tingling rendition of Ave Maria from the top of the ten floor atrium of the hotel with white rose petals tumbling down, as we drank champagne in the bar. That, alone, is probably my single best moment of Varadero.

Havana is a different story. A good few hours transit from Varadero, itself an experience to see empty roads with trucks full of young workers and the plantation fields where fruits is farmed to export.

CityLife is bustling by comparison. You can see the wheelers and dealers, and there are enough here to need to watch your pockets. Fifties Cadillacs, tuk tuks and horses on carts, it really is the step back in time you read and watch on TV.

Buildings are dilapidated and tumbling down. A UNESCO heritage city, there is a slow reformation programme but, in the interim, sad stories of deaths from people living inside, as floors fall on families.

But there is a beauty in the ugliness of the broken bricks. An acceptance. Children play football in the streets. Old men sing on corners. Tourism is maximised with locally made products and tours and rum and showgirls. And it's not cheap. Expect to pay in Havana just as you would anywhere else, that's where politics has this one sewn up.

So you do. Tropicana, with its poor meal quota, is a fifties fest of dancing salsa that feels totally cruise ship. The infamous Buena Vista Social Club doesn't get more authentic than a fan-aired bar, on a Wednesday night. Side streets and plazas, museums and graffiti, crumbling in the ironic safety of an intricate city CCTV network. It all harks back to Castro and control of a city and its people.

And onto my second best memory of Cuba. New Years Eve, back seated with champagne, in a fifties Cadillac celebrating with chime of midnight to a canon ball blast.

If I never go back to Cuba, I will have find memories of the time I spent there. But something tells me it will change before long, and I hope it doesn't commercialise like Hawaii when it does.

Til next time, Pandora

Weekending in London without the Tourist Trap

Weekend two of the New Year and I am still true to my blog-a-week plan. Not only that, I appear to have kicked the year off in such a busy way that I have loads to share - A new house move, first flights of the year and a weekend in London.

London is a frequent haunt for me. I never tire of it, but I usually travel on my own itinerary, which wasn't quite the case this week. 

My first challenge was the psychological acceptance that I would be staying in a hotel not chosen by myself. And I'm pretty passionate about where I stay, boutique over Big Bang, leafy streets over tourist central. Not so this weekend, I was booked into the Strand Palace, iconic in its heyday, I imagine, but too much dated eighties and tired bathrooms for my personal taste. Style was as successful as its service. Best we leave that there, as I did every morning until evening hours, concentrating my weekend on the immediate vicinity.

But, hey, my weekend base is on the Strand. Just how good can you piece together a weekend on the doorstep of Covent Garden, without getting scooped up by the tourist trap?

Well, you can. I have 48 hours and I have more than a few nice tales to tell of places to see and socialise, that doesn't require a ticket from an open top bus for special entry!

Friday evening started with cocktails whilst the reunion gathered pace and, once everyone had arrived and settled, we raised the style stakes in the luxurious Savoy.

The Beaufort Bar is reserved, but relaxing. I might question the friendliness of every waiting staff but, in the main they were pleasant and helpful. Surroundings are so important to a night out and at the Beaufort it is opulence from ceiling to floor with black and gold interiors and a cocktail list that is as mysterious to finger through. We were a fairly traditional table with Cosmos and Espresso Martinis, and a very fun negroni by the evening end. My greatest love was the stemware, as languid and long as the wonderful drinks and a great end to post-travel Friday.

Saturday morning started with a little shopping along Long Acre, followed by an eager afternoon of relaxation and Afternoon Tea at the Me London. Served in the Marconi lounge, low lighting and mellow beats and surrounded in candlelight the service was sublime. Afternoon tea was served in gold and white Jasper Conran China, with quirky London landmark plates for your goodies soon to be served on individual three tiers. Yes, one each!

Bar a heavy rye bread on salmon sandwich, the rest was divine and we had no rush to eat up and go. Laid back champagne on tap and beautiful sweets and treats, just four girls...perfect! Me London typically has London landmark patisserie for their Tea. Oddly we were still on their festive menu, albeit Jan 9, but delicious nonetheless and the leftovers boxed up for some tea a little later at the hotel.

One negative, Marconi lounge had no facilities for baby changing. A surprise. But more concerning that staff advised you to change bubba on the floor of the disabled loo. I'm sure they must have elsewhere in the hotel, and that should have been the response.

Saturday evening was spent at one of my favourite London eateries, before it leaves the city this month. St Martin Lane's Asia de Cuba will close in a few weeks for a new restaurant to be launched, and I wanted to get my friends the experience before it does. It didn't disappoint - 6 starters and mains of signature dishes, three fabulous desserts to share for 7, all for under £550

Post dinner drinks stayed local at Light Bar and a night of great nineties dance music. Again, Light Bar will close for a new era, it was great to have a final fling!

Sunday morning I headed, solo, to explore the great feedback I had heard on the new Ivy Market Grill, sister restaurant of The Ivy. Bang on the border of the Piazza, but this is not tourist trap. Food is great, interiors are very Art Deco and I couldn't help compare it to neighbouring Balthazar which underwhelmed me. Ivy Market Grill is definitely one to add to your little black books for London, and I imagine dinner is as great as my truffled eggs breakfast!

Food was firmly the agenda this weekend, and lunch on Sunday went Mediterranean with a visit to the amazing Polpo, also in Covent Garden. So eagerly priced for such authentic seafood and Italian taste.

Move over Shake Shacks and be sure to make your tourist area dining more taste and less Punch and Judy.

Next week will be Ireland based Belfast to Dublin. 

Til next time, Pandora.

The 52 Week Blog Challenge

Here we go. Where no honest maker of New Year's Resolutions can afford not to go...not later than January 5th, anyway, anything later counts as a resolution fail, right?

Here we go, then. Back to my blog. 

I say that like it's a chore, but it's really not. It's a relief, in fact, to have made this New Year commitment, so I can force myself to carve out time to do the things I enjoy most. A luxury I didn't give myself in 2014, and one that categorically will change in 2015.

Where do I start? Ironically my last blog entry in June (you see? June!) wagered excitement on my imminent new house build, my chance to turn hotel living into my home. The irony is that in two days from now that will, in fact, only actually happen. 

8 months of architect and design delays, however frustrating they have been, have been used wisely. I found my calling in interiors, invested months in design prep, but I won't launch into interior design blog boredom just yet, you will get plenty of that as the weeks progress!

New Year feels like a fitting time to restart the blog. It might even get a face lift as the weeks progress but, for now, new year reflection and planning around life has allowed me to think where my blog might be headed in 2015, as it gets my time back.

What started out as random musings of the world around me, as I travelled, kind of focussed more on travel and hotels in its more recent times. In between that, I've also dived into the world of social media, which I find fascinating, and which allows me to snapshot thoughts in 140 characters or a phone photo, a pace that fits much more easily into what has been another busy year in the skies.

And there lies the challenge. Time. 

A grand tally of 116 flights, touching 15 cities, made up my passport stamps in the last 12 months alone. The busy side of life will unlikely change, it is what it is. But the balance of it with the richer parts of life is the stall that I'm setting out for the next 12 months.

2014 has been a mixed bag of losses and loves, a new beautiful nephew that fills everyday with joy and the challenges of wicked cancer in my family circle. But I'm definitely a glass half full kind of girl and, looking forwards to 2015, my blog will be designed to keep true my resolution. A weekly download of what's gone on, wherever I might be. Family, friends and health and happiness. And of course, a new house.

Stay connected, come join the fun on twitter and instagram, but expect a varied log of my next 52 weeks whereabouts on the blog.

'Til next time, Pandora.