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Adam Nebbs





Flight cancellations Crystal Cruises’ inaugural round-the-world “AirCruise” was to have circled the globe in just 27 days, lodging its jet-lagged passengers at a Peninsula hotel at every stop. Scheduled to depart on August 31, it (and the half dozen other AirCruises that were to have followed) has just been called off. Instead, the sleek, custom-designed, 84-seat Boeing 777-200 will be offered for private charter hire around China.

As mentioned in this column in February, the Peninsula Grand Inaugural Crystal Air­Cruise itinerary didn’t seem feasible, with Peninsula Hotels’ fine but numerically challenged property portfolio requiring about 20 hours in the air, from Bangkok to New York, just for a stopover at the Peninsula Paris. Then there was the US$159,000-per-person price tag, which, as we noted, would pay for a Royal Suite on a four-month Silversea World Cruise, with cash to spare. By strange coincidence, news that Peninsula Hotels will be partnering with Silversea Cruises from February 2019 emerged at about the same time as news of the AirCruise cancellation. The first Silversea/Peninsula collaboration – an altogether more sensible idea – will be a 73-day Grand Asia Pacific Voyage aboard Silversea’s recently launched flagship, Silver Muse (above), from Sydney to Tokyo via Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.
For full details of the cruise, scroll down to the Grand Voyage link at silversea.com.










For your convenience Convenience stores can be useful for travellers, from Venice (right), with its overpriced tourist cafés, to Tokyo – where the in-store ATM machines always seem to work and food at 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart is in a class of its own (search for “conbini” at eater.com for one of many online guides). You can quickly find the nearest convenience store on your travels – from Helsinki to Ho Chi Minh City (where Vietnam’s first 7-Eleven opened earlier this month) – with Convenience Store Find, an app that uses Google Maps to display locations, Google Street View photos and directions. It’s free to use and provides map and satellite display, usually with better-focused results than Google Maps alone.



London calling The Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel, just off Lowndes Square, in London’s posh Belgravia district, was built in the late 1960s in what one online commentator has wryly dubbed a “GDR-plattenbau” (or East German prefabricated concrete) style. While the hotel’s exterior is unusually bland (and not clearly shown on its website or in the Jumeirah media gallery – you’ll have to use Google Street View to fully appreciate it), its location is appealing, and it is currently offering, thanks to a weak sterling, a good-value accommodation package. Priced from £287 (HK$2,860) per night, and available until the end of the year, the Belgravia Experience includes accommodation for two with full English breakfast, a picnic lunch, a £20 shopping voucher for a local cheese or chocolate shop, a copy of the Book of the Month as chosen by a local bookstore, and free bicycle rental with a map to get you around the local area and across Knightsbridge to nearby Hyde Park. For more information, go to jumeirah.com/belgraviaexperience.




Deal of the week Charlotte Travel’s two-night Business Class Luxury Package to Kuala Lumpur includes accommodation from a choice of several of the city’s better hotels, including the Sheraton, Shangri-La, Westin, Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin Oriental from HK$5,250 to HK$5,590 per person, twin share. Most expensive is the St Regis, which is offered from HK$6,150. Prices for this package (available until March with occasional high-season surcharges and flight-time restrictions) include business-class flights with Cathay Dragon and daily breakfast. For full details and reservations, visit charlottetravel.com.hk.


Latest ‘skillcation’ travel trend blends relaxation with self-improvement

How frequent fliers are beating jet lag using apps like Timeshifter and StopJetLag

When a €2 million, 244-year-old violin flew on her lap on ‘spooky’ flight

Visa-free travel, rising foreign visitors boost luxury hotel growth in China

Travel news and advice

Peninsula partners with Silversea Cruises for 73-day Grand Asia Pacific Voyage

Silversea’s Silver Muse cruise ship

This handout photograph shows Convenience Store App, Venice Map. Photo : HANDOUT [POST MAGAZINE]

This handout photograph shows Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur. Photo : HANDOUT [POST MAGAZINE]

This handout photograph shows the Silver Muse Pool Deck. Photo : HANDOUT [POST MAGAZINE]

This handout photograph shows Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel - Entrance. Photo : HANDOUT [POST MAGAZINE]

Silversea’s Ultimate Antarctic Experience a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trip

Silver Explorer

This handout image shows Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi. Photo: HANDOUT [26MARCH2017 POST MAGAZINE TRAVELLERS CHECK]

This handout image shows Lonely Planet Portugal cover. Photo: HANDOUT [26MARCH2017 POST MAGAZINE TRAVELLERS CHECK]

This handout image shows Mandarin Oriental Macau Pool. Photo: HANDOUT [26MARCH2017 POST MAGAZINE TRAVELLERS CHECK]

This handout image shows main pool with golf course backdrop at Anantara Vilamoura. Photo: HANDOUT [26MARCH2017 POST MAGAZINE TRAVELLERS CHECK]

Luxury cruise to Okinawa a far cry from voyage 200 years ago of first Western sailor to write about the island

British naval captain Basil Hall wrote first Western description of Japanese island, then part of Ryukyu kingdom, after sailing its treacherous waters without a chart; he found a people who appeared ‘perfectly contented’

--ONE TIME USE ONLY-- This handout image shows a sketch Loo Choo chief and his two sons. [21MAY2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]

This handout image shows book cover Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the west coast of Corea and the Loo-Choo Islands, by Basil Hall, published in London in January 1818. [21MAY2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]

--low res-- This image shows Captain Magnus Gottberg on bridge of Genting Dream approaching Okinawa, May 10, 2017. [21MAY2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / STUART HEAVER

EY16J7 Makishi Public Market, Naha, Okinawa, Japan [21MAY2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]

The gate of Shuri Castle. Picture: Alamy

--ONE TIME USE ONLY-- This handout image shows dried sea snake in Naka, Okinawa. 09FEB13 [21MAY2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]

This image shows the monument commemorating Captain Basil Hall in Naha Okinawa, Japan, May 10, 2017. [21MAY2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT / STUART HEAVER

The Genting Dream moored in the port at Naha, Okinawa. Picture: Stuart Heaver

The Ned, for your next stay in London - a taste of history in the heart of the City

The Vault bar and lounge at The Ned is lined with 3,800 shiny safety deposit boxes.

This image shows the roof top of Ned hotel in London. Photo : Mark Footer [POSTMAGAZINE]

This handout image shows the interior of Ned hotel in London. Photo : HANDOUT [POSTMAGAZINE]

Tinie Tempah performs at the launch of The Ned, London on April 26, 2017 in London, England. Photo: Dave Benett

This image shows the exterior of Ned hotel in London. Photo : Mark Footer [POSTMAGAZINE]

Six ways to enjoy Kuala Lumpur whatever your budget

The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, is said to house the best collection of Islamic art in the world. Photos: Narina Exelby

The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia.

Street market scene in Kuala Lumpur.

The Pavilion is a very popular shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, where many luxury brands can be found. The Pavilion is in the Bukit Bintang district.

At Essa spa at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Kuala Lumpur, treatments are based on the Malaysian practise of ramuan, where plants are selected and combined for their healthful effects.

The Coliseum Cafe, once the finest eatery in Malaysia, opened in 1920 and has changed very little since then. Most of the staff have worked there their entire careers.

Lai Po Heen, the Chinese restaurant at Kuala Lumpur's Mandarin Oriental hotel, is known to serve the best dim sum in the city. It's offered over lunch only, and is very popular. 

Bar Lai, in the backstreets of Kuala Lumpur, has a facade so unassuming, you wouldn't know it's there. Their signature cocktails  include a Bacon Bourbon Bloody Mary.

Bar Lai

Chaos Hotel in Kuala Lumpur

Shangri-La hotel in Kuala Lumpur

Magazines

PostMag

The voyage aboard the luxury cruise company’s new flagship Silver Muse will sail from Sydney to Tokyo via Southeast Asia and Hong Kong


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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Travellers' Checks

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The voyage aboard the luxury cruise company’s new flagship Silver Muse will sail from Sydney to Tokyo via Southeast Asia and Hong Kong

The voyage aboard the luxury cruise company’s new flagship Silver Muse will sail from Sydney to Tokyo via Southeast Asia and Hong Kong