The TravelRight Dispatch

POSTCARD FROM COLOMBIA
​My third visit to Colombia crystallized why I like going there. It's stunningly beautiful and filled with people doing interesting, entrepreneurial things. Plus, there are delicious dishes to look forward to at every single meal. As a guest of ProColombia in the city/region of Manizales, I spent a spectacular couple of days learning about Hacienda Venecia and Hacienda Charrascal coffee farms, and riding a mule through the mountains with La Juana. There was also a tango show and hot springs! More intrigue followed at a conference in Cartagena with a few dozen other travel-content producers. These regions have all been added to the Snowbird list, for sure.

HOTEL CRUSH
OSH Hotel Cartagena
​While in Cartagena, my colleagues and I stayed at this boutique hotel in the hip Getsemani part of the Old City. There were a couple of Instagram-friendly pools, a great restaurant that was full day and night (with robotic food-runners) and an excellent rooftop bar. The rooms copped a beach-chic feel—all natural materials and muted, earthy colours—and the other guests were young and hawt, and mostly Spanish-speaking. Full flavour!

EXCERPT
Meet Me at the Palace​
Madeira really needs to be on your bucket list. It's like if Lisbon were condensed and then transplanted into a park in the middle of the Atlantic. The Savoy Palace there delivers a “hotel within a hotel” with The Reserve. This story first appeared in Travel Life.

Stepping into the lobby of the Savoy Palace, I feel like I’ve arrived. Not just at the doorstep of Madeira’s only member of The Leading Hotels of the World, but also at an amplified echelon of European hospitality that feels like home.

The five-star, 352-room Savoy Palace sits on a hill overlooking the capital city of Funchal, the flagship property of the family-owned Savoy Signature hotel group, which operates six hotels on the storied Portuguese island of Madeira. Past the reception, I’m quickly captivated by the hotel’s design—grand yet not ostentatious—a mix of modern and Belle Époche panache. The interiors have been created by Madeira design icon Nina Andrade Silva, who has cleverly woven historic elements and patterns throughout the hotel’s 16 floors.

THIS MONTH'S PODCAST
​The TravelRight.Today Podcast #35 gets right into how the quality of your sleep is (finally) becoming a priority at smart hotels. Travel is exhausting! You need rest! We also work through how to be a good cottage guest so you're bound to be invited back. And I explain how mules are smarter than horses. I mean, just look at Francis the talking mule!

INTEL
How to Break Bad Travel Habits
​While we all like to think we’re savvy travellers, you may be guilty of at least a couple of these easily avoidable or correctible travel blunders:

• Under-planning. Not creating a full agenda before you travel (subject to change, of course) merely leads to spinning your wheels when you’re actually on the ground. Know what you’re doing in advance, so the holiday just rolls out. Plan early and book early or you won’t get what you want—and will very likely pay more for it.

• Not doing your homework. Check the destination’s entertainment websites for info on cool art exhibits, live music and new restaurants. Google Maps will show you that the best shoe store in town may be just around the corner from your hotel. Local culinary sites will let foodies know where to eat and drink, so you don’t have to dine in any mediocre tourist-area eateries.

• Avoiding the transit. The subway is the cheapest, fastest, most efficient way to get around any big city. Millions of people do it every day and so can you. Wasting money—and heaven forbid, time!—sitting in a cab when you could be on a train is ludicrous.

• Worrying about money. Yes, the exchange rates may suck, but don’t convert prices on the fly. Just have fun—and deal with the credit card when you get home.

• Wasting time at the hotel. Stop pottering about your room, fussing with your suitcase or reading your iPad in bed. You can do that at home. Get out there and live your best travel life!

MAPPING IT OUT
​Happily for the planners and non-planners in the crowd, my ebook How to Plan a Vacation gets your travel ducks in a row. Summer is short—so you best live it up right!

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