Monte Carlo

I usually stay at the Fairmont, but could not get in this time—it was fully booked, even though I tried well in advance. I was disappointed to have to change, as I love the convenience of the centrally located Fairmont with its great seaside rooms. I arrived around 3pm and checked into the Monte Carlo Bay Resort instead. Wow, this place is fantastic. The rooms are huge, modern, and probably the best-appointed that I have ever enjoyed. We're talking 42" flat panel LCD screen, complimentary champagne and fruit, crisp linens, a huge terrace, and more. This resort has great service, an incredible pool, a spa, and a really modern work out center. The restaurant, bar, and casino are all world class. Sadly, I didn’t take any pictures of the resort. I can’t get enough of Monte Carlo and plan to stay at the Monte Carlo Bay again this summer with my wife. Left Sunday morning around 11:00am for the Nice airport to fly to Zurich for a full day of meetings. Here’s a shot of Zurich as we arrived.

The easy life in Eze

Took the scenic route to Monaco going down the coast through Nice and Ville France and stopped in my wife Jill’s favorite little place, the Village of Eza. Rod and I enjoyed the best meal of the trip so far on the terrace of Chateau Eza. I really wish I had taken a picture of this meal—it was unbelievable! Lightly grilled squid with onions, and a delicately flavored vegetable 'thing' wrapped in some kind of leaves. I highly recommend Chateau Eza. It is more than worth the steep climb for the fabulous food and incredible views.

Nice

Arrived at 12:15pm Thursday into Cote d'Azur airport: one of the world’s great airports (at least in Terminal 2). Very modern, efficient, and certainly well-managed. We were met by Unaira’s new business development representative, Eric Ingrand, who had our car reserved. After a brief delay due to a computer malfunction, we headed for Juan les Pins in our sporty little BMW 330 diesel. My hotel in Juan les Pins was perfect—Hotel Belles Rives, located right on the sea, with rooms and terraces overlooking the bay and Cannes to the west. I would highly recommend to anyone who is coming to the Riviera that they spend a few nights in this little area. Great restaurants, great night life, most things are in easy walking distance, and the views are unbeatable. I would also strongly suggest spending some time exploring neighboring Antibes and the Cap D'Antibes with its huge villas, spectacular trees, and gardens. We spent two nights here with meetings running most of both days. Next: Monaco!

Passing a "Milestone" in London

Rod Grandy and I arrived at 9:10am into Gatwick (LGW) with 4.5 hours sleep and a great flight in business class with US Airways—my new favorite domestic carrier. We took the Gatwick Express into London and a taxi to the Milestone Hotel on Hyde Park. I have to admit that I was a bit uneasy about this hotel; I usually stay at one of a few others that I’m familiar with, but this time I waited too long and everything in town was booked for some reason. Found the Milestone online and got a decent rate but figured it might be a bit dodgy by modern standards. I was so wrong—the place is great. It appears that it’s been around for a few hundred years but the rooms and service were fantastic. They absolutely lived up to the 5 star expectation and the price (even after converting our weak dollar). The rooms are large by London standards have very modern updates and incredible beds.

BLOGS - Everybody’s doin it!

Why not start a travel blog? Well I have pondered this question a bit and come to the realization that if for nothing else it might just be fun to have an online outlet to spout off and pontificate about things that I find interesting.

What are my qualifications? Well I travel a lot! I have been traveling heavily primarily for business (technical sales early on) for the last 20 years; initially my travel destinations were mainly in the US . These places included many fantastic and undiscovered spots such as Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland. As my responsibilities increased so did my territory and at one point or another I have traveled to every state in the US but Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont and Hawaii and have visited most cities of any size and lots of little places in between. I liked travel and travel experiences so much that I founded 10Best Inc a travel information website in 1999 that continues to provide gainful employment to me as President and CEO. 10Best was founded to be an unbiased source for trusted knowledge; a place to find out where the locals eat and hang out.

I now travel internationally more than domestically and spend about 120-150 days outside the US in other fantastic destinations such as Paris, London, Madrid, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Bangkok. I also hold a senior management position with another great company that I have helped to found called Unaira which has operations in Zug, Switzerland, Amsterdam and Nice.
I have traveled to roughly 30 countries and around 60 major cities on four continents. So my qualifications are basically "on the job training". My opinions are "opinions" with a good bit of experience on what I find interesting, aggravating, and exceptional or worth remembering. So stop by once in awhile, see where I've been and what I've been into and feel free to comment ... let me know if you agree or disagree - your opinons are as important as mine. Heck, if I've missed a place let me know. Chances are I'll be going back and I'm always on the look out for something new. So let the journey begin...