To be invited on a press trip to Holland to enjoy the amazing Keukenhof Gardens, Amsterdam and Haarlem was an immense pleasure for me. I wrote of it for Platform 505 and now of course the spring is over and the garden is dug over…. until the next time when Keukenhof will flower anew with a different set of bulbs and colour schemes.
Having spent six nights in Mewar as the guests of HH Maharana of Udaipur – Sriji - at two of his hotels, one a palace and heritage therefore it was a real pleasure to write about the history of this region of Rajasthan steeped in history of nobility and chivalry.
We spent seven weeks in India this year starting by flying into Chennai on 16th January. We spent a pleasant couple of days on arrival at the Radisson Blu airport hotel where we were made very welcome. I recommend it as a quick efficient transfer if one visits Chennai. Then we spent a short but delightful time at the ITC Grand Chola. This huge hotel we first encountered in 2013 so it was great to see how it had matured…the various restaurants are of a very high calibre and we had three superb meals, Indian, Pan Asian and then Fusion.
In early October Graham and I flew out to Preveza from Manchester to arrive at Nidri where we had arranged to sail for a week. The Thomson Airlines flight was trouble free and we transferred to Nidri which is a town on the coast of the island of Lefkada or Lefkas in the Ionian group of Greek Islands.
Sitting waiting on a gloriously hot evening in Glasgow for the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games was an interesting experience. I am accredited as press to these Games because I am on the editorial board of a magazine called India Link International and you can immediately see the relevance of me being able to cover the Games for the Indian Diaspora. However, I do not see myself as a journalist so it was a new experience being amongst the international press. Graham my husband was sitting down in another part of the stadium within visual distanc
The Railway Man is a powerful and poignant film showing the extreme cruelty of the Japanese after the surrender of the British and Indian Forces fighting in the Malayan Peninsula and retreating down into Singapore.
This powerful film we were privileged to see in a private view on Tuesday 3rd December in Glasgow. I recommend it strongly to everyone.
My most favourite film is Gandhi…..because of my birth and life in India and Gandhiji was a great influence on Mandela and now this film, thankfully out in his lifetime, shows Nelson Mandela and his strength of purpose, resolve and commitment to gaining democratic freedom for his African brothers and sisters.
As we do annually we caught the ‘red eye’ down to London’s City airport to attend two frenetic days at WTM 2013 at Excel. City Airport is right next door on the banks of the old river Thames and it is all so convenient for us. 50,000 people from around the world converge for the four days of this vitally important travel mart annually. It is always inspiring and now that the UK is coming out of the financial depression there was a real air of optimism this year.
