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Welcome to
the maiden issue of Travel and Leisure News, a quarterly
newsletter published by Travelvision Media Network. This
lively newsletter aims to cover the hottest aspects of
the travel industry, with not only regular destination
features but also airline reviews and industry
observations, plus more than a passing glance at the
leisurely side of life.
While travelling the
world our top writers will explore new attractions and
also offer travel tips, not to mention the occasional
food and wine review. Since we all strive to maximize
our leisure time, Travel and Leisure News will also
cover electronic news. Meanwhile our Editor-at-Large,
award-winning travel journalist John Borthwick, will
file his wry reports from some of the more unusual and
desirable points on the planet. In this issue John drops
in on Ireland and takes an unusual day trip to the
Hunter region aboard a classic Pionair DC3
aircraft.
For our major feature we take a long
overdue look at Hawaii, a destination that has been
reborn for the Australian market due to regular flights
by Hawaiian Airlines. I'm just back from an amazing trip
to Europe, flying with Gulf Air. I'm delighted to
recommend Bahrain as an interesting alternate route to
Europe and destination, well worth a two-day stopover.
Bahrain is actually a group of 33 islands in the Arabian
Gulf, covering an area over 700 square kilometres. The
national museum is one of the largest in the Middle East
and is famous for its dramatic life-size dioramas
showing the history of the region and the lifestyle,
religion and crafts down the ages. I became lost many
times in the souk with its amazing profusion of colours,
sounds and aromas where you can barter for clothing,
spices and home wares.
 
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  Business travel in the 21st
century is increasingly about hi-tech facilities for
travellers at the top end of the market. As a result
airlines and hotels are battling it out for corporate
clients with cutting-edge innovations as the attraction.
Airlines are offering luxuries including inflight chefs,
ergodynamic chairs that fold into flat-beds, surrounded
by the latest in information technology and
entertainment.
Gulf Air has released
class-combination fares for travel to Singapore, the
Middle East and Europe. allowing passengers to travel in
economy class in one direction and business class in the
other on their daily flights from Sydney. The
combination fares start from $1633 to Singapore, $3138
to Middle East ports and $3374 to Europe, plus taxes
available for departures until December
31.
Finnair has introduced mobile phone
services that enables passengers to check-in in advance
via text message backed up by sleek airline lounges more
like five star hotels complete with minimalist
bathrooms, leather lounges bars and the inevitable
plasma screen televisions.
On the hotel scene,
Le Meridien Cyberport Hong Kong is offering 'art
tech' designer rooms that include 42 inch plasma TV
screens, wireless broadband connectivity, 'rain showers'
and a soothing corner in each room for the stressed
executive.
The 2005 SMALL LUXURY HOTELS
OF THE WORLD portfolio will include 45 new
properties taking the group to more that 300 members in
50 countries. SLH has also added its first property in
the Cook Islands, Pacific Resort Aitutuki as well as
Hotel de la Paix in Cambodia, plus five new member
properties in Thailand.
Singapore Airlines
passengers can now confirm flights, check-in and
choose their seats online two days before departure. The
new Internet check-in system allows passengers to select
their preferred seat from an interactive seat map that
can be used for all tickets and bookings. The system can
also be used for connecting flights operated by selected
airlines. Following their online check-in, passengers
are sent an email or SMS as confirmation.
 China Southern
Airlines now fly daily between Sydney and
Melbourne and their home port, Guangzhou near Hong Kong.
The largest airline in the People's Republic of China
for the past 25 years, China Southern connects more than
80 cities around the world. Its major destinations in
China include Guangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Guelin, Hong
Kong, Kunming and Shanghai. Among China Southern's major
international ports are Amsterdam, Bangkok, Hanoi, Kuala
Lumpur, Jakarta, Los Angeles, Manila, Moscow, Paris,
Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo.
Many Australian
travellers have discovered the convenience of flying
China Southern to Asia, Europe and USA, using Guangzhou
as their hub. The good news is that the sparkling new
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is open - and
it's a huge improvement over its predecessor. China
Southern is becoming a favourite with business
travellers en route to either China or other
international destinations.
The airline is
currently offering a unique business class "two-for-one"
fare deal. Check with your travel agent for the
conditions. Thinking of Paris? China Southern has
recently commenced services, via Guangzhou. Smart
travellers are building in a few days in China on the
way to Europe and/or on the way back, rather than
travelling via the usual Asian hubs.
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 Silversea Cruises
has chosen beautiful actress and model Isabella
Rossellini to be its 'ambassador'. Rossellini's father
was Roberto Rossellini, one of Italy's greatest
directors, while her mother was the luminous Ingrid
Bergman. Isabella will be given her own suite on each
luxurious Silversea vessel and will cruise the world
while being photographed in various locations for an
upcoming advertising campaign. Rosellini will live
aboard each of the ships in a suite she will personally
select that will then be named the Rossellini
Suite.
Bearing a strong resemblance to her
mother, Isabella's beautiful face appeared on more than
500 magazine covers and in countless commercials before
showing up on the American silver screen. Isabella
enjoys gently mocking her perfect, creamy looks and
poise, and although she was a superbly convincing
Lancôme spokeswoman, the cosmetics giant decided to
replace her with a younger model and she subsequently
developed her own cosmetics
line.
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 It's
an angel's-eye view of Bangkok, Great City of the
Angels. From the rooftop Vertigo Restaurant in the
Banyan Tree Bangkok hotel you can survey in a glance the
evolution of a city, from huts to glittering temples to
skyscrapers. The city's grid stretches to the horizon,
interrupted only by the looping scrawl of the Chao Phrya
River.
The Banyan Tree Bangkok is a 216-suite
business hotel conveniently located on South Sathorn
Road close to many embassies, shopping areas and
business centres. This all-suite retreat is just ten
minutes walk from the entertainment and shopping zone of
Silom Road and the Sala Daeng Sky Train station, as well
as a 30-minute drive from Bangkok International
Airport.
 The eagle's-eye view from your suite is almost
as stunning as those from the Vertigo Restaurant or the
indoor Saffron Restaurant just below it. Recommended are
the executive floor Club Suites which also offer
numerous perks, including all-day use of the Club Lounge
and its Sky Deck pool. The Banyan Tree Club, with its
spa rooms and welcoming touches like foot baths,
shoulder and neck massage, makes this a favoured
residence for business travellers.
The Banyan
Tree also boasts the tallest spa in Asia. Here you can
be massaged to within an inch of levitation, especially
with its signature product, the Royal Banyan Treatment.
Along with a companion, I sampled the pleasure. If it
were possible to fall in love with a masseuse's hands, I
think I did so. This brief affair lasted only three
hours and was, of course, entirely proper.
Each
of us had a dedicated therapist — mine was a
masseuse-magician named Goi. We started with a footbath
followed by a gentle scrub and Thai acupressure. The
main event - 90 transcendent minutes of it - involved
herbal pouches (filled with lemongrass, cloves and
coriander), warm sesame oil and a skilled massage. As we
later re-entered reality, while soaking in a
petal-strewn spa tub, my companion murmured, "My bones
have dissolved. I'm intoxicated with
relaxation."
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 Hawaiian Eye for the
straight-off-the-plane guy can be a curious spectacle.
He (or she) might be from somewhere in Mainland USA. At
first they can be seen wandering the hotels and condos
that overshadow a certain very famous beach, asking, "Is
this the island of Waikiki?" (Or Honolulu, or Hawaii?).
Having been informed that they are in fact on the island
of Oahu, and then having slipped into a $19.95 Aloha
beach shirt, they're soon looking as "at home" any of
the other six million visitors who annually visit
Waikiki's fabled shore.
If this isn't necessarily
your idea of a Hawaiian holiday, many more "authentic"
options await you, firstly on Oahu (home to the capital,
Honolulu) and then on outer islands like Maui, Kauai and
Hawaii ("the Big Island").
Driving on Oahu is easy once you
escape the Honolulu freeway system, so rent a car and
head up the Kamehameha Highway for a west coast day-trip
(or longer). En route to the North Shore's rural hamlets
and lush hills, the tourist attractions are never far
away. Two of the majors are the Dole Plantation,
boasting the largest maze in the world (you can try to
negotiate your way through it, being timed against the
clock) and the Polynesian Cultural Centre, a
spectacular, missionary-run, Pacific Islands theme park
- "Mormonesia", so to speak.
In winter's big surf
season (November-January), visitors can catch the action
when the giant North Shore waves at Haleiwa, Pipeline
and Sunset Beach begins to pump. Watch out (in several
senses) for the Waimea Bay shorebreak, sort of a
vertical whirlpool in which the occasional tourist - or
pseudo-suicidal bodyboarder - is flung towards
annihilation like a lost sock in a spindryer. For the
rest of the year, the sea here can be so tranquil that
it's hard to imagine waves of more than a metre
high.
 One of the smaller islands, Kauai, offers some
of the most dramatic scenery in the Hawaiian chain, with
its most "knock-your-socks-off" spot being Waimea
Canyon. From a 1300-metre lookout, you can marvel at the
folded ridges and waterfalls as they slide towards the
sea. Sightseeing helicopters flit within this "Grand
Canyon of Hawaii", dwarfed to the size of dragonflies.
You may remember a similar scene in the movie Jurassic
Park when a helicopter carrying scientists to find the
dinosaurs descends beside a plunging waterfall. It was
filmed here in Waimea Canyon.
Elsewhere on Kauai,
down to earth and the coast, is a land called Hanalei -
not so much a land as a very pretty beach - which,
despite whatever Peter, Paul and Mary sang about it, has
no apparent magic dragons frolicking and no-such autumn
mists. Just white sand, boutiques, ice-cream shops and
warm, tropical waters.
Hawaii, the Big
Island is all volcanos, long coastal drives, small towns
and plenty of chances to meet Hawaiians. This is the
home of Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, and of
Mauna Loa, the tallest mountain in the world - if you
measure from base to summit. (The summit is 13,680 feet
above sea, but over 31,000 feet from the ocean
floor.)
Driving here is again easy - this is the
state's least densely populated island, with just over
120,000 residents. The island's landscape is
astonishingly varied, containing eleven of the 14 known
climate zones in the world - including desert
lavascapes, tropical rainforests, beaches (some with
green sands) and snow-capped volcanos. Hilo, on the wet
side, is the administrative seat while Kailua-Kona on
the dry, west side is the most popular tourist
destination.
The Kohala Coast is considered
Hawaii's "Golf Coast" but even for non-golfers the drive
is always scenic, with botanical gardens, lava fields,
lush valleys and white sand beaches. Many Australians
make a point of visiting historic Kealakekua Bay on the
west coast where in 1779 Captain James Cook overstayed
his Hawaiian welcome and dramatically lost his
life.
 "Holo-holo" is Hawaiian for day-tripping. The
popular holiday island of Maui is perfect for it.
However, why not start with a slightly longer jaunt, one
of the world's great scenic drives? Driving the Hana
Highway is like playing snakes and ladders on wheels.
This tenacious blacktop strand clings to the jungled
northeast coast of Maui for 80 dramatic kilometres,
crossing 56 one-lane bridges and twisting through 617
bends. Your destination is the pretty village of Hana
and its black sand beaches.
Instead of the
high-rises and condominiums that dominate other coasts
in Hawaii, Hana is still easily recognisable as the lush
place to which ancient Hawaiian nobles used to come for
healing and rest. Little wonder that this coast is still
known as Heavenly Hana. Even Hotel Hana-Maui, the long
established luxury resort whose cottages scatter across
30 hectares of seafront, pointedly resists the
"marble-and-mirrors" hotel syndrome, favouring instead
down-home timbers and tropical louvres.
West
coast Keihei ("key-hay") is a popular beach strip, with
accommodation ranging from international chain hotels to
condo blocks offering economical serviced apartments.
Continue your "holo-holo" by turning inland, up the
slopes of sacred Haleakala, Maui's central 3055 metre
peak, to the area known simply as Upcountry. Rustic old
cowboy villages like Makawao ("the eye of the forest"),
now gone to pastels tones and boutiques, and horse
paddocks converted to polo fields, remind you of Maui's
transformation from a plantation and ranch economy to a
tourism one.
The old whaling port of Lahaina,
also on the west coast, is far better known than Maui's
main administrative centre, Kahului. A visit is almost
obligatory to the rambling Pioneer Inn that has sat on
the Lahaina quay since 1901. Sit and sip a sunset beer
-- the Inn's timbers almost talk history to you, the
stays on the yacht masts in the marina almost answer
back and the sun does a slo-mo sizzle into the sea.
Maui's coast has many other fabled spots, and even one
that takes itself far less seriously than the people who
tan there -- Dig Me Beach.
 The Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach
resort is Waikiki's only true resort destination,
offering over 3,000 luxurious rooms many with a view of
Waikiki beach. This amazing resort has every facility
imaginable including the largest beachfront Super Pool
on the Island, 22 restaurants and is home to the world
renowned Mandara Spa.
www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com
 When flying to Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines is
America's best. That is the collective opinion of Travel
+ Leisure magazine, whose readers have ranked Hawaiian
higher than any other airline serving Hawaii in the
category of 'Best Domestic Airline' for the 2004 World's
Best Awards.
"There's no better validation of
what we do than to have our customers rate us more
highly than our competitors," said Mark Dunkerley,
president and chief operating officer of Hawaiian
Airlines. "Everyone at Hawaiian works hard to deliver
the best service on the ground and in the air, and it is
great to receive this vote of confidence from those who
matter most."
Hawaiian is ranked as the nation's
fifth best airline overall, finishing behind Midwest
Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Song, and Alaska Airlines.
Airlines were rated based on responses Travel + Leisure
received earlier this year from readers in five
categories: cabin comfort; food; in-flight service;
customer service; and value. Added Dunkerley, "Day after
day the people of Hawaiian perform magnificently in all
these areas. No airline gives customers more of Hawaii's
hospitality in their travels."
Altogether, more
than 425,000 respondents rated airlines, cities, cruise
lines, hotels, islands, car rental agencies, and tour
operators for the World's Best Awards. In June, the
magazine's 2004 World's Best Service Awards ranked
Hawaiian ahead of every other domestic airline with
flights to Hawaii. Hawaiian ranked fifth overall in the
category of 'Top Airlines for Service' finishing behind
Midwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, and
Southwest Airlines.
Hawaiian Air offer a year round
business class fare of $2582 to Honolulu and for an
extra $140 you can continue onto the Hawaiian Islands of
Maui, Kauai, Lanai, Molokai or the Big Island. For
passengers wanting to continue onto Los Angeles, Las
Vagas or Seattle, the price starts at $3956 plus
tax.
http://www.hawaiianairlines.com.au/
For
everything you could ever need to know about the
Hawaiian Islands just log onto:
http://www.hawaiitourism.com/
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 Leading US magazine Conde Nast
Traveller has voted Sydney the number one city in the
world for an amazing ninth time. It scored an 87%
approval rating among travellers and tourist industry
workers and was ahead of Florence (83.3%), Rome (82.8%)
and San Francisco (82.2%). Readers were invited to rate
cities on a variety of criteria including friendliness,
culture, restaurants, accommodation and shopping. In the
inaugural Conde Nast Spa Awards, the Angsana Spa Double
Bay Sydney was voted number six in the 'Overseas Urban
Day Spa' list of top ten spas outside the United
Kingdom.
 Summer is always a wonderful time to be in Sydney
with an amazing selection of activities on offer, thanks
to the Sydney Festival. This year's event is bigger and
better featuring a fine selection of theatre, dance and
film including the ever popular Open Air Cinema located
adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens that kicks off on
January 10.
For the full schedule check out: www.sydneyfestival.org.au
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 A gym with chandeliers and a statue known as "the
tart with a cart"? Yes, it's Dublin, capital of Irish
cool and convivial mayhem. I had the recent pleasure of
treading its dogleg cobblestone streets, not to mention
a few plush hotel carpets. Like almost everyone who
visits here, I loved the Irish capital.
Walking
is more than the done thing in inner Dublin, it is the
only thing, given its compact size and reasonably
calamitous traffic. I pulled on my walking shoes and
checked out a few of the city's numerous statues. Sounds
boring? Don't believe it - the Irish don't do "boring"
very well at all.  For some reason they have littered their
landscape with so many memorial statues that it's like a
new Bronze Age. However, Dublin's irreverent locals have
honoured their heavy metal heroes with deliciously
non-PC nicknames. The large and famous bust (and more)
of Molly Malone - hawker by day and hooker by night -
standing beside her barrow on mid-city College Street,
is known as "the tart with a cart." A languid James
Joyce, equipped with cane and surrounded by his own
quotes - all in bronze - who stands in the gardens of
the Merrion Hotel soon became known as "the dick with a
stick." Almost inevitably, a perky Oscar Wilde,
semi-reclining on a rock in Merrion Square, was dubbed
the fag on a crag."
 I skipped the next statue, known as "the
floozie in the jacuzzi," and instead checked out the
family home of the poet, dramatist and wit Wilde, a
handsome Georgian mansion at Number One Merrion Square.
It's part of a small "Oscar circuit" that you can do,
which might include the famous Trinity College (where he
was schooled), his "crag" statue and a few blocks away,
the house in which he was born on 16 October
1854.
One reason I was in Dublin was to write
about the city's luxury accommodation - of which there
is a good range. For me, the pick of the crop was the
135-room Merrion (in Upper Merrion St), a good blend of
tradition with modernity, not to mention the celebrated
"stickman" in the garden. Throughout the public areas is
one of Ireland's best private art collections - a cut
above the usual "hotel owner's taste" mishmash -
including a good array of works by Jack B. Yeats,
brother of the poet, W.B. Yeats.
The 46-room
Clarence Hotel overlooks the Liffey River and is owned
by U2 (no, the ambient music isn't Achtung Baby played
on constant repeat). The decor is "Ecclesiastical Lite"
with discrete, church-like paneling. As the hotel
publicist tells me, "It's the sort of place the owners
would like to stay when they're in town." Obviously Bono
& Co are men of taste. Good art (again), a terrific
bar and the stylish Tea Room restaurant - plus smart,
friendly staff - have made this Dublin's coolest address
since the band refurbished it 1996. Meanwhile, across
the river, is the Clarence's counterpoint, the
self-consciously hip Morrison Hotel that offers a
reception that's cool to the point of frigidity. Pack
your all-black anorak for survival here. How are the
rooms? Who knows? I wasn't offered the chance to see
them.
The Shelbourne (rhymes with Melbourne)
Hotel overlooking St Stephen's Green is the Grand Old
Dame of Dublin. Probably not what she used to be, but
she has recently "gone Marriott," so expect much better
things soon. Encrusted with history (the Irish Republic
constitution was signed here in 1922) and marble
fireplaces, the Shelbourne compensates with chandeliers
everywhere - even in the gym.
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 The vineyards of the Lower Hunter
Valley unfurl below the plane like a corduroy carpet.
Wineries, cattle, forests and even cafes drift below us
as we approach Cessnock. It's no ordinary view, but then
this vintage plane is no ordinary aircraft.
Call
it a Dakota, a DC3 or even its World War II nick-name, a
"Gooney Bird", this classic, twin-prop passenger plane
(part of the Pionair fleet) will be our stylish airborne
chariot for a full-day tour of the Hunter Valley and
some of its best wineries. Along with around 30 other
visitors, we step from the beautifully restored plane
after an easy 40-minute flight from Sydney's Bankstown
airport.
 A mini-coach awaits and before we know it,
we're on our way to the first of the five wineries that
we'll visit during our day of wine tasting and learning.
At Rosemont Estate winery, in a cool, purpose-built
room, a young woman leads us through a series of
tastings, of both whites and reds. The sampling
concludes with a Merlot which recently won a gold medal
in London, making it (in her words), "the best Merlot in
the world." Indeed, it is good and it seems a steal - at
only $13.95 a bottle. With a price like that, one might
imagine that other winemakers whose more expensive or
pretentious offerings were overlooked may have wished
that the judges be taken out and guillotined.
We
roll on, to a smaller vineyard, owned by one of the
Valley's pioneering Drayton clan. More well educated
sniffing and quaffing, a few more bottles purchased.
(There is never any pressure to buy.) So far, everyone
is still sipping, not slurping, but certainly not
spitting out. Lots of chatter about "cellaring" and "lay
this one down for five or so years." The woman next to
me, who claims some expertise in these matters,
chortles: "Cellaring! Who are they kidding? Ninety
percent of wines bought in Australia are consumed within
an hour of purchase." Another vineyard, more rolling
views, an ever-educated palate (one hopes) and, on the
way to our next stop, lunch at McWilliams Mount Pleasant
Estate, I notice that the back of the coach is starting
to fill with boxes and bags of our wine
purchases.
Some of Australia's finest wine is
produced in the Hunter Valley, the oldest wine-growing
district in the country. There are scores of vineyards,
some so "boutique" that their product isn't even
retailed, just sold at the cellar door or on special
orders, while others are giant complexes with resort
accommodation, conference facilities, art galleries,
restaurants and - yes - even wine.
 As we progress through an
afternoon of cheerful snifters (and occasional snoozes
in the coach), we are learn about the marvels of shiraz,
chardonnay, verdelho and other superior plonks from
vintners who have surely heard it all. Not by our crew,
of course, but one wine-maker tells me he has been asked
if red wine tastes best on the rocks, and if Grange
Hermitage comes in tinnies? It's time to load ourselves
and our considerable booty of wine aboard the elegant
Dakota, to thunder back down the runway and wing it home
again, with a birds-eye view of lakes and beaches all
the way from The Entrance to Sydney. We've drunk a
little and learned a lot - and with no nagging thoughts
about RBT buses or excess baggage
charges.
Finally, for those whose cellars are
already overflowing or who can't spare a day away, the
Pionair Dakota does Sydney scenic flights, both by day
and night. The night cruise, skimming (or so it seems)
above the Northern Beaches' coastline and across the
endless, twinkling circuitry of the city, is a beauty to
behold. All enhanced with complimentary bubbly and
snacks to fuel your flight.
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 Travel & Leisure's
Editor-at-Large John Borthwick was recently presented
with a prestigious Friend of Thailand award at a major
ceremony in Bangkok. John was one of 21 international
journalists to receive the award, which is given
biennially by the Tourism Authority of Thailand as a
gesture of gratitude to "foreign individuals and
organisations making contributions to the promotion of
Thai tourism and making Thailand better known to the
world."
 The formal ceremony took place at Bangkok's
Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel on September 27, World Tourism
Day, with awards being given by Thailand's Minister for
Tourism and Sports, Mr Sontaya Kunplome. Friend of
Thailand awardees received an elegant golden statue of a
Kinnaree, a half-human, half-bird creature from Thai
mythology, representing beauty and exaltation. "It
certainly made an impressive piece of hand luggage. It
looks like a Thai 'Oscar'," said John, proudly. He
added, "Without the support that TAT and Thai Airways in
Sydney, as well as British Airways and other suppliers,
extend to travel writers - including freelances! - I
would never have been able to research and publish so
many Thailand stories and photographs. It's their award,
too."
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Leading travel wholesalers have
confirmed that mature travellers are booking travel
online in increasing numbers. Hitwise Australia claims
that 11.36 per cent of online travel users are over 55
years and are more likely to buy travel online compared
to any other category. Online activity by the over 55
age group has increased by 16.9 per cent in 2004 and it
is claimed that the over 60 age group are the fastest
growing users of the Internet in Australia.
For
access the latest travel advice on security situations,
visas, local laws and customs and health issues check
out http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/
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