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Treetops Executive Residence – Singapore

Treetops Singapore!What can I say? A serene, tropical bliss in the midst of the busy, bustling area that is Orchard.

Treetops provide serviced apartments in the central area of ‘Orchard’ in Singapore. It is about a ten minute walk from treetops to the MRT which will connect you to the vast majority of the city. There is also a bus stop about a three minute walk from Treetops, the local buses are regular and timely. An app called “Go There’ can be downloaded on your smart phone, this will provide bus route an information and give you directions from pretty much anywhere to anywhere else!

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Freys Hotel – Stockholm, Sweden

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The Freys Hotel is located in central Stockholm, a few minutes’ walk from the Arlanda Express station. It shares its name with a famous horse who won a prestigious distance race between Stockholm and Jönköping in 1895. Recently refurbished, this 4-star boutique hotel offers 124 rooms over six floors. Some rooms have balconies and there is also a sauna, although I conveniently forgot my swimsuit (still working on that elusive bikini body).

We had booked two rooms: a superior twin room and a smaller twin room. Maternal paranoia kicked in when we discovered the superior room was on the sixth floor, but the kids’ room was way down on the first floor. Hubbie pointed out that, since our offspring are aged twenty and fourteen, they could probably cope. The kids, of course, were delighted.

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Spa Hotel Levitunturi – Lapland – Finland

Only Speedos were allowed in the pool...This review is part of a series about my experience of my first ever package holiday – a trip to Lapland. You can find out more about the trip here.

MrsTravelFreak, the two JuniorTravelFreaks (JTF’s) aged six and eight and myself were staying in this hotel during our three-night stay in Lapland.

The normal process of checking-in didn’t apply here as we were given our room key and welcome pack on the coach from the airport. As we pulled into the hotel I could see that there was one main hotel block (that had the restaurant and bar and a few rooms) and several other buildings spread across an area of around three football pitches. Naturally, our room was furthest way from the coach so off I went carrying body suits for 4, 2 cases and a couple of JTFs!

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Hilton Manchester Airport – United Kingdom

Picture of seating areaThis review is part of a series about my experience of my first ever package holiday – a trip to Lapland. You can find out more about the trip here.

I was flying from Manchester to Kittila (for Lapland) very early the next day and decided to drive down the night before and stay at the Hilton Manchester Airport.

I had booked the stay well in advance and had arranged for 2 connecting rooms to be assigned to us (MrsTravelFreak, myself and the 2 JuniorTravelFreaks). The cash rate for each room was £109 but the same room was also available for only 20,000 Hilton Hhonors points which I thought was much better.

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Travel Pony – A new hotel booking company

Share the Pony!I first heard of Travel Pony a while back when I saw a friend had posted on Facebook that they saved some money on hotels.  The idea behind Travel Pony is that you do all of their marketing work for them (i.e. tell people about the site) and in return they give you some of their marketing budget back as a discount on hotel rooms.  Power to the people and all of that.  I saw an ad for it online the other day so decided I would give it a try for an upcoming trip to Madrid in July for MrsTravelFreak and I.

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Sheraton Suites Plantation, Florida – USA

Tea bagsMy client had booked this hotel for myself and some 18 other people.  The benefits of this (to the client) were that they got a very cheap rate ($69).  The benefits to me seemed limited.

I had flown in to Miami the night before, having taken full advantage of the Air France business class product. I had an overnight stay at the Hilton Miami Airport so it was around noon when I arrived at the Sheraton Suites in Plantation.

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Carlton Hotel – Singapore

Cartoon girl with keyboardI had flown to Singapore with Air France in their A380 (review will be up shortly) and was slightly annoyed to have to queue for a cab into town; clearly Emirates have spoiled me (they have a complimentary chauffeur service for business and first passengers).

I was in Singapore to pilot a key element of a project that lasted three days.  EDI – CDG – SIN is a long way to go for a three days.  Anyway, the taxi took about 25 minutes and I was surprised to find that the infamous Raffles Hotel (and Long Bar) was situated directly across the road from The Carlton. Continue Reading…

Hilton Cologne – Germany

Cartoon Man Fixing FanI had just checked out of the Marriott Cologne which I had booked using Hotwire and had a really pleasant stay.  As a Diamond Hhonors member I was expecting good things from the Hilton Cologne…I was travelling on business and due to a conference at the UN in Bonn, I was staying in Cologne.  I had walked from the Marriott through the station and out the other side, past the cathedral and found the Hilton on my right.  It certainly wasn’t a long walk from the station.  I left my bags with reception and hopped on a train to Bonn (where I managed a visit to the Haribo factory!)

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Marriott Hotel, Cologne – Germany

cold beerI was working in Bonn for a client but as the UN had decided to hold a worldwide summit, hotel rooms were not readily available.  Despite my best efforts, my client wouldn’t stump up the 300€ for a room at the Hilton Bonn which I could have blagged using Diamond force from Hhonors. I was stuck with a hotel in Cologne and a train journey each way, which isn’t really what I had a mind.  Anyway, I was a little surprised to learn that hotel rooms in Cologne were also expensive so I decided to take a gamble with Hotwire.  My gamble turned out to be the Marriott.

The Marriott is situated directly opposite the train station (the back end, not the exit by the cathedral) and you can almost see the lights on the hotel when you exit.  Check in was excellent.  I had a bit of a discussion about how I normally favoured Hilton and was upgraded to a Deluxe room.  The staff member (I think she was a manager) was friendly and helpful and seemed to really want me to try and really experience ‘her’ brand.

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St Giles Hotel, Norwich – UK

PlungerI worked for this client some time ago and due to my “unique style” I was asked back to help them again.  How could I refuse?  Most of this work was based in London however there was one week when I was based in sunny Norwich.

I asked a few people I was working with where to stay – Norwich is a bit of a strange place when it comes to hotels; they have very few known names.  The Hilton at the airport was sold some time ago and is now a Holiday Inn Express and aside from a Marriott in the countryside, no other major brands have a presence here.  I was told that I “simply had to” stay in St Giles House by a colleague and as I didn’t know any better I did as I was told.

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