Saturday Travel Shot(s): The Tower Bridge in London, England

Tags: england, London, tower bridge, uk, visitbritain

London (and Glasgow) Calling

I am headed back overseas next week for a week long trip to London, England and Glasgow, Scotland courtesy of VisitBritain.

While I have been to England’s capital a few times (I just stopped by a few months ago en route to Sony’s Twilight Football Game at Tintagel Castle), this will be my first time checking out Scotland’s largest city.

I always love to travel to a new destination and Scotland in January, while freezing and a tad snowy/rainy according to the forecast, will definitely make for a great time.

Check back right here for updates throughout my trip between Wednesday January 27 and Monday February 1.

Cheers!

Tags: england, glasgow, London, scotland, Travel, uk, visitbritain

Nomad Notebook: Brilliant Stay At The St. Mellion International Resort

Located in the South West English city of Saltash in Cornwall, the St. Mellion International Resort is truly a golf lover’s paradise. But not to worry if you are trying to become the next Tiger Woods, as this luxury hotel has plenty to offer for just about every kind of traveler.

I stayed at this recently renovated property while on a trip to check out the Sony Twilight Football game. Now normally I book my own hotels, as I am a bit of a hotel nerd and love to check out locales that interest me. But the good people at Sony were in charge this time and luckily for me they had good taste.

In 1976, two brothers that loved to swing a golf club decided to turn their potato farm into a place where people could come and try to sink a hole in one. Eventually a hotel was built on the land and the rest is history. Currently St. Mellion is owned and operated by Crown Golf, who acquired the hotel from American Golf in 2004.

As stated earlier, if you love to golf, then this is your kind of hotel. St. Mellion has two golf courses, one of them is the original course built over 30 years ago and the other is a Jack Nicklaus Signature course. The latter hosted the prestigious Benson & Hedges International Open on six occasions back in the 1990s. Plus it will host the revived English Open in 2011, which was on hiatus due to some financial issues.

Now this resort is not just all golfing and looking good in khaki pants. St. Mellion also has many great “non-golf” related activities, such as:

• Three indoor swimming pools.
• A gym with all the latest cardio vascular equipment, weight training, and free weights.
• Special classes like Thai chi, aqua aerobics, and pilates are offered to guests.
• Relax at Elemis Spa, where you can take in such goodies as a full body massage.
• The resort also can host children’s birthday parties.

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The room I checked into at St. Mellion was airy and bright with very modern amenities. It offered my friend and I plenty of room and even a great terrace right on the 18th hole of the Nicklaus signature golf course. Unfortunately there were no chairs on this great outdoor area, so after a few minutes, I would wind up back inside hanging out in my room.

Some of the great features in a regular room at the St. Mellion International Resort include:

• 27″ flat-screen television
• Universal AC adapter in the bathroom, but not in the bedroom. If for some reason you forget your adapter for the laptop or cell phone, do not fret. Simply call the front desk and they can lend you one.
• Free wireless internet. Luckily it was actually good wireless internet, as from time to time hotels offer it for no charge, but it also completely sucks.
• Huge bathroom with a great shower and bath tub. The heated mirror was a nice touch, so when you get out of the shower it is not completely fogged up.
• Safe, iron, and plenty of space to hang clothes in the over sized closet.
• 24-hour room service.

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I also had the opportunity to partake in a few adult beverages at the ultra modern Bewdern Bar & Brasserie which overlooks the 18th hole of the Nicklaus golf course. In addition to pouring a decent pint of Guinness, they sell snacks as well and have a big flat screen television so that the locals and visitors can get their football fix. While I was hanging out at the bar, a wild crowd enjoyed a Manchester City victory over Manchester United as MC scored a goal with literally two seconds left in the game.

St. Mellion also has the Jack Nicklaus sports bar and The Lounge, while both looked nice I was unable to check out.  However I did get the chance to dine at the super chic An Boesti restaurant, which provided excellent service and equally impressive cuisine. Oh and my wine glass was never empty with the waiter running over every time I was low.

Cheers!

Hotel information:

• Name: St. Mellion International Resort
  
• Address: St. Mellion Saltash, Cornwall, PL12 6SD, England
• Telephone: 01579 351 351
• Website: st-mellion.co.uk

Where else have I stayed on my ventures? Check out the hotels section for more full reviews, pictures and information.

Tags: cornwall, england, saltash, st. mellion international resort, uk, united kingdom

Americans Vacation Less Due To Work Related Stress

A survey released by Expedia.com finds that 34 percent of employed Americans will not use all of their earned vacation days in 2009. When asked why they are planning to  not take a break from the office, the number one reply was “work-related pressure.”

On average, American workers will give back three vacation days this year, according to the ninth annual Vacation Deprivation survey performed by the opaque travel website. Expedia’s study also revealed that workers are taking fewer extended vacations, with the number of adults who plan to take a two-week vacation dropping to 10 percent in 2009, as compared to 14 percent in 2008.

Other interesting notes from the survey include:

• Women tend to feel guiltier than men when it comes to taking time off from work (40 percent of women vs. 29    percent of men).

• Roughly 39 percent of working Americans expect to use most of their vacation time in 2009 by taking at least    one full week of vacation and spreading out remaining days.

• On average, Americans had 13 vacation days in 2009, one day less than the previous three years.

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Although French get the most days off, they were once polled as being the crankiest workers in the world.

So how did the rest of the world fare in the Expedia Vacation Deprivation survey? Well the site asked countries like Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Australia, Japan, and for the first time, New Zealand. This year, Canadian, French and Australian workers will be granted between one and two more vacation days than in 2008, while all other countries will either receive fewer vacation days or see no change in earned time off.

Want a lot of vacation time? Move to France, where the workers receive and use the most vacation days of all countries surveyed by Expedia. French workers receive 38 days and leave only two days unused.

Now while it may look gloomy for American workers, since we receive the smallest number of vacation days, Japanese employees are the least vacation-minded, as 92 percent of the workers polled said they would not use all vacation days and will leave an average of seven days on the table.

Tags: american, australia, austria, canada, england, france, germany, great britain, italy, japan, new zealand, spain, Travel, uk, usa, vacation