Maserati approached my with offer to participate on #monthwithmaserati campaign. One day beautiful snow white Maserati Ghibli parked on the front of my house. It was amazing and also challenging to drive around London in festive season, you can imagine traffic but Ghibli had amazing Bowers & Wilkins audio system built in so it wasn't that bad at all on the end. :) Great car!
Invitation to Press trip to France, Dordogne Valley arrived in my inbox early September. I've been in France number of times before but never in South West region, so my answer was yes, sure! Trip was just for two of us, me and Sara, travel blogger from Birmingham.
We flew to tiny Brive-Dordogne Valley Airport from London Stansted, where Cecile, our guide for next days was already waiting for us. First place to visit and also our place to stay for a night was little town called Martel.
Our accommodation for first night was in Maison D'hôtes De la Devinie, crazy name that's as hard to type as it's hard to pronounce in French. This place was absolutely stunning, bed, bathroom, everything.. After couple pictures we decided to go for walk around town. It was after the rain and on the end of summer but still gorgeous and charming. All those little streets and flowers everywhere. Dinner was in place called Le petit moulin and steak and wine was both perfect. Tired we came back to our rooms and went straight to beds.
At the morning we packed everything and wend down for lovely breakfast. Plan for the day was to explore some caves around, which didn't sound as great idea considering the weather. However Cecile convinced us that we have to try that. We managed to put wet suits on and with our guide we went to explore Le Virage cave. It was quiet interesting as parts were under water and we had to swim :) Straight after in massive need of shower we vent to another little town called Meyrone where we had booked rooms in Hotel la Terrace which had beautiful views of river Dordogne and surrounded valley.
We didn't stay at the Hotel for long and went to explore more caves, this time Grottes De Lacave, This wasn't as adventurous as swimming through previous one but still it was a cool experience. After quick stop in Eco Art Atelier Karteko and we come back to hotel for a lovely dinner. Did i mentioned that i love Foie Grass? I know it's a very brutal way of preparing food but it's soo good. I think i had it on every meal since we arrived and still couldn't get enough :) Room in the hotel wasn't as cool as previous night but still very clean.
Another day and Cecile insisted that we have to try jump to kayak and go down the river Dordogne. It was actually quiet fun and sun also same out for a brief moment. Highlight was a cave with massive jump that we rather didn't try :) After Kayaking we stopped at Chateau De Castelnau Bretenoux for lunch and when i spotted Escargot on the menu, i knew this place be good. It was delicious i have to say.
Plan for afternoon was to visit four small villages called Bretenoux, Carennac, Autoire and Loubressac. My favourite was Carennac with tiny streets, flowers and lovely people. Our place to stay for third night was Hotel Le Pont de L'Ouysse in Lacave that we visited day before. This place was absolutely spectacular, with it's Michelin star restaurant of same name, sitting next to ruins of od bridge, hence the name in French. We had dinner with wife of head chef Stéphane Chambon who also joined us for drink and chat after dinner. Food was unreal, totally well deserved Michelin Star. Hotel room was very beautiful again.
Last day we decided to visit famous Rocamadour and to make it more fun, we did it through hills on mountain bikes :) Super fun and i have to say Rocamadour castle is beautiful and very picturesque. All what left then was to stock up with foie grass and went back to Brive Airport and back home to London.
Weather wasn't with us but food and those little villages was absolutely amazing and i'm sure i'll come back to this part of France sometimes again in the summer. Thank you again Brive-Dordogne Valley Airport
One day, invitation landed in my mailbox from Singapore Tourist board, inviting me to a press trip to Singapore. Singapore: Inside Out campaign is showcasing Singapore's contemporary creative talents and they want us to support it on our social media channels.
Invitation mentioned, that there are another two instagramers going, Jiri @jeera and Allan @chaiwalla who i know both very well. It does sounded as pretty exciting Asian Trip. My first ever, i've never been on that side of world.
Flight from Heathrow with Singapore Airlines was long, 13 hours, but as Jiri asked for extra leg room, our seats were quiet spacious. I was looking forward to see Singapore's Changi Airport as it was voted several times Top Airport of Year. I have to say Changi Airport was as expected, beautiful terminal building, but we haven't got much time to explore it. First thing we noticed when we walked out of the terminal was super high humidity. Our guide was waiting for us and dropped us to Naumi Hotel that will be our place to stay during our trip.
Naumi Hotel's infinite pool
Hotel completely blow my mind, room was huge, and very modern. Every room had Apple TV and massive TV screen, shower walls were made from smart glass that changes transparency with a touch of a button and i can go on and on. I can't not to mention small infinite pool on the top of the hotel. What do you think was the first thing we've done? :)
Marina Bay
Our program was packed with events every day and it was perfectly organised. at the morning we went to explore super Hip Haji Lane with little shops and coffee places, then we visited design Studio Grafunkt that had some pretty cool stuff there. At the afternoon we've had organised excursion around Marina Bay Sands Hotel. It's one of the most beautiful Hotel I've ever visited. It's a state of art building offering awesome views to Marina Bay or on other side Gardens by the Bay and you'll feel luxury on every corner. Later on at the evening we went to Marina Bay area to have dinner and watch spectacular light show.
Day three started with breakfast at Tiong Bahru Market & Food centre, which was quiet experience and then we went to see Henderson Waves, highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. After quick walk through city centre we went back to Marina Bay where we had organised tour around Marina Bay Sands Hotel. This is the hotel with the worlds largest infinity pool and viewing platform offering the view of Marina Bay and on the other side Gardens by the Bay. For dinner we went to the famous Lau Pa Sat - Satay Club and i have to say that it was the best satay i've ever had. According our guide Stall 7&8 made the best one and i can only agree!
Our last day in Singapore started with lovely breakfast at Rang Mahal and then i went for quick walk around F1 track, it was pretty cool experience to walk around paddocks. After Checkout from Naumi Hotel we went to visit Singapore Art Museum and our last visit before coming back to Airport was the Gardens by the Bay. It's pretty spectacular to walk in between branches of these gigantic artificial trees in Supertree Grove. Inside in the Garden pavilions you'll find Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. The Flower Dome is slightly lower but larger and features seven different gardens. The Cloud Forest is higher but slightly smaller and it replicates the cool moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions. It does also have it's own 35m waterfall inside!
Spectacular Supertree Grove in Gardens by the Bay
We didn't wanted to leave but our flight unfortunately wouldn't wait so we had to move back to Singapore's Changi Airport. It was amazing few days in Singapore, big thank you to Singapore Tourist Board for guiding us and showing us the highlights of Singapore. I know i'll come back for sure to explore even more.
*this article was posted on my Tumblr on June 2015
French Premium Vodka, Grey Goose was launching new The Grey Goose VX vodka and i was lucky to be invited. Launch party was in newly refurbished building of boutique Hotel Sea Containers by Mondrian at London's southbank. Invitation also mentioned surprise so i was pretty excited.
Sea Containers is a beautiful new hotel, party was in the rooftop bar called Rumpus Room that offers spectacular views of London. Welcome drink cocktail and all other drinks were obviously made from GG vodka. The Grey Goose VX is a special vodka finished with a hint of precious cognac. It does makes sense to try it as they are both from same part of France.
Party was running well when suddenly I've noticed familiar face and i couldn't believe it first. Two of my favourite band Clean Bandit singers were standing right next to me. Then i realised, that's the surprise :)
What followed was amazing private concert of Clean Bandit supported with Jess Glyne.