Sights and Sounds of London

A group of Brownell travel advisors have just returned from 4 days of travel in London, England! Read all about their travels below:

Day 1: After an early morning arrival of 7:00AM, we were met by Lewis Day Chauffer for our private transfer to our home for the next 4 nights, The Milestone Hotel. With a quick freshen up and light breakfast and introduction, we made our way through “The Tube”, aka – the London Underground Train, to the Hop-On/Hop-Off site seeing bus. It was a great way to glean an overview for the city.

Following our orientation tour of London on the big red bus, we met back at The Milestone for afternoon tea and champagne. We had a quick site inspection where we learned and saw that every room in The Milestone is completely different – i.e. set up, décor, size, color, etc.

Here we are having afternoon tea and champagne!:
For dinner, we were hosted at The Chesterfield Mayfair, another jewel in the Red Carnation Hotel Collection. We did a walk through of the hotel before enjoying our fabulous dinner with Oliver Raggett, General Manager of the property. We then crashed at our hotel to get some rest before all there was to see the next day!

Day 2: Our day began with another early breakfast at The Milestone Hotel, followed by an intense day of sight seeing- beginning with a walk across the street to Kensington Palace then over to Sir John Soane’s Museum. We walked to The Montague, another of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection, for a site inspection and a fabulous lunch hosted by Dirk Crokaert, the General Manager.

Here is one of our group, Rene Steele, in front of Kensington Palace:

With full stomachs, we made our way to the British Museum where we saw the Babylon Exhibit and were lucky enough to have a private introduction by the Curator, Dr. Jonathan Taylor. We then went to the Victoria & Albert Museum and toured the “Magnificence of the Tsars” exhibit that housed traditional outfits from women’s nightgowns to evening gowns, and even robes of the royal family.

By the time we had completed our museum sights, it was time for cocktails! We were invited to The Egerton House Hotel to enjoy authentic “Martinis by Antonio” who is a LEGEND in London. He makes his martinis SO full and sets it down in front of you and makes you take your first few sips with no hands. After martinis & hors d’oeurves we had a site inspection then all headed off to the Tower of London for an exclusive viewing of the Ceremony of the Keys, arranged by Susie Noteworthy of The Noteworthy Group.

Day 3: To begin yet another whirlwind day, we had breakfast at The Milestone before going to The Cabinet War Rooms. This is where Sir Winston Churchill and his cabinet met during World War II. This underground bunker was the government's home and meeting space for several months during World War II. It was incredible to see! We were given a private tour by the executive director and were taken behind the glass in several rooms including the main meeting room where we took a group photo.

After making our way through the interactive Churchill museum at The Cabinet War Rooms, we took a quick walk next door to watch The Changing of the Guards at the Horse Guards.

We took a lovely walk through St. James' Park, with a brief look at the Guard's Chapel as we made our way to The Ruben’s and 41 for site inspections and lunch at the B Bar where we dined on authentic South African Cuisine. Yum!

After lunch, we headed to the London Eye. As if we weren’t convinced that London was one of the most beautiful cities, we boarded our own private capsule on The London Eye for a birds eye view of the city. From there, we made our way to The House of Parliament for a private tour with one of the queen’s body guards. We saw both the House of Lords and the House of Commons and learned about the history of this form of government.

We concluded our evening with a lovely final dinner at The Milestone Hotel, and we were surprised by a special visit to the Royal Albert Opera House to see the famous opera Carmen!

Day 4: A day of intense site inspections began with breakfast at The Goring with David Morgan-Hewitt, then on to The Stafford Hotel, The Ritz London, The Capital/Levin, Royal Hide Park and The Collingham Apartments.

Here are advisors Clayton Trotter and Rene Steele with David Morgan at The Goring:

That afternoon we were free to explore the city on our own. We all went in different directions to take in the last hours in the city.

It was a whirlwind trip, but we all learned a ton and had a blast seeing so much of London!

To learn more about Brownell Travel or our luxury travel advisors, click here. To contact one of our England travel specialists or learn more about travel through England, click here.

Skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland

Alysia Hopper is a luxury travel advisor for Sterling Brownell. She has just returned from an incredible week of skiing in Switzerland. Read on for her review.

My husband and I visited Zermatt this February for a week to celebrate a friend's 40th. We rented a chalet called Chalet ZEN. Here is a view from the steps of the chalet:

The Chalet was a great way to go with its own private chef, butler, massage therapist, housekeeping staff etc. The rate included homemade breakfast each day and dinner each night as well as champagne reception upon arrival and every night after skiing. It was an incredible experience and I would highly recommend it to families and groups of friends.

We skied under the Matterhorn and ate ourselves silly! The food there was truly incredible; there are 38 on mountain gourmet restaurants. They even have a ski in/out "champagne bar" serving Veuve Clicquot by the glass. Check out this "Swiss martini"!

Zermatt is a pedestrian only village and is truly picturesque.I would highly recommend it as a ski destination to anyone...especially if they love to eat. It was perhaps the best food I have ever had on vacation; it even beat living in Italy (and that's about the highest compliment I cangive):)!

To learn more about ski travel or Switzerland, please contact Alysia by clicking here.

February in South America!

Betty Worthy Strahan, a luxury travel advisor for Sterling Brownell and husband, Bob, spent the month of February traveling in South America. Here is a quick look at all of their adventures and fabulous photos!

My husband and I just returned from a fabulous trip to South America! Here is a quick rundown of all the wonderful experiences we had:

We started in Buenos Aires and had incredible experiences in Argentina. Here is a beautiful pic from Buenos Aires:

A private tour of the Evita Museum in Buenos Aires and a visit to the Caminito (La Boca’s artists district and marketplace), dinner at La Cabana (famous Orient Express steak house in BA), an evening at a tango show, and an awesome visit to both the Argentine and Brazilian sides of Iguazu Falls, were among our favorite experiences in Argentina.

Here is a picture of the falls:

We boarded the Oceania Insignia from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and sailed 1657 nautical miles, with port calls in Montevideo and Punta del Este, Uruguay, Rio Grande, Santos (Sao Paulo), Parati, Ilha Grande, Buzios, and finally Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Shore excursions included visits to coffee museums, art museums, wineries, historical cathedrals and ancient chapels, fishing villages, beaches and rides aboard a steam train.

Beautiful weather in Rio de Janeiro allowed a narrow gauge train ride to the top of the Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer) Mountain with awesome views of the city. Another beautiful day allowed a cable car ride to the top of Sugar Loaf and a spectacular view of Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches.

You can see the beautiful view of Sugar Loaf mountain below:

Staying in Orient Express Hotel’s Copacabana Palace allowed a short walk across the street for a visit to the famous beach! To complete the visit to Rio, an evening at the Samba and folkloric show were a must – just prior to beginning of Carnival in Rio!!! After Rio, clients traveling with us on this portion of the trip flew back home, and new clients met us in Lima, Peru, to begin the fabulous trip to Lima, Cusco & Machu Picchu with A&K. Staying in all Orient Express Hotel properties (Miraflores Park Hotel in Lima, Hotel Monasterio Del Cuzco in Cuzco, The Sanctuary Lodge in Machu Picchu) for the entire trip added to the experience—all are fabulous. Visiting “The Labyrinth” (an Inca shrine dedicated to the Earth Mother, and the small fortress of Puka Pukara) in Cuzco, visiting the Sacred Valley, the Urubanba Valley, a visit to Hacienda Huayo Ccari for a special private lunch, a visit to Awanakancha (vicunas, guanacos, llamas, alpacas are bred and fabulous alpaca and llama handwoven pieces created here) were among the highlights in Cuzco.

Here we are halfway up Machu Picchu:

A fabulous ride aboard the Hiram Bingham train from Cuzco to Machu Picchu was just the beginning of the very special experiences which lay ahead – a private guided visit to this archeological wonder built by the ancient civilization of Incas – was both unbelievable and inspiring. Below is a "magic" fountain built by the Incas:

Our group in front of the Hiram Bingham:

After this excursion, we headed back to Cuzco aboard the Hiram Bingham with a gourmet evening meal and another night at Hotel Monasterio. The next morning we took a flight back to Lima, and enjoyed the very special treat of a private visit to a local Hacienda, where we had lunch and an exhibition of Peruvian Paso Fino horses, before boarding our late-night (early morning) flight back to Atlanta. A VERY SPECIAL TRIP!

To learn more about travel to South America, contact Betty by clicking here! To learn more about Sterling Brownell or Brownell Travel and our luxury travel advisors, click here.