Pretty Little Luxembourg Luxembourg City has a bad rap. Some friends and I were planning a trip to visit Christmas markets and spend two days leisurely poking around in a new European city. When deciding on a location for this weekend romp Lux had a lot to recommend it - a fantastic deal on rooms at the swanky Sofitel just a short walk from the center of town, frequent and cheap direct flights from London City airport, and more Michelin starred restaurants per capita than anywhere else on earth. I was convinced but absolutely everyone to whom I mentioned this plan [View Full Entry]

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Spanish Summit Challenge The Challenge: Climb to the Peak of Mulhacén The Ascent: 2200m; The Summit: 3482m The Charity: Shooting Star Children's' Hospice In late September I flew to Spain with a group from work to undertake another charity hiking challenge. (The previous one was in the highlands of Scotland a year ago.) The challenge this time was to trek to the top of Mulhacén, the highest mountain on the Iberian Peninsula in the Sierra Nevada range. The only peaks in Europe that are higher are found in the Alps and the Caucasus Mountains. We flew into Malaga and drove two [View Full Entry]

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My birthday falls conveniently during the last bank holiday weekend of the summer and as this year was the big 3-0 a fun weekend away was warranted (as if I ever need an excuse to plan a trip with friends). Krakow was a random but, as it turns out, inspired choice. It was the perfect combination of beautiful, historic, charming and inexpensive. Nine friends and I spent three days exploring this enchanting city and left no pierogi (or flavored vodka) untasted. Worth a Visit Wawel Hill - On the left bank of the Vistula River rises Wawel Hill which is said [View Full Entry]

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The Edinburgh Festival, combined with the Fringe Festival which has grown up around it, is a world famous performing arts festival which showcases the best in stand up comedy, theatre, music and more. I caught the last weekend of the festival with a group of friends from London (thanks to Simon for organizing such a brilliant weekend!) and we had a cracking time. The atmosphere in Edinburgh during the festival is electric - on every corner there are artists passing out fliers to their shows and the Royal Mile is overtaken by street performers, fire eaters, acrobats, singers and magicians. On [View Full Entry]

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My dear friend Hannah - who I've known for the better part of a decade - is leaving Europe. She's been living just outside Cologne for the past year and she spent a couple of years in Brussels and was studying in Frankfurt before that (with a lot of time spent in Africa in between) so moving back to the U.S. is a big change for her. As her departure date neared, Hannah planned one last blow-out weekend in Germany with her expat friends and we descended on the charming city of Cologne from London, Edinburgh and Brussels. We weren't the [View Full Entry]

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The best thing about working on Russian deals is making friends who are willing to show me around their beautiful and fascinating country. Trips to Moscow and St. Petersburg were a great start but last weekend we went further off the beaten path to visit the relatives of a friend in the remote Caucasus Mountains, as far west and south as you can go in Russia before reaching Chechnya and the Georgian border. We flew from Moscow to Mineralnye Vody (literally, "Mineral Water") which is adjacent to the town of Kislovodsk whose claims to fame are mud spas, hot springs and [View Full Entry]

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Ten years ago, during the summer of 1999, I made my first trip to Paris. I have been back many times since then but this trip marked my first return to the most famous of Parisian landmarks - the Eiffel Tower. Last Saturday morning Malinda and I made our way over to the 7th arrondissement and half climbed, half rode up to the highest viewing platform. We were rewarded with gorgeous views of Paris - it was a beautifully clear and sunny day - and a glass of champagne at the top. We followed that up with a stroll along the [View Full Entry]

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For the long Easter weekend a friend and I traveled to the least trumpeted of the Balearic Islands off the west coast of Spain, Menorca. Menorca is Ibiza and Mallorca's small, unassuming neighbor to the north. For a couple of friends looking to de-stress and unwind, it was the perfect island getaway. We rented a car and spent four days crisscrossing the tiny isle familiarizing ourselves with its cute beach hamlets and its two biggest towns, Port Mao and Ciutadella. There is enough of interest to keep you occupied for a long weekend but not so much that you feel pressured [View Full Entry]

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Beautiful town in the Italian Alps + good italian food + good friends + much improved snowboarding = a triumphant snow boarding weekend Courmayeur, a quaint and tiny Italian ski town at the foot of Mont Blanc, was the site of this year's ski trip. Last year when I went to Switzerland my snowboarding skills were fledgling at best. I had a patient and brilliant coach but still got frustrated quickly, fell constantly and wore myself out because I was fighting the board so much. Before this year's trip I was determined to have a little better handle on the sport. [View Full Entry]

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My friend Garron (whom you may remember from our travels together during the summer of 2006 and my visit to Rwanda in December 2007) has been living in Trinidad for the last year and invited a bunch of us to join him there for their biggest celebration of the year - Carnival! I used to automatically think of Rio de Janeiro and maybe New Orleans in connection with mardi gras celebrations but, as I have recently learned, Trinidad plays host to the greatest carnival on earth every year and when they're not celebrating it they're reminiscing about last year or preparing [View Full Entry]

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