Travel

It reads like a Hollywood movie script, ‘hometown girl skies to victory on the very slopes where she learnt to ski as a child, before going on to become the Alpine World Cup Ski champion’. Well this is not fiction but the true story of Petra Vlhova, who made history by becoming the first person in Slovakia to win the overall title.

“You look nervous?” stated the doctor’s assistant at AquaCity, as I stood beside the cryotherapy chamber waiting to enter; my answer was unequivocally “yes!”. The resort is one of Slovakia’s premier health and well-being complexes based in Poprad, a city nestled beneath the High Tatras Mountains.

Sure enough, a week later I was back. Having previously recorded my experience of Kefalonia’s northern niches in Fiscardo and southern shores in Lourdata I just had to complete my exploration of the island and the western waves of Paliki.

As a peninsula Paliki is wonderful to drive around. I hired a car from Rentcarkefalonia (www.rentcarkefalonia.gr/en) run by the charming and unruffled Apostolis. It was perfect to escape all those airport interiors and queues by walking literally a minute away down a dappled lane dappled with trees.

Within two weeks I was back! This time to the southern half, beneath her mountainous ridge, her bays of golden sand and her view of the neighbouring island of Zante.
The water is family-friendly as it slopes gradually to its depths under a smooth flooring of sand. The vivid colours of the blue sky, the Cézanne-style white rocks and brown earth all protrude in sharp, pronounced definition.

There are rare moments in life where you can tangibly see the enormity of “Mother Nature” and feel incredibly small set against such an epic landscape. This is what I experienced as I stood looking upon the crystal clear water of Lomnicky Pleso (Mountain Lake) from a rocky outcrop at around 1,800m. Reflected in the glacial waters was Slovakia’s second tallest peak Lomnicky Stit at 2,634m, just one more cable car journey away.

At the time of writing for those coming from England Kefalonia’s one of the few free from Covid quarantine restrictions and still eligible for the ‘travel corridor’.

The Rolls Royce Dawn two-door convertible in Powder Blue is sleek, attractive and comfortable. The ideal car for a luxury tour of the Loire Valley, via Paris and Fontainebleau.

Rolls Royce are shedding their chauffeur-driven image, producing luxury tourers that are comfortable on long journeys. So I decided to test it with a thousand-mile plus drive across to France.

Everything was planned at the last minute as Covid restrictions in the UK were bouncing up and down faster than a bumbling Prime Minister caught on a zip wire.

Bavaria's Minister-President Markus Söder stated "It is the biggest and most beautiful beer festival in the world", he was of course talking about Munich’s Oktoberfest, when announcing its cancellation for 2020, which usually takes place between September 19th and 4th October.  

Jacques Gregoire’s landscapes capture a spirit of a time and place for a solo exhibition at the Osborne Studio Gallery from 15TH TO 26TH September   (www.osg.uk.com). 

Exclusivity, privacy, active adventure, spending more time outside, safe environments and the constant pursuit of ‘new experiences’ are changing traveller and guest preferences in the wake of COVID-19. At the higher end of the market, the travel industry has seen a rise in private jet travel due to the renewed focus on personal health and hygiene.