The situation in the world has reminded me - and I know many others - how special it is to travel to wonderful places and stay in beautiful hotels.
Just a bit of fun to share and inspire pictures and stories from the great hotels of the world.
Great being defined as unique and special - and not necessarily expensive!
Stopped at some amazing Safari Lodges, the one in the Matthews Mountains had this as a view from the dining room
You could watch the elephants…
My wife and I love Aman hotels - www.aman.com - they are, in our opinions, amongst the absolute best in the world.
We’ve been to quite a few - these were from our most recent trip to Sri Lanka. There are two Aman properties there - Amangalla in Galle, and Amawella in Tangalle on the south coast, which is just beautiful…
This is Amanwella…
My ‘’ tent’’ in Samburu National Park , complete with bucket showers (never moved so fast in years) .
Sadly not a patch on the last tent I had in Samburu which came with a bidet with gold plated taps
Here is Amangalla - in the Galle’s Historic Fort on the South West corner of Sri Lanka…
A wonderful historic building turned into a super special hotel by Aman. Any England (or SL!) cricket fans will have seen lots of aerial shots of it during the recent test matches in Galle.
We were lucky enough to spend NYE 2019 there.
Always fancied a glam tent in the bush - but yes, bracing I’m sure!
It was superb, Elephant Watch Camp in Samburu, stayed at some stunning hotels, my three favourites. Two lodges, one hotel
Elephant Watch Camp - Kenya
Londolozi - South Africa
Corinthia Palace - Malta
The quality of the hotel is about 50% of the battle, the other 50% is the warmth of the welcome and all three hit the bar and sail over it like an Olympic pole vaulter
We had a great time staying at Faja Lobi in Ghent. It has a B&B above the café, which has a great line in Surinamese food, and a beer list to die for. It’s bang in the centre and you can sit on the balcony and watch the world go by.
City breaks are great for a few nights but after a while hotels drive me a bit nuts. Most of the time we take our own hotel with us.
I like to think I know a bit about world cuisine, but I have literally no idea?!?
The owners have some link, and raise lots of money for education, sanitation and so on. The food is hard to describe, lots of rice. You must go. It’s hardly swanky but a lot of fun and the staff are lovely. You get a key on arrival and hand it back when you leave, so it’s like being in your own house. I can’t bear having to leave dollars on the pillow every morning for underpaid hotel staff and much prefer the simple places where you can sit and chat with the owners rather than constantly tipping some uniformed flunkey.
The Mercer is a lovely Boutique Hotel in Sevilla. All FlexForm Sofas and Oluce lights in the public areas…
“Allocated on Arrival” 
A few years back we stayed at the Ritz Carlton Abama in Tenerife which had a nice adult only pool. The service was excellent, though as you might expect it was pricey.
Wow - LOOK at those colours! 
Le Normandy stayed there in 1987 - first trip to Deauville. Fell in love with the place and bought a house there.
Sounds lovely! 
Now that is absolutely stunning Matt
