USA June 2012

USA June 2012

This is our first big trip for 2012.  The plan was simple.  Fly to Hawaii, then to San Diego to stay with my sister, drive up the coast road to Carmel, meet up with the Teed-Up golfing tour, then fly back to Hawaii for two nights and home.

The first leg we stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort on the Oahu north coast.  Great resort and we played two rounds of golf. The first was on the easier Fazio course and I managed to beat Vivienne 39-38 so avoiding any chance of being bagelled.  On the second day we played the harder Palmer course and Vivienne again beat her handicap (26) with 37 points but I did not (and my handicap is 26 as well).

We then flew to San Diego to stay with my sister.  We did the tourist bit by visiting the Midway Aircraft Carrier and had two meals.  The first at The Fish Market was average but the second at the just opened Brooklyn Girl Bistro in Mission Hills was fantastic.  Well worth the trip if you are in San Diego.  We saw a great musical The Scottsboro Boys.  Finally I bought a new RocketballZ Driver and Hi-loft 3 wood.  What happened is that we had gone to a golf shop to buy some balls for Vivienne when I saw that Taylormade was offering a 50% trade in for old clubs.  As I was travelling with a battered R7 at least 6 years old and an even older Cobra 3 wood, I thought this was a fantastic offer and rushed back the next day.  It turns out the offer was actually 50% extra on the trade in value of the clubs.  The 3 wood was valued at $0 and the R7 at $4 so my trade in was actually $6 which of course I claimed.

We then did the drive up US1 from San Diego to Carmel in a day.  We should have spent 3 days to do it justice.  However a friend of my sister Wendy, Madeleine, suggested that we stay at the Bernardus Lodge in Carmel. Not cheap but then when you are met in reception with a glass of pinot noir, and your mini bar comprises wines from the winery and it is all complimentary you end up thinking life is beautiful.  We spent a three days mooching around Carmel and Monterey.  We ate at Wills Fargo the first night (steakhouse 5/10), Marius the second (10/10) and Le St Tropez in Carmel (8/10).  My sister and Madeleine flew up to Monterey from San Diego in the evening and that night we closed the bar at The Hogs Breath Inn which was originally owned by Clint Eastwood.

The next day Wendy dropped us off at the luxurious Pebble Beach Lodge where we started our golf tour with Teed-Up.  We played the Links at Spanish Bay and Pebble Beach which is almost hallowed ground for most golfers.  We ate at the Tap Room at Pebble Beach which is the golfers bar par excellence for two nights.  The ambience was great; my golf mediocre.  However we then moved up to San Francisco playing Pasatiempo, Cinnabar Hills and Bodega Bay.  We stayed at the Fairmont Hotel at the top of Nob Hill which is an historic and great hotel.  We ate at Venticello and the Nob Hill Cafe which are near the hotel and great restaurants.  We also had a meal in Chinatown at Hunan Homes which was very good.  We went to the 2^nd and final days of the Open at Olympic Park.  The course was very tough and winner Webb Simpson won with 1 over par.  On the final day we watched the field go through at the third hole.  68 players, only nine birdies and Tiger shot a double bogey to the stunned silence of the spectators.  The hole was a downhill par 3 and most players were hitting a 6 or 7 iron.  My big golf day was at Cinnebar Hills where I won the comp for day which was worth $100 and with which I bought a US open 100% Pima cotton golf shirt for only $92.

We missed out on the final day’s golf because my Resmed mask broke and I had to get a replacement.  This proved a challenge but there is nothing like turning up at a sleep centre and presenting a tale of woe.  I got a brand new sleep mask from the lab for nothing and peace was restored for the rest of holiday.  The previous night I had slept on the floor in the hallway.

We flew back to Hawaii and spent two nights at the Sheraton Princess Kalulani at Waikiki.  Geoff Thomas had recommended staying there saying it was inexpensive because it was set back from the beach but said the trick was to then go the Happy Hours at the beachside hotels which you could afford because you saved money on the accommodation.  The people staying at the Princess were certainly a different demographic.  We did Happy Hours at the Moana Surfrider and the Halekulani and ate a great Italian, Il Lupino.

All in all a great trip.  We were very lucky with the weather and thank goodness the A$ remained at relative parity with the US$!

Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence website: www.thehummhandbook.com Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgolis blog: blogs.bnetau.com.au/aussierules/category/improving-your-eq/ mobile: +61-418-222219

Italy 2011

 

For our next holidays Vivienne had decided that she wanted to have a cappuccino in Italy for our next holiday so being a man who always listens to his wife off we went.  We prepared by taking Italian lessons and I read four of the detective novels by Donna Leon which I can highly recommend.  They are set in Venice and give a good insight into the Italian character.

We flew Austrian Airlines, who were giving the best deal in business class, and started with three days in Vienna staying at the Nestroy Wien arriving early in the morning.  I had missed out on a trip to a Heuringer Inn the last time we went and this time I was determined to go.  So off we went taking the tram on a Friday afternoon to Heiligenstadt a pretty village outside Vienna.  Unfortunately no inns were open (they open around 5pm) and Beethhoven's house was closed.  We found a pub called Joe's Sports Bar, had ham and eggs for lunch and returned to Vienna city.

After that inauspicious start we had a great time.  We had done the major sights last time in Vienna so this trip we went to the Albertina Museum and Schloss Belvedere.  Both times we had lunch at the museum restaurants which were very good, particularly the Albertina.  The other highlight was attending a concert on Saturday night at the Hofburg Palace.  There are a number of kitsch concerts offered in Vienna but this was terrific.  No quasi Mozart costumes and the hall was packed with about 80% of the audience local Austrians.  A great night.

Monday we flew to Italy, hired a car and GPS and started our trip.  The first part was comprised 5 nights ticking boxes in the bucket list.  We visited Perugia, Assisi, Urbino, Ravenna and Bologna.  We soon learnt the drill which was to drive straight into the town to the hotels, disregarding any signs saying restricted entry.  We unloaded luggage and got permission from the hotel to park in the centre, and generally overnight parking at 33% of the cost.  The order of the day was arrive at the hotel in the afternoon, freshen up, walk the town and perhaps see one sight, have a drink watching the passegiata, dinner, wake up the next morning, see a sight, check-out and drive to the next town over lunchtime.  Ratings are out of 5

Town	Hotel	Restaurant	Sight
Perugia	Brufini Palace 5	La Taverna 10/5 best meal we had in Italy	National Gallery of Umbria 5
Assisi	La Fortezza 4 great if you like hills	La Fortezza 4	Duomo – lots of catholics great Giotto frescos
Urbino	Italia 4	La Taverna del Leone 4	Palazzo Ducale 5
Ravenna	Centrale Byron 4	Capello 1 overpriced and not that good	The mosaics 10/5
Bologna	Orlogio  4		Plazza Magiore 5

All the above towns are worth a visit but I was particularly taken with Ravenna.

The next stop was Segrimonio in Monte a small village outside Lucca where we were staying in a luxury farmhouse complex with two other couples from England, our good friends the Arnolds and Mayers.  We took trips to Pisa (must see but lots of tourists) , Viareggio, Barga, Villa Reale and walked the walls of Lucca.  We had three great meals: Osteria Veccio Pazzo near Villa Reale, Restaurant Ricardo in Barga, and Osteria Baralla.  Everyone recommends Trattoria de Leo and it was packed when we went but I thought it overrated.  However to me the highlight of the stay in Lucca (along with the town itself) was having three evening meals in the villa dining al fresco in the Italian style.  Ann and Jan did great final meal and I cooked everyone an Australian BBQ and my spaghetti bolognaise.  The weather was brilliant, blue skies 35 degrees plus during the day and 25 degrees plus in the evening.

We then took off to Amalfi staying in the centre at the Hotel Lidomare.  The drive along the Amalfi coast was spectacular, if somewhat tortuous.  The original plan was to use Amalfi as a base and drive to various locations.  However we decided two drives along the coast was going to be enough (one in and one out) so we ending up changing our schedule.  We took a coach up to Ravello the first day, boat trips to Capri and Positano the next two, and stayed in Amalfi for the fourth.  Capri was probably the highlight (think Mykonos with Italian style) but the other places all had their highlights.  Unfortunately the Blue Grotto in Capri was closed because of the weather but we had a good lunch at Verginello.  We lunch at the Cafe Bruno in Positano (the fish antipasto and view are brilliant).  Amalfi is more of town and has a good passegiata.  We had two great meals at Il Tari and the Trattoria de Gemma is worth a visit (but reserve a table if you want to eat on the balcony.)

Then it was on to the final leg: Rome.  On the way we up we stopped at Pompeii.  Unfortunately when we arrived the ticket collectors were on strike and although we tried to game the system by going to another entrance (and failing miserably) we finally got in along with another 10,000 tourists.  I was disappointed with Pompeii which comprises lots of red brick ruins.  The good stuff (the mosaics and frescos) have all been moved.

Using the web I had found an apartment to rent Vibiana owned by an Australian, Jennifer Pudney, who was a former lecturer in English literature at La Sapienza University founded in 1303 and the largest university in Europe.  The apartment was located near Termini rail station, on the junction of Vias Bixio and Giovanni Giolitti.  Gritty is how would describe the area but the apartment was clean and spacious and inexpensive and close to the university area in San Lorenzo. 

The first day we hired a guide, Peter Kilby, on the recommendation of a golfing associate Charles Vowell.  You can learn about Peter at the following website http://www.perfectraveller.com/.  He picked us up at 10am (somewhat bemused at our location as I am sure most of his clients stay around the Spanish Steps and took us on walk around the less visited places in Rome.  He is very informative and very good.

He has also a number of audio files which on his website which you can download.

On our tour we covered some of the Pigna Rione walk and the Capitoline Museums in the Piazza del Campidoglio.  My favourite story from the walk is that the unbelievable bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius on his horse (copy in the square original inside) was only saved from melting down by a Pope was because for centuries the Catholic Church thought it was a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor.  Any we had a great time in particular visiting a number of churches that are famous in history but relatively free from tourists.  The next day we went to the Galleria Borghese using Peter’s tapes as our audio guide.  The two tapes are probably his best in that he takes you to the major sites in the museum (you are only allowed in for two hours) and gives a tremendous insight in to detail of the sculptures and paintings.  You must book on the internet before you go the Galleria Borghese – we went on Saturday and people were going there to be told the next admittance time was Tuesday.  Even if you don’t use Peter personally, if you are going to Rome, download his Galleria Borghese tapes and go there.

We then ticked off various sights.  We went to the Colesseum, which had a queue over kilometre long.  The trick as outlined in Lonely Planet is to first go to the Palantine (10 people in the queue), buy the joint ticket, walk through the Palentine park and then straight into the Colosseum  The Trevi fountain was packed, standing room only, but we threw in our coins.  The Pantheon is well worth a visit.  Piazza Farnesi is stunning, Piazza Navona and Campo De Fiori have degenerated into tackiness.  We went across the Tiveri river to visit Castel San. Angelo but given the number of tourists in Rome we decided to give the Vatican a miss.  On our last day we visited the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme which holds the finest collection of Roman remains in Italy.  Only a smattering of visitors but probably one of the finest collections of statues, mosaics and frescos I have ever seen.  You really got an insight how rich and opulent Roman society and how much the decline into the dark ages really was.

So there you are; four weeks in Italy and we did not visit Venice, Florence or the Vatican.  It was hot but thankfully we were there when the A$ was at a high so relatively cheap.  Great trip and I now have Italy out of my system.

Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence website: www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgolis blog: blogs.bnetau.com.au/aussierules/category/improving-your-eq/ mobile: +61-418-222219

Hawaii & San Diego May 2011

This was a trip borne out of the Australian dollar’s new found strength.  Each year I try to visit my sister’s family in San Diego.  This year I had not worked out a trip when suddenly I discovered that Hawaiian Airlines flies direct from Sydney to Honolulu and then flies direct from Honolulu to San Diego.  Thus we would miss LAX.  When the A$ broke though parity I decided, like nearly every Sydneysider I know, why waste the opportunity to travel?

So I suddenly organised a trip: Kauai (5 nights), San Diego (6) and Maui (3) playing 7 games of golf with Vivienne.

In Kauai we stayed at the St. Regis Princeville overlooking Hanalei Bay, easily one of the best hotels and most spectacular locations I have ever seen.  As you have breakfast on the terrace, you see rainbows on the mountains.  I have put some photos up on Picasa.

My wife and I play stableford against each other and we played Makai, Poipu Bay and Makai again.  Both are terrific courses: Makai has just been renovated and you play Poipu Bay back 9 along the cliffs.  Vivienne won all three games and I will say in passing that her handicap is 25 and mine is 24..  We generally ate at the St. Regis Hotel but had two great meals outside.  First was at The Eastside in Kapaa and is highly recommended.  We also had drinks and a meal at Neide's Salsa and Samba.  This has had far more mixed reviews on Trip Advisor but after a game a golf, and four Happy Hour margaritas at $6 each, any meal would have tasted great.  After its renovations Makai is now a great course and another highlight was seeing a baby albatross.

We then flew to San Diego and spent 6 nights with my sister’s family.  She threw a party on Sunday which was night Bin Laden was shot.  When I said this would guarantee Obama’s election half the party (Republicans) left.  The only restaurant we used was The Prado at Bilboa Park which is part of the Cohn Restaurant Group which I had never heard of but I understand is quite successful in the USA.  It is good pub and recommended.  It was a good week to be in the US  with the Royal wedding of Will & Kate, Trump’s collapse over the birth certificate and then the Bin Laden shooting.

We played two rounds at Torrey Pines which is another PGA course spectacularly set along the California coastline.  Great course, small greens with quite ferocious rough very close to the greens.  You have to use a ‘flop’ shot to lob shot out of the rough and then stay on the green.  Phil Mickelson is the master of this shot and once you have played Torrey Pines and realised this is the course he learned to play golf you understand while he is so good at it.  Vivienne again beat me but even funnier was we were playing with two other golfers on the first day from interstate.  On the back nine Vivienne scored 20 points while the other two both picked up on six holes.  Parting words “we were not just beaten out there by your wife, we were crushed.”

Back in Hawaii, we stayed three nights at Kapulea villas, again on the northeast corner of Maui.  We played the Plantation Course twice which is equally spectacular and another PGA course.  Appleby has won three times here and Ogilvy twice.  The weather, which in Kauii and San Diego had been beautiful, turned turbulent.  It was warm, but windy and showery so carts were restricted to the paths.  Finally I broke through and beat my wife and repeated the win the next day.  So I wasn’t bagelled which after the first 5 rounds was becoming a distinct possibility.

On the food front we ate the first night at the Bay Tree at the Ritz Carlton which was pretty good but the next two nights at the Pineapple Grill which was excellent.  The Pineapple Grill is also run by Cohn group and is a great pub.  The service is exceptional.  I left my credit card in the bill folder and they tracked me back to our villa within 30  minutes to go back and collect it.

Summing up a great trip, made even better by the weather.  Kauii is the wettest place in the USA, with 11.7 metres of rain on Mt. Waialeale.  Sydney gets 1.2 metres per year.  My sister went on her second honeymoon and had 5 days of non-stop torrential rain which is why she lives in San Diego which gets 0.3m annual rain.

Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence
website: www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgolis
blog: blogs.bnetau.com.au/aussierules/category/improving-your-eq/ mobile: +61-418-222219

UK July 2010

You can see some pictures here at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/cgolisau/UK2010#

We arrived in London on Wednesday June 23 via Bangkok and Frankfurt on Lufthansa (great deal and good service).  Immediately getting into the swing of things Virginia (Vivienne’s sister) and Pierre (husband) hosted a dinner party attended by a number of Vivienne’s old Welsh friends.  This was the first of 30 non-alcoholic free nights.

The next day I had lunch with Ken Ghata at the Travellers Club in London.  Ken not only bought my book but also has recommended it. 
After lunch I went to the British Library at Kings Cross which I confess is unappealing building on the outside but it had a wonderful exhibition called Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art which was recommended in the Australian Financial Review.

That evening we caught up with the Mayers and Arnolds at Annies
Just behind Strand-on-the Green which has become a local institution which serves excellent tucker.

On Friday we drove down to Cornwall to the cottage we had rented at Rinsey Cove.  Lovely cottage and combined with great weather meant it was a terrific 7 days.  (The irony was that the owners were in Sydney freezing to death).   Rinsey Cove is between Porthleven and Penszance.  We walked to Porthleven (3.5 miles) finishing with a Newlyn crab salad at The Ship Inn, and then went back another day to watch England be humiliated by Germany at The Harbour Inn.  Other highlights were watching West Side Story at the Minack Theatre.  which is a open air theatre on the Cornwall coast.  This brought back memories because in July 1968 I acted on the Minack stage in The Crucible in the major role of Judge Hathorne. We did the other tourist things such as visiting St. Michaels Mount and the seal sanctuary.  On the tennis front After halving the first day 1 set each Pierre  beat me the second day in a titanic set 8-6.  However the best memory for me was sitting out in the garden in the afternoon or evening, sipping rose and enjoying a very pleasant meal conversation. 

After the week in Cornwall we started on our drive to Edinburgh.  First stop was Gurrow Point, home of Peter Mackie and Sally in Dittisham Devon.  Dittisham was described by the Times as the best riverfront village in Britain and Gurrow Point comprises a magnificent house in 80 acres at least a kilometre of prime river frontage.  Sally and Peter were terrific hosts and besides a great lunch and dinner, it turned out that an old boyfriend of Vivienne’s and his wife were running a B&B across the river so the next day we hopped in the boat and motored across for coffee.

We then spent a night in Bath, eating at the Beaujolais Bistro Bar which was absolutely buzzing.  The Lonely Planet guide to Britain says if you have only one day in the UK then the place to visit is Bath.  As an old Sulian few things beat walking around Bath on bright, sunny Sunday morning around the Circus and Royal Crescent and then strolling through Victoria Park.

We visited my parents’ grave and then went on to the Vale of Glamorgan to visit the graves of Vivienne’s parents.  We stayed the night at the The Great Barn Guest House, Lillypot, Bonvilston,  which is run by Nina Sue and David, again related to Vivienne.  The Great Barn is a great place to stay.  That night we had dinner with Vivienne’s good friend Jane Taylor at a Loch Fyne restaurant on the Cowbridge bypass.  While it has had mixed reviews our meal wasn’t bad.

We then went to meet Nick Gomershall and his partner Brigitte at The Oxfordshire Golf Club for a game of golf followed by a great BBQ at his home.  Again a terrific meal followed the next day doing some video clips etc.  Nick distributes Empathy Selling in the UK. 

That night we went to dinner at the Sir Charles Napier pub in Chinnor.  This is one of the great pubs of England; the food and scuptures were brilliant.  Napier was the man who, after relieving the siege of Sind, sent Queen Victoria a telegram reading simply ‘peccavi’ or I have sinned.   Nick (a former LBS alumni) and JoJo Cross were also came and we had a fabulous night with yours truly finding some great bargains on the wine list.  We had a superb Argentinean Malbec for only £19.

The next day we drove to the Lake District.  We spent two nights at The Punchbowl Inn in Crosthwaite
This pub was voted the best pub in England by readers of The Times and 2009 Pub of the Year by the Michelin Guide.  The food and ambiance were again excellent..  This was followed by one night at The Drunken Duck in Ambleside. 
Personally I would have rated it on a par with the Punchbowl.  Either way both pubs are well worth a visit.  Neither Vivienne nor I, despite growing up in Britain, had never visited the Lake District. It must be the most attractive area in England, and now I understand why the Romantic Poets loved it.  Of course the weather must be a challenge but that did not seem to stop the walkers who were everywhere.  We did our walking playing golf at the Windemere Golf Course.

Finally we made our way to Edinburgh which again was a first visit for both of us.  Edinburgh is certainly worth a visit but by now we were in northern latitudes and the weather was noticeably bleaker and the days longer.  The sun rose at 4:30am and set around 10pm.
We now commenced the playing of golf starting with 4 rounds in 4 days at Carnoustie (very tough), Gullane (easier but not by much), North Berwick (until you have lobbed over a wall onto a green you have not lived), and Kingsbarns (spectacularly beautiful but the weather was awful.)  The round at Kingsbarns was played on the same Wednesday St. Andrews was hosting the Champion of Champions contest over 4 holes prior to the start of The Open.  It was not held because the weather was so bad.  Meanwhile about 30 minutes drive away yours truly (Vivienne wimped out) played 18 holes in my new rain jacket from the Lake District.
38 points and the best round I played all week!!

While staying in Edinburgh we had dinner at Greywalls  which abuts the 9th tee at Muirfield.  Our hosts were Giles Weaver (another ex LBS alumni) and his wife Ros.  The grandfather invented Horlicks and with the proceeds of the royalties bought Greywalls and Ros ran the hotel until recently.  Now it is managed independently and has a Chez Roux restaurant which is part of the legendary Roux Brothers operation who are the finest chefs in England.  I had Albert Roux’s Soufflé Suissesse for starter and I can safely say that it was the best starter I have ever had in my life.

We then moved to Anstruther staying at the Craw’s Nest Hotel.  We spent three days watching The Open and played rounds at Ludin Links (dangerous – one of my playing partners took a direct hit by golf ball) and Gleaneagles (site of the 2014 Ryder Cup).  My take on St. Andrews is that it is small (94 acres compared to 150 acres for the normal golf course), flat so not suitable for spectators (the best strategy is to sit in a stand and watch the field go through) and easy when there is no wind but a killer when it is blowing (but so is any golf course). The shape is typical links (out for nine holes and then back) except holes 7 to 11 are played crossing one another.  However it was great fun to go there and it is not often you see Tiger Woods get a double bogey.  (definitely not a happy camper).

We finished the trip with a great dinner at Rusacks hotel which looks over the 18th and 1st holes.  Vivienne won the ladies competition.  Great 10 days and well done to Mike and Bede of Teed-Up who organised it.

In summary:

Go to Britain in the summer; the weather can be very good and the countryside is stunning.

Cornwall, The Lake District and Edinburgh are well worth a visit.

The food has improved unbelievably and given the exchange rate very good value indeed.

While gloomy about the future most people are happy Cameron has got in believing the government needed to be changed. 

Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence website: www.thehummhandbook.com