A Room with a View

The theme of this month's blog link-up organised by Emma of Adventures of a London Kiwi and Kelly of Around the World in 80 Pairs of Shoes, Rebecca of Runaway Kiwi and Angie from Silver Spoon is 'A Room with a View'. When I read this, the first thing that sprung to mind was my stay at the most idyllic Aitutaki island, one of the Cook Islands. I was lucky enough to travel there on a familiarisation trip to both the Cook Islands and New Zealand when I was working for Air New Zealand.

Photo by Tim Parkinson under Creative Common Licence

Going on famils can be very exhausting as every hotel and restaurant manager and attraction vendor wants to show off their stuff, hoping you sell more of it after returning home. But on the up-side you get to fly, stay and eat for free.
So on my famil to the Cook Islands I was asked to stay in one of the beach front villas at Tamanu Beach. The villa was amazing in itself; it had all mod-cons like AC, DVD, CD and lots of other acronyms you can't live without on a holiday. There was a luxurious bathroom and a private porch decked out with sun loungers and steps leading directly down to the beach.

Photo by Rowen Atkinson under Creative Commons Licence

The bed, which was positioned facing the ocean, was extremely large and comfortable, and gave me the best sleep I had in a very long time. However, the best part was the waking up in the morning. I hadn't bothered to shut the curtains the night before, so when I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was the far-reaching view across the white sandy beach sinking into the turquoise coloured lagoon and a couple of boats bobbing on the soft waves.

Photo by Rowen Atkinson under Creative Commons Licence

Can you think of a better way to wake up in the morning?

Most Memorable Night's Sleep Travel Link Up

I'm starting to get into these linkups, so at the initiative of Emma from Adventures of a London Kiwi and Kelly from 80 Pairs of Shoes, I'm joining in again this month to write about my most memorable night's sleep I've ever had.

The most comfy sleeps I've ever had were in Scandinavian hotel beds. I'm surprised Scandinavians even manage to get out of bed every morning as beds in Norway, Sweden and Denmark make you feel like you're sleeping on a cloud. Fluffy pillows, fluffy duvets and even fluffy mattresses. Soporific heaven.

                        This photo of Hotel Skt. Petri is courtesy of TripAdvisor

On the other hand the most uncomfortable sleeps I had was on my trip to Fiji. Okay, we didn't exactly splash out, but paradise was a little less exotic when the sun went down and we had to turn in to sleep on a mattress that was as hard as a plank.

                        This photo of Coralview Island Resort is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The most quirky place I ever stayed at was the Wildebeest tent Camp in the city of Nairobi. Memories of camping in the south of France with hordes of Dutch and German people, were soon forgotten when we entered our luxury tent complete with double beds, and our own en-suite bathroom. This was camping the Karen Blixen way. Minus Robert Redford, unfortunately.

                        This photo of Wildebeest Eco Camp is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Of course things are better when they are free, and being a travel industry professional sometimes comes with perks. On a famil to the Cook Islands we were lucky to test some top notch hotels out for the sake of higher sales figures. I stayed in my very own water front villa at the Pacific Island Resort and woke up to the sound of the waves breaking on the sand. That was the best wake up call ever.

                        This photo of Pacific Resort Aitutaki is courtesy of TripAdvisor