Thursday, March 19, 2009

Stretching The Yen (2)

As with all rail passes, the Japan Rail pass is only cost-effective if you plan your itinerary to get maximum value from it. Another way to save on travel costs is to consider entering or leaving the country via airports other than Narita. Tokyo is a vibrant, sophisticated metropolis, but it was so badly bombed during the Second World War that no pre-war buildings remain, although numerous ferro-concrete reconstructions have been lovingly erected during the past 40 years. For a real sense of Japan's past you must go to Kyoto and Nara, easily reached from Osaka's international airport. If you are attracted by the volcanic mountains and semi tropical hot spring resorts of Kyushu, the appropriate international airport is Kagoshima.

While few restaurants have English menus or English-speaking staff, ordering anything from a full meal to ice-cream is simplified in Japan by the display of price-tagged plastic replicas of everything on the menu. These food models were introduced a century or so ago during the Meiji Restoration to help the Japanese understand newly introduced types of food, but they are a boon to today's foreign visitor.

Many Japanese eat away from home and small, inexpensive restaurants proliferate in the vicinity of railway stations. For fruit or snacks combined with local color, ask where to find the local food market, or head for the nearest depato (department store). These worlds within worlds are part of the Japanese way of life, providing at basement level seemingly unlimited free samples of exotic delicatessen items from slices of freeze-dried strawberries and kiwi fruit to seaweed crackers, pickles and salted beans. White-gloved hostesses bow and smile to welcome you aboard lifts and escalators as you travel to the highest level, which is divided into many small and inexpensive eating places.

If you enjoy smoked salmon and caviar, you will probably enjoy sushi. While a few sushi specials are unbelievably expensive, a set platter of assorted vinegar-flavored rice patties topped by a variety of raw seafood is available in most small sushi bars for less than ¥1,000.

Forget about leaving space in your suitcase for souvenirs when you visit Japan. Prices are so high that you are unlikely to do much buying. Nevertheless, most Japanese shops are delightful places to visit, whether they be the clusters of tiny pottery and knick-knack shops hugging the steps leading to Kyoto's Kiyomizu Temple and the bustling stalls flanking all approaches to Tokyo's Asakusa, or some of the country's museum-like purveyors of finest lacquer and ceramics in traditional garden settings.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

List of contents 'TRAVEL'

Stretching The Yen (1)

Depending on your room rate, you may have a suite bathroom, complete with western style lavatory, or you may have to share facilities (they are always impeccably clean). Either way, remember the ofuro (Japanese bath) is for relaxing and soaking, not for soaping. Complete all your actual washing and rinsing before you get into the water - and be cautious, the water is normally heated over 40 degrees Celsius. Never pull out the plug after you have finished with the water. The legendary communal bath is encountered in public bath houses and at hot spring resorts, but these days bathing is usually strictly segregated.

The food alone justifies the ryokan stay, each meal; comprising 20 or so different dishes, is presented with all the care and flair for which the Japanese are famous. You can opt to pay for the room without meals, but you save very little money this way and deprive yourself of one of the best opportunities to eat authentic Japanese home-style cooking on a gourmet level. Some ryokans offer the choice of western breakfast, but it is such a travesty that few people try it more than once.

Ryokan etiquette is not usually a problem, as foreigners are not expected to understand the niceties of Japanese behavior. Only remember to change your outdoor shoes for indoor slippers as you enter from the street, and remove the slippers before walking on the tatami.

At a less luxurious level, the minshuku has been described as a 'nofrills' ryokan. These family-style lodging houses originated in rural areas, but these days they are also found in towns and cities. The average nightly cost per person, including two meals, is ¥5,000. Western-style pensions, mostly located in scenic beach and mountain resorts, charge approximately ¥7,500 per night including meals, ¥5,000 with-out meals.

Language does present problems in Japan, where few people speak fluent English, despite years of study. People are, however, generally friendly and will take infinite time and trouble to interpret your mime and map-pointing to decipher what you need. Japanese is not a tonal language and you can read the phonetic transcriptions in a phrase book with a fair chance of being understood.

The Japan Travel-Phone is a nationwide, toll-free service to aid visitors outside Tokyo and Kyoto. It operates from 9am-5pm on working days. Dial 106 and ask for 'Travel Information Center collect', speaking slowly.

Japan has 20,000 trains a day, running on 21,000 kilometers of railway lines, plus ferries and buses operated by the Japan Railways Group. If you are intending to tour extensively throughout the country, consider buying a Japan Rail pass, for seven, 14, or 21 days. An ordinary pass costs ¥27,000, ¥43,000 or ¥55,000 respectively. Children under 11 pay half price. Green passes cost almost 50 percent more and are valid in superior-class rail cars, etc. Holders of both types of passes may make advance seat reservations without additional charge and enjoy unlimited travel on the famous Shinkansen (Bullet Train) express trunk lines.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Stretching The Yen

As Japan's trade barriers begin to fall, more and more business travelers are learning expensive lessons.

All you have heard about prices in Japan is true. But don't let that spoil your plans for a trip to the 'land of the rising sun'. Measuring almost 4,000 kilometers from north to south, Japan is a fascinating and varied country, waiting to be enjoyed by visitors with a modicum of initiative.

Concerned by declining visitor figures, the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) has produced a number of useful publications for the benefit of budget travelers. These provide information on accommodations and the Japan Rail Pass, which must be purchased outside the country. The 16 overseas offices of JNTO are the best sources of information when planning a trip. In Japan itself the numerous JNTO offices provide free leaflets, maps and lists, and can help with booking accommodations in any price range.

Accommodations will probably be the most costly element of any stay in Japan. Western-style hotels provide a familiar environment for unadventurous travelers, or perhaps for your first night after a long flight, but they offer no real feeling of being in Japan. At the top end of the scale standards are luxurious, with very high prices. The so-called business hotels have lower rates, appropriate to their compact rooms. You will, however, find better value for money and more local color in other types of lodgings.

Japan's hospitality industry dates back to time immemorial, thanks to centuries of ritual pilgrimages. The typical ryokan (Japanese style inn) enshrines the highest possible standard of comfort and aesthetic delight for the honored guest. A few ryokans are so exclusive that guests require personal introductions - charges are equally exclusive, upwards of ¥60,000 a night. The average ryokan, however, will charge somewhere between ¥8,000-12,000 per person, per night, including two splendid meals and excellent individual maid service.

Guest rooms are sizable, with fragrant, springy tatami (rush-covered matting) floors. The walls will likely be of wood in older buildings, adorned by at least one well-placed scroll and a meditation corner complete with ikebana flower arrangement. A low table may have a built-in electric foot warmer and legless zaisu chairs. Depending on the size of the room, there may be arm-chairs if the ryokan prides itself on catering to foreigners. A big cupboard doubles as wardrobe and daytime storage for the futon (traditional mattress and duvet-type quilt). The idea of sleeping on the floor may seem abhorrent, but Japanese-style it's actually very comfortable, although you will probably prefer a rolled-up sweater in place of the hard, cylindrical Japanese pillow.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Rooms At The Top (2)

Some chains have been experimenting with small, luxury hotels where there is less chance of encountering conventioneers. But elegant properties with intimate service are not easy to find. William Davis finds the 57-room Lancaster in Paris (part of the Prestige consortium) a good example, as well as the Ritz-Carltons in New York and Washington and the Hay-Adams and Madison in Washington, all of which have between 165 and 370 rooms and are furnished with antiques.

Some of the large chains have created special luxury wings on certain floors for business travelers. A good example is the Sheraton in Stockholm, which has 51 rooms on its top floor with special lift and registration, two telephones in the rooms and other extras.

The quality of a hotel also depends to a large extent on the 'quality' of people who stay there. Says Anthony Podesta. 'Temple Fielding, who loved the great hotels, once said to me that not only will our children not know the great hotels, what that lifestyle was like, but they won't miss them; in part because they have no reason to know what they are missing, and in part because the world is changing - the idea of getting dressed-up is anathema to them'. Hotel staff are inevitably going to be affected by the attitudes of guests,' continues Podesta, 'If you get rowdy types in a first class hotel, and they're the exception, the staff will not be affected. But if over a period of time the reverse in true, the staff's attitude will also change. Good service is not something that exists on its own; you need discerning customers.'

It's not as a simple as that for the traveling woman who is rarely made to feel welcome or secure - a matter of staff attitude rather than amenities. Many hotels now cater for the needs of women such as providing full-length mirrors and ironing boards, hair dryers, curling irons, bathrooms with lights bright enough to apply make-up and a fast, reliable laundry that does not press blouses as they would a man's shirt.

Security means good lighting in hallways and car parks, deadbolt locks and chains and peepholes in doors. Hotels are becoming aware of the danger of giving out room numbers. And computer-generated keys are replacing the old variety that you have to ask for at the desk.'

But many woman still have bad experiences. A classic is when a woman checks into a hotel with a male colleague. The receptionist smiles and says, 'Yes, Sir?' to the man, assuming they are traveling together and want a double room. Another is when a women is asked to prove she is a registered guest when ordering a drink at the bar.

'Service and attitudes towards women are awful. More and more women pay the bills, so we ought to get more respect,' says Sally Jackson, a London businesswoman. 'Women don't want special treatment; they just want equal service as businesspersons. And this can only come about through more sensitive staff training.' Some hotels seem to be setting it right. 'The Hyatt Regency Club is excellent - the maitre d' of the Chelsea Room at the Hyatt Carlton Tower in London is very good,' says Jackson. 'And the Ramada Renaissance Hotels are also good; the staff is very well trained.'

A survey was conducted on 600 hotels around the world asking them what facilities they provide for women traveling alone on business. The idea is to compile a data-base, and eventually a guide, to hotels where women will be safe and welcome.

Some hotels woo business travelers with frequent stayer programs, lavish bonus awards and club schemes with ego-boosting names and plastic bags for VIP-guests. But for my money, exclusiveness is a contradiction if one has to share VIP service with serried rows of executives. I have stayed for years at a small hotel in Paris, the Lord Byron, tucked away behind the Champs-Elysees which has only just gotten around to accepting credit cards let alone having an executive floor. I get a morning paper as a matter of course with fresh orange juice and a smile. I am always recognized when I arrive and if the hotel is fully booked, as it usually is, they'll always squeeze me in somehow. That's what I call being an honored guest.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Rooms At The Top (1)

" What makes a good hotel is a personal judgement, it's different for everyone. For me it's service-and a good concierge,' says Anthony Podesta, a US expatriate who runs his own management consultancy firm in Lausanne, Switzerland. 'As a small businessman I probably use hotel services much more than most people. The Plaza-Athenee in Paris has the single best concierge desk of any hotel in western world. There were times when I would just call - whether I was staying in Paris or not - and say, this my problem can you fix it up?'

'In London, I think the Barkeley is the best hotel. One has the sense of having a private flat; there's no hall, no public rooms, no glitter.And also another great concierge,' continues Podesta. 'In Madrid, without a doubt , it's the Ritz, and in Stockholm,if the weather's good, the Grand, as it overlooks the water. In Hamburg, it's the Vier Jahreszeiten and Atlantic and in Zurich I use the Baur au Lac, an excellent hotel,but not the same quality as the Plaza Athenee, the Barkeley or the Grand. My favorite in New York is the Carlyle.The service is excellent.'

David Tennant, a London-based travel writer who spent 23 years as travel editor of the Illustrated London News says: 'The best hotel in Europe is the Cipriani in Venice. My favorite in Paris is the Westminster, a small hotel with excellent service. In New York, it's the Pierre. What I look for is service, promptness, politeness. Most business hotels today have all the amenities you could possibly need, but it's the attitude toward service that counts; promptness in registration and efficient room service. A lot of hotels are going overboard with deluxe facilities and charging a great deal for them. I prefer something simple, but comfortable.’

'My advice is to spend more money on hotels than restaurants if you are on a budget. I look for a clean, quiet room where I can relax and work when I have to,' says Andre Clodong, a Canadian who runs a public relations company in Brussels. 'Also a good concierge can be of tremendous service. The concierge at the Vierjahreszeiten in Munich once organized an entire conference for me - catering service at an evening function which was outside the hotel, a fleet of cars, audio visual equipment and a ladies' program. He was my only contact for all this.'

William Davis, the British publisher and author, includes among his personal favorites the Oriental in Bangkok, the Mandarin in Hongkong, the Regent in Sidney, the Plaza-Athenee in Paris, the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles and the Carlyle in New York. The Oriental's excellence is a combination of central location and a high ratio of staff to guests (nearly 1,000 for only 405 rooms). Davis puts it down to a hotelier's maxim that a large professional Asian staff and a European manager make the ideal team.

Davis cites the Regent in Sydney as a good example of a hotel that understands the business traveler's needs. All its rooms have proper desks, three telephones and an international room service that operates on the color television. There is a fully equipped business center, an in-house print shop and a well-stocked reference library.

According to Davis, the three best hotel chains in the world are the Four Seasons, the Mandarin and the Regent group. He also rates the Taj group in India highly, though dependent on the region. 'Marriott has budget hotels in America, but excellent ones in the Middle East - the Marriott's in Cairo and Amman are two of the best,' he says. 'In many places Hiltons are the best.'

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Rooms At The Top

Hotel,Paris room hotel

Choosing one's accommodations is highly personal affair. Opinions vary dramatically. In this spirit, we reminisce and gathers the experiences of fellow travelers.

What makes a marvelous business hotel? Ask a dozen frequent travelers to recommend a hotel in any city and the chances are you"ll get a different replies. Just as there can be no one true version of a city, so it is with hotels. Familiarity,reputation,circumstance and budget can be crucial criteria when choosing somewhere to stay. Is location important? Or a prestigious address? Do you need a business center, health club or a suite to have a power breakfast? Are you hoping to combine business with pleasure? And who's picking up the tab? (Have you noticed how people become so much more discerning when traveling on company expenses?)

But there is a common factor to all first-rate hotels - that exclusive amalgam of comfort,friendliness and efficiency that I call hospitality.I'm tempted to paraphrase Le Corbusier and say that a hotel a machine for staying in. It is,up to a point. We should all expect an attractive,quiet, well-lit room with a comfortable bed, a desk with a direct-dial telephone, a well-fitted bathroom with a tub you can stretch out in, personal temperature control, 24-hour room service and staff that do not act as if they're doing you a favor to let you stay here.

To these basic specifications you can add your own facts,fancies,phobias and imperatives. Some people swear by well-stocked minibars,'express' check-outs and multi-channel color television with bedside control. Others wax apoplectic at piped music, boisterous conventioneers and having to compete with locals for a table in the bar or restaurant. It's surprising how reputations and habits are formed on the fulfilment, or otherwise, of such expectations. Things good and bad, often minor things, which may be important at the time, can stick in the memory like burrs. People savor their prejudices. I know I do.

There was the time years ago, at the Plaza-Athenee in Paris, when for several paranoid minutes no one could trace the shoes I'd left for cleaning outside the door. Or at the Waldorf in London where the telephone was on the other side of the bed from the desk. Or at the Excelsior Gallia in Milan where there was a telephone extension in the bathroom. Then the wonderously soft bed and prosciutto with pear and chilled wine delivered by room service in the early hours at the Hotel Splendido in Portofino. And marvelous prime rib at the Brussels Hilton (which I think is a great hotel all arround) and the huge bath tubs at the Hyde Park in London with lemon-scented soap and an Edwardian breakfast in the Park Room.

But before I get into heavy stream-of-consciousness, we should hear from some veteran travelers. John Millar, president of the World Solar Energy Foundation who looks back on 50 years of business travel, is also a bath tub freak : 'In London I stay at Claridges which is barely in the 20th century. But I love it. The food varies, it's not no as good as at the Connaught. But the bedrooms have wonderful top quality sheets and marvelous bath towels that really dry you. The baths are big enough for two, at least in the old rooms.'