Wedding Info

HOTELS

1) Waldorf Astoria
301 Park Ave at 49th St
Great location and one of the old “Grand Dames” of New York.

We’ll be using this as a base for family and friends

Follow the link to book http://www.waldorfnewyork.com/

Use the code “HKW” to get rates of $249 (Deluxe) and $279 (Superior) (plus 14.5% tax)

If you are unsure about where to stay, we strongly encourage people to book here at least as an option. The rates are fantastic and you can cancel for free up to 24hrs before your stay

2) The Strand: TBC

3) The Verve: TBC

Bermuda Tips

Bermuda. Talk about a tropical destination. Thoroughly recommend it for a weekend away. So beautiful and yet so simple. Maybe we were lucky with the weather, but i've honestly never felt more amazed at seeing such pristine beaches and clear blue water. Describing the people as friendly would be an understatement!!

FLY out of JFK (JetBlue or American) or Newark (United) - we flew American out and JetBlue back for a total cost of $300 return. Flight time is a whopping 2hrs!!

STAY at a resort on the beach if you can afford it. We stayed at the Royal Palms. A really lovely hotel and we had a great deal at just under $200 per night. While it was great to walk into Hamilton, it was a taxi ride to the beaches. We spent the day at the Rosewood at Tucker's Point which was gorgeous. I also hear the Fairmont's are very nice.

EAT at Mickey's on Elbow Beach. Good food and a lovely beach to spend the day on. (Otherwise, we were at a wedding, so had everything else organised)

OTHER STUFF TO NOTE. It's a golfers paradise, so bring your clubs if you so desire. Taxis are needed everywhere and can really add up - the transfer from the airport to Hamilton takes about 20mins and costs $30.

Israel tips

Just came back from a wonderful visit to the holy-land!!   Here are my tips…

FLY direct with El Al. No better or worse than any of the other carriers, but they do fly direct and they were the cheapest ($1,100) – they tend to offer upgrades at the gate for a standard $700 if available

TRANSFER to Jerusalem for a shuttle bus outside the station for 62 shekels. Cabs are 4 times this price. If going to Tel Aviv, then cab is probably easiest and quickest at around 150 shekels

CAR RENTAL is quite cheap. Standard car is around $25 per day. Insurance is not usually covered by credit cards and will cost a further $20 per day. Gas is expensive. London prices, at 7.50 shekels per litre.

JERUSALEM

STAY at the Mount Zion. Pretty dated inside, but great views and lovely pool. Decent breakfast for around $260 per night. There are other hotels, but they all seemed to be a lot more expensive

EAT and hang out in the German Colony along Emek Refa’im. Also the restaurants around Nahalat Shiva and Feingold Courtyard, such as Adom. The Colony is also supposed to be a cool hangout

SEE the Old City, obviously. The Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters. There is a very good free tour if you ask in the tourist office near the Jaffa gate. 

TOUR the tunnels by the wall – you need to book in advance. Dome of the Rock is only available for viewing at certain hours so check ahead. And a lot is closed on Shabbat (Friday night and Saturday daytime). 

VISIT Yad Vashem – the Holocaust memorial. Free access and very insightful

DEAD SEA

STAY nowhere!  Really tough, cause the hotels are all really poor. We used points to stay at Le Meridien, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You can probably visit over 2 days and one night

EATing is tough too. We actually went on a random 30min drive to Arad, to a football themed bar called Muza that had a fun atmosphere and good food

SEE the Dead Sea. Best to go to Mineral beach, where they have vats of the mud to cake yourself in – a lot of fun. 50 shekel entry and much nicer beach and amenities than elsewhere. 

CLIMB Mount Masada for sunrise. It takes an hour to get up and 40mins to come down. It gets very hot, so dress appropriately and bring lots of water. 25 shekels entry

HIKE to Ein Gedi. Not sure there is any need to do more than the 40min hike to the main waterfall which is fun and very refreshing

MITSPE RAMON

STAY at the Beershet. Simply amazing hotel with cracking views. A little on the pricey side. Another option is Chez Eugene. Ecletic and well designed hotel, but with no views. Cost is $180 for a basic room or $280 for a room with your own terrace and hot tub.

EAT at Chez Eugene. Unbelieveable restaurant

VISIT the crater. Some jaw dropping views and you can take a jeep tour into it or go star gazing at night. There’s also a llama farm which is fun to visit and you can go wine tasting and do archery if you so desire

ALSO go to Sde Boker to Ben Gurion’s house to learn about his vision for Israel – about a 20min drive north of Mitspe Ramon

TEL AVIV

STAY at the Hotel Gilgal if you want something basic but efficient. Some people call it a fancy youth hostel!!  For $170 per night, you can’t complain. Excellent location, simple but comfortable rooms, friendly staff, but poor breakfasts. The David Intercontinental is nice, but twice the price. Most of the other hotels in Tel Aviv are dated and overpriced

EAT at one of the many wonderful restaurants in Tel Aviv. So many to list. The Social Club is excellent. For more local food check out Dr Shakshuka in Jaffa. Old Man by the Sea is also a great experience

VISIT the beach!  Great sand and fun atmosphere. You can rent beds and umbrellas for 12 and 6 shekels respectively

PARTY either in the port (Namal) or Clara’s

Russia tips

IN ADVANCE sort out your Visa. Takes around 3-4 weeks and costs around $150. Highly beaurureucratic. Much easier to use a dedicated Visa company (CIBT) and pay the small premium for it. Otherwise, risk standing in long lines and stressing it won’t be done in time.

LEARN a bit of Russian. Or at least the Cyrillic alphabet. Will make life a lot easier

GET THERE by flying into Moscow with BA from Heathrow. Surprisingly quick flight (4hrs) and good times. Two airports. We landed into Domodevo. Custom lines are long, so get to front of plane and be prepared to wait. Easiest way into Moscow is with the Aero Express. Follow signs for it (the only ones in English). Buy your tickets for around RUB200 each and it takes 45mins. Once you arrive into xxx station, get used to the subway. Tickets are standard prices RUB28 per journey. It’s fun and very quick for getting around as traffic can be a nightmare and getting a cab is daunting. No official cab system unless you organize through your hotel. “Stab” cabs as they’re affectionately known are basically guys in their cars working for extra cash. No doubt they’ll try to rip you off, so agree the fare first - it’ll be expensive whatever happens so take cabs only when required and the subway more often

STAY somewhere central within walking distance of the Kremlin. Although it’s very very expensive. We used points and stayed at the Park Hyatt, which somehow crazily normally commands $800 per night

VISIT the Kremlin and go to the Armory. Buy your ticket for this on the west side of the Kremlin, but check in advance as there are set visiting hours. Particularly visit the Diamond fund – buy tickets for this in the Armory. Go visit Lenin’s tomb. Entry is free, but lines start early in the morning from 9:30am. We came back a bit later around 11:30am and hardly had to wait. St Basil’s cathedral is also here. That can all be done as part of one visit. For another visit go to the church the other side of Patriach’s Bridge and eat at Art Strelka (see below). The Pushkin museum is here too although we didn’t get a chance to go

SHOP at GUM. An amazing building next to the Kremlin but every designer under the sun. Although save actually buying anything until you come home. Stupidly expensive prices

EAT At Café Pushkin. Very traditional and expensive local restaurant (opening a restaurant in NYC in Fall 2011). Café Margarita. Another local place, but much smaller, cheaper and has local music students playing fun sing along tunes. Art Strelka. A trendy place on the river serving really nice dishes and great views. Drink at the top of the Ritz at O2 for great views of the Kremlin.

GET to St Petersburg by train. Most trains go from Leningradsky to Moscovsky station. We took a fast day train which took around 4hrs and cost $150 per person. Another option is to take the night train which will save on accommodation and take 8hrs.

STAY in similar fashion to Moscow. Somewhere central in walking distance to the Hermitage and Nevsky Prospect (main street). Again, very expensive. We used points to stay at the W which normally costs around $400 per night.

VISIT the Hermitage – ideally get a guide which will pass the lines and show you the most interesting bits. We paid RUB4,000 for 3hrs. Peterhof was the King’s old summer estate and you can get there on a 30min hydrofoil ride from in front of the Hermitage. Really pretty gardens and lovely to walk around and relax in. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral/Fortess was where Peter first landed and built his fort which is interesting to see. Yusupov mansion shows the decadence of the Russian elite – each room has a different theme and they even have their own theatre. The Vodka museum is a fun side thing to do to learn a short history about vodka and to try a few different brands. St Isaac’s Cathadral is huge and you can climb the 200 steps for great views while the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood looks like it’s from a candy store

EAT at Idiot which is a cosy local place.

Every day i wake up and thank the Lord i'm Welsh

Hi All,

Well, it’s been a long old winter. Last week the temperature shot up to almost 70 degress…for a day…and now it’s back down to 35. For you Brits, that basically means that it went hotter than a British and then colder than a British winter within 24hrs!!! Crazy crazy!! At least the sun is shining and Em and I are taking a well deserved trip to Mexico in a couple of weeks. I just hope those drug lords keep their gun battles well away from our stretch of beach!!

Sorry to harp on about the cold here, but it really is a shock. I guess I arrived on the cusp of winter last year and so thought it was all exciting. The Boxing day blizzard here was fun, but now I’m simply over it. You’d have thought with all this body hair, that I’d be able to withstand a drop in temperatures, but in actual fact, I deal with it by throwing my toys out of the pram!!!

Thankfully the cold has at least brought on 2 of my favorite pastimes. Skiing and Driving.
Went on a couple of day trips to “Hunter mountain” just north of the city. Pretty fun, but too small a mountain so spend any more than a day there. Amusement was brought by a colleague drinking his way up on the bus, forgetting his ski jacket, wearing aviators, no helmet, push a guy over on his first run and then do a jump and smash up his collar bone on his second run. Fortune favors the brave hey?!
I’ve been lucky enough to take out a couple of Porsches this month. The first, a bright orange 1968 ‘911 was fun but tough. Kind of nuts to think it was 40 years old. The second was a much newer 911 Turbo. The fastest thing I’ve ever driven and makes this wooshing airplane noise when hit 4k revs. Suffice to say I felt like a kid in a toy car. Except that it wasn’t a toy!!!

Em and I drove up an hour north of the city to the Hudson valley region. Really is a beautiful part of the state, with pretty villages, restaurants, bridges etc. No doubt we put on a few kilos from the food and had a very interesting time in a place called Cold Spring – my mother would have loved it here with all the antique shops. I think we brought the average age down to about 65 and the locals were either extremely nice or extremely rude. On the nicer side was a Welsh lady called Leonora who got very excited to hear I was from just down the road from where she grew up! We spoke in our put on Welsh accents for at least 15mins!!!

Which brings me on to the subject line. March 1st is/was St David’s Day. A day for all to celebrate leeks, daffodils, rugby, sheep and anything else myself and my fellow brethren are proud of being Welsh. Or to paraphrase the great Josh “Shippo” Shipman – “It’s the only country where you can have a good meal, have sex and make a woolly jumper all from the same animal”!!!

So a Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus to all of you and I hope to hear from you soon!!
(And hopefully I’ll be seeing some of you too. A small chance I’ll be coming home in mid April)

Jamie

PS The first photo is from Burn's Night. After a few glasses of wine, i got up and did the William Wallace monologue!!
And if you hadn't worked out the second one, it's a picture of me holding a real life brain. It stank and was surprisingly heavy!!

55 West 11th St, Apt 7c
New York, NY 10011
Tel: +1 917 225 9177

Hudson Valley

Within a couple of hours drive/train of New York is the Hudson Valley. Lovely villages based along the river as it snakes up through New York state.

A lot of the villages are easily accessible by train. Or there are various routes one can drive. Here are some of my recommendations

Cold Spring
A very cosy one street village about an hour from the city. Heavy on the antiques and some interesting characters
STAY at the Pig Hill Inn – a bed and breakfast run by Vera. Prices are reasonable, location is excellent and breakfast is yum!
EAT at the the Riverview – website looks a bit naff, but the food is excellent
VISIT all the antiques stores on Main St. Particularly The Country Goose run by Leonora who’s Welsh and great fun!!

Milton
Didn’t see much in the town itself, but a great place because of where we stayed
STAY at the Buttermilk Falls Inn and Spa – beautiful place on the river with cracking food, cosy rooms, a spa, gym and best of all – animals! Llamas, sheep, swans, ducks etc etc
EAT at the Artist’s Palate – a 10min drive into Poughkeepsie. Excellent new American style food

Other things to do/visit

Culinary Institute of America – one of the premier cooking schools with various onsite restaurants
FDR – Very interesting tour of the home, library and museum of FDR
Walkway over the Hudson – A purpose built footbridge giving excellent views of the river
Rhinebeck – Pretty town a couple of hours north where Chelsea Clinton got married
Storm King – Massive outdoor sculptures. Can either walk, ride a bike or take the internal bus. Take a picnic
Dia Beacon – Art gallery with some interesting exhibitions
Newburgh waterfront – Nice restaurants on the river, but little to see in the town
Dominion House B&B – Cute place to stay. Pretty reasonable price

The weather outside is frightful….

I must sincerely apologize. No excuses for being too busy at work or not getting internet access!! It’s been a 3 month hiatus and I’ve had enough of people stopping me in the street asking when my next update is coming. So here it is...

Autumn (or “Fall” as they like to call it in this part of the world) has been a fun season. In my 2010 ranking of Seasons, I’d say it comes second behind Spring but ahead of Summer (too hot) and Winter (too cold).

September really was lovely and if you’re planning a trip out here, then come then. Em and I took a drive in a cracking replica of a 1957 Porsche Spyder – the same car that James Dean sadly met his demise in. His car was nicknamed “The Little B@stard” which was fitting for the current driver!!

I was supposed to head out to Asia with work, but frustratingly it got cancelled last minute. Instead we took a well deserved trip out to California. Got soaked in San Francisco and saw my alma mater – UC Berkeley (or the California Golden Bears) get crushed by Stanfurd. Then we spent a few days wine-tasting, eating and riding bikes in Napa – Em was a great sport when our leisurely bike ride turned into a 3hr slog and a race against the wind and our bladders to get home!! And then Thanksgiving in LA and a few days in San Diego where the one hit wonder “The Polar Bear song” got invented – if you’d like the lyrics or a rendition, I’m sure one will be up on YouTube soon!!

Soccer has gone well but is annoyingly taking a break until March. We’re sitting in second position having won 7 out of our 10 games. I took a nice crack on my ankle in training a few weeks ago so have been out for a bit. This, from the same guy who, 2 weeks earlier, kicked the ball at my meat and 2 veg - i think he has it in for me!

Channukah and Xmas has now been and gone. Some fun presents and parties – plus a cracking Xmas dinner made me feel like I wasn’t missing home too much. Hope everyone else had a good time

I was lucky enough this weekend to take out my all time favourite car – the BMW Z8, made famous by Pierce Brosnan in “The World Is Not Enough”
Such a great drive and a real classic of its time. However, this is what brings me to present day – New York and the whole of the east coast has been engulfed by a snow storm. It really is a sight to see and felt like I was on a ski slope rather than a city. So sadly, the Z8 went back to the shop, doing an average of 5mph and with the hazards on – I aquaplaned a couple of times and was a nervous wreck driving the 2 miles!! 24hrs later and the sun is shining without a cloud in the sky – look up outside the window and you would have no idea that on the ground are abandoned cars and people struggling their way to and from home

Well, that’s my sign off for 2010. A great year all round and looking forward to seeing and keeping in touch with as many of you as I can

As always, don’t hesitate to call, write or email

Jamie

55 West 11th St, Apt 7c
New York, NY 10011
Tel: +1 917 225 9177