Travel Russia Today

This past July I was lucky enough to travel through Eastern Europe with my fun and at times, wild colleagues, Leigh and Kevan. After some time in Vienna, we decided to take a train to Budapest. Since I had never been on a high-speed train, I was quite eager to begin the journey. What an experience—easy, smooth and surprise, surprise, super quick!

Once the train departed the station, we decided to try the food in the dining car (I know, I know we are quite adventurous). One thing to note is that the train does not accept credit cards or US dollars on board- only Euros and Forints. Who doesn’t accept credit cards? Unfortunately, Leigh and I did not have any euros but we were lucky to have our savvy traveler Kevan with us. Kevan had exchanged some money for euros but with the exchange rates being where they are now he did not get much!

Now imagine, three Americans sitting there staring at the menu just hoping that we had enough euros to pay for everyone. After ordering and receiving the bill, we realized that we could pay the whole bill and then some. Needless to say the “then some” was another round of drinks for each of us!

Upon arrival in Budapest, we were greeted by our driver and taken to the amazing Four Seasons Gresham Palace. What a hotel!

The staff is top notch, the service is impeccable and the view from our room was exquisite. There is nothing like opening up your curtains and looking out onto the Danube River. Our time to get to Budapest was great and the time spent there was even better. Each of us cannot wait to go back!

As the Director of Special Projects at Exeter International I get to be part of some pretty interesting travel projects. This most recent one was one of my favorites. I traveled with Greg Tepper, President of Exeter International and the famous travel photographer, Rob Howard , Rob’s wife Lisa and a couple of friends. The purpose of the trip was to get some beautiful photographs to adorn the pages of this year’s brochure. Rob did not disappoint and people will be impressed with the images he captured along the way.

We traveled to St. Petersburg, Riga, Warsaw, Krakow, Vienna and Bratislava. If it sounds exhausting – it was. It was also exciting and exhilarating.

In St. Petersburg we stayed at the very luxurious Taleon Imperial Hotel, A Leading Hotels of the World property. Every luxury hotel has its charms and extravagances that make it particularly memorable. My travel companions raved about the charming rooms, the perfect central location, the beautiful blue marble of the lobby floor, and the view of Kazan Cathedral from the restaurant as we enjoyed our lavish breakfasts each morning. I spotted something else that made my stay very memorable – something so subtle but yet so very important to travel weary guests.

At midnight each evening – a hotel staff member changes the carpets in the elevators. The beautiful blue and gold carpets have the day of the week woven into them. I’m serious. Isn’t that the definition of a luxury touch in a hotel – when you say to yourself – I would love to have a view like this, a shower like this, a comforter like this etc? Well – I couldn’t help but think - I want someone to change my welcome mats at home, with the day of the week woven into them, each day, so I don’t forget what day it is. I”ll check and see if they have them at Lowe’s this weekend – I suspect I will have to continue to rely on my calendar.