Travel Russia Today

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.