Red Carnation Hotels

PRESS ROOM

London with my dad.

03/10/2007

This is a very dear trip, not just because we rarely get to travel alone together, but also because my dad's never been to London and has always wanted to go. Who knew? If you want to tag along but don't have time to sit back, relax and read this week's story, don't worry. There's a two-minute Johnny Jet video at the end. Don't feel like heading to London this week? Then join our newest writer Natalie Bahadur as she makes her maiden voyage to Finland's capital and tours you around Helsinki.

HOTEL 41 LOCATION
I took the tube to Victoria Station and walked three blocks to where I was staying at Hotel 41. TIP: When you get to Victoria Station, don't walk down the stairs and then back up the pedestrian alley, which is a huge pain with luggage. Instead, just walk half a block to the right and cross at the underground crosswalk. Hotel 41 is directly across the street from the Queen's Mew, home to many of the horses and coaches used on state occasions. There aren't many hotels around so when darkness falls, the street goes from being a tourist haven to being eerily empty. But hey, it makes for good sleeping.

BLACK AND WHITE
The moment I walked into the entrance of Hotel 41, I was greeted by the hotel's signature color palette – black and white. It's modeled after the 21 Club in New York City. From there, the elevator whisks guests up to the fifth floor, where the hotel officially begins ... and ends ... it's just one floor. Because Hotel 41 only has 30 rooms, it doesn't really feel like a hotel. It feels more like a club, which might explain the black and white color scheme. After doing some quick online research, I discovered that the hotel was ranked #9 out of 1,011 hotels in London on TripAdvisor.com. Pretty impressive. Even more impressive is the fact that it just placed 10th on Travel and Leisure's World's Best Awards 2007 list of the top 50 hotels in Europe.

MY DAD
I was pretty anxious to get to my room to see if my father had made it safely. You see, my dad is legally deaf, does not often travel alone, (especially internationally) and tends not to follow my instructions. He says I'm bossy. I booked him on a flight using my frequent flier miles and the only business class seat I could find for him, got him into Heathrow six hours earlier than me.

CHAPERONING SENIORS
I worried about my dad finding his way through the airport and switching carriers. The positive aspect about my dad flying alone was that it was much easier to secure one seat using frequent flier miles. The negative part is that I would have felt a lot better if he had had someone accompanying him. In fact, I briefly looked into hiring a personal chaperone and found a new company, based out of Georgia, which specializes in giving seniors the freedom to travel anywhere in the world. But it's expensive! You have to pay the chaperone's travel fares on top of their daily rate. Instead, I arranged for airline representatives to escort my dad to his gates. This was free of charge and my dad said that the representatives all showed up and that it all worked out well. His only regret was turning down the golf cart ride at Heathrow; he didn't realize how long the walk to baggage claim was and while schlepping his carry-ons, he re-injured his bad back, putting a slight damper on the trip.

MY DAD ARRIVED!
My biggest concern was that my dad wouldn't make it to the hotel. If he got lost, there would be no way for me to get a hold of him. But the helpful staff at Hotel 41 solved that predicament. When I emailed them a few days prior and explained my dilemma, they had a solution. They suggested my dad take the Heathrow Express train (15 minutes from London's Heathrow Airport) and they would send a representative to meet him at the train platform. We swapped photographs so that each knew what the other looked like.

The rep who met my dad was actually the hotel manager, Chantal. What a lovely person. She's originally from Martinique and she had that innate, friendly Caribbean attitude that I love. When I arrived at the hotel, my first question for the pretty receptionist was whether or not my father had made it. With a big smile, she confirmed that he was in the house and that he was sleeping. Relief flooded over me. She went on to tell me that my father is a real character, that he was so excited to be in England and that all the staff who had met him, wanted to adopt him. Chantal expressed the same sentiments and I thought that maybe they were just being overly kind because they knew I had a travel website or something. But that didn't appear to be the case; the next morning, as I milled around the breakfast room, I took a look at the guest book and sure enough, it was filled with nothing but high praise, especially commenting on the hotel staff's friendly attitude. FYI: 60% of the guests are from the U.S., while 35% hail from the U.K.

HOTEL 41
The staff alone is reason enough to stay at Hotel 41. The location is another; its just blocks from Buckingham Palace, the tube and bus station. But most of all, the rooms are really comfortable. They're all beautifully decorated with traditional mahogany furniture, a flat screen TV, an iPod docking station, warm feather duvets, a clean bathroom with strong water pressure and fancy toiletries. Internet is free of charge and some rates include breakfast. It's served in the civilized library/dining/TV room. Some tables are made just for one and face the TV, which is nice for business travelers. The service is refined. The waiters are dressed in tuxedos with tails and they take their time. It seemed like each piece of china was being brought to the table one by one. The final touch was a single red carnation, a subtle reminder of the company the hotel belongs to. Breakfast was worth the wait; they served freshly squeezed orange juice and I had one of the best Belgian waffles ever. Room rates begin at £225.00. Hotel 41, Buckingham Palace Road, London, Tel.: +44 (0) 20 7300 0041.

MILESTONE HOTEL
While on the subject of Red Carnation Hotels, I might as well tell you about the company's signature property, The Milestone. The Milestone Hotel is adjacent to Kensington Gardens and is a real gem. I thought Hotel 41 was amazing but The Milestone is just flat-out superb. The staff was as chummy as Hotel 41's and called guests by their names. Good thing my Italian father couldn't hear them saying "Mr. Jet". The Milestone's decor is the complete opposite of that at Hotel 41. The only black and white room can be found in a parlor off the bar. The Milestone is traditionally English. There are 45 guest rooms, 12 luxurious suites and six apartments. The service was prompt. I mean instantaneous. By the time I hung up the phone after requesting something, there was a gentle tap at my door. No wonder this place was voted the fifth best hotel in the world, according to a 2007 survey by Travel & Leisure magazine, and placed second on their list of the top 50 hotels in Europe.

THE SAFARI SUITE
Fortunately, there was a large conference in town so all of the hotel's standard rooms were sold out ... which meant we got upgraded to the Safari Suite! There were a lot cheetah and zebra patterns going on and the room had little touches like elephant pillows on the leather couch and safari photos dotting the walls. Between the motif of our room and the South African accents of half the staff members (Red Carnation is South African owned), at times I felt like I was on a safari. It was so cool that they acted like we were paying suite customers because each night we were treated to canapés, mini books and treats left on the pillows. Heck, our oversized tiled bathroom had huge containers of expensive Penhaligon's toiletries. They even brought out the soap tray for us. Our room had the same amenities as Hotel 41, including free Internet access and a desk, stocked with everything your desk at home has, except a lot less messy. There's a gym, indoor swimming pool and a small bar, which, on occasion, can be the stomping grounds of low-key rock stars. Room rates begin at £250 a night and include breakfast. The Milestone Hotel and Apartments, 1 Kensington Court; Tel.: +44 (0) 20 7917 1000.

PRINCESS DIANA
Our room overlooked Kensington Park. One evening, my dad and I took a stroll through the peaceful park. We passed lots of joggers and pick-up soccer games until we came to the gates of Kensington Palace (website), where Princess Diana lived. We were there the day after the 10th anniversary of her journey into Heaven and it was remarkable how many letters, collages, candles and flowers were left in her honor.

WHOLE FOODS AND GOAT TAVERN
Around the corner from the hotel is the world's largest Whole Foods Market. I love Whole Foods (though I wish it wasn't so darned expensive!) but my dad, understandably, didn't want to eat there. Instead, he had his heart set on some English beer and traditional pub food so we popped into the historic Goat Tavern, which was just a few doors down from The Milestone. The Goat, as it's called, has been around since 1697! The food (fish ‘n' chips, steak and mushroom pies, for example) wasn't great and the service could use some help ... perhaps from the Milestone staff? I forgot that in a pub, you need to order at the bar, which took us a while to realize. But my dad loved it and really, that's all that matters. Goat Tavern, 3a Kensington High Street; Tel.: 020 7937 1213.

SIGHTSEEING
This was my dad's first trip to London, so we made the rounds to some of the famous landmarks. Since my dad can't hear, we skipped the guided, hop-on-hop-off bus tour and took the public bus. We got the same experience but it was a whole lot cheaper. One incredibly friendly driver even made announcements over the PA to alert me which stop to get off at and helpfully pointed us in the right direction.

PORTOBELLO MARKET
It was Saturday morning and our first stop was Portobello Road for the world's largest antiques market. Held weekly, there are 1,500 specialist antiques dealers, antique arcades and galleries all along the Notting Hill road. It was a complete zoo. From there we went to Covent Garden for more shopping. PortobelloMarket.org and PortobelloRoad.co.uk.

HARRODS
No first timer's trip to London would be complete without going to the world's most famous department store. Harrods has been in business since 1849 and despite its steep prices and no-shorts rule, is a tourist haven. My dad was starving so we pulled up a chair at one of the many eateries. There are 28 restaurants on over seven floors! We actually had to wait about 15 minutes in a line before being seated at the pizzeria. With the all-Italian staff, this place might have the best pizza in London and without a doubt, it's also the most expensive. Would you believe a small pizza costs £14.50? Ouch! Harrods.com.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Next, we took the bus down to the Thames River and later had a snack at the nearby One Aldwych Hotel. My dad marveled at Big Ben, then took a tour of Westminster Abbey (£10 adults, £7 seniors). The Abbey dates back to 960AD and is the place where Princess Diana had her funeral mass. Almost every English monarch was crowned here since 1066 and many are interred here, along with dozens of great writers and artists. Since 1920, only the cremated remains are accepted and the last famous person brought here was Laurence Olivier in 1989. My dad has a love of poetry and his favorite, not surprisingly, was the Poet's Corner. This is where Britain's best writers are honored. Westminster-Abbey.org.

HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT TOUR
My dad is a retired lawyer and, if I might say so, one of the state of Connecticut's best. So it's no wonder that he had his heart set on a tour of the parliament building. We purchased two tickets (adults £12, seniors 60 and over £8) for the 75-minute tour. The English are so hospitable; when I told them that my dad couldn't hear well and that his back was hurting, they arranged for a wheelchair and gave him the tour guide's transcript to read in advance and take home. He loved it. And so did I! But if I had one complaint, it's the scheduling of the tours. They have several groups touring at the same time instead of staggering the times. So when you're all huddled up in a room, you can hear the guide next to you, which makes it a bit difficult to pay attention, especially for someone with ADD ... yeah, that's me. That aside, I did learn all about the English government (it has three bodies like ours), saw where the Queen puts on her robe and speaks to the country once a year, and I saw where the Prime Minister addresses his colleagues. If you've ever watched it on TV and wondered why people in the crowd keep popping up and down, it's because they are trying to get the speaker's attention. If he or she doesn't call on them, they sit down. The red rooms in the parliament are for the royalty, while the green ones are for the commoners. Unfortunately, no picture taking was allowed. Parliament.uk and Overseas Visitors.

NEXT WEEK
Next week, my dad and I put our RailEurope passes to good use by hopping on a train and traveling to another country!

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