While on a recent webinar about Ellenborough Park Hotel, I saw the room above and told my husband, “I want to go there.” So was I ever shocked when I heard my name mentioned as having won the prize of a free night in a Luxury Room in this gorgeous venue, along with breakfast and a 3-course dinner for two! It’s a value of over $500 (depending on travel dates). I was one happy woman! There’s just one problem. It’s only been five months since I returned from a 3-1/2 week trip to

What a beautiful city Seville is! Karen and I felt it was best seen by the leisurely clopping along of a horse-drawn carriage. One of the most popular sites in the city, with good reason, is the Plaza de España (seen in the first four photos here), located in the María Luisa Park. An architectural gem combining Renaissance Revival, Art Deco and Neo-Mudéjar styles, it was built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is extremely photogenic (my photos do not do it justic

Princess time for Karen Steele and Vicki Scheck at Hotel Ritz Madrid Because the Ritz Madrid, a 1910 Belle Époque hotel in the heart of the city, is considered a royal residence, the hotel is permitted the use of the crown in its logo. As almost everything in the hotel is embroidered or imprinted with that logo, I guess it made sense that Karen and I would feel like princesses while there. Well…that and the crowns above our beds! This was the “breakfast room.” What an amazing

Crystal Palace, Retiro Park, Madrid When a good friend told me that she thought Madrid was the most beautiful city she’d ever seen—and she'd seen a lot of them around the world—that was all I needed to hear. And it certainly did not disappoint. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen more fountains in one city. Here, there are matching ones on either side of the street. Some of the not-to-be-missed sites of this city are the Prado Museum, the Royal Palace and Retiro Park. In addition,

For many people, Tahiti conjures up images of a tropical paradise. And while that is certainly understandable, the island of Tahiti itself (specifically, the island’s capital of Papeete) is often not what people are expecting in terms of its natural beaches. It is amazing, however, what talented landscape architects can do to create the feeling of the real thing on resort properties. Because Papeete is the location of the only international airport in the area, many visitors

Four Seasons Bora Bora! I couldn’t help thinking of it as Paradise Found. How could it not be the ScheckTrek Pick for French Polynesia? For

We wondered if we were crazy. With almost four weeks and eight hotels in South Africa, what were we thinking when we booked a stopover in Du

If you trust Princes William and Harry, Oprah Winfrey, and former President Bill Clinton to know which is the best hotel in Johannesburg, then you may want to choose the Saxon. We couldn’t agree more. To put into perspective how good this hotel is, the city's Four Seasons would be forced to come in second (we’ve stayed at both). Even though Johannesburg itself may not intentionally be on the bucket list of most world travelers, it’s the rare visitor to South Africa who does n

“I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy,” said Ernest Hemingway. It was easy to understand why when we went on safari in South Africa. The safari adventure started on a plane like this, flying from Johannesburg to Madikwe. There were no flight attendants; and refreshments were in a cooler in the back, where we were invited to help ourselves. It was a really fun experience! The view of the topography below demonstrated to us that, in more ways

It was only about a year earlier, when staying at a world-class hotel in Paris, that I'd said, "Where hotels are concerned, it will never in this life get better." But then, I had not yet been to La Residence in the Franschhoek Valley, part of the Winelands region near Cape Town. Wow! The gate opened. Lining the right side of the long, winding driveway, scores of iceberg rose bushes were in full bloom in the October springtime. On the left side, a family of springbok frolicke

We get it that not everyone makes it to Durban on their first visit to South Africa. But as ours was a four-week journey, it made sense to schedule a few days of down time—and what better place to do it than on the shores of the beautiful (and warm) Indian Ocean? Besides, I wanted to see The Oyster Box! Yesterday my husband and I were at Starbucks discussing what were our favorite hotels ever in our travels. We’ve had the privilege of staying at some of the world's best, incl