The Grosvenor Hotel, London; Victorian-era luxury?

Only a couple of posts back we reviewed The Grand Hotel in Brighton, a highly acclaimed property of times gone by with a luxurious and romantic reputation spanning decades – over a century, in fact; sadly, what we found didn’t quite hit the mark.

It was with much anticipation therefore that I booked a night at The Grosvenor Hotel in central London, another much romanticised Victorian-era property, oozing French Renaissance flair. Would The Grosvenor live up to it’s reputation, or would it fall disappointingly short?

The Grand Hotel, Brighton: A grand day out?

The Grand is a highly luxurious property that I was hugely excited about staying in, up against personal 5* experiences at the Fairmont Dubai, Kempinski Budapest, Ritz-Carlton in Singapore, not to mention most-excellent stays at The Beach at Bude boutique hotel and the Excellence Playa Mujeres resort in Mexico. However, The Grand is perhaps the most iconic and well known amongst it’s more modern aforementioned contemporaries, romanticised as a hallmark for service and Victorian-era suave sophistication and charm.

I was keen to see whether The Grand would live up to it’s reputation, looking to enjoy the sights and sounds of Brighton from a plush and comfortable stay along the seafront.

Five-star Dubai Luxury? The Fairmont Dubai Hotel Review

Regular visitors to Two Men About Town will be familiar with my penchant for opulence and luxury, where my wallet allows; whether it’s the demanding inner-diva in me (probably) or just a desire to be spoilt, I love beautifully designed items, attentive service and experiencing something that’s just a little bit special. Call me Mariah.

This desire for luxury is no different when it comes to travel, where I’ve been fortunate through leisure and corporate pursuits to have stayed in some beautiful hotels around the world such as the Ritz-Carlton in Singapore, The Grand in Brighton, Kempinski in Budapest and Excellence Playa Mujeres in Mexico, all hallmarks of memorable service and pure luxury.

It’s against a tough backdrop of comparison then that the Fairmont Dubai finds itself, up against some of the finest properties in the world; but how does it stack up?

City Stay Apartments, Milton Keynes review; the best combination of hotel and house?

Whether you’re a young professional attending a corporate event or client visit in Milton Keynes, a cool and hip (yes, hip) socialite going out to soak up the sights and sounds of our town or perhaps something in between, at some point you are likely to want overnight accommodation. Life on the road with business isn’t much fun and crashing somewhere unfamiliar without home comforts and space isn’t much better either. Let’s be frank… that Travelodge can be a bit grim.

Sure, the hotel market in Milton Keynes covers everything from budget hotels to the dizzying heights of luxury (that’s the Holiday Inn to you and I… *eye roll*) – and yes, such a thing as Airbnb does exist – but you’re likely to end up either be very disappointed, struggle to feel at ease in somebody else’s home, contract some form of mattress-based disease or spend a small fortune on a pretty mediocre overnight stay. And you are better and more demanding than that.

You can imagine then our interest when the people at City Stay Apartments got in touch, offering us the opportunity to come and try out one of their two-bedroom executive managed apartments located in central Milton Keynes. We’d been looking for a location for our #UltimateNightIn (more on that in a future post), so we jumped at the chance to see what an executive apartment could offer us.

24hrs in Copenhagen, Denmark – Top Things To Do

I’m a big fan of the city break. Whilst I’m partial to a bit of sun, glorious white sandy beaches and cocktails in a tropical paradise, European cities make for a lovely (and affordable!) short stay. I’m not sure whether it’s experiencing the differences in culture, language, entertainment or food separated by just a couple of hundred miles across the continent, but I’ve had fabulous stays in cities such as Budapest, Berlin and Barcelona. All of them have been pleasantly memorable and beautifully eccentric in their own ways after peeling back the touristy-veneer.

MK Digital Awards – We’re a finalist!

Wow – what a crazy four months it’s been!

From our opening posts including RobRibs’s musings about why he loves Spotify and my top tips for visiting Dubai, we’ve had nothing short of a blast sharing our travel and lifestyle posts… and of course, not forgetting our many, many food posts. Most recently we’ve really found our feet in supporting local independent food traders and have had much enjoyment expanding our waistlines with the very best, and perhaps less than great, grub (and plenty of drink to wash that down) that Milton Keynes has to offer.

You can imagine our surprise and delight then in receiving a lovely email Monday morning informing us that Two Men About Town is a finalist in the upcoming MK Digital Awards in the ‘Blog – Entertainment’ category. Woohoo!

The Beach at Bude Boutique Hotel, Cornwall Review

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a bit of a travel snob, with a huge taste for the finer things in life; so much so that my idea of ‘roughing it’ during a round-the-world trip was a Hilton on Waikiki Beach(!). For real. Whether I’m travelling abroad to destinations such as Dubai, Mexico or a little closer to home, I’m all about the luxury.. well, as much as my wallet will realistically allow.

So you can therefore imagine my desire to find a comfortable and luxurious boutique hotel in North Cornwall for a recent short visit to Bude – did I find this in The Beach at Bude?

10 Amazing things to do in Canada that aren’t skiing

Skiiing is fun, don’t get me wrong. But Canada is big. Really, really, really big and it’s got so much more going on in every season that doesn’t involve strapping yourself onto two giant lolly sticks and pushing yourself off the side of a mountain. So if you’re a little overwhelmed with the place, need a few suggestions about what to do and where to go that isn’t skiing and that won’t disappoint, take a look at a few of these tips from Mrs P and I.  They certainly aren’t exhaustive but you can be damn sure you won’t regret doing them.

Excellence Playa Mujeres Resort, Mexico Review: A little bit of paradise?

Have you ever been somewhere that looked like a postcard from a faraway tropical paradise? I hadn’t. That is, I hadn’t until I arrived at Excellence Playa Mujeres, Mexico.

In dire need of a break owing to a big promotion at work and having tackled a whole host of stressful life changing events, I booked my fortnight trip to Excellence Paya Mujeres via Thomson – I figured a few weeks away in the sunshine was just what I needed. Having previously treated myself to a week in Dubai, I opted for Mexico and Excellence Playa Mujeres based on the endless photos of golden sandy beaches, all-inclusive luxury and the promise of lots of sunshine. Oh, and the cocktails. Definitely lots and lots of cocktails.

10 Awesome Things to do in Berlin

If you saw my Top 10 Awesome Things to do in Dubai post and said, “hey, that’s great and all, but I don’t have all the cash-monies for a five star trip to this desert utopia that you speak of”, then FEAR NOT my friends. My next post in our top 10 series is certainly more attainable on even the most modest of travel budgets. Hooray!

Berlin is an awesome city. It’s packed with history (which was my main interest, if I’m honest), culture and superb nightlife that’ll easily give you endless hours of enjoyment. Without further ado, here is my top ten awesome things to do when in Berlin.

10 Awesome Things to do in Dubai

I’ll put it out there, I love Dubai.

I visited for eight nights and was utterly blown away, concluding fairly quickly that there really isn’t anywhere like it that I’ve been to before.

Whether you consider yourself a bit of a thrill-seeker, enjoy getting off the beaten-track to soak up a bit of heritage, or yearn to be pampered to high heaven amongst absolutely stunning surroundings, I’d say Dubai truly has something for everybody.