Varanasi India

Nadesar Palace Varanasi (Taj?)

Taj Nadesar Palace, Varanasi, India

Taj Hotels won us over last year with the Umaid Bhawan Palace, so we couldn’t wait to see how they’d transform another former maharajah’s palace, this one in the holy city of Varanasi. Jasmine-scented grounds surround the 18th-century property, where 10 supersize suites are worthy of prominent former guests (Queen Elizabeth II and Indira Gandhi among them). Gauzy textiles in lotus-petal pinks and marigold yellows are draped over four-poster beds, and etched mirrors hang next to claw-foot bathtubs. Our favorite touch: finding a silk pouch filled with palate-cleansing, silver-coated cardamom pods at turndown. Doubles from $399

Morocco - Taroundant

• best month: April
• stay
• La Gazelle d'or (30 rooms, stables) www.gazelledor.com 480gbp 1/2 board
• Kasabat Annour (right beside kasbah walls) latest opening in town, spa, old colonial house once home to colonel of French garrison www.kasabatannour 120euro B&B
• Dar Zitoune: a few km out of the center, twin towered facade of a kasbah but inside is series of well-tended garden of fruit trees & exotic flowers 120 euros B&B
• eat
• la gazelle d'or
• chez nada (roof terrace) avenue moulay rachid (no al)
• restaurant vala (avenue hassan II) (no al)
• Jnane Soussia (garden just outside walls, tented dining areas, roast lamb, order day ahead, no al)
• fly to Agadir (80km from Taroudant) hire a car (royal air maroc flies from heathrow via casablanca)

lodge hopping - new zealand

you can drive from one to the other or just take a domestic flight

Farm at Cape Kidnappers
~ in Hawke's Bay (goo dlocal wine) short flight from Auckland to Napier & 45 minutes drive to the Farm

Huka Lodge
~ 3 hours to drive from cape kidnappers to huka lodge
~ above huka falls

South Island's whare kea lodge
(drive back to Auckland first or get direct flight to queenstown (90 min drive to the lodge) or get on flight from Auckland to Christchurch & connect flight to "Remarkables range"
otahuna lodge
-- drive from christchurch

Bolivia

• Travesia between Potosi (the world's highest town in Bolivia) & San Pedro de atacama in Chile (8 days of walking past volcanoes, llmas, salt flats, flamingos ...300 miles) end up at hotel de larache in the middle of Atacama desert $5964 all incl
• see colonial Santiago de chile
• Atacama desert's moon valley
• white washed town of Sucre
• canoe at Rurrenabaque in the Amazon

North Africa

• getting there
• Air France (flies from Paris to Algiers, Casablanca, Rabat & Tripoli
• Alitalia to Algiers, Cairo, Tripoli Casablanca
• BA from Heathrow to Cairo Algiers & Tripoli
• Iberia from Heathrow to Algiers,Agadir, Cairo, Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech & Tangier (via Madrid or Barcelona)
• Lufthansa via frankfurt to algiers, Alexandria, Cairo, Casablanca
• Royal air maroc: heathrow to casablanca, via casablanca to tripoli, cairo & algiers
• atlas blue from gatwick to fez & marrakech, from heathrow to tangier
• easyjet from gatwick to casablanca & tangier, & marrakech
• getting around
• regional carriers connect tripoli,algiers, casablanca & cairo, air algeria, egypt air, tunis air, royal air maroc
• when to go
• algeria
• april to august (coast) nov to april (desert)
• egypt: march april Oct Nov
• morocco: mid march to may & sept to nov

Zambia

• stay at Chongwe River camp or
• Robin's house at Nkwli camp, South Luangwa
• BA flies Heathrow to Lusaka
• S african air fly via johannesburg
• zambian air flies to Mfuwe (handy for S Luangwa national park)
• june to Oct best

Daypass zimbabwe
Stay. Chundukwa river lodge, royal livingstone or royal zambezi (travel agents: expert africa, bailey robinson)
Award-winning photographer David Rogers has spent the last 15 years of his life capturing stunning scenes of the South and East African landscape at hundreds of different locations. Now, he has teamed up with the renowned and extremely exclusive Robin Pope Safaris to offer his expertise on wildlife photography in the world's biggest classroom: the South Luangwa Valley of Zambia.

other places to stay
Livingstone hotels - Zambia
South Luangwa National Park hotels - Zambia
Lusaka hotels - Zambia
Victoria Falls hotels - Zambia
Siavonga hotels - Zambia

tahiti - Bora-bora

• stay
• 4 seasons bora bora $964
• novotel bora bora http://www.accorhotels.com/ $147
• eat
• villa mahana $140 dinner/2 (5 tables only)