Having left a snowy Heathrow it was a treat to arrive in the blue skies and heat of LA.  On the first night, after an early supper with an old travel friend an early night was in order before, the next day, embarking the Psalty V with Captain Gary and some travel colleagues for a 3 hour trip to see some whales and roam the waters of Catalina Island.  Andrew picked up the boat at San Pedro and they were soon out of the harbour and amongst the seals and dolphins.  Sadly, no whales were spotted but a fun morning with some much needed fresh air after the 12 hour flight.

The show was a huge success with seamless registration and a fun chance to catch up with travel colleagues at the opening night ceremony.  The general feeling was that everyone was very lucky to be involved with CNT and to be on their ‘officially recommended’ radar.

For more information about LTR’s private mansions for hire please contact Andrew Loyd on + 44 (0) 1835 824 642 or ANDREW@LTR.CO.UK; or visit our website at www.ltr.co.uk

Whether you would like to stay for a week in a luxury Central London house and enjoy the buzz and atmosphere of the capital city or whether you would prefer to enjoy the seclusion and privacy of one of our exclusive Essex homes with extensive grounds, swimming pools and tennis courts, we at LTR will be able to help you.  All our Essex luxury houses are only 1 hour from the main Olympic venue at Stratford Park.

For further information on the exclusive luxury accommodation that we are offering for the London 2012 Olympics, please contact Andrew Loyd on + 44 (0) 1835 824 642 or ANDREW@LTR.CO.UK

For the three valley skiers amongst us you will be interested to know that there a number of new or improved lifts and pistes this season. The upper section of Meribel’s new Saulire 8-man gondola will be ready this December (the lower part to be finished December 2012) enabling an easier access to Courchevel and in particular to the Grand Couloir and off-piste Saulire couloirs. Val Thorens has added the ‘Funitel de Thorens’ to its collection of funitels, providing access to two new slopes (a red and blue) and Courchevel has replaced its 4-seat Plantrey chairlift with a 6-seater. There is also a new green run below the Blanchot run in Meribel, the red Lac de la Chambre has been modified to better cope with skiing traffic between VT and Meribel-Motteret, and the red Roc de Merlet piste in Courchevel has been made easier so that more people can enjoy it.

Over in the Espace Killy the slopes may have remained the same but a number of places around the resort have gained in prestige, such as the family run Becca restaurant which is now proudly boasting a Michelin star, making Val the ever increasing sophisticated skiing destination.

Lapland is quite fiddly to fly to commercially, so being able to choose the date   and times that you would like to fly is a huge bonus. It means you also have time to take part in some other snowy activities to make the day even more memorable.

We would recommend departing early (say 6am) as the flight to Rovaniemi is around 3 hours and there is a +2 hour time difference. On board you can enjoy a delicious champagne breakfast and catch up on some sleep after your early get-up!

On arrival, you will be greeted by your escort for the day – one of Father Christmas’s very own elves! Daytime temperatures are typically -5 to -10 degrees so you will be decked out with thermal clothing and boots before you set off to the Husky Farm. Here you will meet a local husky ‘musher’ and his friendly team of dogs and learn the skills of husky sledding. After your lesson, you will have a chance to take a short ride pulled by a team of huskies.

After the ride it’s time to transfer to the Reindeer Farm where the reindeer herder will demonstrate how to drive a reindeer sledge. It is then your turn to participate in the reindeer driving test, for which you will receive your own reindeer driving licence! Before leaving you can participate in the ceremony of crossing the Arctic Circle and obtain your certificate.

After a traditional lunch at a cosy lakeside hotel, it’s time to move on to the Santa Claus Village where Lapland’s most famous inhabitant, Father Christmas himself, is on hand to welcome his visitors and collect those Christmas wish-lists in person. There will be time for shopping at Santa’s shopping gallery and visiting Santa´s Main Post Office to send a postcard home with his special stamp.

It’s then time to transfer back to the airport, climb on board your private jet and fly home re-living memories from your special day.

If you have more than a day to celebrate, we can arrange accommodation in a private rustic log cabin with roaring fireplace and private chef.

Other activities such as snow-mobiling, ice-fishing and for those brave enough, ice swimming can be tried and children can even attend ‘Elf School’.

Am not quite sure who enjoys this trip the most – the children or the parents!

For more information on visiting Lapland by private jet, call Lisa on 020 8742 1300 or email hello@jetescapes.co.uk

Gordon Macgeachy who founded Global Blackbook will be known to most of you from his days running Mint Lifestyle in LA with his brother Steven. LTR was lucky enough to look after a few Mint clients and they were amongst the best we have ever had. Gordon left in 2009 to set up ‘A Rare World’ and now focuses his efforts on the online Global Black Book which for a hundred bucks a year subscription fee  is incredibly good value.  A great source of luxury travel info!

2. Brigitte Bardot Exhibition – visit during 23rd June-31st October

3. Nikki Beach – ideal for lunch and lounging in the sun

4&5 .Wine tours – Consensio recommends visiting Chateau Minuty Vineyard 10. La Quai for an aperitif, watch the yachts come into moor  and people watch, then head to its’ sister restaurant Grand Joseph for dinner in one of St Tropez hot spot restaurants.

6. Marineland – great fun for a family day out, try swimming with the Dolphins or a VIP dinner and evening show

7. Hire a boat – arrive at the beach in style or to just avoid the traffic

8. Visit the ‘Le Musee de l’Annonciade’  - a collection of avant garde paintings ranging from the 1890 to 1950.

9. La Lagon – perfect for a lazy lunch on the beach front,  try their signature salad, King Prawns, Pink Grapefruit and Avocado absolutely delicious

10. St Tropez market – soak up the local atmosphere in the heart of the village every Tuesday and Saturday morning

The people
Politics aside, Burma is an extraordinary country with a fascinating history. There is so much to see and do, the people are really kind and fun, and the guides are, bar none, the best we’ve ever encountered anywhere in the world. My overriding impression from the trip is that it is an exceptionally devout country.  I’ve always felt that temples and places of worship are only interesting when you can see the rituals taking place and that is one thing there is no shortage of in Burma. All the monasteries are absolutely packed full of novice monks and nuns who are all chanting away and completely focused on what they’re doing. The discipline and faith of the people is really touching and you really do see it everywhere in Burma.

The landscape
The scenery is amazingly diverse. It’s a country with such a range of topography: you’ve got the tail end of the Himalayas in the north with mountains over 4,000 metres high; you’ve got a large border with Thailand in the east; and there is the huge stretch of the Andaman Sea on the west and south with islands and beaches that you would normally associate with Thailand. A 10 day trip would allow you to experience a broad range of landscapes and the great thing is that it is very easy to travel around the country.

The service
What I was most struck by was the extraordinary efficiency of the Burmese people – they are incredibly competent and capable. You might think that somebody hasn’t understood you but in fact they’ve understood every single word. It doesn’t matter how silly or tricky the request is – from being allocated the right seats on the plane or room in a hotel , to ordering unusual cocktails at the bar – it all comes out just right without any fuss at all. Where Burma stands out is the ground handling and the guiding are fantastic.

The hotels
The standard of hotels in Burma is remarkably good. Whilst there are a few good 5 star hotels, on the whole, the best one can find are 4 star properties which are immaculately clean and well run, fit for the fussiest traveller. The thing about Burma is that it feels as if you are maybe 10 or 15 years back in time. It is ideally suited to people with a sense of adventure who enjoy engaging with the countries they visit. People with specialist interests – be it food, architecture, religion, botany, anthropology etc – are particularly well catered for due to the incredibly knowledgeable and qualified guides.

Browse our portfolio of Burma itineraries and please call Mark Wright or myself, James Jayasundera, for more details on 020 7289 6100. We particularly recommend The Golden Land of Burma itinerary, which we designed off the back of our trip. It uses all of our favourite hotels and I feel provides the perfect balance of experiences whilst ensuring you don’t get too “templed out”!

We have received a flurry of enquiries just recently from romantic gentlemen looking for a truly unique way to propose to their other (better?! ahem) halves…

One lucky lady was whisked away on a stunning Phenom 100 to Venice for the weekend to stay at the Hotel Cipriani; another to Nice by Citation CJ2 with a private helicopter waiting on arrival to hop them over to Monaco for a glamorous night at the Hotel de Paris, with a romantic dinner at Le Louis XV followed by fun and glitz at the world famous Monte-Carlo Casino.

My favourite though was a lunch trip to Champagne. After a one hour flight by Citation Mustang to Chalons Vatry, a chauffeur was waiting to whisk the couple off to Dom Perignon for a private tour to see the oldest parts of the cellars at Moet and Chandon – seldom seen by other visitors to the estate; this was then followed by a flute of Dom Perignon Champagne served in the private drawing room in the Moet mansion – what a place to propose!  After a gourmet lunch (accompanied by more champagne of course!) at the 2* L’Assiette Champenoise, the happy couple visited a small family run Champagne House for a tour of the full Champagne making process followed by sabrage of a bottle of Champagne – the opening of a champagne bottle with a sword. Happy – and slightly blurry eyed – their driver then took them back to the airport for their private jet home.

So did these lucky ladies say yes? Of course they did! And they already have ideas for how to celebrate their first anniversary with us.

For other ideas on how to celebrate that special occasion, call Lisa on 020 8742 1300 or email hello@jetescapes.co.uk

Obviously with no prior experience we did not know what to expect and were anxious that our VIP guests had a wonderful time in Scotland. The feedback was amazing and in a way our old school approach and laid back style seemed to fit in well with the mood of the group who enjoyed the homely qualities that our castles offer and the genuine warmth of the Highland people. In a world filled with very slick hotels, a bit of old fashioned charm, combined with comfortable four poster beds and excellent food, is still hard to beat. Anyway Emma Cripwell lined up a lovely team of people and we are now looking forward to our next press trip to Ireland in 2012.

Jessica Andrews: “Ladakh & Rajasthan are a match made in heaven and make for a perfect summer itinerary: cool mountains, awe-inspiring landscapes and impressive monasteries, followed by some dazzling and opulent hotels in crowd-free Jaipur and Udaipur.”

Mark Wright: “The Gems of Indonesia captures everything I love most about this country. The white beaches of Lombok, the misty hills and temple dancers in Ubud, and the magnificent temples of Borobudur.”

James Jayasundera: “I may be a little biased, but I defy anybody not to be seduced by the heavenly properties on our Bliss & Barefoot Luxury itinerary in Sri Lanka – a deliciously relaxed tour, guaranteed to leave you with a deep connection with the island.”

Please do phone us on +44 20 7289 6100 or send us an email at info@ampersandtravel.com and Mark, Jessica or James will respond with suggestions for your own tailor-made summer itinerary.