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The pressure was on from the beginning – how to recreate the feeling of the year-long overseas working holiday we had for our honeymoon, for the 10th wedding anniversary, with two kids, no time and a reduced budget.

The other factor was the mandatory overwater bungalow.

We had three nights available without the children thanks to kind grandparents, so the first challenge was to find the closest overwater bungalow to Australia. New Caledonia and Vanuatu have resorts with overwater bungalows, both within a three hour flight of Australia. So far, so good.

The Coral Palms Resort, formally Escapade Island Resort, on the Ilot Maitre, just off Noumea, reopened in 2003 after an extensive renovation. French speaking New Caledonia appealed to us, taking us back ten years to our honeymoon in Paris, without the travel time.


The flight to Noumea with Aircalin aclimatised us to all things French – real butter, coffee whitener and French wine.

Stepping off at Noumea’s Tontouta International Airport, we realised we were in for a treat – French food and wine mixed with Island timetables and attitudes.

Our transfer to our Noumea hotel, The Nouvata Park, was a two hour tour through the back streets of the city – dropping off various people right at their doorsteps.

The warm tropical air and occasional shower did not deter us from walking down the Esplanade to search for a meal. We chose the very French “pizza” restaurant and as was our ‘foodie’ experience in France 10 years earlier, Italian food was a safe bet.

Bright and early the next morning we caught a cab down to the local market at Port Moselle. We were proud of ourselves, ordering a pain au chocolat and croissant at the café, until we found them for half as much at the bakery stall next door. We managed to use our school French to buy enough food to provide lunches at the Resort; our attempt to save money.


The showers turned torrential just in time for our arrival at the dock at Port Moselle where we were supposed to catch the boat to Coral Palms.

We made our way on to the Resort’s dedicated boat and met our captain, Sebastion. We waited... and waited for the boat to leave the dock.

The very gallic Sebastion spoke at length to the French-speaking passengers. Eventually he came over to us.

“The boat cannot go today. Maybe tomorrow,” he said.

“But we have paid a lot of money to stay in an overwater bungalow.”

“Oh well. You would not want to be on the island in this weather. Go back to your hotel and maybe you can go tomorrow.”

At this, I promptly burst into tears. Years in the planning, how could the holiday have gone so wrong?

We sat on the boat for an hour, holding onto a vain hope. Then, Captain Sebastion said we could set off, after all. The relief…

The fifteen minute journey was bumpy but the brand new boat coped with the big swell and we arrived safely at Coral Palms Resort, welcomed by friendly staff with golf buggies. The cocktails on arrival at reception were a lovely touch too. Captain Sebastion was already a dim memory.

I was holding my breath as we were taken to our overwater bungalow. The “run of outs” I’d had with a few recent holidays where the website was much better than the resort, was in the back of my mind.

The sun came out as we entered one of the 25 overwater bungalows and we were speechless. The view was magnificent and the fit-out of the suites, first class. The service was different to Australian resorts- less polished, but more sincere.

I called reception to ask for milk and also assistance with our personal hydraulic stairs to take us from the bungalow into the crystal clear water below us.

“I will call the man in charge of stairs and milk, immediately,” said the receptionist. And he did.

We stayed two nights, eating our (included) breakfasts in the restaurant and one dinner there as well. The food was excellent and service delightful. The other night, we dined in, eating a delicious meal in our idyllic bungalow above the Pacific Ocean. Our waitress came to our room to take our order.

The staff to guest ratio was high in March. We almost had the place to ourselves, until a group of Japanese tourists arrived.

Our favourite barman told us that October was probably the best month to come, but the weather is pleasant all year round. We had torrential rain one minute and bright sunshine the next, but the view from our bungalow was amazing in all conditions. Coral Palms Resort met all the criteria for our 10th anniversary getaway and more. Bring on the 20 year holiday!

Snapshot
Getting there – Aircalin flys daily to Noumea. Airfares range from $500-$600. Package deals are available from Air Caledonie Holidays.

Where to stay - in Noumea, The Nouvata Park Hotel from $260 a night.
- Coral Palms Resort Overwater Bungalows from $950/night.
Overwater bungalows at Coral Palms Resort
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I love to travel. I guess you do too, if you are reading a travel blog. The other thing I like to do is plan my travel. It's an obsession, to be honest.

Last year I took a two week trip by myself to England, France and Italy. The chance to travel alone, after looking after small children for six years, was possibly the most exciting adventure I could think of.

I wish I could go back now and calculate the hours I spent on the internet, in the two months before I left. There was so much riding on that trip - having a bad time was not an option. I wanted every hotel to be a perfect combination of charm, quality, individuality and value for money. And with most of my time spent in Paris and Venice, that was never going to be easy.

It would be fair to say I did exhaustive research, to find perfect Parisian and Venetian hotels. I found Frommers a good starting point, using it's rating system to locate the highest rated hotel for my budget (about $150 AUD per night). Then I would look for at least three other independent verifications of the same hotel. This could be Tripadvisor or Timeout or local sites. This was all before I contacted the hotels to check for vacancies or specific requests. I estimate I spent close to 30 hours per city, researching hotels, restaurants and other travel information.

The Hotel I chose in Paris, the Grand Hotel de L'Univers, is in Saint Germain des Pres. It has 34 rooms, is located on a small street in a beautiful area and is near two metro stations. My room was small, as are most rooms in Paris, but it was everything I expected and more. The marble bathroom was stunning and the view onto the narrow cobbled street was exactly what I dreamed of.

In Venice, the Pensione Accademia was even better. My search this time was for a room with a guaranteed canal view. Many hotels wouldn't promise the view. The Pensione Accademia is in the old Villa Maravege, right near the famous art museum, the Gallerie dell'Accademia in the Dosoduro area. The Pensione has it's own wharf, which is great for an early morning water taxi to the airport. My room looked straight out onto a small calle (canal) that joined up with the Grand Canal. Downstairs there was a bar, where drinks and snacks would appear each night, as well as breakfast in the mornings.

I spent hours looking out my window, imagining one day living in this city surrounded by water, and I admit, congratulating myself on my excellent choice of hotels!

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The one thing that got me through a recent five week stint of solo parenting, then a 14 hour flight to Los Angeles with the kids was the thought of the Business Class upgrade I'd requested for the return trip, using my Qantas Frequent Flyer points.

But guess what, all along there was almost no chance I was ever going to get that upgrade. When you request the upgrade, the website says you won't know until five hours before the flight, whether it's been granted. What it doesn't say is that on the LAX - Sydney route, you are virtually certain NOT to get an upgrade. The staff at LAX admitted to us upon check-in that even people who book six months in advance hardly ever get upgraded.

Apparently this is because there are no seats allocated for upgrades, whatever that means.

It's not because Business Class is full, that's for sure. It was about half empty on our flight. I can accept that if Business Class is booked out, I can't be upgraded. I can also accept that if the website stated that upgrades rarely happen on certain routes, then it's unlikely I'd get one.

A few year's back, the doddle with frequent flyer points was that you could never actually find an ''allocated' seat. It seems the new doddle is using points for upgrades. I'm going to make it my mission to find anyone who has actually used frequent flyer points to upgrade to Business Class. Let's see which airlines really want to keep their customers.


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apartments are the new hotels

June 23rd 2008 04:16
Hotels beware! Apartments are taking over the world. Do a survey of wotif.com or any other accommodation website and you'll see what I mean. Serviced apartments are competing with hotels, many even offering one night stays.

I started using them when I had kids. We needed more room and preferred to eat in. But now, I even use them when I'm solo. Last week I went to Sydney for a couple of nights. I picked up a room the Meriton on Pitt Street for $99. It was a studio, but had a kitchen and separate study area. The World Square centre has a full size Coles, so I stocked the fridge and saved the wallet


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It's been nearly thirty years since I went to a live baseball game. The obsessions of childhood remain, though. Walking in to Dodger Stadium as a 'grown up' was no less exciting than when I was seven. Even the parking lot is still huge.

Those expensive seats seemed like a good idea back in Australia, but when I saw the sheer scale of the stadium, I wondered whether any seat would be 'close'. The heat was extreme, and I had expected to be even closer to the field, but we were the first row behind the corporate boxes. The attendant turned a blind eye when my son ran down to try to get his hat signed. The first time he tried, the player ran out of time. He only had one more chance. It was James Loney, the first baseman. My son thrust out his hat just as the national anthem was about to start. Yes! the last signature. And how fortunate it turned out to be. James Loney scored the winning run that day, after the game went to a 10th innings


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What incredible luck - the world's best beach is right here in the Illawarra. If you're a surfer, you'd know that Sandon Point, 10 kilometres north of Wollongong, is a draw card for surfers from across the globe. Some Germans we met recently came to Australia just to surf at Sandon Point.

I'm not a surfer, but even I can see the waves off the point certainly are top class. But, it's not the surfing that draws me, it's the safe, protected, patrolled beach on the southern side of the point. There's a big sand bar, perfect for kids because it's shallow. Even better, it has ideal waves for body surfing. Many summer days I've spent riding the waves all the way in to the shore


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Going solo

May 9th 2008 01:45
Any single parents out there- you have my utmost admiration. I had a five week stint of solo parenting recently and it was full on. Then I added in some solo parent travelling. I admit, I was terrified.

Just surviving it made me feel like a hero. I learned a few things along the way about travelling with children on your own


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As you know I like measuring things. How do you determine if a holiday was better than staying home? For us it's the same as anything else: the 60:40 rule. Was it good at least 60 per cent of the time? Did you spend more than 40 per cent of the time (that's about 5 days on a 13 day holiday) wishing you were at home?

The trip to LA was a huge hit. The only time the children wished they were at home was on the very last day, when we had checked out of the Orchid Suites in Hollywood and had to wait until 10.30 that night for our flight. That told me that two weeks was long enough for this holiday


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The theme at Disneyland for 2008 is the year of a million dreams and it really is true. I went to Disneyland six times before I was seven years old, so the memories were childish but cherished. Would it still be magical?

I have to admit that I remembered it being bigger. Tinkerbell's castle seemed much smaller this time and the Resort wasn't quite as huge as I'd remembered, but everything else was as good or better than my memories


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The theme at Disneyland for 2008 is the year of a million dreams and it really is true. I went to Disneyland six times before I was seven years old, so the memories were childish but cherished. Would it still be magical?

I have to admit that I remembered it being bigger. Tinkerbell's castle seemed much smaller this time and the Resort wasn't quite as huge as I'd remembered, but everything else was as good or better than my memories


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