With the Cricket World Cup and Chinese New Year happening the week I was to travel to Auckland decent, reasonably priced hotels were at a premium and so I ended up at a hotel on Queen Street called the Park Regis. But don’t start thinking that you’ll be staying at anything that looks like the St Regis in New York – far, very far from it.
Park Regis, Auckland, New Zealand
I don’t normally stay at a Marriott hotel as I try to stay at an IHG or Accor hotel so I get my points (yep, I’m a bit shallow like that!) but this week due to all my normal hotels being full in Brisbane I decided to give the Marriott Brisbane a go having driven and walked past it many times.
The Marriott Brisbane is a relatively large hotel at the intersection of Queen and Ann Streets, though your taxi will take you to the back entrance on Howard St.
Brisbane Marriott Hotel, Brisbane, Australia
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Sometimes life can be difficult, like the 3 days I had to spend in Fiji. Going to a tropical paradise where it’s 30 degrees everyday and things happen on “Island Time” is just so hard to take.
Upon the landing of my delayed Fiji Airways flight from Sydney I found myself negotiating with the taxi driver at Suva airport to get me to my hotel. I’d been warned by a colleague not to pay more than F$30 to get to the hotel. The first offer was for F$40 which I scoffed at and offered F$30 in return which was accepted. I later learned that I probably could have offered F$25 and still got my ride.
And so I found myself pulling up to the Suva Holiday Inn after the bumpy taxi ride from the airport to be welcomed with a hearty Bula!
Holiday Inn, Suva, Fiji
I was back in Perth for the week and after my last stay at the lack lustre Duxton and previously the site of the world’s most expensive beer, the Sheraton Four Points, I decided to give another hotel on our Perth list a try. Of this year’s shortened list I chose the Mantra on Murray.
Mantra on Murray, Perth, Australia