On behalf of Odyssey Tours I was pleased to collect the World Boutique Hotel award which this year was held at the Merchant Taylor’s Hall in London, November 9, 2016. Read more about it here. Yes! The first and probably not the last award It was an interesting night at a fascinating old building in Threadneedle St, Cornhill, which is in the heart of London. I had arrived on the Eurostar via Brussels so I did not have far to go.

Goa’s Most Romantic Experience The Solita is our own classic luxury yacht, available for exclusive charter cruises. A completely different way of exploring Goa, the Solita will take you out to sea to spot dolphins and down Goa’s secret backwaters, past quaint villages. Available at a priority booking to guests at Summertime Villa, this is an experience not to be missed. Goa’s very first and till today, the most beautiful yacht for charter, the Solita is a 42-foot yacht in the classic Grand Banks style.

I love Bach’s St Matthew Passion. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a great fan of any Danse Macabre and prefer a Nullus Funus Sine Fidula (no funeral without a fiddle) anytime. However, death used to be very much part of daily life. As a teenager I lived in the Gothic St Bavo cathedral in Haarlem where people still literally walk all over the dead as the interior flooring of the church is entirely made up of tomb stones.

Bon Apetite in Vietnam My thigh muscles were aching for days afterwards. I had been crawling for some 100 metres through the Viet Kong tunnels at Củ Chi, north of Saigon. These escape routes from the American soldiers during the Vietnam war had been a bit widened and heightened for the tourists. Even though I still had to come across the first tall or fat Vietnamese, it was difficult to comprehend any human being able to manoeuvre himself through these.