Last month in England, living a #Travelife, we rode the British Pullman for a murder mystery adventure.

The train itself is beautiful and this alone is enough reason to ride it at least once, if you’re a history buff. Each carriage has a history and a pedigree.

Our carriage had carried Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip across England, at some point in time.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had also ridden this very carriage.

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GOURMET LUNCH ON A LUXURY TRAIN

This train experience is operated by the Belmond group, which used to be known as the Orient Express group.

They have in their stable a collection of unique properties all over the world, including hotels, trains and boats. I’ve stayed in many of their properties and I especially like the historical ones that are quite unlike most other hotels in the world.

Then there’s the wonderful experience of having a gourmet five-course meal onboard as you rumble through the beautiful English countryside.

Especially in early summer, when England is at its most beautiful, this is truly special.

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A REAL OLD-FASHIONED

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And finally there’s all the fun of having to solve a murder mystery onboard.

It’s like being in a theater with audience participation, only this show is five hours long and you get to have something good to eat and lots of champagne at the same time.

I can’t complain about the very comfortable plush velvet armchairs either. What a beautiful train this is.

THE LUXURY AND FUN

OF A PRIVATE CARRIAGE

And for this trip, we took a private carriage so that we had the murder mystery characters all to ourselves.

Each character comes by to give passengers a blow-by-blow account of what happened,  you see, as well as to tell you what they think happened, and who they believe did it.

You can ask questions and discuss the case with them, so you become very involved. And all in all it was a wonderful day and a very special experience in England, living a #Travelife.

Read more about the British Pullman

in the upcoming issue of #Travelife Magazine

The post Solving a murder mystery on the British Pullman appeared first on TRAVELIFE Magazine.

Test Kitchen is located in a somewhat industrial district of Cape Town

Tonight in Cape Town, living a TRAVELIFE, The Boss took me out to dinner at a cutting-edge new restaurant he’d been hankering to try in South Africa. It’s run by South Africa’s most famous chef and restaurant reservations are extremely difficult to come by.

But The Boss had made the reservations about two or three months ago, and that was how we got the best table in the house on a Saturday night in the best restaurant in Cape Town.

The bread and the menu at Test Kitchen

The evening started out very nicely with champagne — yes, more champagne. We met up very briefly with a couple living in Cape Town, in the lovely gardens of the iconic Mount Nelson Hotel right in the center of the city.

Test Kitchen is very casual in vibe, and their wines are all young and stored in cabinets on top

As usual, we were terribly pressed for time, so we could only sit with them for about 30 minutes before heading out to dinner. Throughout this trip, we’ve been meeting people we know in South Africa for about 15 minutes to 30 minutes each, as we seem to have no time at all on this trip.

The beautiful Mount Nelson Hotel. Perhaps South Africa’s most famous hotel institution.

We met someone for 15 minutes in Joburg, and another person for about 20 minutes in Franschhoek, which is about an hour from Cape Town.

This time, though, having drinks with this couple in Cape Town, it was a big shame as The Boss and I both liked them and had a very animated time discussing travel and experiences in different countries.

At just before 7, The Boss began signaling me that it was time to go. The restaurant we were headed for is in a new trendy commercial/ warehouse district about 20 minutes away from the Mount Nelson, and he was afraid that we were going to lose our reservation if we appeared late.

Otherwise, we would have stayed on talking into the night with champagne and all.

Test Kitchen is under pressure to make it fast as a top restaurant locally and internationally. It’s owner-chef used to run La Colombe,  South Africa’s most famous restaurant, until he broke off and decided to go on his own. We’re eating at La Colombe tomorrow, by the way.

So after hurried goodbyes, we jumped into a taxi and headed across town to this hot new restaurant. I can’t tell you too many details as it’s appearing in an upcoming issue of Travelife Magazine, but it’s called Test Kitchen and it’s run by Luke Dale Roberts, arguably South Africa’s most famous chef.

We made it in time and we got the best table, which was a table for two right by the kitchen. The Boss was really excited, and I was quite excited too, since he’d told me about it and talked up the merits of the chef.

There are only three course choices at Test Kitchen: a three-course meal, a five-course meal, and an 11-course degustation meal.

We chose to have the grand 11-course menu and then to share a wine pairing for one person between us. The first time we’d done a wine pairing in South Africa, it had been for a seven-course meal and we’d drank so much. So since then, we’ve decided to just split one wine pairing between us, and it’s been working fine.

The meal was the most cutting-edge we’ve had so far in South Africa — and that’s a pretty big statement considering we’ve eaten or are eating in almost all of South Africa’s top restaurants. Almost all our meals have been very enjoyable, but some have been more cutting-edge than others.

Our 11-course meal at Test Kitchen was very enjoyable. 11 courses took us over three hours to finish, and in-between we watched the action in the open kitchen, took lots of photos and observed what people in other tables were doing.

That’s the open kitchen set-up for Test Kitchen. We were right next to the action.

Across us was a couple seated sideways almost the entire time so that they faced the kitchen instead of each other. They hardly talked.

I said: “What do you think’s the story there?“

Without hesitation, The Boss replied, sure as usual of everything in his world: “They’ve been together for a long time so they’ve run out of things to talk about.“

It certainly looked that way. And on our way back to the hotel, I remembered this earlier conversation and said: “Hey, we’ve been together in South Africa for eight days now and I’m not too tired of you yet.”

An interesting set of appetizers

We had a running joke about who would tire of whom first, and what was the time frame we were talking about: 8 minutes, 8 hours, or 8 days. The Boss is on the hyper side and he has a fairly short attention span, whereas I have a long attention span but only for things I like.

Put a boring thing or person in front of me, and I shut down in about two minutes. But we’ve been laughing and I think we’re enjoying much of the trip even if he’ll never really admit this to me directly.

Not one to miss a beat, The Boss said: “More importantly, you haven’t asked me whether I’m tired of you yet…”

I retorted: “No need to ask a question I know the answer to already.”

Just another day in our never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

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On Saturday morning, we landed very early in Johannesburg on a flight from Hong Kong. Everything was smooth and seamless, as a TRAVELIFE usually is.

Our friendly driver from the Westcliff Hotel, Johannesburg’s iconic and well-loved hotel, was at the arrivals lounge with a big sign bearing the name of The Boss.

Within minutes we were in the car, on the highway and proceeding towards the Westcliff via some of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Johannesburg.

When we got to the Westcliff, our rooms were ready and so we took a golf cart to Building #2, which is one of the highest buildings on the Westcliff estate and with a beautiful view.

The Westcliff has long been Johannesburg’s grand dame of a hotel, famous for its picturesque surroundings and for its very palatial environment. All the rooms are housed in pink buildings on this hilly estate, and you need a golf cart to get around because it’s so large.

But that just adds to its charm, as it’s like entering a very special world, even when you’re just going from the reception building to your room.

I loved my corner suite which had windows opening on all sides, and a large terrace with tables and a view that I spent too little time in, as we also wanted to see as much of Johannesburg as possible.

But when I first entered my suite, I flung open the terrace doors and went outside to take in the view of greenery and blooming jacaranda trees.

Wow, I told myself. I’m finally in South Africa.

Inside, my suite was decorated in a very classic style, with comfortable furnishings and the kind of details and lovely touches that the Orient Express Hotels group is famous for, the world over.

I had lovely flowers in my room and all kinds of original organic African toiletries in the bathroom. Everything was carefully thought over.

The television, for example, was hidden inside a console cabinet where I could place my books and my gadgets in the daytime. And just before sleeping, if I wanted to watch TV, all I had to do was push a button and the console would rise and the TV would appear magically in front of my bed.

That very day, after a full eight hours or so of going all over Johannesburg, The Boss and I had champagne by the infinity pool at sunset with the hotel general manager.


What a lovely place this is to pass the sunset hour as you can see the sky turn orange and pink in front of you, while you are surrounded by greenery and peace.

I was completely captivated by this, and it was very enjoyable to sit here talking over glasses and glasses of champagne.
I don’t know why but we’ve been in South Africa for just over 56 hours now – less than three days, really – but already it’s felt like a month.

I’m sure The Boss will say this is because of the company, as he’s been feeding me with interesting information about life in the bush ever since we set foot here.

From him, I’ve learned the most useful information that I’m sure will be very handy for life in Manila: like what to do in case you bump into a raging elephant, how not to stand between a hippo and the water, and which side of a zebra to stand next to.

I asked him a couple of times: “Where on earth do you get all this information?”

Then I teased him: “Did you buy some safari handbook and read up on it before the trip, just to impress me?”

We were both in South Africa for the first time, after all. And on safari at the Sabi Sabi, one of the top game reserves and safari experiences in South Africa and in the world, for the very first time as well.

With his usual confidence about everything in the world, he replied: “Stock knowledge. Intuitive information 101.“

Not in my world. So I replied: “Obviously we went to different schools.” No need to tell you which school was better.

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But anyway, The Boss does sound so convincing about his Safari 101 knowledge, that earlier a ranger overhearing our conversation in the jeep actually asked him how many times he’d been on safari since he seemed to know everything already.

No need to tell you what happened after that. Of course, The Boss gave me a big I-told-you-so look.

By the way, I’ve lost track of how many glasses of champagne we’ve had, but I’m certain we’ve had a lot. And if I think about all that awaits us in the Cape Town area as well next week, I’m so sure that this is just an inkling of things to come.

Is it me wanting champagne on our pretty amazing trip around South Africa? Or do South Africans just enjoy champagne so much and we’re just going along for the ride?

We’ve started and ended every evening so far with champagne. We had champagne after our hot-air balloon ride as well. And even on safari, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, we’re having champagne at sunset every single day. But of course, we’re at the luxurious Sabi Sabi, so here champagne at sunset is almost de rigeur.

Either way, I’m not complaining. It’s certainly a fantastic way to end every day in a never-endingly, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

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