TRAVEL
Home & Away with Robert Walshe
Living
FOR those who fancy taking a slightly more leisurely route to New York there’s Oz Bus’s 85-day journey overland and by sea from London to New York City. The route takes in Europe, Russia, China, South Korea, Japan, Alaska, and Canada into the US, stopping off in St Petersburg, Moscow, Beijing, Anchorage and Chicago. Part of the journey will be on the trans Siberian train from Moscow to Beijing; there’s a visit to Lake Baikal and a passage on a ship from Beijing to Anchorage, as well as whale spotting on a ferry cruise through the inside passage of Alaska. The Oz Bus overland trip from London to New York costs £6,999 (€8,376) and includes all transport, food and accommodation The next departure is on March 27th, 2011, which arrives in to New York on June 26th. www. oz-bus.com
of cabinet minister John Profumo and a 19-year-old call girl in the 1960s. A respectful Tory minister, Profumo, a rising star in Harold Macmillan’s government he had become Secretary of State for War. Profumo first met Christine Keeler when she was bathing naked at ■ Cliveden Lord Astor’s Cliveden Gardens country estate in Berkm ■ Cliveden Bedroo shire in the summer of 1961. He became smitten and they had a passionate affair. Another – an aura of h o u s e excitement. There are 37 bedrooms called Spring Cottage girl Mandy-Rice Davies shared a flat with Keeler and had in total, two dining rooms (the Ter- which comes with a personal butler been the mistress of Eugene Ivanov, race Dining Room and Waldo’s ), & driver. This holiday house also a naval attaché at the Soviet Em- and four private dining rooms each has history, Profumo and friends bassy who was a spy. According to named after a prominent guest or frolicked here in the run-up to the Keeler, Ivanov received information figure from Cliveden’s past, and fur- huge political scandal. There’s no Weekend Hotspot and documents stolen and passed nished accordingly. Three rooms extra charge for your dog to stay Few hotels in England offer a them onto his spy chiefs in Moscow. are licensed for civil ceremonies at Cliveden and, on arrival, you’ll stronger sense of aristocratic life Knowing that Keeler often visited and each year many couples are receive a map of the grounds that than Berkshire’s Cliveden House. Profumo’s home and his offices Brit- married at Cliveden The hotel specifies all the areas in which your This 19th century landmark, sur- ish Intelligence informed Profumo prides itself that there are more pampered pooch is free to explore rounded by hundreds of acres of of the Russian’s identity and he im- than four members of staff per bed- without a lead. Doggie beds are progardens, is both imposing and his- mediately ended the relationship. room. Rooms are furnished with vided, and the restaurant even has torical. Today the house is let as a With pressure bearing down on him Edwardian antiques and the house a canine menu. Prices range from private hotel, part of which is open from both the press and the oppo- is run in a similar style as it would £210 per night, including breakfast, to National Trust visitors on Thurs- sition, Profumo finally admitted in have been when Nancy Astor was to £1,290 per night. and Heathrow day and Sunday afternoons. Queen a letter to the PM that he had lied the leading lady. In 1990 they added airport is just twenty minutes away. Victoria, a frequent guest, was not to the Government about his affair an indoor swimming pool and spa www.vonessenhotels.co.uk or www. amused when the house was bought with Keeler and he subsequently treatment rooms in the walled gar- clivedenhouse.co.uk by William Waldorf Astor, America’s tendered his resignation. All this in- den, complementing that infamous Weekly Best Buy richest man at the time. In 1906 he trigue has given this distinguished outdoor pool! Classical piano music Top airfare offers this week from gave it to his son and daughter-in- 19th-century country house - part adds sophistication to the atmosphere in the Great Hall gohop.ie include Cairo from €389, law Nancy Astor who was the first of the Von Essen hotel colwoman to sit in Parliament. She lection at weekends and guests Travel period: up to 31st Decemcan marvel at the majes- ber 2010, Dubai from € 452, Travel continued a tradition tic staircase and shabby period: up to 3rd March 2011. Los of hospitality grand furnishings. Din- Angeles from € 455. Travel period: and Cliveden bener is served in the up to 14th December 2010., Miami came the centre Terrace Dining Room, from € 473, Travel period: up to 31st of the elite social which boasts three sets March 2011, Mumbai from € 542, scene attracting of magnificent chande- Travel period: up to 10th December everyone from Charlie Chaplin to liers while expect more 2010, Las Vegas from €543, Travel formality at their ulti- period: up to 30th June 2011, Hong Winston Churchmate foodie paradise Kong from € 577, Travel period: up ill, President RooWaldos. Cliveden also to 31st March 2011 and Jo’Berg from sevelt to George Bernard Shaw inhas a flotilla of boats € 593, Travel period: up to 14th Deyou can hire and cember 2010 www.gohop.ie cluding every Brita trip on the River ish monarch since Thames is a must do Robert Walshe is a freelance George I. Cliveden also hit the headweather permitting. contributor / broadcaster and is Cliveden also has its guest travel writer for River Media lines in the for the own three-bedroom newspaper titles across the island wrong reasons after ouse riverside guest- of Ireland the chance meeting ■ Cliveden H
Pet’s Corner...
with Kathleen Murray
Some women and their dogs with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist
WHEN a dog comes into the family, it can be a bit of a novelty. The dog may have been gotten because the children wanted a dog or because the parents thought that it might be a good thing for the children to have a dog so that they can learn the responsibility of taking on something like this. The hope would be that they would learn that you can’t just take something on and then dismiss it in half an hour later, when the novelty wears off. Sometimes it’s the man that wants the dog. He may have had a dog when he was young and now wants
a dog for the family because he had one as a child. He may want the dog for hunting or for some other reason. Whatever the reason for getting the dog I find that so many women end up coming to me saying that they didn’t want the dog in the first place but now all the responsibility is left to them and they feel bad for the dog… and themselves. The man is off at work or at play, the children are off at school, at some other event or just simply watching their favourite tv program, and the dog is sitting looking into the woman’s face for its dinner,
to get out to the toilet or to go for its exercise. If the woman wanted the dog to begin with then there’s no problem but women often go along with requests from other family members in order to keep the peace, and end up paying for this mistake in the long run. Not every house is like this but there are a serious amount of houses where this happens. Threats are made to get rid of the dog if the offending people don’t take responsibility or threats are made about leaving the dog to starve, to see if this sparks a reaction. Idle threats get you nowhere so the woman
and the dog are still looking at each other to no avail. Solutions to this problem are: 1) the woman needs to look at where it all went wrong and why she allowed herself to be used in this way. 2) the woman puts everyone out in the street letting only the dog back in the house or 3) the dog gets re-homed responsibly, for its own good, as nobody is caring for it properly. The dog should not be the loser in this situation and this family should not get another dog until they have resolved their own problems first.
Home and Away Extra British Airways is launching flights to Haneda in Japan in a bid to open up the domestic Japanese market to UK travellers.The five-a-week service from Heathrow to Haneda will begin on February 19th with prices starting from £721. The airline’s daily service to Tokyo’s Narita airport will continue. BA also announced it is adding new direct flights to Buenos Aires, rather than via Sao Paulo, and is increasing services to the Caribbean from Gatwick. Barbados will increase from 10 to 12 flights a week, Antigua will increase from five to six services a week and the St Lucia - Port of Spain service will increase from five a week to daily. Gatwick to Tampa is increasing from five to seven flights a week, but Orlando is decreasing from nine to seven flights a week. www. ba.com