Waiting for your flight may just have become more bareable

There is nothing easy about trying to grab a few hours’ sleep between connecting flights on those uncomfortable airport chairs, where plastic armrests and wafer thin foam pads hinder any chance of comfort. Combined with the drone of security and boarding announcement, excited children and stressed parents (not to mention the sounds and smells coming from the person next to you) it’s usually a long, trying and uncomfortable wait before you are able to board your flight for yet more insufficient rest.
While some airport terminals do have connecting hotels where you can gather a few hours of contented rest (probably the only time most of us would consider paying for a hotel by the hour), the rates are usually too steep for most to consider this an option.

An affordable solution is on the horizon however and may be coming to an airport (or even train or bus station) near you.

The Sleep Box is a budget friendly, compact hotel room featuring a modest 4sq meters of space, with single bed and a lockable door so weary travelers are able to grab a little rest in peace and security.

There are no en suite facilities and with just a plug needed to connect the rooms’ electricity, units are entirely mobile (think small garden shed with a bed inside) and can be installed in any space, without the need for extensive renovations or remodeling, making this new innovation not only practical but very affordable.

They are gradually being seen in hotels, hostels and even offices (for overworked employees) around Europe with plans to introduce these to the USA in 2012.

Prices range depending on location but are typically around $50 per night or $15 an hour for those in airport terminals.

Photo Credit: SleepBox

Hotel Opera in Paris, France

Travelling close to the holiday season can often put a strain on your budget, but the Concorde Hotels and Resort group is offering the chance to make your money go further.

Stay in any Concorde Hotel in Europe between now and March 31st and your Euros will go further with the Night Bonus Offer; guest will receive a daily voucher of €30 or €50 which can be put to use in the hotel’s restaurant or bars.

Plus, if you’re travelling in a group you can also combine the offer with the Friends and Family package: when you book two or more rooms you receive a complimentary breakfast and a 50% discount on the second room.

The Concorde Group have hotels in nine countries and 20 cities around the world including: Prague, Boston, Tokyo, Geneva, Barcelona, Cairo, and Berlin. Concorde hotels can also be found in eight French cities (Cannes, Lyon, Marseilles, Nice, Nimes, Strasbourg, Toulouse, and Paris). 

All the hotels offer a luxurious stay with modern rooms and top class facilities, traditional and international cuisine is also available in any of the hotels highly rated restaurants.

For more information or to book call reservations at
1-800-888-4747 or visit the  Concorde Hotels website.

Photo Credit: Concorde Hotels and Resorts

Le Marche has rolling hills, tall sycamores, olive groves and ancient hilltop villages Sounds like Tuscany? Yes, but Le Marche has more: dramatic mountain scenery, steep roads, and the azure waters of the Adriatic Ocean. There are no huge ad boards blocking the vista of an ancient castle, no large, loud tour groups occupying an entire piazza, hardly any tour busses. And the few tourists I bumped into seemed to be quiet types. Le Marche is a bit like travelling back in time to the Italy I remember visiting as a kid. It is one of the country’s lesser known regions, and part of me would like it to remain that way. But… can’t be selfish.

La Tavola Marche

La Tavola Marche

Between the beaches of the Adriatic and the Apennine Mountains, near the ancient village of Piobbico, you’ll find La Tavola Marche, an organic agriturismo and cooking school, run by Ashley and Jason Bartner.

After spending their honeymoon exploring the Italian countryside, Ashley and Jason fell in love with the region. They decided a holiday wasn’t enough, so four years ago they packed up everything and moved to Le Marche. Their passion for the slow life is apparent.

Ashley and Jason Bartner, hosts extraordinaires

A classically trained chef from New York’s French Culinary Institute, Jason has worked at top notch restaurants in New York and San Francisco. Ashley, a vivacious Seattleite, has years of experience in the hospitality industry. So what could be more natural than setting up a country inn and cooking school?

The two young Americans are warm, welcoming hosts and you’re free to participate in the day-to-day work on the farm: picking vegetables, feeding the hens, or come along to the local meat and cheese market. You can learn to cook traditional peasant food with seasonal products fresh from the garden. You can do a tour of nearby wineries with Marco’s Way, perhaps one specializing in Lacrima de Morro d’Alba, a grape indigenous to Le Marche. You can ride horses or hike the countryside. Or – you can lounge by the mineral water pool doing absolutely nothing at all. Be warned – once you’ve settled in, shaken off the stress of city life and adjusted to slow country living, you may never want to leave.

La Tavola at dawn

At La Tavola Marche, you’ll sleep in a large, beautiful 300-year-old stone house, locally known as Ca’ Camone. The five rooms and apartments are all individually decorated and named for the fruit trees surrounding the property. I stayed in Mela (apple), an airy two-bedroom/two-bathroom apartment with very high wood-beamed ceilings and tile floors. The bedrooms are separated by a large, comfortable living room, complete with an open kitchen and a cozy fire place, perfect for a group of friends or a family.

Breakfast in Italy is mostly a quick affair, usually coffee and a pastry. At La Tavola Marche you get fresh seasonal fruits and berries, yogurt, honey, sweet croissants, blood orange juice and good strong coffee; enough to keep you going for hours of exploring.

With one day’s notice, Jason will whip up a five-course feast for dinner. Or perhaps you might like to join other guests and neighbors for the weekly pizza night around a long table in the stone courtyard, nibbling and chatting long into the warm Italian night.

If you go:

La Tavola Marche

Via Candigliano

61046 Piobbico, Le Marche, Italy

tel +39 331 525 2753

Review and photos by Anne-Sophie Redisch, Sophie’s World

Disclosure: I was a guest of La Tavola Marche, but all opinions expressed are enticingly my own.

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Villa Laura – Under the Tuscan Sun

Casolare di Remignoli, San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy

Explore Tuscany on horseback at Il Paretaio

Entering the courtyard at La Tavola Rotonda

Do your vacation plans include a visit to the Parma region of Italy? There’s a castle waiting for you.

La Tavola Rotonda sits next to a busy road in the small village of Chiavenna Landi in the Italian municipality of Cortemaggiore. My husband and I discovered the restored Italian medieval castle (dating from the 1200′s) on a road trip through Northern Italy. The historical accommodations made a picturesque headquarters for visiting Parma, Bologna and Milan. However, it was tempting to spend our time relaxing in the bucolic setting, complete with brick walking paths through a lush lawn bordered by flowering plants.

Walking up the castle’s stone stairs, visitors enter an open courtyard, a delightful spot for enjoying a glass of Prosecco on an warm, Italian summer night. Another flight of stone stairs led to our accommodations —a junior suite with a double whirlpool tub for relaxing after a long day of touring. The large room also included a seating area, desk, flat panel TV, mini-bar and my favorite Italian bathroom accoutrement—heated towel racks.

Junior suite at La Tavola Rotonda

If you’re in the mood for more Italian history, visit the medieval villages of the old Duchy of Parma and Piacenza: Castell’Arquato, Vigoleno, Grazzano Visconti, Rivalta, Gropparello, San Pietro in Cerro, the fortress of D’Olgisio, and the Cistercense di Chiaravalle della Colomba Abbey (a meeting place for pilgrims traveling along Via Francigena). Or visit composer Giuseppe Verde’s birthplace. For the shopper, outlet shopping at Fidenza Village is just a few kilometers away.

La Tavola Rotonda offers two dining choices on the premises. The hotel’s elegant restaurant presents fine Italian cuisine, accompanied by wine from the cellar, while the Pizzeria serves up tasty pizzas cooked on a wood-fired stove. Room rates also include breakfast in the Pizzeria where local salamis, breads and oh-so-tempting pastries fill the buffet table.

And no medieval castle would be complete without secret caves. That’s where you’ll find the spa, and us, on our next stay at La Tavola Rotonda.

If you go:
La Tavola Rotonda
Via piacenza, 35
Chiavenna Landi locality
29016 Cortemaggiore (PC)

Photos courtesy Donna L. Hull and Alan Hull Photography.

Review by Donna L. Hull, My Itchy Travel Feet, The Baby Boomer’s Guide to Travel