KIRSTEN ALANA

Flying into Salt Lake City, I felt a sense of excitement seeing the mountains in the distance. Whatever happened during Sundance Film Festival, I knew that being in the mountains was going to be rewarding in its own sense. Being raised in Vermont, I certainly have a weakness for all things high elevation.

I wasn’t disappointed.
Photo Jan 21, 2 45 04 PM Photo Jan 21, 2 45 33 PM Photo Jan 21, 2 59 52 PM Photo Jan 21, 4 31 04 PM Photo Jan 22, 1 09 08 AM Photo Jan 22, 2 08 58 PM Photo Jan 22, 9 57 42 AM Photo Jan 22, 9 58 13 AM Photo Jan 22, 11 39 48 AM Photo Jan 19, 3 07 09 PM Photo Jan 19, 3 20 50 PM Photo Jan 19, 3 49 47 PM Photo Jan 19, 9 58 15 AM Photo Jan 20, 2 07 38 PM Photo Jan 20, 4 42 57 PM Photo Jan 21, 1 52 51 PM Photo Jan 21, 1 55 35 PM Photo Jan 21, 2 20 13 PM Photo Jan 21, 2 23 42 PM Photo Jan 21, 2 30 08 PM Photo Jan 21, 9 41 59 AM Photo Jan 21, 11 43 29 AM Photo Jan 21, 11 57 56 AM
The physical views of Utah were beautiful. Sundance Film Festival was incredible. I never did get to meet Robert Redford. I did meet a handful of other celebrities. I definitely recommend Sundance to other travelers …

I think I summed up the experience best in my last post for Expedia.com

“The Sundance Film Festival is so much more than just a place one goes to see a few movies and hopefully spot a few celebrities [if that's your thing]. My few days in Park City, Utah first and foremost convinced me of the natural beauty present in Utah that I really had no pre-conceived notions of. Not only was my visit to Park City my first time at Sundance, it was my first time in Utah. I’d gladly return to both, and that’s not something I often say about any United States locale since I am the type overly-preoccupied with international destinations. (Paris, you’re still my first love.)

Sundance founder, Robert Redford – said,

“How would it have been if I’d had a mentor when I started, someone within the industry to help me find my voice? This is what I am trying to do here, my way of giving back to an industry that’s been really good to me.”.

That spirit is still found as a thread throughout all of Park City during Sundance even though the Sundance Film Festival itself has changed somewhat over the years. Corporate advertising is now as common as LA women in tottering 5 inch heels but the spirit of much of what corporate interests do, does seem to be that of helping people. Whether it is helping them by providing a place to escape the cold and warm up or providing information for making the most of the festival there’s an air of helpfulness at Sundance I haven’t experienced at other industry festivals (and I’ve been to my fair share). Locals give of their time freely to help visitors out. There are reporters helping other reporters, screenwriters and producers sitting at Java Cow mentoring other, younger screenwriters and producers and even celebrities with enough manners not to be a diva about basic social interaction [Seth Rogen, thank you, you know what you did].

Maybe I am over-romanticizing an industry event thats core goal is to sell. Movies. Talent. Commodities of the film industry. I guess that’s my right as the person who reported about it in this instance. It is, honestly, the feeling I am left with now that my plane has left Utah and I am back in jaded New York City.

Would I recommend Sundance to a traveler who has no tangible connection to the film industry? Yes! Really. Go for the movies, sure. Plan early and plan wisely and it might be the most fun you will ever have watching more than one movie in one week. However, don’t go just for the movies. Don’t believe that Sundance is only about movies. For instance, if you love to ski, snowboard or generally spend time on the slopes – this is the time to visit Park City. So many people make downtown their focus during Sundance that the slopes are less crowded than normal. If you’re a music lover, the ASCAP Music Cafe really does make major artists more accessible than at other venues. I listened to A Fine Frenzy and was so close to Alison that I felt as if she might have been in my living room. If I owned a mansion that could accommodate three families, that is. Seriously, it was perhaps one of the best concert experiences I’ve had. It didn’t last long enough but it was so memorable. (If I had stayed longer in Park City, I would have been able to have the same experience again with David Gray. That is, before I got kicked out for rushing the stage and trying to kiss him.) If you like food, the restaurants in Park City are worth the trip to Utah on their own. Why not come during Sundance when you might just find yourself sitting next to Malin Akerman [as I did] while enjoying that amazing meal! And as I’ve stated, Utah is simply so physically beautiful in the Park City area. Next time I return, I’ll be renting a car so I can drive up into the mountains to capture landscape photographs. My only regret in this trip is that I wasn’t driving myself and knew that every cab driver I had would have kicked out if I’d asked them to stop the vehicle every time I wanted to take another Ansel-Adams-esque wide shot. Sigh. Not every trip can be perfect. This, was as close as it gets.”

Many thanks to Expedia for giving me the opportunity to attend Sundance Film Festival so I could share it with all of you. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey!”

Since my theme won’t currently allow me to embed the video I shot [working on fixing this] … check out the YouTube channel Expedia set up where I did a video diary style capture every day of my experience at Sundance Film Festival.
Now I want to go to Sundance London….

I don’t remember when it was that I developed a crush on Robert Redford but let’s just say I was probably inappropriately young. I grew up obsessed with movies and he was one of the many handsome stars I couldn’t help but swoon over. Naturally, I’ve followed his career with glee rarely missing a movie he makes. So when I was old enough to realize what Sundance really was and what it was about, of course I was interested. In the end, not just because Redford founded it but because it supports independent art and film. Two of my great loves …

So it is with a rather ridiculous amount of excitement that I am boarding a plane this Wednesday to cover the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah for Expedia. I’m checking off a bucket list item and attempting to brush away the butterflies that tell me I am not the kind of woman who can hang with celebrities as if it’s just any normal day in the life of. It’s ok – because Expedia can help anyone have incredible travel experiences and the point of my going to Park City is to show that. Sundance isn’t just for celebrities and neither is Park City during the festival.

That’s my theory anyway.

Since I have never been to Park City, Utah or Sundance Film Festival I’m enlisting your help. Expedia is getting me there. Can you help me get around, once I am there? What should I do? Where should I go? How would *YOU* do Sundance Film Festival?

I’ll be creating special content every day in the form of photographs, video and written stories. I’ll be experimenting with timelapse and I’ll be tweeting with the hashtag #SundanceTrip. Participate by giving me tips and bossing me around (even if you have never been, what would you do if you did go?) and if I do something you have suggested you’ll get a nod of thanks in one of our videos on Expedia’s YouTube channel.

I’m off to make a list of the movies I want to see and plan my wardrobe for maximum attractiveness to Robert Redford… (Ok, I kid about that last part. Sort of.)

All images courtesy Sundance Press Center. Thanks to Expedia for giving me the opportunity to visit Sundance. As always, editorial is my own despite trip sponsorship.

I woke up on the first day of 2012 in Berlin, pleasantly surprised to find my hearing had returned after being shattered from an evening of firecrackers and rock n’ roll during Silvester. The city was actually quiet and I made my way out into the gray drizzle on an art-finding and bratwurst-eating mission.

My first stop was a return to the Brandenburg Gate to again see the Beck’s Green Box Project and since I was able to get closer to the gate with no barriers, it was a better experience than it had been the night before.

I wandered by the Reichstag, and longed to know more German. There were monuments and memorials whose meaning I could guess – yet not confirm. There was history I tried to pull from the recesses of my college-educated and European-obsessed mind. As I wandered, I came upon evidence of the revelry of the previous evening and I felt my stomach rumble for bratwurst as I walked past a curry stand.

With thoughts of art, history and language competing for prominence in my head I hopped on the S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz intending a peek at The Wall. There, in the driving rain, I felt a deep sense of sadness. There’s very little to directly connect me to any events in WWII. Still, standing at the wall I couldn’t help but contemplate – perhaps unsurprisingly – the evils that we tend to enforce on our fellow man. There it was, a potent symbol of the black cloud that descended on Europe for decades. I’ve never awoken with a wall dividing my home from my neighbors or experienced the countless other horrors ordinary people lived through (and died because of) so long ago … but who is to say any hate that I harbor in my heart doesn’t cause its own sort of destruction. I masked my feelings by concentrating on pictures. And then my stomach rumbled again.

After one of the most delicious and yet simple meals I’ve ever had, I was fortified enough to continue my exploration of Berlin. I concentrated on graffiti as I made my way from the east side to the west.

It occurred to me that the reason I love art so much is that it gives me hope. Even on the wall itself, art, to counter the division and hate it once represented. As I wandered through empty, quiet streets in a rain that never let up I found it everywhere I went in varying degrees. My kind of art. Emotional, ragged, vibrant, controversial, public, free.

I love what Beck’s is trying to do with their Green Box Project because it combines a new technology, with an old thread: art. It’s a universal language. And in this day and age where walls still exist everywhere we go in so many different forms, it’s a barrier-breaking hopeful flag of beauty. And a perfect compliment to Berlin.

My trip to Berlin was made possible by Beck’s Beer but the opinion and information is, as always, my own.

I flew into Berlin at lunchtime on New Year’s Eve. Already the sound of firecrackers was echoing off concrete and glass buildings during my drive from Tegel to my hotel. A cold Beck’s Beer calmed my nerves and kept me from jumping every time the sound made me think of gunshots before revelry. Then, while the light faded and night overtook the city, I hopped on the U-Bahn to the S and finally emerged onto the street a few blocks from Silvester. It’s THE place to be on New Year’s Eve in Berlin. On the other side of a police blockade was the reason I found myself in Berlin on the last day of 2011 and the place where spotlights shot up into the inky black sky marking the spot where Germans and tourists alike were already busy whiling away the last hours of the last day of the year.

Beck’s Green Box Project fits well in Berlin. It seems to be a city where the old and new constantly crash together and are found side-by-side. Since the art that appears above the historic old Gate using Beck’s app is absolutely modern, I think it compliments the German capital’s atmosphere of rebirth and self-expression. It seems the German people are some of the most free and expressive people one can know.

The app that Beck’s has created to view the work of art by Miami-based FriendsWithYou isn’t as perfect as the idea itself. The quality of the camera inside the app and the augmented reality portion of the artwork itself leaves a little to be desired. Also, it requires full cell service or a strong WiFi signal and so I had to use data roaming for my app to be useable. Still, I tried it twice. At night, as the sound of punk music and firecrackers echoed off buildings and police stared at me from the other side of the blockade – I moved my iPhone around and around trying to get an optimal view of the balloon-like imagery over the gate. I walked away further intrigued. My head was spinning with all the ways the technology could be used for travel purposes. I returned on New Year’s Day, this time able to get closer to the gate because barricades were now gone.

Beck’s states that, “the Green Box Project marks [their] sustained investment in creative talent for a better world.”. They also note in their app that they endeavor to support “independent creative talent“. I see them doing both with the Green Box Project. As someone who believes art does have the power to positively change people, and the world, I support what Beck’s is doing even if there might still be a technological kink or two to work out. I’ll be trying in 2012 to make it around to their other projects. Their goal is to support 1,000 in total before all is said and done.

Satisfied I had experienced all there was to glean from the app and the Beck’s Green Box Project I went in search of other art in Berlin, hopefully of a modern bent just like the piece created by FriendsWithYou. I also needed a bratwurst. What I found did not disappoint. More on that in part 3 …

My trip to Berlin was made possible by Beck’s Beer but the opinion and information is, as always, my own.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that an appreciation of art is one of my obsessions. My mother is an artist. It’s likely I was born with only two choices: love it, or hate it.

I love it. So, my travel activities often revolve around a desire to peruse museums, check out galleries or see artists in action. This appreciation includes painting, sculpting, drawing, and weaving but extends to architectural and industrial design, music … even the art in technology and technological advancement.

This is why I am soo excited about my latest adventure. I’m traveling to Berlin this weekend to experience “Silvester” and see the Green Box Project with my own eyes. It’s just not enough for me to read about it. Beck’s Beer is sponsoring the GBP all over the world. Using Augmented Reality and the creation of FriendsWithYou (who also did the incredible Highline installation this year in NYC) they’ve installed a work of art above the Brandenburg Gate which is invisible until one uses a device like the iPhone or iPad and the Beck’s app to then view the work of art. Sound cool? I’m completely intrigued. I’m also really curious to see what Berlin has to offer for the biggest party of the year. I’m skipping a New York New Year’s Eve for this — so it’s gotta be good, right?

I’ve been following the developments of travel and augmented reality for quite some time but the Green Box Project really stands out to me. In comparison to the other ways I’ve seen this technology used – I think this has incredible applications for travel. I just need to see it for myself. It’s not one of those things I can fully appreciate until I do.

I hope you’ll follow along as I report from Berlin with photographs and video over the New Year weekend. Use the hashtag #berlinnye on twitter and check out photographs on my Facebook page all weekend long of Berlin, Silvester and the Green Box Project. I’m going to follow the party trail all over Berlin. It’s a fascinating place from everything I’ve read and heard and so much of what fascinates me has to do with their art — from old to new, largely modern, much of it to do with graffiti (another obsession) and some of it controversial. Should make for some great stories afterward …

Thank you to Beck’s Beer for the stock image of the Brandenburg Gate and to Visit Berlin for the graffiti image. Can’t wait to share some of my own images from Berlin!

My trip to Berlin is made possible by Beck’s Beer but the opinion and information is, as always, my own.

I’m a dessert whore. If it has sugar in or on it, I’m there. Rather, you can bet I’m eating it. So when I found myself in New Orleans recently you can bet your beignet I headed straight to Café Du Monde for their (world?) famous deep fried dough and coffee pairing.
Luckily for me, the experience lived up to its lofty reputation.

The only way to eat these famous morsels of carbohydrate goodness is piping hot and fresh from the fryer. (Though you can get them to go in a paper bag, I fail to see the point.) In this condition, the powdered sugar that covers the beignets is just starting to melt by the time the plate reaches your table and a gooey expanse of sugary decadence covering fried dough is just waiting to give your dentist a heart attack. Paired with a Café Au Lait that is spiked with chicory, this is the French-American version of afternoon tea one better. With all due respect to the English [whom I love dearly] – this is the best way to take an afternoon break that I have ever discovered. Unless you count beer before five o’clock.

Hot coffee is certainly preferable in cooler temperatures but should the sweltering heat that New Orleans is so famous for accompany your visit, as it did during mine, I recommend the ice-cold Café Au Lait “milkshake”. This is essentially, their coffee blended with ice yet tasting more like a coffee-spiked milkshake.

After your afternoon dessert break, take a stroll through Jackson Square (known alternately as Place d’Armes) and further into the French Quarter. There, the architecture and displays in the abundant antique store windows offer ample distraction to keep one busy long enough that walking off the calories just consumed – might actually be possible.
The original Café Du Monde is at 800 Decatur Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is open 363 days a year and is rather hard to miss given the expanse of white and green awning that stretches for some time within immediate view of Jackson Square’s St. Louis Cathedral. There are a number of other locations in and around New Orleans, all of which are listed on their site. If you cannot travel to New Orleans, an online store also sells beignet-making kits and their special blend of coffee and chicory.

As winter sets about sealing us into our comfortable homes and apartments in the northeast portion of the United States, I am dreaming of a warm getaway. It’s not likely that I am the only one. This year, I was so blessed to visit Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica. There isn’t even a fibre of my body that would object to returning to any of those places again right now.

But today, as the wind whips around my apartment building and I eye my passport sitting on top of my suitcase – it’s Barbados that occupies the largest part of my daydreams.

There are so many reasons I will forever rank this island amongst my favorite places …

B – Beach. All beaches in Barbados are public, even on resort properties. This makes it the ideal place for a traveler looking for sun, sand and turquoise water. One needn’t be confined to one beach, when they are all available!

A – Abbey. A distracting name, St. Nicholas Abbey, is really a plantation. The history of the name is a fanciful one as it was bestowed by a wife of one the many English Lords who have owned the property over the centuries because of her affection for the place in which she was married in Britain. Sample rum and tour the beautiful grounds while marveling at how it is so very English and yet so very Barbadian, all at the same time.

R – Rent a car and drive around the island. They do it British style in Barbados and so if you aren’t used to driving on the their side of the road, it’s quite an adventure. One that I highly recommend. Driving during rush hour and on the practically one-lane roads was one of the highlights of my stay. Now, I want to take on the German autobahn! If you’re English already, this will be a piece of cake and such an enjoyable way to see Barbados beyond resort and hotel walls. The backroads of Barbados are where the country really comes alive.(For more information, contact Tamarind Transport Service at 246.264.5164)

B – Beautiful sunsets every. single. evening.

A – A private shopping appointment at Limegrove.

D – Daphne’s. Dine mere feet from the crashing surf, sand in your toes, candlelight illuminating the faces of those around you and lending an air of romance to the already steamy atmosphere. Enjoy cuisine prepared by world class chefs and feel free to drink the night away without care. When you’re done, stroll along the beach to walk off the calories and sober up. Just slightly. After all, if you’re staying at The House – it’s right next door. No need to stress.

O – Oistins Fish Fry. This is the place to go for seafood on the weekend in Barbados. This market-like venue is a riot of flavors, heat, music and grilled food. The sheer volume of people that flock to Oistins is almost overwhelming once the night really begins, though it’s a largely quiet market during the day. I experienced (not merely ate, but experienced) the best fried chicken I’ve ever had at Oistins and the amount of people seemed to matter little with a beer in one hand and that chicken in the other. It’s important to note this is available if, like me, you can’t eat seafood. Don’t be dissuaded – visit anyway. Between the food, music and vendors selling souvenirs it is the “can’t miss” place to be on a Friday night.

S – Swimming with turtles. Unlike swimming with dolphins in places like Florida, these animals are truly in their completely native habitat. They are not penned, caged or otherwise provoked in any way except to be fed once they do come near your boat. Turtles are such gentle creatures and their movements so calm it was an incredible experience that made me feel as if I would overflow with joy.(For more information, contact Cool Runnings at 246.436.0911)

My stay in Barbados was provided by Elegant Hotels group but as always, the opinions in this post are my own. I was not compensated for a favorable review or press coverage. Oistins image used under Creative Commons license and is copyright daveypea.

Iconic is an overused word. Classic doesn’t quite encompass it all. Beautiful fits but may not be an accurate adaptation for every person.

I’ve seen all three words used to describe Harrods of London. For me, it’s a memory. My strongest from London when, barely a teenager, I accompanied my mother across the pond on my first international trip. Your first is always special and the things that happen during that first use of a passport, even more so. They set the standard for all trips which follow. For better. Or worse.

All of the places that I went shopping after seemed to lack a certain luster that implanted itself into my memory. No dress was exotic enough, no leather purse as supple. No shoes as sophisticated. Even the most luxurious shops seemed to be missing something. So when I returned this year as a woman so far removed from that innocent girl, I was surprised to find Harrods unchanged. I had been sure time would have dimmed the hallowed halls and changed my golden memories into a tarnished reality.

I was wrong. Harrods is still more fantasy-movie-set than shopping mall. The Egyptian Hall may not be Cairo or the Valley of the Kings but it is shiny and entertaining. The food halls give you a taste of Paris and Tokyo even though they are neither. Christmas World may not be the North Pole but if one has any inclination toward the holidays at all it certainly puts one in the Christmas spirit. Since I am older, my priorities have changed. This time around it was the food and the imaginative store windows outside that charmed me most instead of purses, shoes and couture clothes.

Still, it’s nice to know that in a world of insanity and constant change, some things stay the same. No matter how much time passes.

Harrods is located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge closest to the Piccadilly line Knightsbridge tube station. An app allows the interested shopper to make the most of the five floors of shopping paradise. Store hours are Monday through Saturday 10 AM to 8 PM and Sunday 11:30 AM to 6 PM. Special holiday hours posted online.

All images taken in, and processed with, Camera + on an iPhone4.

Though I do prefer to experience a place through the most local and authentic channels possible – sometimes there is nothing like a hotel at the end of a trip to really finish things on a high note.

So when I had the chance to end my 10-day stay in London with a stay at Tune Hotels, I was excited. Though Tune was convenient to Westminster and the London Eye, it was also tucked away enough into an area that is not particularly touristy that I still felt as if I was experiencing more of the “real London” when I explored around my hotel than if I had stayed in – well, Piccadilly Circus.

My friend Isabelle was staying at Tune during the same few days I was. Together, we managed to find the hotel on Westminster Bridge Road despite poor directions from a mutual friend and when we finally stumbled upon the red door right next to a coffee shop we were like explorers in a desert longing for an oasis. Tune was our Oasis. With smiling faces to greet us no less. (That’s not just the stock footage talking, ask Isabelle, the gentleman who greeted us was quite handsome and very friendly.)
Tune walks the line between hostel and hotel in a way, by allowing the traveler to choose their amenities and pay based on choice rather than on a flat rate system that is the same for every traveler. You pay for what you want in a hotel, and only that. Yet, and this is highly important to me, the beds are as comfortable as those found in higher end hotels like Sheraton or Westin. They are genuinely 5-star beds. You won’t be forced to endure an uncomfortable bunk bed like one does in a hostel yet you can expect not to pay much more than the price of a hostel in some countries (like the USA). The bathroom is more akin to what’s found in a capsule hotel however, I don’t ever feel the need for a large bathroom because I am not high maintenance. So this didn’t bother me in the slightest. Additionally, though the size of the bathroom was small, the shower head was every bit a full body massage experience with great water pressure (you might be surprised how often one does not find this while traveling). Lastly, my room on the top floor of their London property featured stunning views of the city. For a budget hotel, this was impressive. If I had not experienced my iPhone being stolen, I’d have the pictures to prove it. You’ll just have to take my word for it or go book the corner room on the top floor [seen in the photograph below] and see for yourself!

Tune is a recent addition to London and they will be opening a second location on Liverpool Street January 4, in addition to the location I stayed at near Westminster. Currently, they have a wider offering in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. I hope to stay again with them in one of these countries when I’m in Asia in 2012. That’s likely the highest praise I can give Tune. I’m not known to be particularly loyal to a hotel brand because I crave the newness of unfamiliar experiences and places. However, I’d stay with them again in a heartbeat and enjoy the ability to count on a good night’s rest for a fair price.

Room rates start at £35 with twin and double rooms available. Amenities which are the option of guests include TV, WiFi, windows, in-room safe, early arrival or late departure, hairdryer, towels and toiletries. It sounds strange to read, why wouldn’t one want towels? However, it’s a cost savings if you travel with them already. That’s the goal of Tune, to not sacrifice a good experience while still saving you money. Pay for what you need. Not for what you don’t.

As a final point of reference, I stayed one night at a Travelodge during this same sojourn in London and though the price point was similar (Travelodge actually being slightly more expensive) – I’d never again choose to be a guest there. Tune Hotel was far superior, cleaner and generally more comfortable. It was also better suited to getting around, with a tube station mere feet from the front door.

My stay at Tune Hotels was complimentary but the opinions in this article are my own. Photographs are courtesy, and copyright, Tune Hotels.

Whenever I travel I prefer to have the most authentic experience possible, that allows me to really get to know a culture and a place beyond tourism brochures and Top 10 lists (you won’t see them on my site). It isn’t always possible. However, it’s for this reason that I enjoy the chance to stay in apartments or with locals when I am traveling.

I had such an opportunity in London through Roomorama. Initially the experience was not a good one when the first apartment that was reserved fell through. I was already in London and on-site. However, my contact at Roomorama scrambled through the night to find a new place (she in Singapore, me on London time and desperately needing sleep) and around lunch time the next day –  I was finally in. WiFi problems persisted throughout my stay but even that provided an upside because I took more time to relax and enjoy downtime than I ever do when I have the benefit of connectivity.

The spacious, modern apartment on a canal in a residential area of London wasn’t particularly convenient to the tube or public bus routes however it was absolutely a local experience. During my stay there, I got to know the man at the corner store where I’d buy late night snacks, found a grocery store and shopped for many a meal (one with friends which led to a nice night in with pizza and beer), wandered the canal and watched the boats go by, even finally found the closest Overland station. It was wonderful to come home from a long day at a work conference and be able to have my own balcony, kitchen and private bathroom within my own private room. It was fulfilling to have what felt like a local experience instead of an insulated hotel-only experience in London!

Of course, I still can’t tell you exactly what neighborhood I stayed in because I don’t think it specifically has a name – I was told conflicting things during my time there. It’s that funny area of London that truly tourists do not venture into. However, I can still recall if I close my eyes — the sound of my feet on the cobblestones, the quirky smile of the man behind the counter at the corner store and the sound of a boat passing on the canal beneath my apartment.

Thank you Roomorama for the experience!

These photographs are courtesy, and copyright, Roomorama and GKLets LTD who provided them in light of my iPhone being stolen at the end of my trip. I’d have preferred to show you my interpretation of the experience. Alas, that isn’t possible. Though my stay was sponsored, the opinions in this post are all my own.