Apr 2024 – Jun 2024

Let me explain how we ended up in Salzburg.

Nicholas wanted to run across a field yelling “THE HILLS ARE ALIIIIVE.” That was the whole reason. He’d seen The Sound of Music enough times, and Salzburg was on the way from Český Krumlov, so he said, and I quote, “we have to go.”

We got there. He Googled the hills. They were all on private land. You had to take a tour bus with a guide and a scheduled stop and a gift shop, and Nicholas would rather eat his own passport than do that.

So that was the end of the Sound of Music dream. Before it even started.

The thing is, once we stopped being disappointed about the hills, we realized Salzburg is kind of amazing.

Morning: The Hill Behind the Hotel

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We were staying at the Stein Hotel, which sits right on the Salzach River in the Old Town. That first morning, we noticed a path going up the hill behind the hotel. It looked like a casual walk.

It was not a casual walk.

The path turned into a proper hike up the Kapuzinerberg, which is basically a forested mountain rising straight out of the city on the east bank. Steep switchbacks, stone steps, the whole deal. The higher we got, the more ridiculous the views became.

At the top, the path wound through old fortress ruins hidden in the forest. Crumbling stone walls, overgrown archways, little windows looking out over the valley. The kind of place that makes you feel like you’ve accidentally found something you weren’t supposed to.

Midday: Town Wandering

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Back down in the city, we wandered through the streets on the way to Mirabell Gardens.

We found two things Nicholas wanted to photograph for his sisters. First: a café called “From Julia: Origin of Life” with the most plant-based, crystal-energy, hippy menu you’ve ever seen. Very much Julia’s vibe.

Mirabell Gardens

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Mirabell Gardens is the famous garden that shows up in The Sound of Music during the “Do-Re-Mi” sequence. So even though Nicholas couldn’t run across the actual hills, he got his Sound of Music moment here. Sort of.

Afternoon: Old Town, St. Peter’s, and the Catacombs

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We crossed back to the Old Town side and worked our way through the narrow streets toward St. Peter’s Abbey and its cemetery.

St. Peter’s Cemetery is tucked against the base of the Festungsberg cliff, and it’s one of the oldest and most beautiful cemeteries in Europe. Wrought-iron crosses, carved stone tombs, flowers everywhere. The graves date back to the 1200s.

The graves here go back to the 1200s and they’re still immaculate. Salzburg takes care of its dead.

We also found a tombstone that said “Anna Scherpf.” Close enough that Nicholas photographed it immediately and sent it to his sister Anna.

But the real find was the catacombs. Carved directly into the cliff face above the cemetery, these are rock-cut chambers that may date back to early Christian times. You climb up through narrow stone stairways cut into the mountain, through tiny tunnels, past old tomb chambers, and then you pop out at these small windows with views over the entire abbey and Old Town below.

After emerging from the catacombs, we hit the Salzburg Cathedral and wandered through the main squares.

And then, in a courtyard café, I found my soulmate.

Evening: Rooftop Dinner

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We ended the day on the rooftop terrace of the Stein Hotel, watching the sun set over the fortress and the river. Burgers. Drinks. The whole skyline turning gold and then pink.

Nicholas came to Salzburg for one thing and didn’t get it. Instead he got a forest hike through ruins, Mozart’s memorial, a Sound of Music garden (close enough), catacombs carved into a cliff, a topiary bear, and a rooftop sunset that went on for an hour.

Sometimes the backup plan is the whole plan.

On the way from Prague to Salzburg, everyone told us we had to stop at Český Krumlov. “It’s a fairy tale town.” “You’ll love it.” “There’s a castle.”

Sure. Fine. We hired a driver to take us through on the way.

Then we got there.

Český Krumlov is a medieval town built inside a bend of the Vltava River, with a massive castle complex perched on the cliffs above it. The whole thing looks like someone asked an artist to draw a fairy tale and they just drew this place from memory.

The town is tiny. You can walk the whole thing in maybe an hour. But every corner has another view that makes you stop and stare at the river wrapping around these centuries-old buildings like it’s protecting them.

The Castle

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Český Krumlov Castle is the second largest castle complex in the Czech Republic, right after Prague Castle. It dates back to the 1240s and has been through the hands of the Rosenbergs, the Habsburgs, and the Schwarzenbergs. The whole compound has 40 buildings, five courtyards, and a baroque theater that still has its original stage machinery from the 1600s.

Also, it has a bear moat. But I’ll get to that.

The castle gardens are immaculate. Formal hedges, stone staircases, statues. The kind of place where you feel underdressed no matter what you’re wearing.

The Tower

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There was a tower. We climbed it. The stairs were narrow, steep, and made of wood that has been absorbing tourist footsteps for hundreds of years. Every step creaked like it was filing a complaint.

At the top: bells. Big ones. And views over the entire town that made the creaky death stairs worth it.

Czech Lunch

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We stopped for a proper Czech lunch. Dumplings, ham, roast meat, sauerkraut, potatoes. Heavy in every direction. Exactly right.

THE BEAR MOAT

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OK. The real reason this post exists.

Český Krumlov Castle has a moat. In that moat, there are bears. Real, actual, living bears.

They’ve been keeping bears in this moat since the 1500s. The Rosenberg family, who owned the castle, claimed descent from the Italian Orsini family (whose name comes from “orso,” the Italian word for bear), so they kept bears as a living symbol of their lineage. The tradition has continued on and off for over 400 years. The current bears are brown bears, and they live in a landscaped enclosure in the castle’s first courtyard.

I need to be very clear about something: this is the greatest castle feature in human history. Every castle should have a bear moat. I don’t understand why this isn’t standard.

I stood at the edge and looked down at those bears and felt a deep kinship. They live in a castle. They’re bears. They don’t have to pay rent. This is the dream.

Český Krumlov was supposed to be a quick stop between Prague and Salzburg. Instead it turned out to be a medieval fairy tale town with food that could knock you unconscious, a bell tower with views for days, and the single greatest castle moat arrangement I have ever encountered.

If I ever get a castle, and I will, it’s getting a bear moat. Non-negotiable.

Onwards to Salzburg!

We were not expecting much from Prague.

The plan was simple: Pokin had a YPO Forum trip here, Nicholas flew in to meet her, and then we’d continue east through Europe for a few weeks until we met up with the rest of the family in Sweden. Prague was a layover. A stop on the way to the real trip.

The only thing anyone had told us about the city was “it didn’t get bombed in the war.” Which, honestly, did not sound like a selling point at the time.

We were wrong.

Prague is one of those cities that just slaps you in the face the moment you look up. The whole Old Town is basically intact from centuries ago because it really did survive both World Wars mostly untouched. Every building looks like it was placed there by someone who cared too much about architecture and not enough about parking.

The Vltava River runs through the center with swans that are absolutely enormous and have zero respect for personal space. They just float around like they own the place. Which, to be fair, they probably do. Prague has been feeding these swans since the 1500s. That’s longer than most countries have existed.

We checked into the hotel and I immediately claimed my spot.

Day 1: The Old Town

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We started where everyone starts: walking around the Old Town and pretending we had a plan.

The Powder Tower is one of the old medieval gates into the city. It was originally built to store gunpowder, which seems like a questionable decision for a building in the middle of your capital, but hey, it’s the 1400s.

We wandered through to the Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square, which is one of those landmarks that every tourist on Earth has seen a photo of but still somehow feels impressive in person. It’s been running since 1410. That’s over 600 years of telling time and making tourists crane their necks.

The Jewish Quarter

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We walked through the Josefov district, which is Prague’s old Jewish Quarter. The neighborhood has been here since the 10th century, and what’s left of it is heavy in a way that doesn’t let go. The synagogues, the cemetery, the history of the community that lived and died here.

The Old Jewish Cemetery is one of those places that stops you. It was in use from 1439 to 1786, and because the community wasn’t allowed to expand the burial grounds, they just kept layering the graves on top of each other. There are roughly 12,000 tombstones crammed into a space that shouldn’t hold a fraction of that, with an estimated 100,000 burials underneath.

You can peek through a gate to see it.

We ended Day 1 the proper Czech way: at a restaurant with vaulted stone ceilings that looked like it had been there since the Habsburg Empire. Dumplings, beer, the whole thing.

Day 2: Castle to Tower

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Day 2 was the big walking day. The plan: start at Prague Castle, walk down through Mala Strana, and hike up to the Petrin Lookout Tower. Then gelato. Priorities.

Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle complex in the world. That’s not a tourism exaggeration, that’s a Guinness record. The whole compound covers about 70,000 square meters. It’s been the seat of Czech rulers since the 9th century, and inside it sits St. Vitus Cathedral, which took nearly 600 years to finish.

The views from the castle area at sunset were doing that thing where the sky goes completely ridiculous and you can’t even be annoyed about it.

We walked down the Old Castle Stairs, which is exactly what it sounds like: ancient stone steps winding down from the castle hill into Mala Strana. I was safely in the backpack for this part.

Wallenstein Garden

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We stumbled into the Wallenstein Garden, which is one of those hidden gems that doesn’t even charge admission and somehow has a stalactite grotto wall, bronze statues of Greek gods, and free-roaming peacocks.

The grotto wall is something else entirely. It’s an artificial stalactite wall that Duke Wallenstein had built in the 1620s to look like a cave surface. If you stare at it long enough, you start seeing faces in the rock formations. Whether that’s intentional or just what happens when you spend too long in Prague, I can’t say.

The Hike to Petrin

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From the castle area we kept walking up toward Petrin Hill. The trail winds through shaded cobblestone paths and gardens, and then suddenly you’re at the Petrin Lookout Tower, which is basically a 1:5 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower. They built it in 1891 because apparently Prague looked at Paris and said “we can do that, but smaller and on a hill.”

The views from the top were worth it. All of Prague spread out below, the river curving through the city, every red roof tile visible.

Bear Chips and Gelato

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On the way back we found bear chips. I don’t know how to explain this other than the bag had bears on it and I felt seen.

And then gelato, because obviously.

Rooftop Dinner

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We wrapped up Prague with dinner at a rooftop restaurant that had views over the entire city. The kind of place where the food looks like art and the sunset does all the marketing.

Bridge at Night

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One last walk across the river before calling it.

Prague was supposed to be a stopover. A box to check before the real trip started. Instead it turned out to be one of the best cities we’ve visited. The architecture is absurd, the food is solid, the beer is cheap, and the whole place feels like a history book that someone forgot to close.

We’ll be back. Probably.

Onwards!

There was a weather advisory, so at first we just camped out in the hotel room.

I wasn’t about to get wet or blown away.

But then late afternoon, the weather started looking better so Pokin decided we should walk to the Dubai Mall.

The night before, PoOn asked Pokin about the Waldorf stuffed animals.

“What Waldorf stuffed animals?” Pokin asked.

“Just ask front desk,” PoOn said.

So anyway she went up to front desk and told them her sister wanted to know about the Waldorf stuffed animals.

The hotel staff had basically no idea what she was talking about.

“I don’t know,” Pokin said “at the other hotels like Conrad in HK they had these stuffed animal bears.”

“We sometimes have welcome gifts, is that what you want?”

“I have no idea,” Pokin repeated again. “Whatever you find sounds great.”

“We’ll see what they can do,” front desk answers.

Anyway we go to the Dubai mall, walk around, see some sharks, walk around some more, see the Dubai Fountain show, and then head back. I deliberately left Peep behind.

“Peep” he says.

I should have known that Peep always gets himself into trouble. I come back and there’s a party going on in the room.

“What is wrong with you Peep?” I glare.

*Peep, *says Peep.

And there on the chair is a party full of stuffed animals, none of which are Waldorf stuffies.

Our doorbell rings. It’s Prashant, our housekeeping attendant with a note. “I hope you like the animals,” he said.

Turns out they sent someone out from the hotel to fetch these, because we were asking for them.

I ended up sleeping on the couch while Peep continued to hang out with those pink monsters. Ulgh.

Well PoOn is getting a bounty!

Got up bright and early for some breakfast at the Waldorf. Pretty good spread.

Then it was time for our blitz tour. We weren’t sure what to see so Nicholas booked a 1 day driving tour.

Here’s everything we hit -

Dubai Marina Souk Madinat Palm Jumeirah Atlantis Burj Al Arab Jumeirah Beach Jumeriah Road Carpet store upsell stop (*not advertised) Jumeriah Mosque Dubai Mall Dubai Aquarium Dubai Skating Rink Burj Khalia Old Dubai Spice Souk Fragrance store upsell (*not advertised) Spice and tea store upsell (*not advertised) Gold Souq

Even though we booked a private tour, there were a lot of forced upsell stops where our guide just disappeared for a smoke. After the first carpet stop, which we insisted on leaving early, we asked the guide to not take us to any more forced sales stops. Yet he did it two more times at a perfume and spice place. Disappointing for the price point of $700 for two people + bear, but we got a taste of Dubai.

Visibility wasn’t super great because of the high winds, but it’s supposed to rain the next day so good to get out today. After a day driving around, we ended up at the Dubai Mall/ Burj Khalifa, where I got to see sharks up and close. Closer than we did swimming in the Maldives! I would have been scared if they got this close. No sharks in this photo, but we saw a giant grouper which was cool.

We ended at the Burj Khalifa, which is the highest building in the world. We only got tickets up to the 148th floor, which is already higher than normal. You can get up to the lounge at 152 but that requires a $250 minimum spend. Since we were with a guide that felt too rushed. Another time!

It’s our last day in the Maldives and of course today the weather was perfect. Calm waters, clear skies.

Luckily, our flight out wasn’t until the end of the day, and we were allowed to stay in our room until 3:00pm and our flight out was at 4pm.

Pokin was feeling FOMO so she decided to snorkel again. It really is convenient being able to hop off the deck and get straight into reefs full of fish.

Again she headed straight for the reef cliff edge. This time she was alone so she didn’t stay long. She tried to look for the sharks again but there were none. She saw some tuna though.

As she’s getting ready to take a last shower before the flight out, I comb through the villa to make sure nothing is left behind.

And I find our problematic bunny in the coffee. Of course he’s there making a mess.

Peep, says Peep.

My mood is lifted a bit when I go into the room and see that we have a towel animal farewell. This is a whale I can ride!

Then it was 3pm and Meera was here with a golf cart to pick us up to wait in the lounge. Not a bad view. I can see our seaplane in the distance.

Given we are on island time, the flight doesn’t actually leave on time. And it turns out to be a full plane, but eventually we make it on.

The transfer was pretty uneventful, other than flying through some active storms. 40 minutes or so later, we were back at the Male terminal, where we transferred over to the main airport for our flight to Dubai.

Onwards!

Since it wasn’t an redeye, we didn’t get an amenity kit or PJs, but we did still get a meal. We tried not to nap since we were going to arrive at night, and about 4 hours later we were back in Dubai.

Our friends were headed home, so we said our farewells and made our way out.

The thing about booking business class flights with Emirates is that it sure comes with benefits! One of them being you get a chauffeur ride. All you had to do when you got off was to head to the chauffeur counter where they gave you a ticket, you went out the door, and a driver picked you up to head to your hotel.

This is something I can get used to.

“Don’t,” said Pokin. This isn’t how we’re always travelling. This was a splurge!

Well we should!

In Dubai, we are staying at the Waldorf Astoria DIFC. We weren’t originally going to stay here, but our friends who were travelling with us normally come here so we decided to book near them. They had to change their plans, so we were splurging on our own.

Luckily again, Pokin got a suite upgrade. I took my usual spot in bed.

Time for bed. Early day tomorrow!

The waters were way too choppy to swim yesterday so we aborted our attempts to make it out to the John Aster Estate where we were told to go snorkelling.

In general, we were told the best views were at the edge of the reef so today we made an attempt to snorkel to the edge by our villa, even if we couldn’t make it out as far as John Astor Estates.

See this photo here? See where it’s light and then it gets dark?

Well we swam over to the edge there on the left.

And let me tell you, if you had no fear of the deep ocean, you get one. Right after you get to the edge, you are looking down into the abyss.

Nicholas swam to the edge and noped out. So did our friend.

Pokin swam to the edge, looked down, popped back up above water, and nonchalantly said “I think I see some sharks out there.” Our friend immediately swam back towards the hut.

Nicholas went to look too. “Yep I think those are reef sharks.

Right about now, we realize the current is pulling us out, out away from the safety of the house reefs.

Time to head back.

Pokin reluctantly looked over the ledge down at the 3 swimming bodies, grudgingly admitting she’d be freaked right out if the sharks were anywhere closer than something like 30 feet down.

Time to call it a snorkelling day.

Check in to our hut wasn’t supposed to be until 3pm, so I was pleasantly surprised when our Butler, Meera let us know our room was already ready for us.

Even better we had been upgraded to room 519, which is a St Regis Overwater Villa. Instead of being massive, we got an even more massive bungalow with 2 bathrooms, a giant infinity pool, and 5 hammocks! I guess we should be thankful Pokin signed up to be a travel advisor to get all these upgrade perks!

I wasted no time getting situated. Living room sofa feels pretty comfy. They had fruit and chocolate greetings for me.

Next, I went outside to check out the view. Not too shabby at all.

The sun is really strong here, so I knew not to sit out too long. In fact my bud made that mistake. Even though he slept outside in the shade, he got a pretty bad sunburn, so I went back inside.

“Peep” comes a sound. WHAT???

I haven’t seen that bunny in months but it seems he has chosen to crash my trip. He really doesn’t deserve to be here at all. It’s not fair. Completely nonplussed, he just ignores my protests and settles in just where he feels like.

Sigh. Good thing they gave me some complimentary champagne. I’m going to need that whole bottle.

PEEP says Peep.

Ulgh.

Well at least I have a nice view.

Back when my bud and Pokin decided to get married, they also had to choose where to get married. While they eventually settled on Bora Bora, the Maldives was a strong contender. The political instability in the Maldives broke the tie. “Chance of uprising” were not among the risk factors my bud wanted to deal with. So they booked Bora Bora.

Now 7 years later, they decided it was time to see what the other option looked like. That decision was in no small part helped by some expiring use-or-lose credits they had with Emirates. I’m not complaining!

There are a lot of different options of places to go in the Maldives. At the current count, there are 172 resorts in the Maldives, all spread across different some 26 different atolls and 1,192 islands. Pokin had her sights on some place called Anantara because they had a cool underwater restaurant and an observatory, but because we did the St Regis Bora Bora, it only made sense to check out the parallel resort in the Maldives. Also our friends have been here and loved it and wanted to come back. So to St Regis!

Last time around, we got an upgrade due to planning our wedding there. And back then, St Regis was still part of Starwood. Since then, St Regis became part of the Marriott family. And since then, Pokin learned how to level up her travel booking optimization game. She booked the trip personally as a travel advisor, used the STARS program, and additionally got herself Platinum status through the Bonvoy Brilliant credit card. So we were hoping for some sweet upgrades here too.

The journey to the Maldives is long, especially from Vegas.

We left Tuesday morning a 8:00AM for our 10:00 flight to SFO. It was promptly delayed so we got in at 1pm. We wanted to leave a lot of buffer before we caught our 5:05pm flight to Dubai. We arrived in Dubai at 7:36PM on Wednesday, and then at 2:45 AM Thursday morning, hopped on a 4 hour flight to Male, Maldives (with the time zone change, arriving around 8:00AM).

On arrival, our St Regis host greeted us, transported us to the Maldivian Airways counter where they promptly weight all our luggage (30KG limit per person). Then we hopped on a shuttle to the float plane terminal where we waited in the St Regis lounge. This terminal was just a square building full of lounges.

flight was scheduled only the night before, and fortunately they had us booked for a 9:30 AM departure.

Shortly before it was time, we were escorted to a holding area, before we got on a flight plane over to St Regis.

The flight plane trip was a noisy 40 minutes, but we were lucky to have good visibility over all the atolls. I had fun looking out the window, and then we started descending towards Vommuli island where the resort is situated within the Dhaalu Atoll.

On arrival, just like in Bora Bora, we were greeted by a line of hotel staff. Then it was over to the outdoor waiting area where branded coconuts awaited us.

It was surprisingly not that hot and stuffy for how hot and stuffy we would feel later! I guess that spot is well situated with a persistent breeze.

Fortunately for us, our room is ready!

Hot off my trip back from Mexico City I’m outward bound again. To Dubai!

We are taking Emirates for the first time via SFO, so we are checking out the lounge.

Starting our journey with a delayed flight so let’s see how this all goes. My bud’s loving this already.

Emirates lounge was super spacious. Which felt all the more awkward given we were one of the only people in the lounge. Lounge is nice. They had a good spread of middle eastern food.

Even nicer is you board directly from the lounge into the plane. Didn’t have to worry about going back outside. I could get used to this! They called for boarding and we got on.

As a splurge, Pokin booked us business class flights using her Chase points. From there, there was an option to upgrade to first class (the way to go versus paying full fare), but we figured this was enough of an indulgence!

Emirates business class is pretty nice. Not only do they have lie flat seats, they also give you pyjamas. Really soft ones. As always they didn’t have anything in my size but I was able to appreciate it on my bud’s behalf. There they are with their matching PJs.

There’s also this lounge in the back where you can help yourself to snacks and order additional drinks, which made the flight go pretty smooth.

Some 14+ hours later, we landed to Dubai, pretty well rested given we were on a flight.

Because our friends were flying first class, we had an escort help us get through security on god mode. Passed all the lines and were escorted over to the lounge.

The Emirates lounge in Dubai is the biggest lounge I’ve ever seen. I feel like it practically stretched the whole airport terminal. Again when we arrived it was pretty empty (we got in around 8pm), but I guess most of the flights are red eyes because by the time we left at 2:00 AM it was really really full.

We passed our 7 hours there doing calls. And then it was onwards to the Maldives!