Business travel can be a pain, with early starts, back to back meetings and uninspired boardroom lunches, but I try to make the most out of work trips whilst I don't have a family to rush back to. When I worked for a sailing clothing brand, we used to attend regattas on the south coast and go down early to explore, staying at little B&B's, having dinner at the freshest seafood restaurants, and waking up to run along the beach before a day's sailing. During my time at a French fashion brand, I spent the first six months living in Paris and when I went back each month, I always visited one of my favourite brasseries, even if it was just for a quick glass of champagne with my book before the Eurostar home. I made a weekend of meetings in New York and Los Angeles, and did the same last autumn on a work trip to Warsaw, going a couple of days early to visit the places I loved when we went in 2013, and discover some new favourites.
I stayed at the central five star Sofitel Warsaw Victoria, swimming in its gorgeous, glowing pool each morning before grabbing breakfast and wandering around the city's parks and pretty streets listening to music, taking photos of old buildings (one of my favourite pastimes) and adding to my collection of hand-painted blue and white Polish crockery.
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I stayed at the central five star Sofitel Warsaw Victoria, swimming in its gorgeous, glowing pool each morning before grabbing breakfast and wandering around the city's parks and pretty streets listening to music, taking photos of old buildings (one of my favourite pastimes) and adding to my collection of hand-painted blue and white Polish crockery.
I visited the massive outdoor flea market, Bazar na Kole, bought an antique crystal milk jug, and revelled in the joys of solo travel (most people wouldn't have wanted to spend 3 hours outside trawling vintage treasures in the freezing cold!) before warming up with some rosol soup. I ate plenty of pierogis (no trip to Poland is complete without at least 12), went for a fantastic four course tasting menu for lunch at the beautiful Rozbrat 20, and a six course tasting menu for dinner at the traditional Brasserie Warszawska, followed by a nightcap at the cool Kieliszki Na Próżnej wine bar. Food in Poland is excellent. I visited the Fryderyk Chopin Museum housed in the stately Ostrogski Palace to learn more about my favourite classical composer, and went to an excellent Chopin recital held in the historic Dean’s Palace concert hall in the pretty Old Town. Add Warsaw to your list if you haven't already been: interesting architecture, a colourful history, lots of green spaces, great shopping and good, cheap food.
