Art, Travel and Food

Airline Notes: American Airlines Transatlantic – Fly Virgin Instead

We have taken several trips on AA across the Atlantic, both in business and coach classes. Food and service continue to be underwhelming and disapointing. The staff attitude ranges from angry to arrogant. On a recent flight from London to New York, a flight attendant explained why AA charges extra for everything such as the little wine bottles: “every little bit helps!” Hard to imagine that AA would make their earnings based on wine sales and if they did it would reflect poorly on board and management. When we pointed out that other, mostly international airlines such as Virgin do not nickel and dime their passengers on long-haul flights, the response was a new low in airlines arrogance and here we quote the AA flight attendant: “Lately our flights have been so full that we do not really care…”. This is just a short sample of various AA “infractions”. Other include, for example, refusing to move a business class passenger with a full fair ticket to London to a 30-min earlier flight without asking to pay an extra $2500 while the seats are open on a flight departing in 45 minutes. Our recommendation is to avoid American Airlines and instead for transatlantic trips we specifically recommend Virgin Atlantic – either in coach or business, or even British Airways or various discount business class carriers such as EOS. Safe Travels!

Restaurant Review: Mischi’s – Miami

Mischi’s is our favorite dining establishment in Miami. it is one of a few places we have visited in Miami that has toned down the superficial glitz and insane unsubstantiated pricing that characterizes so many restaurants in South Beach and turned up an outstanding innovative menu and wine list. Recommended ****

Film Review: Blood Diamond

Leonard DiCaprio delivers in this bloody and violent story of illegal diamond smulggling from Africa. The film stays true to its genre, so one should not expect too much depth here. DiCaprio does a great job with a near perfect imitiation South African acccent. The film itself tells a highly disturbing story that over the last few years has occupied a peripheral spot on news reports. The portrayal of diamond-related violence in Africa makes one wonder if the director has over-exercised his creative license and exploited the story to turn it into the 21st century version of the King Solomon Mines. By pure coincidence, a few days later on a flight from Miami we met a wholesale diamond dealer. When asked about the film, the dealer replied: “I saw it on the opening day. It is almost accurate, – the reality is much worse”. Recommended.

Le Meridien – Sunny Isles Beach, Florida

We are very mixed on this property. The location at the beach is great, the rooms are fine and many have great views, although the 1br studios are quite small. The restaurant – Bice, does a great job of feeding and hydrating the well-heeled clientele. The desk staff and the concierge are very courteous and helpful. Yet, there was one area of the hotel that has nearly completely ruined our perception of the hotel – the service at the beach and pool area – the worst beach and pool service we have ever experienced, perhaps anywhere. The hotel charges guests a daily “resort fee” – a practice that may be difficult to justify given the high room rates, but one that has become routine in many Miami properties. It is a simple task – tracking the hotel occupancy and making sure that you have enough lounges, chairs, tables, pads and towels and also making sure that there is sufficient and well-trained, courteous staff. Being under new ownership – Starwood, seems to have made the service worse. The beach and pool area management which is run by a thuggish young crew that ignores process and has little desire to deliver customer service. We waited for 45 minutes amongst a crowd of many to get 4 beach chairs and cushions only to get 2 chairs and one cushion and no towels. Another 45 minutes later and after much arguing with the beach staff we wrangled away 3 precious towels but only after being told that those were given to us because we were “so impatient”. Finally my kids could go to the pool, but by then our whole mood was ruined. About an hour later, our neighbors at the beach were leaving and graciously offered to give us their loungers. We thankfully accepted, but about 5 minutes later I was accosted by three members of Le Meridien beach staff who claimed that I took the chairs “illegaly” and I should vacate them “right away!”. At that point, our patience ruptured and the staffers learned some choice NYC vocabulary. A young manager showed up and finally after nearly four hours since we have first arrived at the beach, we had some peace and quiet. Not bad for a hotel that charges guests about 700-900 per room in high season. Seems the beach staff has gotten so addicted to fat tips (or call them mini–bribes) from wealthy Eastern European tourists that the minute their clientele shows up at the beach, all chairs and towels simply dissappear. It is infuriating to watch, but it is hard to blame these young enterprising hustlers for what is a total lack of competent hotel management in this area. There are a couple of staffers at the beach and bar area who happen to be over 18 and do have a hang for service, but their efforts just drown in this sea of “who will give me a bigger tip”.

We did not go to the hotel management to complain, because we did not want to listen to their textbook hotel management explanations, but someone did and things did improve at the beach in the next couple of days. For one thing, a few more “men in suits with walkie-talkies” showed up – which looked somewhat comical for 80F degree weather and the staff began to ask us “if the service is better?”. We tactfully avoided getting into a discussion with them, until finally one morning I did share a conversation with one of the young beach staffers and told him that the service has gotten better but was generally sub-par for a place of this caliber. In response, I got “Well maybe some caviar will do you justice!”. Well, – perhaps a towel would do.

Film Review: Borat

One can hardly escape either seeing, talking about or at least hearing others talk about Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Borat – a character creation of British comedian Sascha Baron Cohen. The original Borat first came to life on Cohen’s highly successful cable comedy Da Ali G show. Borat is a disguisting, vile Kazakh reporter who comes to America to learn about the West and improve life back in Kazakhstan, a large, sparsely populated country of tremendous natural resources that is nowhere near the location in which the film was shot – a tiny village in a poor region of Romania. Borat, mustachioed, Middle Eastern looking and wearing sand colored polyester suits that were in fashion 20 years ago is a composite image that has little to do with anyone real from Kazakhstan or anywhere else. In fact he is a vile, un-sanitary character who chases after Pamela Anderson, embarasses his American hosts and speaks a meaningless mish-mash of words from Polish and Russian and other Eastern European languages from countries thousands of miles away from Kazakhstan. In some ways, Borat makes Howard Stern look dignified, but as with Howard the audience wonders: “What is he going to say or do next?” Cohen makes Borat repulsive even by comparison to some pretty morally repugnant individuals he meets during his trip, – people he ends up lampooning, making fun of and upsetting. These are the people who at first want to “help” Borat acquire the right skills in America, – people who feel condescension towards Borat mixed in with easy, barely hidden comfort with his manufactured intolerance. One should see Borat – it is a funny, original cold shower of a movie. If some scenes make you queasy, take a sip of soda and close your eyes – you will keep on laughing. Recommended.

Restaurant Review: Odeon, New York

This place rarely dissapoints. Get the frisse salad with lardons and truffled poached egg and wash it down with a glass of grand cru Chablis. Recommended

Film: The Last King of Scotland

Forest Whitaker delivers an Oscar-worthy portrayal of Idi Amin – the late Ugandan dictator who has been rumoured to be responsible for nearly 300,000 deaths during his rein in Uganda. The film does a fantastic job of conveying the spirit of the time and place in the 1970s Africa. Parts of the film are quite gruesome. The main character, – a young Scottish doctor finds himself in Uganda during the early stages of the coup d’etat and face-to-face with Idi Amin who charms him into becoming his personal physician. The plot is a study in moral compromise. Recommended.

Film: Little Children

A grown-up tale of failed expectations, lust and adultery in a quiet New England suburb. Kate Winslett finds her bearing in her role in this film. Highly recommended.