Welcome to December! It’s hard to believe that 2016 is finally coming to an end. The best part of this time of year is getting together with so many friends.
This week just gone has been the perfect example of that. Mrs Romance and I are still recovering from a visit from some interstate mates. It’s been a pretty cool week – catching up with friends and also checking out the newest hotel to open in Sydney, which is also the biggest in the country too.
Hope you enjoy this week’s IG Edition.
Jim & Christina xx
This evening, Mrs Romance and I are heading to the newest hotel to open in Sydney. The Hyatt Regency has had $250 million renovation and even has a new rooftop bar coming soon too.
We love a rooftop bar, so we’re really excited about this part. But there’s plenty more to explore in this enormous hotel. Under the bar is a brand new 24-storey tower and three huge ballrooms.
The launch event at the Hyatt Regency is in one of the three ballrooms. It’s an amazing venue with impressive views out over Darling Harbour. And by the look of the entertainment, it’s looking like it’ll be a good evening.
Pretty happy with this situation. The launch party for the Hyatt Regency is set up to showcase the skills of the chefs and bar staff of the hotel. This French champagne matches beautifully with the range of fresh oysters on offer.
There are also two different cocktails created by the world renowned mixologist Grant Collins, who’s also working with the Hyatt Regency to get the rooftop bar started.
After an epic Christmas party and conference, Mrs R, Carly from Smaggle.com and Sonia from SoniaStyling.com are hanging out with us. We’re kicking things off with a delicious brunch here at Euforia cafe in the pretty suburb of Balmain.
This evening we’re pushing things out a bit further with some bubbles and a view. It’s so good to be able to hang out with these guys so much. Sonia and her husband live in Adelaide and Carly lives in Melbourne, so all of us getting together like this is a bit of a rarity.
We’re out in Balmain again today. It’s a really hot one, so we’ve decided to go with Aperol spritz. So refreshing. Here’s our recipe for this cocktail… or you can pop over the Wilhelmina’s on Darling Street, Balmain for one.
We’re really big fans of this very cool bar. The food’s excellent, but the drinks and service are even better.
The weekend’s almost over, so it’s time for a truly excellent dinner. Sonia and her fella, and Mrs Romance and I are at Chon Thai in Balmain. The food here is off the charts.
What a way to finish up what’s been a superb week.
This week’s Travel Recap
Each week we go back in time over some of our favourite travel destinations using never-before-seen photos of our travels. Here’s where we’ve been looking back on this week.
It’s a heart in the sand… just because.
Not a bad front room I suppose! The beach lounge at Aleenta Phuket in Thialand is just beautiful. It’s a great place to relax with a drink and wait for dinner time! The staff just started moving the furniture out onto the beach during breakfast. By the time we’d finished eating, there was a full lounge area on the sand. Very cool.
Check out our full review of this beautiful resort here.
For the best food in Cuba, you have to make your way to El Paraiso in Vinales overlooking the Valley of Silence. It’s an organic farm that produces incredible food and uses some very clever techniques to keep the insects and diseases away without using pesticides. The food’s amazing and it’s great for sunset too!
Vinales is definitely my favourite part of Cuba… so far. Can’t wait to get back there and explore more of this fascinating country. For now, here’s our library of posts we’ve written about Cuba.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this IG Edition and your December is looking like it’s going to be a good one.
Cheers – J&C x
