Eye On Travel: Modern Romance: Speedy Boarding Mr & Mrs Valentine?

Love is in the air: or under the seat in front of you

February 14th: the day of St Valentine! When loving couples can share their annual romantic moment in a restaurant in Paris, Venice or Barcelona with like-minded people and a specially priced menu whilst having to think of something to say to each other for the entire night.

But there are better and more original places to ignite that romantic flame to show you really mean it. Let’s take a look at some alternative destinations for old and new romantics.

Heeere's Stanley: Not a dull boy

Take a trip on the wild side and explore the Rocky Mountains National Park around Boulder, Colorado. Go in Winter for a spot of skiing or in summer for some hiking and bear avoiding. Then what you need is a nice hotel to stay in and what better place than the spectacular Stanley Hotel.

If you’re not expecting to get much sleep on your romantic trip then this place is perfect - it was the hotel in Stephen King’s The Shining and is considered one of Americas’s most haunted hotels. Quite a niche market.

GET THERE: Fly to Denver and hire a car to get to the Rocky Mountains National Park
TOP TIP: Get some skiing in at Aspen, Breckenridge or Vail from December-May.

La Paz: 4,000m up & still you hear the pan pipes

If The Stanley is too much work and not enough play, go somewhere that will really take your breath away. Bolivian capital La Paz is at an altitude of 3,100m. With a cable car to El Alto district at a breath defying 4,058m.

When you are ready for an infusion of oxygen, grab a push bike and head down the 56km Yungas road from high point of 4,650m to the subtropical rainforest at 1,200m. Pay attention though as it’s also known as El Camino de la muerte -The Road of Death.

GET THERE: Fly to La Paz (El Alto) via Miami or Santa Cruz via Madrid
TOP TIP: Make time of the vast lunar landscape of the 3,600m high Uyuni salt flats

Thailand: Spice up your life

If you think you need to spice things up a bit then you should head to stunning Thailand where you can get a villa with a private pool for the price of a night at a Travelodge on Valentine’s night. Enjoy stunning vistas and an agenda of remarkably little. Holiday perfection.

Head out for a nice meal - who doesn’t like Thai food? - but go local rather than the Hotel for an authentic experience. Pepper steak Thai style sounds good. Or Neua Pad Prik - a combination of fried beef, shallots and large amounts of bird’s eye chilis (not frozen ones!), one of the world’s hottest (100k Scovilles in case you were wondering). This should quite literally set your evening alight!

GET THERE: Fly via Bangkok for Krabi, Phuket & Kohs Samui, Phangan, Phi Phi and Lanta
TOP TIP: Stopover in vibrant capital Bangkok for culture, shopping & nightlife

The Look of Love: Love. Actually.

If being scared, out of breath or on fire just doesn’t do it for you, you could always show how much you are in love by actually being in Love. In Canada.

Love is many things but in this instance it’s a small, cold town in the middle of Saskatchewan with a current temperature of -16C. Snow is forecast for the 14th, so if you can get there you probably won’t be able to leave (much like the Stanley Hotel) and the absence of a Love Hotel means you will probably end up staying with one of the 30 residents. Or in your car. How romantic!

GET THERE: Fly to Saskatoon and it’s 163 miles from there. If you can find true Love.
TOP TIP: Don’t go there. And if you do, don’t lick any metal poles.

***
I have been to the Bolivia, including the Road of Death and extensively to Thailand. I have not yet made it to Colorado and I had to look up Saskatchewan on a map.

***