Andy Mcfarlane

A recent stay at D’Amare Resort & Spa — great location and views, but overall not quite the experience I’d hoped for. Full review and breakdown now live:
windowseatpreferred.com/2025/11/damare-resort-spa-overall-not-amazing/

An Escape to Hayfield Manor While this was a very last-minute booking, we had an excellent stay at Hayfield Manor – service, facilities and our room were fantastic…

Review of a recent escape to Hayfield Manor — lush gardens, turndown service, and total luxury just 15 minutes’ walk from Cork city centre. The full review is live: windowseatpreferred.com/2025/11/an-escape-to-hayfield-manor/

#IrelandTravel #Cork #LuxuryTravel #HotelReview #HayfieldManor

During a brief two-night stay in Dublin for work lately, I'd the chance to check in (and check out) The Davenport - overall, plush, peaceful and pretty luxurious for a quick work trip.

Here's the full breakdown; windowseatpreferred....

I thought I'd seen packed-to-capacity lounges until a recent visit to the American Flagship Lounge, Chicago 😱 Overall, a lovely lounge, large, airy, well-stocked...but the crowding was something else.

Full Review; windowseatpreferred....

On a very brief 2-night stay in Chicago, I checked into (and checked out) the Hyatt Centric The Loop.

Thoughts? A perfectly fine, if a little uninspired, property right in the middle of Corporate-land. Stunning if you enjoy varying shades of beige 😆

Full Review; windowseatpreferred....

This year we've been successful a few times using airline 'bid to upgrade' auctions, when paying outright for business doesn't seem great value.

Here's how it works and the strategies that seem to work for us more often than not;
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Understanding Arena di Verona: Heritage, opera and tourism

If anyone has been to Verona and has a few mins to spare - a friend conducting an academic tourism research project is looking for input / opinions in this survey; tinyurl.com/Verona-R... 😀

After my flight home, I found time to pop into the borderline-secret Aer Lingus Arrivals Lounge for a much-needed double espresso. Sure, I probably won't need to visit very often, but still a welcome amenity all the same. Who else has been? Review; windowseatpreferred....

Probably my most detail-lacking flight review of them all - after a hectic 60-hour trip to the US, I enjoyed the trip home in Aer Lingus' Business Class.

What have I to show? A review of the cabin and menu, then how well I slept for the entire journey; windowseatpreferred....

That's hilarious because ten years later I would say it was almost exactly that!

No chance for me to try my limit with the 'two drink' maximum this time (despite an early-morning stiff G&T), but a recent very pleasant (and unexpected) visit to the 51st & Green Lounge in Dublin Airport nevertheless;
windowseatpreferred....

#travelreview #airportlounge

For our mid-haul trek from Dubai back to Dublin, we opted for the cheapest-of-all option via Athens with Aegean Airlines. Sure, a single-aisle plane and not much in-flight entertainment isn't ideal but overall very positive...

Full Review; windowseatpreferred....

Thanks Ariane! It's definitely as honest (and diplomatic!) a review as I could write. Have a lovely morning ahead!

During our short one-night stay in #Dubai we parked up The Heritage Hotel for the night. Overall a pleasant stay, although no points for the late-night bar noise from downstairs and the door-less bathroom 😐

Full Review; windowseatpreferred....

Review of a wonderful 3 nights at the Shangri-La Abu Dhabi; from our room that seemed larger than our entire house, chilling at the pool and sunset rides on an 'Abra' through the hotel property;
windowseatpreferred.com/2025/07/revi...

Not that we expected to be staying here, but we were very impressed by Sabah Hotel, Sandakan - the room was a good size, the pool even had a local lizard come to visit, and there was a certain rustic/jungle fusion charm.
🛎️ Full review; windowseatpreferred....

Ooh I know, it looks like something else 😍

Nice, love it. That looks great - was it busy? I lived in KL for 8 years and it was an expat fave, but I never got round to it. Amazing headline shot of the pool at night!

Thanks for reading, Keith! Did you try the Champagne Brunch while you were there?

Review of our stay at Grand Hyatt KL - an amazing club lounge, great views, some wonderful staff...and then some not so much, and a very quirky room layout.

Full Review; windowseatpreferred....
#GrandHyattKL #HotelReview

For our few nights in Kuala Lumpur, we bedded down in the very lovely Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur - in no less than a Premier Selection Suite, enjoying the pool, all the spaciousness, and of course, evening cocktail hour.

Full review; windowseatpreferred....

We ended up being the very impressed, but unexpected guests of Emirates back in February, and had a chance to sample their business class back home to Dublin, on EK161. Great crew, good food, a wonderful nap despite the elderly business cabin.

Full Review; windowseatpreferred.com/2025/07/emir...

Etihad’s EY499 Singapore to Abu Dhabi – A Review After racing through Changi Airport, we somehow made it to our onward Etihad flight, EY499 to Abu Dhabi. That wasn’t the end though…

A review of our Etihad flight from Singapore to Abu Dhabi, in which we miraculously transited Changi Airport in 25 minutes on separate tickets...and then had an on-board ground delay of 3 hours 🤦‍♂️

windowseatpreferred.com/2025/07/etih...

Flight review from a recent time I foolishly tried to self-connect and wound up late on the first plane stuck on the tarmac with faulty aircon. I'd like to say lesson learned, but we'll see...
Review; windowseatpreferred.com/2025/06/bati...

Onwards to Bilit Adventure Lodge! After a stormy night on Turtle Island, we were safely ferried back to the mainland for our onward wildlife sightseeing at Bilit Adventure Lodge…

OK, so floods changed our plans a little, but we had a wonderful time wildlife sightseeing at Bilit Adventure Lodge back in February, and packed in as much as we could during our brief visit;
windowseatpreferred.com/2025/04/onwa...

One Night at Selingan Turtle Island Selingan Turtle Island is where we headed next on our Borneo tour, to see turtles nesting, hatchlings being released and – to our surprise – play Scrabble…

A review of our one night at Selingan Turtle Island! 🐢 Witnessed nesting, hatchlings, and yes, even found time to learn and for the first time, play scrabble: windowseatpreferred.com/2025/04/one-...

#travel #borneo #malaysia #wildlife #windowseatpreferred

Malaysia Airlines MH2614 Business Class Review We scored big-time with the Malaysia Airlines MH Upgrade jackpot, securing Business Class seats to Kota Kinabalu, MH2614…

After bidding about 5 euro above the minimum on a recent Malaysia Airlines flight from KL to Borneo, we were delighted to find ourselves upgraded about 12 hours before the flight - here's what a domestic business class flight was like;
windowseatpreferred.com/2025/03/mala...

Etihad Business Class Flight Review – EY418 to Kuala Lumpur Etihad’s older 787 business class cabin is just so preferable to the antique 777 experience – and this was one of our better flights all round…

Living it up in Etihad Business Class on their (older) 787 cabin - a review of a pretty great flight from Abu Dhabi to KL;
windowseatpreferred.com/2025/03/etih...

Etihad 777 Business Class – Dublin to Abu Dhabi We were back once again with Etihad Airways to Kuala Lumpur, this time with an opportunity to review their 777 business class on this flight, EY46

We recently flew from Dublin to Abu Dhabi on one of Etihad's two oldest 777's in Business Class.

Overall, the cabin was clean, and the seats are lie-flat (albeit tight and with no storage space) but would we rush back? Hmm...probably not;
windowseatpreferred.com/2025/02/etih...

Steigenberger Icon Frankfurter Hof – What a Stay! | Window Seat Preferred After our challenging stay in Heidelberg, we couldn’t help but enjoy our extremely luxurious night at the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof…

After our two hectic nights in Heidelberg, we stopped into the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof for an extremely opulent one-night stay - despite the awkwardness of wheeling my now-3-wheeled suitcase in...
Review - windowseatpreferred.com/2025/01/stei...