Eero Aarnio’s bubble lamps. Photo courtesy of Visit Finland.

It’s a frigid February morning when I step outside of Helsinki’s Vantaa airport, looking for the bus shuttle that will take me to the central train station. From there, I will walk the one or so kilometre it is to the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, my home away from home this weekend. I spot the Finnair City Bus platform, a waiting bus, and passengers lined up to board it and smile. As usual when I am on the receiving end of such small but significant graces (who wants to shiver in the cold waiting for the next bus?), I mutter a quick “thank God for small mercies” and leg it.

It turns out I rejoiced too soon. Having read that these buses take bank cards, I’m not too worried about the fact I haven’t managed to exchange my sterling for euro yet. The stocky, well-built lady behind the wheel looks at me disinterestedly as I board the bus, her foreboding attitude expression a sign of things to come.

“A ticket to the central station, please”, I say.

She, like a seasoned secretary, deftly but expressionlessly punches in numbers on a something that looks like a mobile phone, before asking me to insert my credit card. Thirty seconds go by before she looks at me again and grunts.

“Your card does not work on this machine, it’s not Finnish.”

No shit, sherlock. I can’t imagine I’m the first international passenger she’s ever been burdened with having to ferry to the city, since, I don’t know, she’s driving an airport to city bus for a living. I figure out that I will have to do it the old-fashioned way and withdraw some money from an ATM machine before taking the next bus.

This, in retrospect was shorthand for my experiences in the Finnish capital. A people so blighted by the biting winter cold they acted as if the very act of being civilized to another human being would divert their energies from the very important task of life preservation . There was the lady who, having seen me get into the tram the next day heading for an empty seat ahead of her promptly rose up and claimed the seat for herself, leaving her warm vacated seat for me. Then there was the store assistant who was not in the least interested in seeing whether they had a shoe I liked in the storage room. All this against a setting of people staring at me like I was a rarit, although in all honesty I was – there aren’t that many black people in Finland – made me feel less than welcome.

Despite the bitter cold, both in the air and in the hearts of the people, by the time I go back home three days later, Helsinki has managed to charm the pants off me. Figuratively speaking off course; anything else would be asking for death by hypothermia. There is the welcoming and gracious staff at the Radisson Blu Royal who become my defrosting station the first time I check in and all other subsequent times I come back into the hotel, body and heart cold from the elements. One of them even spends 10minutes helping me look through a mound of adaptors, desperately trying to find a UK-EU one for my laptop. When we can’t find one, she moves on to the box of computer cables until we find one that fits.

Helsinki, like most Scandinavian cities is a city of stark contrasts. Not socioeconomically as such – you’d be hard-pressed to find cities that are more socially equal. It’s in the seasons you see its different flavours. Dark, foreboding and sometimes downright inhospitable in the short days of a long winter, yet lush, verdant and welcoming in the long midnight-sunny days of a short summer. For those contemplating a trip to continental Europe’s northernmost city, the time to go, to put it quite simply, is now.

What to do

A shop in the Design District. Photo courtesy of Visit Finland.

The Design District: This being Helsinki’s year as World Design Capital, it’s only natural that we start here.  Although Finland is home to the eponymous Marimekko and Iittala brands,Helsinki’s Design District is the place to go if you are looking for independent, lesser-known (at least by international standards) Finnish designers. The district is more of a loose confederation of innovative design shops spread through the central area, particularly between Esplanadi and Punavuori and around the Uudenmaankatu and Erottaja streets than it is an actual district. Keep an eye out for the black-and-white sticker in the window of these places. Alternatively, just keep your eyes open as you explore the city, envelope-pushing art and architecture is almost omnipresent.

The Sauna Experience: There are 1.3 million saunas in a nation of 5.4 million people. The finns wholeheartedly believe they both invented and perfected the art of upping one’s body temperature in a steam-filled space for the purposes of expunging toxins.. The Arlan Sauna is one of Helsinki’s oldest, and has separate male and female zones. The city’s newest sauna, on the other hand, will soon be the Kulttuurisauna, an urban sauna on the city’s waterfront which will open this autumn. Because it shares space with a cultural center, it will then become the focal point of Helsinki’s World Design Capital events.

Where to eat

Head to Juuri for sapas – Finnish tapas – which are small sample dishes of authentic Finnish cuisine. The restaurant is small and unassuming, prices reasonable and staff attentive without being intrusive. For a more upscale ground-breaking experience, head to A21, whose cocktail-paired dishes are designed to transport you to other worlds.

Where to stay

The Radisson Royal Blu Hotel.

Opt for the 4-star Radisson Blu Royal Helsinki for best value for money, courteous staff and central location in the Kamppi area. Design afficionados might find the Klaus K situated in the design district a better fit, especially during Helsinki’s reign as design capital of the world. There is a five-star option – Hotel Kamp – but Luxury Travel Beat steered well clear of it following  reports earlier this year that the hotel had given a drunken stranger the key to one of their female guest’s rooms, who then proceeded to get into the room and grope the guest as she lay sleeping.

The lowdown

Getting there The city’s main airport, Helsinki-Vantaa is 12 miles north of the centre. Luxury Travel Beat travelled to Finland courtesy of Finnair, which offers daily flights from Manchester and Heathrow from £155 return . www.finnair.com (+358 600 140 140, finnair.com)

Getting around: Like most Nordic capitals, Helsinki is small enough that you can explore it on foot. Should you need public transport, the Helsinki Regional Transport website will come in handy. Single tickets for buses, trains and trams are a flat €2 rate (£1.66) when bought in advance at metro stations and tram stops (although the metro mainly serves the suburbs). The Helsinki Card is also another option, and will entitle you to unlimited travel on buses, trams, the metros and local trains within the city’s boundaries. A 24-hr pass costs v€35 (£29) , a 48-hour one €45 (£37)  and a 72-hour pass €55 (£45). Buying the card means you’re covered for most museums and get discounts in some shops.

When to go: Winter in the city is a soberingly depressing affair; there is precious little to do apart from visiting museums and design shrines and the biting cold is, unfortunately, sometimes reflected in its people. Go there in the exuberant summer months when the city and its people are bursting with life, thanks to the endless supply of serotonin-producing sunshine.

More information

Visit Helsinki: www.visithelsinki.fi

Visit Finland: www.visitfinland.com

World Design Capital Helsinki 2012: www.wdchelsinki2012.fi/en

…where her boyfriend Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton is currently taking part in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Photos by EPA via the Daily Mail.

That’s the island of Lokrum in the distance, as seen from the Villa Dubrovnik hotel.

Pollyanna posing by the Dead Sea, enroute to Eliat, Israel. Photo courtesy of her Twitter @GadgetPolly

Welcome to Luxury Travel Beat’s tripping with segment.  You took the brand new season of The Gadget Show on the road to test the latest in consumer gadgetry around the globe. We’re dying to hear all about it.

We’ve taken the show  to the east and west coast of America which showcased the city and beach cultures of the States, some great travelling technology and some great people. I was surprised by L.A and California though it was a little less glam than i thought it would be. We were also in Dubai, which was beautifully hot and we got to spend time in the desert testing fun experiences for visitors. As always I find this place has delicious food. Japan was a real culture shock and an assault on the eyes; there is a constant buzz about the place, one which I never quite got used to. I also found the food a little disappointing, but it was a very different experience. France, Italy and Switzerland were classically European – great pizza, pasta and hot chocolate – it never ceases to amaze me though how breathtaking these places are, they can be so picture perfect. And the UK was…freezing.

You know we have to ask you this: what’s the one gadget you could never travel without?

I can’t go anywhere without my smartphone, because it does so many things — calls, emails, social networking, music — It’s a travel must.

How would you describe your travelling style?

Relaxed but styled. Comfortable clothing, a carry-on and a pair of on ear headphones around my neck, these are my travelling essentials.

What’s your biggest motivation for travelling for leisure?

To see my boyfriend who’s  a professional golfer, so any time I get off I go to see him wherever he is in the world.

Favourite city in the world?

Pollyanna posing near the Brooklyn bridge, New York. Photo courtesy of her Twitter @GadgetPolly

I love New York, I never get tired of visiting. It has this really cool ambience and and an ‘anything goes’ vibe about it.

Best holiday?

The first time I visited my boyfriend’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. I had never really been toa desert state and I couldn’t believe how fantastic it was. So many leisure possibilities — cycling, rock-climbing, golf — It was adventure-packed and so much fun. The restaurants I went to were incredible too. Its another one of my favourite destinations.

Worst holiday?

Tenerife when I was younger. It was a week of cold weather with little to do in the area we stayed. The highlight of each day was the internet cafe to check my emails – definitely a holiday to forget!

Do you prefer to travel with a companion or alone? If with a companion, what qualities does she/he have to possess for you to enjoy your travels?

I do really enjoy travelling on my own, I guess because i do it so often. However if I am to have a companion it’s nice if they like to just do their own thing too. And converse occasionally and share sweets…

Most memorable person you’ve met on your travels?

I met Brian Fortuna at T5 with some friends a couple of months back and managed to catch up with him again when we went to L.A to film, that was fun.

What is the best hotel you’ve stayed at?

Pollyanna at the Viceroy Yas F1 Marina hotel in Abu Dhabi. Photo courtesy of her Twitter @GadgetPolly.

This is a tough one. The Mercer in New York is gorgeous, The Yas Viceroy has an incredible setting and is a real treat for car and design enthusiasts like myself. The Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai… I guess I’m lucky I’ve been spoilt for choice.

Best meal you’ve had abroad?

Theres a place called Sushi Samba in New York where they make the most AMAZING sushi…you have to go there.

Thanks. That’s now on my hit list. Finally, is there a trip you’re just dying to take?

I would love to go to Australia. I haven’t been there yet, even though my sister lives there. I would also like to go back to South Africa and spend a little longer at the Shamwari resort on safari.

Pollyanna presents the Gadget Show: World Tour on Channel 5 every Monday at 8pm.

 1.The Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles

The Chateau Marmont

We begin this list with the mother of all infamous hotels. If walls could talk, the walls of the Chateau Marmont would be singing like a canary perched atop a shrink’s couch. From Howard Hughes spying on sunbathing guests, to Led Zeppelin groupies riding motorbikes through the lobby, Jim Morrison falling out of a window onto a shed below after valiantly trying to swing from the hotel’s roof to the window of his room, to Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears’ various meltdown ‘episodes’,  the Chateau Marmont has seen more scandals than the archives of The National Enquirer. But it’s the tragic death of actor John Belushi – who was found dead from a drug overdose in one of the hotel’s bungalows in 1982 – which is most notorious.

2. The Beverly Hills Hilton

A suite bathroom at the Beverly Hills Hilton. Photo courtesy of the hotel’s website.

From one tragic drug-related celebrity death to another, The Beverly Hills Hilton hit the headlines earlier this year when it emerged that singer Whitney Houston had been found dead in a bath-tub in room 434 of the hotel. Later that evening, some of her fellow musicians attended a Grammy Party hosted by Whitney Houston’s mentor Clive Davis a few floors above the room where Whitney Houston’s body still lay, in the process demonstrating just how callous we human beings have the capacity to be.

3. The Sofitel, New York

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

In May 2011, the then head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested  after allegedly committing a heinous sex attack on a housekeeper at the Sofitel New York. He escaped charges but was forced to give up his job at the IMF, and publicity surrounding the case ended his career as a Socialist Party politician in France.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is responsible for bringing yet another hotel fame and notoriety, this time in his native France. The Hotel Carlton de Lille, which is situated on a street lined with children’s stores, a church and a marriage counselor was the scene of the crime when DSK was charged last month with “aggravated procurement in an organized gang,” – the legal term for pimping – over his alleged involvement in a prostitution ring. Eight others were charged last October, including the Carlton’s owner, director and head of public relations.

The hotel boasts of its ‘charm  ‘discretion’ and ‘soundproof apartments’ in its brochure.

5. The Hotel Ritz, Paris: In 1997, Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Faye were chased to their deaths on the roads of Paris. Immediately prior to getting into the car that would be the instrumental in their untimely deaths, the couple dined together for the last time at The Ritz . It is also here that Coco Chanel died   in 1971 at the age of 87 after having lived at the hotel for three decades.

6. Hotel Kamp, Helsinki: In January this year, A New York business woman — Alison Fournier — brought proceedings against tarwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, claiming staff at one of their hotels – the Hotel Kamp Helsinki, gave her room key to a drunken man who allegedly sexually assaulted her in her bed. The man, who was “visibly intoxicated,” was able to get into her room after he was issued with a key to the room when he told staff he was the woman’s husband. Once inside the room, he undressed, slipped into her bed, and proceeded to grope her naked body. 

7. The Hotel Caribe: Last month, the world was abuzz with news that 11 Secret Service agents were suspended following a massive prostitution scandal ahead of President Obama’s visit to Colombia. The events took place in the Hotel Caribe, a five-star beachfront resort in Cartagena’s Bocagrande district. The events of that night would probably only ever have reached pitch among the local ladies of the night union had one of the bodyguards not decided to…um….stiff a callgirl called Dania Suarez.

8. Cadogan Hotel, London

Oscar Wilde

On April 6, 1895, Oscar Wilde was arrested in room 118 of this Knightsbridge hotel and charged with ‘committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons’. The Irish playwright was found guilty and served two years’ hard labour.

9. L’Hôtel: On 30 November 1900, Oscar Wilde died in Room 16 of the Parisian L’Hotel, which was then known as the Hôtel d’Alsace. Gazing at the awful wallpaper, Wilde supposedly uttered his last words, ‘well one of us had to go’. He was reputed to have left a large bill at the hotel and the comment  ‘I’m dying as I have lived… beyond my means’. Wilde was 46 years old, his health broken after a spell in Reading jail; his death was caused by cerebral meningitis, after an operation for an ear infection.

10.The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Sydney: Michael Hutchence, the lead singer from Australian rock band INXS, hanged himself with a leather belt in Room 524 of Sydney’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel on 22 November 1997. The room cleaner found the body of the 37-year-old hanging behind the door the next morning.