I’d like to let you in on a little secret, it’s more a confession I suppose. I am a travel blogger who often flies to far flung exotic destinations – places that people dream of visiting – and sometimes once I get there, I don’t leave the hotel. One such occasion occurred recently in the Malaysian island of Penang. During our four night stay there I left the hotel no more than three times, twice to go out for dinner and once to buy toothpaste after we realised we’d arrived without. I really am a terrible traveller, aren’t I?

Penang was the beginning of a few weeks of Malaysia travel but it also arrived at the end of four weeks of constant travel, crossing three continents, seven countries and more miles than I can count but by the time my partner and I arrived in Penang I felt everyone of those thousands of miles. So I decided to down my blogging tools – my phone, my laptop, my camera and my notebook – and put on my bikini and pick up a novel I’d been meaning to read for years.

And you know what happened? It was one of the most romantic and relaxing stays I’d experienced with my boyfriend. Furthermore, I didn’t feel as though I was missing out on experiencing Penang, because the Eastern & Oriental Hotel – the scene of my crimes against travel blogging – is a beautiful and interesting part of the island’s history.

Founded by the same family responsible for the iconic Sarkies Brothers, an Armenian family who built a chain of luxury hotels in the late nineteenth century including the iconic Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the E&O as it is affectionately known was originally two separate hotels – The Eastern and The Oriental – which merged in 1885. Located in Penang’s main city, Georgetown, it was the place to stay on Penang during the beginning of the twentieth century. Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling and Charlie Chaplin have all laid there heads down to sleep in the E&O. That’s my kind of history.

Sadly after the Second World War and the Sarkies Brothers the hotel experienced a period of decline and in 1996 it was closed down. Five years later it re-opened fully renovated and refurbished, with much of the original character and traditional feel restored.

I suppose it is this character that helped make our stay both relaxing and romantic; a grand colonial style building with bright white walls and elaborate detail in the covered walkways and windows. Inside the spacious rooms – well, suites, have tall ceilings and gigantic beds. Old style telephones and upright chairs took me back in time and I stepped into the provided slippers and wrapped the towelling robe around far too comfortably. My partner and I spent our days eating too much for breakfast, sleeping during the day by the pool and reading long neglected books on the couch of our suite. One afternoon we felt “adventurous” so we enjoyed an afternoon tea in the 1885 restaurant and lounge, but then we ate so much we had to go back to bed to sleep it off. The staff – including a butler service – were accommodating and kind, but also gave us the privacy and space we needed to do… er, nothing. After a year on the road it was the first time my partner and I had taken more than one day off “work” together, we treasured some time together that wasn’t interrupted by emails or to do lists.

On my way to get toothpaste, I took a few photos and I felt my travel blogging instincts twitch – Ooh, what’s that beautiful building in the distance? And what are those locals eating? – but then a yawn would over come those thoughts and I realised it was time for my afternoon nap.

I may have left Penang a bad travel blogger, but I left completely relaxed and with my relationship feeling strong and happy.

Airflyreservations is an online travel agency that offer cheap flight tickets, like cheap flights to new york, houston, miami, moscow, plattsburgh, las vegas, washington dc, orlando, chicago, san francisco, denver, tampa, atlanata, amsterdam Visit - www.airflyreservations.com www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-houston www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-las-vegas www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-new-york www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flight-to-washington-dc www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-miami www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-orlando www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-moscow www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-chicago www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-plattsburgh www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-san-francisco www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-denver www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-tampa www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-amsterdam www.airflyreservations.comcheap-flights-to-atlan