My earliest travel memory is standing in front of Sagrada Família at the age of eight, entirely overwhelmed. I've been chasing that feeling of overwhelm ever since – the good kind, the kind a truly exceptional hotel or destination can produce in the first sixty seconds of arrival.I've been writing about travel for over eight years, and in that time I've developed a particular eye for the properties that earn their stars rather than simply displaying them. My coverage at PrivateUpgrades spans luxury hotels in Central European cities – Prague, Vienna, Budapest – through to beach resorts in Portugal, and destination hotels in South Africa and the Americas.