Hats Off / Jos Palariile!

When the idea of a “ business retreat” came to my mind, I was thinking about a trip to a 4-5 star hotel, on Prahova Valley, somewhere near Brasov. Few colleagues suggested (and then insisted on) Fratii Jderi (Marten Brothers), which seemed like a lot of effort for only a 2 days trip. (Google “marten”)

It had been a long while since our last teambuilding (and I was considering that an efficient teambuilding stands for S.C.R.E.W. - Staff Can Recreate, Entertain and Work)

As a courtesy of Premium Auto, my trip, individually, has been a climax, testing the new Range Rover Supercharged, with a 510 horsepower engine and anything (or everything) you may fantasize about fitting in a car. As an iPod fetishist, the on-board management of the music and the sound systems’ performance was well beyond the expectations. (If it wasn’t above100k EUR, just for the iPod connection I could buy this car. Still waiting for an iPod compatible woman, with touch-screen and small memory space; I will upgrade her on a daily basis)

Fratii Jderi is a “must go” in Romania, in a large group or as a couple (don’t go alone, you will risk remaining there). Unfortunately the website and the presentation of the facilities is not explanatory enough (www.fratiijderi.ro) if you just want to throw a peek.

Cezar (El Capitan), Marcel (Marco), Stefan and Constantin (Animalu) made us feel at home from the first moment we stepped in to their world. Dorina should be a Michelin-star cook, besides treating all of us as her kids, with utmost care. Guys, if she has a daughter, marry her! (The daughter, not Dorina…Idiots!)

After several games of climbing, jumping and balancing; there was no doubt about Charles Darwin’s Theory; at least banker-beings have evolved from monkeys if not all humankind.

At the end of first day, we were all complaining about own lives, didactically talking about relocating there and changing everything, the usual “I have the guts to do it” type of bullcrap, which we apply to, whenever we see people happier than us.

Just once, give up on your usual weekend schedule of shopping/clubbing/eating-out and go to Fratii Jderi. You will probably spend less money there for the whole weekend as compared to a table in a nightclub but will come back 10 years younger. Fck Tuscany!