The places that take his breath away, his favorite words to hear while traveling, and the real reason he visited London
The places that take his breath away, his favorite words to hear while traveling, and the real reason he visited London
A view of Bologna.
At Lango Lodge in the Republic of the Congo.
Atop Lion’s Head in Cape Town.Last trip? I met my husband in Milan for the Salone del Mobile design fair in April (he is an interior designer), then spent a few days eating, drinking, and reporting a couple of stories for Further in Bologna and Tuscany.
Next trip? London, to celebrate my husband’s birthday, see the Naomi Campbell show at the V&A, check out a few new restaurants, dance at Horse Meat Disco, and, um, see Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium.
Checked bag or just a carry-on? Just a carry-on. I’ve learned the lost-bag lesson too many times!
Your favorite hotel on earth? I can’t choose just one! The Moorings Village, an under-the-radar collection of cottages in the Florida Keys, is oceanfront simplicity and seclusion at its best — though they just added a pool so maybe it’s too “developed” now (lol). São Lourenço do Barrocal in Portugal’s Alentejo is an ancient farming village turned countryside resort; the architecture (by Pritzker winner Eduardo Souto de Moura) and cuisine are both superlative. And I’ve never stayed anyplace quite like Tawaraya, the very old, and very traditional, ryokan in Kyoto. Theirs is a luxury of gestures and rituals, rather than of creature comforts.
São Lourenço do Barrocal in Portugal.You’re flying with your companion in a 3-3 seating configuration. Do you request the middle seat? Aisle + aisle across? Aisle + window with a stranger in between? Aisle + aisle across. Much more civilized.
Airport (or city) where you wouldn’t mind an hours-long layover? Paris. I have it down to a science: RER from Charles de Gaulle to Saint-Michel; get a café crème outdoors somewhere, weather be damned; walk walk walk walk walk; fill up on escargots, steak, and frites at Au Pied de Cochon; then RER from Les Halles back to the airport.
What is your current screen saver/wallpaper on your phone or laptop (assuming it’s a photo from your travels)? It’s a slideshow! Favorite images from Iceland, South Africa, the Congo Basin, Iguaçú Falls, and other epically scenic trips.
Favorite words to hear while traveling? Not sure, but my least favorite words to hear, after flying halfway around the world, are “Hey, don’t I know you from New York?!”
Someone who opened up a destination to you in an unexpected way? I visited Havana in 1997 for a conference, and looked up a friend of a friend who showed me the “real” Cuba: a tiny gay disco, a hidden beach, a dimly lit apartment where his friends fed me dinner and sang me folk songs — and made me warble along to “Guantanamera.”
Was there a trip you took when you were young that shook up your worldview in some lasting way — one that literally changed your mind? A family visit to Israel when I was 13, with a group of families from Miami. It was challenging and eye-opening in so many ways: the history, the conflict, the perseverance, the beauty. Myself and a number of other kids were bar and bat mitzvahed on the summit of Masada. A real coming of age.
What was the last place you visited that took your proverbial breath away? Iceland took my breath away about 10 times a day. But the view of the endless black-sand beach from the Dyrhólaey promontory on the south coast brought tears to my eyes.
If you had an entire year to travel, with no obligations or expense, would you spend it in a single cherished place, really getting to know it — or would you spend that year discovering a new place every week? A new place every week for 26 weeks — and then the same itinerary again. Because I love visiting a place a second time.
