Unique Destinations & Honest Hotel Reviews

Early Louis Vuitton Trianon grey canvas trunk with a flat slatted lid, dark reinforcing bands and iron fittings.

Graphite illustration of two nineteenth-century railway porters stacking one flat grey slatted trunk on another inside a baggage van.

Louis Vuitton: The Geometry of Travel

Louis Vuitton made the travel trunk lighter, weather-resistant and stackable—an industrial intervention that changed how luxury moved through the modern world.

Rows of Airstream trailers camped beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza as riders on horseback cross the foreground.

Portraits

Wally Byam: The House That Learned to Travel

Wally Byam turned the travel trailer into something larger: a room, a community and the confidence to stay where tourism infrastructure had not yet arrived.

Olga, wearing a red dress, walks across Ponte della Civera in Nesso, surrounded by ivy and trees.

Italy

10 Best Things to Do in Lake Como, Italy

My 10 favorite things to do in Lake Como, from Bellagio and Varenna to historic villas, botanical gardens, waterfalls, ferries, and Brunate.

Graphite illustration of Juan Trippe stretching a piece of string across a large antique globe in his office.

Portraits

Juan Trippe: The World, Measured with String

Juan Trippe saw routes before airplanes: how Pan Am turned international flight from an expedition for the few into infrastructure for everyone.

The Edgewater Hotel stretches across Pier 67 beneath its red neon sign and the Space Needle, seen from Elliott Bay.

USA

The Edgewater Hotel, Seattle: the city beyond work

How one risky Beatles booking made The Edgewater a music hotel—and why its windows above Elliott Bay still change the character of a Seattle work trip.

Olga walks along pale Paje Beach beside the turquoise Indian Ocean in Zanzibar.

Tanzania

Zanzibar White Sand: the private side of Paje

My Zanzibar White Sand review: a beachfront villa on Paje Beach, with a private pool, rooftop sunrise, cooking class, garden bicycles and the Indian Ocean beyond.

Olga stands in a rock pool at the edge of Victoria Falls with a rainbow across the gorge.

Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls River Lodge: the quieter life of the Zambezi

My Victoria Falls River Lodge review: a 30-minute airport transfer to a riverside tent, wildlife, Zambezi cruises and easy access to Victoria Falls town.

Breakfast is set beside the plunge pool built around an ancient well in the courtyard of Casa del Pozo at Casas del XVI.

Dominican Republic

Casas del XVI: behind the doors of old Santo Domingo

My Casas del XVI review: Casa del Pozo, Dominican breakfast traditions, and where I would eat and explore from this collection of houses in old Santo Domingo.

Olga stands beside the rooftop pool at The Ritz-Carlton Santiago as sunset colours the glass roof and city skyline.

Chile

The Ritz-Carlton Santiago: a glass roof above El Golf

My stay at The Ritz-Carlton Santiago, from its glass-roofed pool and Club Lounge to an Estró dinner and the revealing contrast between El Golf and the historic centre.

Olga sits with a glass of sparkling wine on the Four Seasons Sultanahmet roof terrace, with Hagia Sophia behind her at sunset.

Turkey

Four Seasons Sultanahmet: Istanbul’s old prison, remade for celebration

My July 2018 stay at Four Seasons Sultanahmet, with its former-prison history, Hagia Sophia rooftop views, 2022 renovation and the places I would seek out nearby now.

Notes from the Road

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