Unique Destinations & Honest Hotel Reviews

Tony Benn and other officials walk in front of Concorde 001 inside the Sud Aviation hangar at Toulouse in December 1967.

British Airways Concorde G-BOAG flies above a cloud deck beneath a dark blue sky during an April 1985 air-to-air session.

Tony Benn: The E in Concorde

Tony Benn helped carry Concorde from prototype into passenger service by arguing that governments were buying skills and European industrial capability, not only speed for the rich.

Olga sitting in an open safari vehicle before a game drive at Gondwana Game Reserve

South Africa

Gondwana Game Reserve: A Safari Within Reach of Cape Town

How a four-hour drive from Cape Town took us to dawn and dusk game drives, a private fynbos villa and nights among South Africa’s wildlife.

Black-and-white photograph of Hindenburg's windowed promenade beside a dining room set with white tablecloths and tubular chairs.

Portraits

Hugo Eckener: The Man Who Made the Sky a Place to Stay

Ferdinand von Zeppelin proved a rigid airship could fly. Hugo Eckener turned it into a timetable, a service culture and, briefly, a place where people could live between…

Olga stands with coffee beside an in-room breakfast table and tall windows overlooking Buda.

Hungary

Four Seasons Gresham Palace Budapest: Behind the Peacock Gates

My Four Seasons Gresham Palace Budapest review: Art Nouveau architecture, a Danube-view room, MÚZSA, the State Opera and what this address gives you.

Olga, wearing a white dress and straw hat, looks across Lake Como from a carved stone terrace as two wooden taxi boats pass below.

Italy

1 Day in Lake Como from Milan: The Perfect Day Trip Itinerary

My Lake Como day trip from Milan begins with coffee in Varenna, crosses to Bellagio, and saves the afternoon for Villa del Balbianello.

An 1891 American Express fifty-dollar Travelers Cheque with two matching Wm. C. Fargo signatures, a Leipzig date and a table of exchange values.

Portraits

Marcellus F. Berry: The Signature That Introduced the American Traveller

More than sixty years before the system that became Visa, and a century before secure online shopping, Marcellus F. Berry made a traveller’s identity and money recognisable abroad.…

Olga sitting beside a smoking firepit outside a silver Airstream trailer at dusk

USA

AutoCamp Russian River: An Airstream Among the Redwoods

My AutoCamp Russian River stay in an Airstream among redwoods, with campfire cooking, Armstrong Redwoods, Fort Ross and a Benovia wine tasting.

Charles Rolls sits at the controls of an early Wright-type biplane amid its exposed wires and wooden structure.

Portraits

Charles Rolls: Before Luxury Learned to Sit Still

Charles Rolls raced the motor car, flew the Channel and recognised transport inside experimental machinery long before his name appeared on an airliner engine.

Dennis Tito waves in a white Sokol pressure suit and black communications cap before his 2001 Soyuz launch.

Portraits

Dennis Tito: When Space Became a Destination

Dennis Tito’s self-funded Soyuz journey made personal desire a legitimate reason to leave Earth—and helped turn space from a government target into a destination.

Ornate deferred-share certificate issued by the Ritz Hotels Development Company on 31 January 1898.

Portraits

César Ritz: When Luxury Learned to Repeat Itself

César Ritz turned the habits of a recurring international elite into a portable hotel standard carried by trained people, local partnerships and his name.

Notes from the Road

Featured Stories