A Luxury Travel Blog has teamed up with the publishers Thames & Hudson to offer you a great chance to win one of 5 copies of the fabulous book ‘Dive in Style’ by Tim Simmond. I have a copy of this beautiful book myself and it contains over 700 fabulous illustrations of where you can “chill, snorkel and dive”… a must for anyone who has a passion for the most luxurious diving spots around the world!
To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is comment on the posts within this blog. The five readers with the most approved comments during the remainder of August and September 2010 will each receive a free copy of the book. (Naturally, comments need to be of a certain quality, otherwise they won’t be approved.) So… what are you waiting for? Have a browse of the blog – there’s literally thouands of blog entries which you can discuss – and comment away!
A German designer named Andrew Kupresanin has come up with a digital camera called ‘Nadia’ that assesses the aesthetic beauty of the photograph you’re taking. Rather than show a LCD viewfinder image of what you’re shooting, it displays a percentage. The higher the figure is to 100%, then supposedly the “better” the picture, presumably taking into account a number of the “rules” that make a good photograph (eg. the rule of thirds) as well as contrast/lighting, etc. Although perhaps a little primitive in this version, it’s makes for an interesting alternative to the way we normally take photographs and I wonder if this is an add-on feature that might be integrated into digital cameras of the future.
Iconic Cape Town Hotel Ellerman House will introduce Apple iPads to each of its eleven luxurious rooms and modernist villa over the coming months – the only hotel in South Africa to offer iPads for guests’ use. The iPad is fast becoming an indispensible item within the gadget market and a supremely useful tool in the hospitality industry, due to both its numerous practical uses and leading entertainment.
This is Ellerman House’s latest move in a drive to enhance the guest experience through contemporary themes, bespoke luxury experiences and new technology. The introduction of in-room iPads will give guests uninterrupted internet access; the chance to read their favorite books and magazines online; up to date information on Cape Town’s latest restaurant openings, events and activities and real time hotel updates such as interactive room tours, virtual tours of the hotel’s world renowned art collection and unique music compilations, tailored to guest’s preferences.
Formerly an actor with the RSC, Grant Thatcher began the series of LUXE City Guides back in 2002. There are now more than 30 guides, including the best of the best from 20 in-the-know residents in each location.
What is it that you do exactly?
I’m Editor in Chief which encompasses everything from designing the covers and handmade box sets, to overseeing our blog LUXEtasy.com, and our new LUXE City Guides Mobile apps which span seven different handset brands including iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia and 34 models. It’s no wonder my hair is grey!
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
When you consider that so many people in the world today don’t get to travel at all, the fact that I do it for a living is a great luxury. We’re the only city guide series in the world that sends staff editors to the city we’re researching to work hand in glove with our city resident editors, checking and refining the draft until we have the perfect LUXE mix, so even though research tends to be really expensive and grueling (14-16 hour days are the norm) we do at least get to see a horde of things that most visitors would never experience. Add to that our fascination with shopping, artisanal, bespoke and custom-made goods and at least we get to window shop while we work!
What would you say are the 3 best places you’ve ever stayed?
Tricky! Because of my job I’ve been fortunate enough to stay in some pretty amazing places around the world and the very best of them are special not because they are expensive or exclusive (quite often the contrary) but because they have that essential ‘It’ factor which may be personality, service, location or quirk. Im not remotely interested in gold taps and Rolls Royces, but seeing as this is a blog devoted to luxury, then my choices would be Villa Feltrinelli, The Connaught, and the Tirta Enning suite at CSE Estate in Bali – but I had a fab time campervanning around New Zealand not so long ago (if you don’t count the chemical loo…!)
What’s been your most memorable dining experience to date?
I loved the rustic, super-simple, eat with your fingers Indonesian food at Waroeng Tugu in Bali. It’s tiny and very basic, you sit at heavy wooden trestles, in an open-sided, traditionally-styled kitchen, the chef decides what he will cook and you will eat – it’s delicious, quiet, romantic and far from the madding crowds.
Have you rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, either through your work or your travels?
My lips are sealed. When I travel for LUXE I always like to stay under the radar as you get to observe better, and for the most part I think the truly rich and famous are the same. I imagine being really famous must be a royal pain in the butt – incognito is the new luxury.
What currently ranks highest on your travel wishlist?
Syria. Im a nut for archaeology and am longing to visit Palmyra, and get down to some serious souk retail therapy in downtown Damascus.
Thank you, Grant. I wasn’t familiar with Palmyra but Googled it and it does indeed look amazing. Good luck in getting there.
Daunt Books, the travel specialists, has launched an online resource for discerning travellers. Mimicking the unique design of the shops where the books are arranged by country, the user can browse the careful selection of guides, non-fiction and fiction which have all been personally recommended and reviewed by the knowledgeable staff. Whether you’re looking for a guide to the most luxurious hotel or a well-written and engaging piece of non-fiction that really explains the history of the place, this online boutique will certainly point you in the right direction.
The LUXE City Guides range which feature the best of the best of a city in one handy, unique pocket guide, has just introduced 10 of its most popular destinations in mobile format. The apps are compatible with a multitude of handsets including iPhone, Blackberry, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and HTC and can be downloaded directly to handsets from their website, or for iPhones, from iTunes stores.
Initially covering 10 popular destinations – New York, Hong Kong, Paris, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Rome, Bali, Sydney and Bangkok, there are 10 more international cities coming soon. The apps contain handy online and offline maps featuring the hundreds of entries listed in the guides, and each app comes with a year of free updates sent directly to your mobile. What’s more, when the year is up, re-subscription is half price.
With LUXE City Guides Mobile apps travellers can check out rich content anytime, save their favourites, arrange and build personal itineraries, click through to websites and touch dial telephone numbers. Chic, simple and above all, useful.
Check out the sample app for yourself from their website. Recently voted “Travel App of the Week” by the UK Sunday Times Travel Section, the LUXE City Guides are ultra researched and curated, written by city resident editors and packed with the finest and funkiest dining, leisure, culture, accommodation, bespoke shopping, and city secrets that most visitors would simply never find.
Copenhagen gastronomy has reached new heights with Noma being awarded the prestigious accolade of the world’s best restaurant by the UK Restaurant Magazine, breaking the dominance of El Bulli which had previously won the title four times on the trot. With 11 Michelin-starred restaurants the city of Copenhagen is rightly priding itself on being in the premier league of Northern Europe’s food capitals.
For those who aren’t already familiar, Shanghai Tang is a leading luxury lifestyle brand emerging from China, offering everything from luxury apparel for men, women and children, as well as accessories and homeware.
And now, if you own an iPod Touch or iPhone, you can enjoy their latest collection courtesy of their free ‘City Chic’ app. The collection “embraces the euphoria of love with a sense of restraint and creative defiance, reflecting Shanghai Tang’s distinctive spirit of interpreting diverse artistic and cultural elements with a contemporary Chinese chic style”.
You can view items in the collection, watch video footage of models parading up and down at a Shanghai Tang fashion show and redeem vouchers that give you money off at certain stores or on certain products. But the app goes much further than this… it also tells you the coolest places to eat, drink, shop and party in Shanghai.
Whether you’re looking for a boutique 5 star hotel (88 Xintiandi), a chic little lounge bar (DR Bar near Ma Dang Road), the private tearooms of the Whampoa Club, or a sophisticated nightclub perched on top of a skyscraper (M1NT), or other hidden secrets of the city, you’ll find it all neatly packaged in this app.
There’s also, of course, the fine offerings of Shanghai Tang itself, including the Shanghai Tang Café, the Shanghai Tang Xintiandi Flagship Store, the Shanghai Tang Peninsula hotel store, the Shanghai Tang Shangri-la hotel store and the Shanghai Tang Jinjiang hotel store, making this a great little app for anyone looking to ‘live it up’ in Shanghai. The app is free – download it, give it a try and let us know what you think.
We are delighted to announce a new competition. A Luxury Travel Blog has teamed up with Blurb to offer you a great chance to win one of five £50 vouchers to use on their website.
An online creative book publishing platform, Blurb allows everyone and anyone to create their own coffee table book. Perfect for those treasured memories, or that once in a lifetime trip away. Using Blurb’s free proprietary software BookSmart (available to download via the Blurb website) you can start creating your photobook in no time, helping you re-live those fantastic memories.
Photobooks based on people’s travels around the world are among the most popular books published on the Blurb platform, and we’re offering 5 lucky readers the chance to make their own book for free.
All you have to do to win is comment on this blog entry, telling us why you deserve one of the vouchers the most, by 31st January 2010. The five comments picked out by the kind folk at Blurb will each receive one of these great vouchers.
So… what are you waiting for? Tell them why you deserve to win!
The Leading Hotels of the World annual directory for 2010 was released worldwide this week. There are 13 new Leading Hotels in the handsome hardcover volume which showcases more than 450 members in over 80 countries across the globe. They are as follows:
Remember the Travelwrap that we reviewed earlier this year? Well, it sounds like the company is going from strength to strength. In addition to winning Luxury Gift of the Year (UK) 2008, it’s now a recipient of the prestigious Best Company of the Year, International Women in Business at the 2009 Stevie Awards.
Alongside the new autumnal colours for the Travelwrap, this season sees the introduction of luxury lounge socks – the perfect accompaniment for a winter wardrobe and Christmas stocking filler.
Halekulani, one of the world’s finest and most acclaimed luxury resorts, and Gourmet, the magazine of good living, have gathered together leading Asian culinary masters for an unparalleled epicurean experience at this iconic Hawaiian resort.
From 13th to 15th November 2009, connoisseurs from around the world are invited to join hosts Sara Moulton, Gourmet executive chef, and Vikram Garg, Halekulani executive chef, as they lead guests through a weekend of authentic tastes, intimate seminars, chef-led farm and market tours, hands-on cooking demonstrations and cocktail parties featuring Vietnamese, Japanese, and Indian master chefs. Follow this link for the full schedule.
Three-night event packages start at $1,480 per person and include three nights at Halekulani and access to all events.
It was announced yesterday that Gourmet magazine, despite having almost one million subscribers, is to cease publication after 68 years. A slump in ad revenue is being blamed for its demise although Wikipedia currently reads:
On October 5, 2009 Condé Nast announced that Gourmet will cease monthly publication by the end of 2009, due to the total lack of taste and refinement of the Conde Nast Management. The Gourmet brand will continue to be used by Condé Nast for book and television programming and recipes appearing on Epicurious.com.
No doubt that first sentence has been written by a disgruntled employee or subscriber and will be edited in due course. Sad news indeed, however. The editor – @ruthreichl – has tweeted:
Thank you all SO much for this outpouring of support. It means a lot. Sorry not to be posting now, but I’m packing. We’re all stunned, sad.
…followed by:
Dishes done. All gone. Great gathering at the house tonight. I so love the people I’ve worked with at Gourmet. Hard to believe it’s over.
It is hard to believe that Condé Nast can’t seem to make this one work although with the increasing shift towards online media rather than print, it’s perhaps not completely surprising. The November issue could well be the last one for Gourmet.
Condé Nast’s parenting magazine Cookie and two wedding magazines, Elegant Bride and Modern Bride, are also to close.
Whether travelling for business or pleasure, take the time to indulge in some serious retail therapy at Heathrow this Autumn. Catering for your every want and desire, the airport is home to a wide collection of premium brands including Paul Smith, Prada, Harrods, Gucci and Sony – all at airport prices. Here are their picks for the ultimate in luxury and opulence this season.
Enjoy travelling through time with the elegant Cartier Ballon Bleu watch. Available to purchase from Harrods Heathrow stores for £23,000, the 18 carat white gold timepiece features a case set with round-cut diamonds and Cartier calibre 057 quartz movement.
Put pen to paper with the limited edition Montblanc Skeleton A380. Made with 750 white gold and adorned with 42 diamonds, this investment scribe is available to purchase from The Pen Shop and costs £11,086.95.
Add the colourful characters of The Dalmore (home to the oldest maturing stocks of any single Highland malt) to your drinks cupboard with the The Dalmore Sirius 1951 available exclusively from the World Duty Free store in Terminal 5 for £10,000. Relish the aromas of intense citrus and honeyed chocolate followed by roasted coffee, crushed walnuts and hints of liquorice spice. With just twelve bottles made, and five already sold, ensure you don’t miss out by going online to World of Whiskies where a limited number are available to pre-order.
With thigh-high boots remaining the must-have footwear for Autumn, be sure to check out the sumptuous Paulitta boots from Bally. A step above the rest, these black stretch suede and leather boots cost £1,435 and feature a 130mm brass lace ‘cage’ heel and gilt edge platform.
For state of the art eyewear, look no further than the new Pit Boss sunglasses from The Oakley Elite Collection. Available exclusively from the World Duty Free store in Terminal 5, these shades have taken four years to develop and seamlessly blend the world’s most advanced optical technologies with truly unique aesthetics. There are three lens and frame colour combinations to choose from each costing £425 per pair.
Ever been ‘caught out’ in the great outdoors? These items are far from luxurious but marginally beat having to dig a hole for yourself in order to do the deed. The amusingly named Brown Corporation has come up with the Shit Box (that’s the ‘bog standard’ version), the somewhat more acceptably-named Ploo and, for the little ones, Little Jack’s Box, so you’ll never get caught short again. At around £15 each, it brings new meaning to the phrase ’spend a penny’.
A Luxury Travel Blog has teamed up with the publishers Thames & Hudson to offer you a great chance to win one of 5 copies of the fabulous book ‘Dive in Style’ by Tim Simmond. I have a copy of this beautiful book myself and it contains over 700 fabulous illustrations of where you can “chill, snorkel and dive”… a must for anyone who has a passion for the most luxurious diving spots around the world!
A German designer named 
Iconic Cape Town Hotel 
Formerly an actor with the RSC, Grant Thatcher began the series of 
The 
Copenhagen gastronomy has reached new heights with 
A weekly pick of luxury travel links for your perusal…
And now, if you own an iPod Touch or iPhone, you can enjoy their latest collection courtesy of 
You can view items in the collection, watch video footage of models parading up and down at a Shanghai Tang fashion show and redeem vouchers that give you money off at certain stores or on certain products. But the app goes much further than this… it also tells you the coolest places to eat, drink, shop and party in Shanghai.
Whether you’re looking for a boutique 5 star hotel (
There’s also, of course, the fine offerings of Shanghai Tang itself, including the 
We are delighted to announce a new competition. A Luxury Travel Blog has teamed up with 
Remember the 
Whether travelling for business or pleasure, take the time to indulge in some serious retail therapy at 
Ever been ‘caught out’ in the great outdoors? These items are far from luxurious but marginally beat having to dig a hole for yourself in order to do the deed. The amusingly named