Photo Courtesy of Ace Hotel
Ace Hotel
New york’s favourite spot with the groovy set right now, The Ace Hotel’s the only spot to stay or eat in midtown and has a delightful rundown kind of cool to it. The perfect spot breakfast, lunch, coffee or a drink also.
Ace Hotel, 20 West 29th Street, [...]

Photo Courtesy of Emporium Hotel
On a recent short stay in Brisbane I was thrilled to stay in the lovely Emporium Hotel. Everything you could ask for in a chic, boutique hotel including its location in the slightly grungy and deeply cool Fortitude Valley.

The Belle Epoque Café next door is a handy spot for breakfast. A [...]

Usually the flight from London to Milan and then Milan to London is the easiest part of my route to the Furniture Fair which begins in New Zealand.  This year, however, the volcano in Iceland with the unpronouceable name changed that.  Initially we were all a little bit blase about the impact of the ‘dust cloud’ on [...]

My favourite winter escape in New Zealand has always been the Queenstown Lakes District. Nothing to do with the snow! My snowboard gathered dust in the closet for years before ultimately being sold. It’s more about those crisp days, roaring fires, lake side walks and some pretty good Pinot noir! Here are my ten [...]

Did your Mum always tell you to wear nice underwear in case you were hit by a bus? Might I suggest you also maintain a flawless pedicure? Because you never can tell when you might have to exit a limo. It’s your twinkle toes the paparazzi spot first.

From now on, I’m going to follow my [...]

I have to admit I’m feeling smug about this one. As everybody knows, on Thursday 15th April, a volcano with a name no one can pronounce erupted in Iceland and grounded planes all over the world. We were due to leave for Venice that afternoon. Perhaps because I have spent so many years sitting [...]

There is nothing like the desert. From the cacti to the blue skies to the warm weather, it’s a place where you can get in touch with your inner hippie. At first glance, Scottsdale, Arizona isn’t the hippie Mecca of the west with Cayenne trucks as the standard method of travel and the [...]

If you want to learn about the might of the Hapsburg Empire’s capital, Vienna, Gerhard Strassgschwandtner is your man (he’ll explain why the bit over there looks like it was lifted from Brussels, the bit over there looks it’s come from Greece). If you want to know about the whys and wherefores of the etiquette [...]

Image Courtesy of balmaholic.net
A good travel companion can go a long, long way: an engaging book to read on a long flight; a buddy in shotgun who stays awake the entire drive; a loyal parrot for the dangerous journey to the East Indies in search of spices and tea. Add to that list Votre Vu [...]

The Tuscan town of Siena is best seen entirely on foot. In just two hours, the boho-chic Cinzia Mariotti, who clambers with you up and down medieval towers in high-heeled rope wedge sandals, can point to the evidence of the moment the 1348 Black Death struck - a half finished arch; then guide you through [...]