A Travel Blog from the Editors of T+L
Posts by
Amy Farley
If you want to make absolutely sure that your tip is distributed evenly, follow this rule of thumb: leave $5 to $10 for each day in an envelope at the front desk. Note your room number and dates of stay on the envelope, and that you’d like it divided among all your housekeepers.
Have a travel dilemma? The trip doctor is in. Send your question to Amy at tripdoctor@aexp.com.
From hotel openings to cultural happenings, we’ve got the latest in five buzzing cities.
BARCELONA
Stay: Primero Primera
A stylish boutique hotel in a tucked-away bourgeois barrio alto. Doubles from $255.
Eat: Fábrica Moritz Barcelona
Tapas restaurant set in an old Moritz beer factory and made over by French architect Jean Nouvel. 34/93-426-0050; dinner for two $55.
Do: Museu d’Idees I Invents de Barcelona
A two-story showcase for wacky inventions such as a mop with a microphone. —Suzanne Wales
As Travel + Leisure's news editor, I've spent nearly a decade working behind the scenes to deliver the strategies you need to make the most of your travels. Now it's time to speak with readers directly. In my new role as T+L's Trip Doctor, I'm here to answer your most pressing travel dilemmas, from how to save money in a time of rising airfares to what apps and websites you really need to make your life easier.
Tomorrow afternoon, in honor of our upcoming June hotels issue, I'll be hosting a live Facebook chat to tackle your thorniest hotel questions—just in time for your summer getaways. Want to know when to book a hotel room online to get the best rate? Curious about which guest-rewards programs give you the most bang for your buck? Want to know the tricks for getting a room upgrade, or how (once and for all) to tip your housekeeper? Log onto Facebook.com/TravelandLeisure tomorrow, April 24, 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. ET to send your questions my way. And look for our new Trip Doctor column in Travel + Leisure's June issue.
P.S. If you can't make the chat, you can always reach me at TripDoctor@aexp.com and by following @afarles on Twitter.
We're looking for a few good visionaries.
Travel + Leisure is now accepting applications for our annual Global Vision Awards. Do you know of a travel company or organization that's changing the world for the better—preserving cultural heritage, saving environments, or giving back to the communities we travel through? Please drop us an email at tlglobalvision@aexp.com or encourage a representative to fill out this year's application, available here (travel companies) and here (other organizations), and return it to us by April 6, 2012.
For last year's winners, see travelandleisure.com/responsibletravel.
Long after the meal is eaten, the china remains. Dish: 813 Colorful, Wonderful Dinner Plates (Artisan Books; $35) by Shax Riegler, a former Travel + Leisure editor, is a revealing portfolio of porcelain spanning centuries and continents.
What happened when the quintessentially Parisian photographer Brassaï turned his lens on New York and New Orleans? Brassaï in America 1957 (Flammarion; $49.95), an album of 150 photos (some unpublished) that shows the beauty and eccentricities of these cities—and the spell they continue to cast.
The colorful, annotated paintings collected in Paula Scher MAPS (Princeton Architectural Press; $50) offer a world informed by the graphic designer’s poignant and incisive commentary.
With more than 3,000 paintings from the 13th to the 19th century, the Louvre’s collection of European art is unparalleled. Each and every work is reproduced in The Louvre: All the Paintings (Black Dog & Leventhal; $75).
Jean Govoni Salvadore, a former public relations executive with TWA and Italy’s Villa d’Este, has been something of a Zelig in postwar Europe. Her photo-illustrated memoir, My Dolce Vita (Glitterati Incorporated; $30), recounts six decades of shoulders rubbed during her travels around the globe.
1. Innovative book publisher Taschen is going digital with a new series of iPad apps. Among the first up: Yes Is More ($9.99), a comic book-cum-architectural manifesto from the Danish design group BIG.
2. Concerned about health on the road? The iMedjet app (free; iPhone/iPad; Android) stores health records, key contacts, and instructions on what to do in case of different medical emergencies.
3. For an insider’s experience of London, book a room with onefinestay.com (picture, above). The villa-rental agency specializes in posh pads (fancy an ambassador’s residence in Mayfair?) that come with concierge service.
4. Finally, a digital photo frame with a sense of style: the sleek, Android-based DIA Parrot by Nodesign ($500; parrot.com), which uses LCD panels to illuminate and enhance your pictures.
For more of our travel tech picks, see Best Travel Gadgets 2011.
Do you know a travel company that's changing the world? We want to hear about it.
Travel + Leisure's annual Global Vision Awards recognize the outstanding efforts of individuals and organizations that are working to preserve the world's natural and man-made treasures.
Last year’s winners included everything from the enormous CityCenter complex in Las Vegas, a pioneer in green-building techniques, to Kenya’s Micato Safaris, which is helping to fund the education of thousands of children in Nairobi.
If you know of an organization that we should consider for the 2011 awards, please drop us an email at tlglobalvision@aexp.com or encourage it to fill out this year's application, available here (Travel) and here (Non-Travel).
The winners will appear in our November issue.
Amy Farley is the news editor at Travel + Leisure.
Do you know a travel company that's changing the world? We want to hear about it!
In 2010, travel and tourism is expected to contribute some $5.8 trillion to the global GDP. Lately, more and more of that money is being channeled in ways that give back to the places we travel though. You know what we're talking about: the tour operator in southern Africa that's providing local communities access to education and jobs. The South American cruise line that's meticulously conserving fragile habitats. The European hotel group that's contributing to the preservation of a vulnerable historic monument. The multinational corporation that's lightening its carbon footprint and developing the technology that will allow others to do the same. And the multitude of travel companies that selflessly step in with resources and on-the-ground expertise when disaster strikes around the globe.
Every year Travel + Leisure 's Global Vision Awards recognize the companies and organizations that are leaders in responsible travel. If you know of one that we should consider for the 2010 awards, please encourage it to fill out this year's application, available here:
2010 Application for Nontravel Nominees
2010 Application for Travel Nominees
For more on last year's Global Vision Award winners, visit: TravelandLeisure.com/ideas/eco-travel
Amy Farley is a senior editor at Travel + Leisure.
Winter’s back may be broken, but that doesn’t mean ski season’s over. In fact, this may be the perfect time to hit the slopes, while the snow’s still good and the deals are enticing. The keys to spring skiing: book quickly—and don’t forget your sunscreen.
Park City, Utah
Over a dozen Park City properties are offering Ski Free and Stay Free packages that offer travelers a free night of lodging and a lift ticket at one of the area’s three resorts (the Canyons, Park City Mountain, and Deer Valley) when you book a four-night package. Valid for reservations between March 28 and April 11, 2010; see parkcityinfo.com for more.
Attention would-be jetsetters, adventurers, vagabonds, and nomads: It’s time to call in that month-long sabbatical you've been due at work!
JetBlue has just announced an unprecedented deal aimed at people with a serious case of wanderlust. Through August 21, the airline is selling a month-long “All-You-Can-Jet” pass for $599 that offers travelers unlimited flights between September 8 and October 8, 2009 to any of the airline’s 56 destinations.
