There are two great things about South Africa. One is that it is in the southern hemisphere, and so it is one half of the perfect life summer in England (Ok, well maybe not this year), and winter 7,000 miles further south. The second is that, unlike almost any other non-European travel hotspot, it is…
When your business empire is about to crumble like a cookie, what should you do? Commission an extravagant building, of course. Preferably one that is architecturally important, carries your name and will some day be consumed by a skyscraper. This is exactly what Henry Villard, one-time president of the Northern Pacific Railway, did in 1868 when…
Sometimes, it really is best to copy and paste straight from Wikipedia. Concerning Hogmanay, that most proudly defended and staunchest of Scottish holidays, ‘the etymology of the word is obscure. It may have been introduced to Middle Scots through the Auld Alliance. In 1604, the custom was mentioned in the Elgin Records as hagmonay. The…
With four different ski areas, there’s plenty of choice in Chamonix for both gnarly off-pisters and beginners getting the swing of the slopes. If you want a challenge, book a glacier guide and ski the famous ‘Vallee Blanche’ sea of ice. Or, to see Mont Blanc from a safer distance, book a CMBH helicopter tour.…
With the UK weather deteriorating fast, the opportunity to visit a Thai island hideaway was most welcome and, whilst the journey was going to be an endurance test, I knew it would be worthwhile. Six Senses resorts have a good rep amongst the travel savvy so we braved the long flight to Bangkok, the onward…
Booked your Thames moorings for the summer? It might be worth making those calls as a report suggests that London is about to become the Superyacht Capital of the World. Well, for around three months or so, anyway. The double whammy of Diamond Jubilee and Olympics 2012 sees TripAdvisor name London the best place to…
When you walk into the horse shoe-shaped lobby, you couldn’t possibly criticise the correctness of the greeting from the staff arranged around you. It’s duly deferential, perhaps sometimes almost chirpy when the sun’s out, but it’d never stray into familiarity; I noticed I was wiping my feet an extra couple of times before I stepped…
Why, when you build a new house, do you have to place the plug sockets halfway up the wall? So as not to discriminate against disabled people, obviously. It’s a piece of over-thought, under-considered Local Government-sponsored discrimination that manages, in the style of a pubescently-retarded Chinese gymnast, to simultaneously leap forward and reach high in…
I am, as any of my friends (most of whom prefer to be called acquaintances) will readily admit, a doddering old fool which explains why my life is littered with so many arbitrary rules. Among these is the rule which states that if any flight is going to last more than four hours, I have…
Do you ever dream about having your own private island? Of course, I realise it’s a silly question for all but the bottom third of LUSSO readership – the rest of you, indeed, do have your own private islands, and maybe even two or three of them. But for those of you who read this…