Luxist

I visited L'Auberge de Sedona very early in 2009, when this long-time favorite retreat in Arizona's long-time favorite retreat town was just in the beginning phases of an extensive, $25 million renovation. This property now has 64 rooms (up from 56), between its cozy lodge and its private cottages set near wooded Oak Creek. The older cottages were given comprehensive face-lifts designed to reduce the separation between indoors and out -- there are bigger windows, expanded decks and totally private outdoor showers, the 13 new cottages include "spa cottages", designed with jacuzzi tubs.

The second phase of renovations are set to end in April 2010, and will include the addition of eighteen new cottages, set up on the hill overlooking the existing property. These cottages will have a view of Sedona's famous red rocks -- just about the only key feature that this property has lacked in its 25 year history.

Yesterday, while browsing at the incomparable Idelwild, a travel book store in New York's Union Square, I learned that the store is having trouble keeping South American guide books in stock -- the weather starts to get super nice down around those parts just as North American weather takes a nose dive.

If you're looking for a good South American destination to aim for, try Cartagena -- which has been called the next Buenos Aires. There's a new place to stay, too: The Tcherassi, a boutique hotel owned and designed by Latin fashion designer Silvia Tcherassi. She restored and renovated a 250 year old colonial mansion in the heart of the old city for the project, creating a hotel with just seven rooms, each named after a fabric she works with. The result seems a decidedly happy marriage of the old with sleek contemporary lines. (The roof pool is pictured here, see the gallery below for other images.) If The Tcherassi lives up to its promise, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it become a regular on hot design hotel lists.

Five years ago, contemporary art collector Frieder Burda opened a museum right in the heart of Baden Baden, Germany. As one of the world's original resort towns, tradition tends to trumps trendiness in Baden Baden, and this museum, in a building designed by Richard Meier, and the modern and contemporary art exhibits on offer, definitely set tongues a-wagging in town. When I visited this past Spring, the Burda museum was in the midst of an atypical show of 18th century art, including seven giant tapestries. I'd assumed that regular museum goers might be upset about the turn away from contemporary art, but was assured by a local that response was more like relief.

Short-lived, I suppose, since the Burda museum returned to its modern and contemporary art mission. Still horizons have been stretched, five years have passed, and more than a million visitors have passed through the museum's door, Now until November 8th, the museum is exhibiting "Blue Rider" movement paintings, which were first exhibited in early 20th century Munich. (These paintings are usually at the Lenbachhaus in Munich, which is now under renovation. See a few of the works on display in the gallery below.) Next up, starting on November 21st, is an exhibit of the work of German artist Georg Baselitz. The artist himself is involved in the curation of the exhibit, which will be shared with Baden Baden's museum Staatliche Kunsthalle. The Burda will exhibit Baselitz paintings, the Staatliche Kunsthalle will exhibit Baseltiz's sculpture.

I've visited London a few times over the past couple of years, and my visits have ranged from being a bit on the pricey side to being punishingly expensive: when it took just shy of two dollars to buy a pound, I thought twice about shelling out for the Tube. At eight bucks a go, my irrational version of travel budgeting had me figuring I'd rather spend the additional money on a taxi. (Hey, I'm a writer, not an accountant.)

Avoid all of the currency calculations when you book "The Capital Idea" package at London's Capital Hotel, in Knightsbridge. The hotel has just announced fixed-dollar rates for 2010, which includes, among other things, full breakfast, luxury chauffeured car to and from Heathrow, London City Airport or the Eurostar Terminal. The package is for three nights, singles to junior suites from $1,199 to $2,530, with additional nights from $320 to $550.

Take your savings and spend them at nearby Harrods. At least that's what I'd do.

I've been known to rant a bit about the experience of traveling on a large cruise ship -- basically, they strike me as floating shopping malls/theme parks, neither of which I'd ever choose to spend time on.

Even if I'm surrounded by open ocean, which I happen to adore.

But I put smaller ships in a different category, more like a communal yacht, so I was pleased to learn that Silversea, the small ship cruise ship line, plans to launch a new vessel on December 23rd. I was even more pleased when I found out that the new ship, the Silver Spirit, sports a fabulous Art Deco design, and, among its six restaurants, includes one that offers a slow food concept. Check out the gallery for some interior views.

The boat is all-suite, the suites are larger than any the line has offered to date, including two flatscreen televisions, a pillow menu, Carrera marble bathrooms, and a butler assigned to each suite. The maiden crossing from Lisbon to Fort Lauderdale is sold out, but consider signing on for the 91-day inaugural cruise around the Americas departing January 21, 2010, which includes the Christening party and VIP tickets to Rio's Carnival.

One good definition of hell: flying 16+ hours in coach. And it's antipodean opposite: flying that long in Qantas business class, which I did a couple of years ago, LAX to Auckland. Not only was I totally comfy in my near lie-flat seat with privacy screen, not only did I totally dig the mood lighting that changed as the trip went on (meant, I think to bring the body clock into some semblance of sync), but I boarded the plane with a bad cold, and I disembarked without it.

Okay, I can't credit the flight with that, per se, but I can almost promise you I wouldn't have been in any kind of reasonable condition had I flown the distance in economy.

From now until October 29th, 2009, you can get into the Qantas business class cabin to Sydney and Brisbane from LAX or SFO for $4,439, and fares from New York (JFK) starting at $4,943. (Travel from 330 days on from the reservation date.) That's about 40% off the regular fair, so if you know you've got travel Down Under up coming in 2010, this is a deal you won't want to miss.

Montreal is a fantastic destination, but like any city, it can be hard for a visitor to get to know. To that end, Tourisme Montreal has engaged five in-the-know locals to basically blanket social media from Facebook, to Twitter, to blogs, sharing all of their knowledge about their city -- and answering questions from travelers in town. Katerine Rollet is one of these insiders, and she recently selected these 12 can't-miss experiences in Montreal for Luxist.

1- Go for tea at the St. James Hotel. This chic boutique hotel is where the likes of the Rolling Stones and Madonna stay when they're in town, and the tea at newly renovated restaurant XO is a a great way to experience a proper British tea with a modern twist. UPDATED: The St. James no longer serves afternoon tea, but the new Salon XO is worth a visit.
2- Experience the spa at Place D'armes -- one of the best places in town for a mani-pedi, not to mention one of the few places in Montreal to experience a hammam, or Turkish bath. Wrap up with a drink on the terrace.
3- For men: at Québec's own Phillipe Dubuc -- the place for a man to fill his closet with stylish, business appropriate clothing with an edge.
4- For women: fill your suitcase at Montreal's achingly stylish, unfailingly feminine Marie Saint Pierre.
5- For everyone: visit Oglivy, a lovely shopping mall filled with charming boutiques, great book stores, stationary shops, international designers and more.
6- For the shopping-shy: Engage the style hounds at Les Effrontes to have your own guided tour of Montreal's up and coming designer's ateliers.
7- Dine at Joe Beef, on raw bar and steak in up-and-coming neighborhood Little Burgundy ("Petite Bourgogne") .
8- Or, hit Toque -- widely considered one of the best meals you can have in Montreal. Try the tasting menu.
9- Or reserve the chef's table at Europea, and dine in the kitchen of charismatic Chef Jérôme Ferrer. 10- After dinner drinks: check out Hotel St Paul's bar for cocktails with Montreal's chicest.
11- Sweet treats: visit Point G for waffles, artisanal ice cream, and most importantly, macarons.
12- Brunch the next day: La Cantine in the Plateau neighborhood, for a traditional Québec brunch revisited.

I have to confess that I have a lot of cynicism about hotels and their efforts to help the environment. There's hardly a hotel that I visit that doesn't give me the opportunity to save the earth by opting not to have my sheets and towels replaced, which does indeed save on water and detergent, but, I know it also saves the hotel serious dollars. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against win-win situations, I'm just not getting too many green good vibes if doing less laundry is the only earth-friendly step that a hotel takes.

In fairness, it's often hard for a guest to tell what a hotel is doing for the environment, because most of the heavy lifting comes behind the scenes -- in the hotel's construction, energy supplies and so on. Here are a few fabulous properties that are also doing right by the planet, in ways you might not recognize.

• The Nines in Portland, Oregon. In the renovation of this hotel from its previous life as a department store, 90 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills for reuse or recycling. In addition, housekeeping employs green cleaning products and the hotel gets 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources including wind power and carbon offsets.
  
• The Westin Riverfront Beaver Creek, Colorado: This hotel just received Silver LEED certification, and it's saving energy in a variety of ways, including a building control system that allows the front desk to adjust the temperature in guest rooms so unoccupied rooms aren't heated or cooled unnecessarily. The hotel also donated a 5 acre zone along the Eagle river as a permanent public open space.
• The Ritz Carlton Highlands, North Lake Tahoe: This soon-to-open hotel was built with environmental factors in mind, from careful site planning designed to spare as many trees as possible, to the introduction of underground parking, which reduces the use of asphalt, allowing snow melt and rain to return to the water table. What's more, Northstar Resort, which the Ritz is a part of, is the first ski resort to be entirely LEED certified.
• Harbor View, Martha's Vineyard. One of the most luxurious places to stay on Martha's Vineyard also has a serious commitment to the environment, from its use of low-flow plumbing, to energy efficient appliances, to an active recycling program that includes replacing the distribution of plastic water bottles with reusable water bottles and water stations.

Plenty of hotels serve up unusual cocktails, but Raffles hotels have a unique claim on cocktail history: sometime in the 1900s, in its Singapore Hotel, bartender Ngiam Tong Boon created a gin-based cocktail named Singapore Sling, in a hue of proper pink designed to appeal to the hotel's female British clientele.

Or so the story goes, there's debate about whether it was originally called a "Singapore Sling" -- in browsing around today, I found reference to a "Straits Sling" and also a "Gin Sling", neither of which have the same ring. There's also question about whether the original recipe is the one in use today -- for more on this, check out "Dr. Cocktail" Ted Haigh's treatise on the subject in Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail, which goes into depth on the subject. Either way, the Singapore Sling served by thousands at Raffles Singapore today is worth trying at home, see the recipe below.

Also in the East, at Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the signature drink is a "Femme Fatale". This drink is named after Jacqueline Kennedy, who apparently left a lipstick- stained cocktail glass at the Elephant Bar during her 1967 visit, which was only discovered during the hotel's restoration. (Questions arise: how did they know that it was her glass? And of all the descriptions of Jackie O, is "femme fatale" the first that leaps to mind?) Either way, this is another drink designed to appeal to the ladies.


Raffles "Femme Fatale"
7.5 ml Crème de Fraise
Dash of cognac
Top with Champagne

Serve in a champagne flute with a garnish of rose.



Raffles Singapore Sling

30 ml Gin
15 ml Heering Cherry Brandy
120 ml Pineapple Juice
15 ml Lime Juice
7.5 ml Cointreau
7.5 ml Dom Benedictine
10 ml Grenadine
A Dash of Angostura Bitters
Garnish with a slice of Pineapple and Cherry