Category Archives: Travel

New Books: “Airline Maps – A CENTURY OF ART AND DESIGN” By MARK OVENDEN and MAXWELL ROBERTS

From a Penguin Random House review:

Airline Maps A Century of Art and Design Mark OvendenIn this gorgeously illustrated collection of airline route maps, Mark Ovenden and Maxwell Roberts look to the skies and transport readers to another time. Hundreds of images span a century of passenger flight, from the rudimentary trajectory of routes to the most intricately detailed birds-eye views of the land to be flown over. Advertisements for the first scheduled commercial passenger flights featured only a few destinations, with stunning views of the countryside and graphics of biplanes. As aviation took off, speed and mileage were trumpeted on bold posters featuring busy routes. Major airlines produced highly stylized illustrations of their global presence, establishing now-classic brands. With trendy and forward-looking designs, cartographers celebrated the coming together of different cultures and made the earth look ever smaller.

Airline Maps A Century of Art and Design Mark Ovenden Book Cover

A nostalgic and celebratory look back at one hundred years of passenger flight, featuring full-color reproductions of route maps and posters from the world’s most iconic airlines, from the author of bestselling cult classic Transit Maps of the World.

To read more: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/600815/airline-maps-by-mark-ovenden-and-maxwell-roberts/

Literary Destinations: The Faulkner House Bookstore, New Orleans

From an Atlas Obscura online review:

Faulkner House Bookstore New Orleans interiorInside, the small store has a good selection of literary fiction ranging from classics to current publications. There is also a great selection of books about New Orleans and local culture. There is, of course, a dedicated area, almost shrine-like, for Faulkner’s works, and the shop owner will let you take a look at those more expensive books, “if you want to get in trouble with your wallet.”

Blink while passing through New Orleans’s French Quarter, and you may miss this small, charming bookstore. But step inside, and you’ll steal a quick peek at the space where William Faulkner himself lived while in the city.

Though he later penned famous works like The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, Faulkner wasn’t much of anybody yet when he moved to New Orleans, and in fact published his first work in a local journal. There is a historical plaque outside the building that states that Faulkner wrote his first novel, Soldiers’ Pay, while in residence there in 1925.

To read more: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/faulkner-house-books?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5bf02e2e8b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_31_02_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-5bf02e2e8b-63029309&mc_cid=5bf02e2e8b&mc_eid=9baf474570

Destination Hotels: The “Hotel Il Castelfalfi” Is 2700-Acres Of Scenic, Medieval Medici Heritage

From a Jetsetter online review:

Hotel Il Castelfalfi ItalyOnce owned by the Medici family, this 2,700-acre, 800-year-old medieval village in Montaione fell away from the public eye—that is, until lifestyle hotel brand TUI Blue saw its potential. With the help of the surrounding village’s government, the town has been resurrected into a sprawling five-star resort. Il Castelfalfi, the region’s first new-build hotel in years, offers suites with both sunrise and sunset patio views. Across the street, a disused tobacco factory is now an adjacent boutique hotel, ruinous farmhouses have become holiday homes, and acres of surrounding lands now make up Tuscany’s largest golf course.

The property feels miles away from anywhere thanks to the rolling hills that surround it on all sides, but the village offers a few quaint distractions including a small alimentari (grocery store) as well as a pizzeria, Il Rosmarino. At the entrance of the village is the tower of the ancient castle, La Rocca, now home to La Rocca di Castelfalfi, whose patio is a beautiful place to watch the sunset over Tuscan specialties like Ribollita and ravioli.

https://www.castelfalfi.com/en/il-castelfalfi-5-stars-hotel/il-castelfalfi/

To read more: https://www.jetsetter.com/hotels/province-of-florence-italy/montaione-italy/view/hotel-il-castelfalfi/

Top Travel Videos: “Nosy Lehibe” In Madagascar By Tom Peyrat (2019)

Filmed, Edited and Directed by: Tom Payrat

Nosy Lehibe Travel Video by Tom Peyrat 2019

Nosy Lehibe means “Big Island” in Malagasy.

This is kind of what I felt during my holidays in Madagascar. This is certainely one of the most exciting thing I saw and I try to resume it in 2 minutes.
I decided to edit in an optimistc way despite what you can hear about this island. I choosed this point of view cause Malagasy people transmitted to me their strenght and their way of life.

Nosy Lehibe Travel Video by Tom Peyrat 2019

Some sounds were recorded directly. For example what you can hear at 1:12 is the yell of the biggest lemur, the Indri Indri. Their yell can be heard from 5 km !

Nosy Lehibe Travel Video by Tom Peyrat 2019

Website: https://www.instagram.com/tompeyrat/?hl=fr

Timelapse Travel Videos: “Chicago” By Jay Anne Boza

I spent a couple of days compiling clips of Chicago and put it all together into one minute. This is a combination of Time Lapse, Hyperlapse and Video created using Nikon, Timelapse Plus, Syrp Genies and Osmo Pocket. Locations are The Chicago Cultural Center, The Flamingo at the Federal Building, The Bean, the Chicago Skyline from the Planetarium, the Chicago “L” train, and sunrise from the Sheraton Grand Hotel.

Road Trip Adventures: The “Khar Us Nuur National Park” In Mongolia

From a Wall Street Journal online article:

A will to avoid traveling absurd distances had informed our itinerary, but in Mongolia, it seems, you can’t get anywhere without one hell of a journey. The arena for this particular expedition was the Khar Us Nuur National Park. Accessible by road from the dusty town of Khovd, itself a two-hour flight from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, the park spans a transitional zone between the Altai highlands and the Gobi Desert. In the company of our driver, Gala, my friend Marcus and I had set out to experience three of Mongolia’s predominant habitats—steppe, mountains and desert—in the space of one drivable circuit.

Khar Us Nuur National Park - Wall Street Journal Illustration by JOHN S. DYKES

WE HAD already been driving for three hours when the lake appeared in the heat-shimmer and the pink smear behind it resolved into sand dunes. I guessed it would be around 10 minutes until we reached the shore. Fifteen tops. We arrived at the water’s edge two hours later. On the empty plains of Western Mongolia, perspective is illusory, patience a necessity.

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-road-trip-in-mongolia-bizarre-in-the-best-way-11572520659

Destination Restaurants: Newly Opened “Le Tre Rane” Inspired By Da Vinci Just Outside Of Florence

From a The Florentine magazine online review:

Le Tre Rane Ruffino RestaurantLegend has it that Le Tre Rane was the name of an inn that a young Leonardo da Vinci opened on Florence’s Ponte Vecchio, with a vision of a pioneering cooking style that would embody fine dining and healthy eating, while heightening the taste of being together.

Stefano Frassineti has taken the helm in the kitchen at Le Tre Rane. Born in Chianti and a career cook for almost 30 years, Stefano believes in dishes based on tradition that evolve into an unmistakable identity. He takes an orchestra of seasonal ingredients from personally sourced Tuscan suppliers and conducts them with endless curiosity and creativity. Eight seasonal menus will rotate year round—the current one is centred around freshly pressed extra-virgin olive oil—in addition to an à la carte menu featuring Tuscan meat (and the occasional fish) courses. Start with a delicate ricotta and chard pie, continue with hunter’s chicken tortelli and opt for a beef tagliata or bistecca alla Fiorentina.

Martina-Melchionno_Relais-9-680x454

To read more: https://www.theflorentine.net/food-wine/2019/10/tre-rane-restaurant-ruffino/?mc_cid=e3c3fdbb7f&mc_eid=69f70995d1

Exhibitions: “Leonardo – Experience A Masterpiece” At The National Gallery, London (Nov 9 – Jan 12)

The secrets of Leonardo’s masterpiece are revealed in four distinct spaces. Each space invites you to look at ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ in a new way.

Leonardo Experience a Masterpiece National GalleryThe mind of Leonardo

Start your journey in a landscape populated by the thoughts and ideas of Leonardo as he sets about painting ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’.

The studio

Discover the secrets only science and conservation can reveal in this projection-filled space which unlocks the mysteries of how ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ was painted and reveals the lost composition hidden beneath the painted surface.

The light and shadow experiment

Take part in the room-sized experiment to discover the dramatic effects of light and shadow on Leonardo’s composition for ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’.

The imagined chapel

At the end of your journey, you will come face to face with the original masterpiece where it hangs on the walls of an imagined chapel for you to contemplate how ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ might have appeared in its original setting as part of an elaborate altarpiece.

To read and view more: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/leonardo-experience-a-masterpiece#HighlightPaintings93395

Travel Destinations: Bonefishing In Bermuda Combines Luxury Leisure With Island Adventure

From a Wall Street Journal online review:

Bonefishing in Bermuda Wall Street JouranlWe headed west and hugged the shallow shoreline, casting at shadows of fish as the sun mixed with clouds making it more difficult to sight fish. We curled around a point of land I instantly recognized as Cambridge Beaches, where I stayed with my parents on my first visit to the island and where my sister celebrated her honeymoon.

Mr. Linnell used a push pole to move the skiff quietly along shore as he chatted up guests snorkeling nearby, expertly keeping them away from our bonefish spots by urging the snorkelers to take in sights a safe distance away.

I HAD NEVER considered fly fishing for bonefish in Bermuda. Chasing the elusive, silver-green creatures, prized for their fight, was something you did at remote outposts and rustic camps, where showering was optional and accommodations primitive. Such a trip could be fun for a few days, but you’d never dare drag your wife or kids along.

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-a-luxe-fly-fishing-trip-try-bermuda-11572455090