Dead on arrival
Although I might handle flying like a pro, my skin certainly does not. For all my travel experience, I’m definitely not immune to drying out (and breaking out!) after a medium to long-haul flight. So these five recommendations from Emerald Street are exactly what the travel doctor ordered!
I, for one, will definitely be smothering my skin with Lancôme’s Hydra Intense gel mask the next time I fly. Although the This Works Deep Sleep pillow spray sounds a little too good to be true (A deep sleep in economy class? Never!), I’d be willing to give anything a try in the interest of a better night’s flight’s sleep.
Click here to read the full article.
PS: What’s your best in-flight skincare secret? I’d love to hear your favourites!
The Art of Packing
One of these days I’ll share more packing tips of my own but, in the meantime, here are some recent tips from the likes of goop, Louis Vuitton and Garance Doré.
♥ Gwyneth Paltrow shares her tips on packing for three quintessential journeys (The Work Trip, The City Break and The Beach Holiday) in the follow-up to her recent issue on flying tips.
♥ Louis Vuitton, the masters of luggage, bring you an interactive, step-by-step tutorial to help you master the art of packing for three popular pieces from their collection - a trunk, a rolling suitcase and a travel bag.
♥ Well-known streetstyle blogger, Garance Doré, is a girl after my own heart with a piece simply titled Sweatpants.
I’m jetting off to Mallorca on Thursday for four glorious days of unwinding, Mediterranean–style, so I intend to try out a few of these tips myself then. I hope you find them handy too!
Fly better
I’ve been following Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle website, goop, for the better part of a year and I have to admit that I’m a bit of a fan.
As a bona fide movie star, not to mention working mother, she surely knows a thing or two about the art of travel. Although she regularly shares her some of her experiences in the “Go” series (Lisbon, Beijing, Marrakesh, Barcelona, Paris, just to name a few), it’s her latest article on how to “Fly better” that I felt compelled to share.
Gwyneth has teamed up with friends, and fellow frequent flyers, Seth Friedman and Donna Hay to bring us some tips on how to be a better flyer. Their helpful tips cover everything from the health and beauty products they can’t fly without to choosing a seat, avoiding queues, getting upgrades, and fighting jetlag.
Click here to read the full article.
Cocktails with a view in Lisbon
My boyfriend and I are both of Portugese descent, although you have to go a little further back to find mine. Naturally, one of the travel destinations at the top of our list when we first arrived in the UK was Portugal.
So, when the day of the Royal Wedding last year was declared a bank holiday, thus creating two consecutive four-day weekends, we jumped on the opportunity to take the three days in-between off work and plan an epic eleven day road trip up and down the country.
A friend from home recently asked me for some recommendations on places to see and things to do in Portugal and it reminded me of one of my favourite spots from that trip, the rooftop terrace at the Bairro Alto Hotel in Lisbon.
This sixth-floor terraced bar has got to be the best place in the city to watch the sunset over the beautiful Rio Tejo and the old rooftops of Lisbon. The relaxed atmosphere is the perfect remedy after a busy day of sightseeing and, if you’re with the one you love, it’s all just a wee bit romantic too. The cocktails are delicious (trust me, I tried many), but they’re also a little expensive. Consider it a very small price to pay for an amazing view though!
As you can see, it is on the small side, so do make sure you get there early. You don’t have to be a guest at the hotel, just take the lift up from the lobby, sink into one of the comfortable sofas and enjoy the best view in Lisbon.
All other passports queue here
Of all the queues I find myself in on my travels (check-in, baggage drop, airport security, departure gate), the “All other passports” queue that greets me on arrival into any London airport is, in my opinion, by far the worst. On a late Sunday evening at London’s Stansted airport, for example, it can take in excess of an hour just to get that little black stamp on your passport and the green light to go ahead and collect your luggage which, if you’re lucky, will still be circling around the baggage carousel. If not, another queue surely awaits you while you try to locate what’s now considered your unclaimed luggage.
As a frequent flyer, I’d like to think that my ability to get to the front of this queue as quickly as possible can largely be attributed to my superhuman organisational skills and a few tried and tested tricks. My other half will tell you it’s all down to a walking speed that belies my 5’2” frame and a take-no-prisoners attitude to anyone that gets in my way, slow walking pensioners and clueless fanny pack tourists included. However, I don’t think even he could argue that this is a great, queue-busting tip for anyone arriving into the UK on a non-UK/UE passport.
As a non-UK/UE passport holder, you need two things when you get to the UK Border Agency officer at the passport desk.
- Your passport (duh); and
- Your completed landing card
Now, unless you’ve flown to the UK long-haul, chances are the cabin crew haven’t given you a landing card to complete before your arrival. In which case, you will find yourself standing at a pre-queue counter for a good 5+ minutes completing your landing card while the better prepared foreigners on your flight (and other flights) walk straight past you and take your rightful place in the growing-by-the-minute queue.
It might not sound like a big deal to lose 5-15 minutes (or more, depending on how busy the airport is and how many people pass you while you’re writing out your contact address in your best non-cursive and fumbling around in your bag for your flight number) but, if you’re arriving late at night, those minutes could be the difference between making the last tube home, or enduring several night buses and all of the colourful characters that come along with them. So, my tip for you is this…
The next time you go through UK passport control, grab a nice chunky pile of landing cards from the counter and keep them in your travel wallet (along with a pen). Anytime you’re flying back into the UK, pull one out during your flight and complete it before you settle into aimlessly flipping through your [insert airline here] magazine and in-flight shopping catalogue. When you’re done, slide it into your passport and put it somewhere within easy reach (a coat pocket, your handbag) ready for the passport officer that awaits you.
Don’t forget to make sure you keep an eye on the stockpile you have in your travel wallet and be sure to top-up when you’re running low and not after you’ve run out.
Strictly one item of cabin baggage
People often ask me how I can afford to travel so frequently and the simple answer is, we do it on a budget. I don’t mean backpacking on a shoestring style budget, but we’ll often stay in double room in a hostel instead of booking a hotel room, and we almost always fly with one of Europe’s popular no-frills airlines.
Yes, we share the same frustrations as many when it comes to flying with easyJet or, worse, Ryanair. The remote airports they fly to and from. The unassigned seating and the resulting stampede at the gate to get on board first. The lack of complimentary refreshments and snacks. The exorbitant charges to check-in luggage.
However, there’s one particular restriction that really frustrates me and that’s the “strictly one item of cabin baggage” rule. I don’t know how many times I’ve been ready to walk out the door with my handbag in one hand and wheeled carry-on case in the other and realised that, at some point between home and the departure gate, I’m going to have to turn those two things into one!
I don’t know about you, but I’m not really one to have excess room in my cabin luggage, let alone enough space to fit a fully loaded women’s handbag with all the extra travel essentials. I have, however, come up with a good solution to this problem so I thought I’d share this with you.
I empty my normal leather handbag of it’s contents and leave the non-essentials at home where they belong. I pack everything else that made the cut into the front or side compartment of whatever I’m taking onto the plane as hand luggage. That way, all of those things you’ll need between home and take-off (Oyster card, wallet, passport, Kindle) are within easy reach. My handbag isn’t particularly conducive to being folded up to reduce it’s footprint in my luggage, nor do I really want to inflict that pain on my expensive L.K.Bennett bag, so I just leave it at home.
Obviously, I still need a handbag when I get to my travel destination so I don’t have to wheel my cabin luggage around everywhere, right? The solution: I pack one of Longchamp’s excellent Le Pliage shoppers.
They’re the ultimate folding tote so there’s no guilt about compressing it down to a small rectangle and squeezing it into your luggage. They come in a selection of sizes (small, medium and large), so you can choose the one that most closely matches what you’ll need on your person while you’re travelling. Plus, their large zipped compartment keeps your belongings safe from prying hands in busy places abroad.
The Le Pliage comes in great range of classic and bright colours, but it’s their limited edition prints (often a notable designer collaboration) that really stand out. Here’s a couple from the current collection:
Longchamp Mary Katrantzou digital large shopper (£125, Selfridges)
“This season, Longchamp teams up with Mary Katrantzou to give the brand’s classic nylon shopper a vibrant makeover. Taking the designer’s penchant for hyperreal imagery, this bag features an abstract digital print inspired by the Asian and Western worlds.”
Longchamp Orchideal large shopper (£125, Selfridges)
“Bright, floral prints were huge hitters on the SS12 catwalks, and Longchamp’s cotton fabric Orchideal shopper is a ladylike way to work the trend. An exotic reinterpretation of Longchamp’s iconic shape, this orchid print handbag features the signature logo–stamped flap and leather trims.”
Longchamp Autour d’Ha Long Tote bag (£110, Longchamp)
“The Autour d’Ha Long line offers an invitation to travel on a cruise along the Mekong… In earth and khaki tones, the line beautifully showcases the symbols of Vietnam through screen-printed or embroidered leather and fabric designs. A line inspired by the sculptural Ha Long bay and its fauna and flora, found in the natural colors of citron, cyclamen and yellow.”
If you’re anything like me, sometimes you might forget how to restore your Le Pliage to it’s perfectly folded form. So, here’s a cute how-to from the blog She’s Thunderstorms to remind you.
Did you pack your own scootcase, m’am?
When I’m not gallivanting around Europe, I’m a Senior Digital Producer at Proximity London, the London hub of the world’s most creatively-awarded direct and digital agency network.
This week, Chris Thomas stopped by the agency for our monthly drinks to give us a bit of an update on what’s going on in the network. As the Chairman & CEO of BBDO/Proximity Asia, Middle East & Africa, it should come as no surprise that Chris is a man that travels. A lot. What may surprise you, however, is how he gets around airports.
Say hello to the “scootcase”. Developed by Micro Scooters UK, the hard-shell Samsonite case features an in-built, and detachable, micro scooter. It’s permitted as carry-on luggage and can be taken on board any flight and stowed in an overhead locker.
Released last year in 2011, I’m not sure how this ingenious solution to the long walk (or run) between airport security and departure gates, or arrival gates and passport control, has managed to escape my attention. All I know is that I want need one.
Unfortunately, this ride-on cabin luggage carries a price tag of around £250. Whilst transit speed may not come cheaply, seeing the look on your fellow passengers faces as you whiz past them towards a first place spot in the passport control queue may just make it worth it.
The Micro Luggage is available from microscooter.org.uk and surfdome.com.
Colours: Black & Silver
Weight: 5kg
Max case capacity: 26L
Max speed: 10km/h
Max load: 100kg + 7kg in bag
Permitted as hand luggage
I’ve got your passport covered
I love a good travel accessory. Lately, the one I’ve been coveting the most is a new passport cover. A little something to protect my all too frequently flashed New Zealand passport.
Much to my delight, I’ve discovered there’s an abundance of fun, colourful and stylish options out there. These are just a few of my personal favourites.
If a passport sleeve isn’t something that’s on your own travel wishlist, any one of these would make a great gift for your frequent flying family member or friend.
Cath Kidston Mini Dot Passport Holder (£8.00, John Lewis)
This durable oilcloth cover from Cath Kidston comes in this easily spotted print, as well as the recognisable Victoria Rose floral print.
PiP Studio Passport Cover (£10.00, John Lewis)
I’ve long been a fan of PiP Studio’s beautiful tableware and this waterproof passport cover is every bit as charming.
Penguin Passport Holder - The Lost Girl (£14.95, Wild & Wolf)
A perfect match for the bookworm that loves to travel. For the boys, there’s another that depicts the cover of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road.
Aspinal of London Camel Passport Cover for Heidi Klein (£35.00, Heidi Klein)
Swimwear designer Heidi Klein’s range for Aspinal London includes this chic camel passport cover and other quality leather travel accessories.
Kate Spade White Wedding Belles Passport Holder (US$78.00, Kate Spade)
Send the bride off on her honeymoon in style with this “Mrs” embossed passport holder from Kate Spade.
Marc by Marc Jacobs Dotty Snake Passport Sleeve (£60.00, Selfridges)
This Marc by Marc Jacobs number will have you wearing your fashionista status well and truly on your sleeve when you travel. Your passport sleeve that is.
Tory Burch Saffiano Passport Holder in Hot Orange (£110.00, Selfridges)
No more frantically scrambling around in the bottom of your handbag looking for your passport with this unmissable neon number from Tory Burch. Also available in raspberry.
Mulberry Pink Glossy Goat Passport Cover (£100, Mulberry)
You can’t go wrong with hot pink, soft goat leather and Mulberry. Fact.
