What was your most
memorable trip this year? Arizona.
Riding around the desert in a rented convertible is a New Yorker's version of
summer camp.
Your most memorable meal (not necessarily
on the same trip)? Ten-course Japanese extravaganza at tiny Sea
Saw in Scottsdale. Half the fun was in watching chef Nobuo Fukuda
perform behind a counter that couldn't have seated more than 20 people.
What was the most exciting thing that
happened close to home? A new governor got elected in New York,
and with it came the hope that the Freedom Tower and memorial
at the World Trade Center site might actually get built. Maybe.
What place did you find overrated or disappointing? Palm Beach. My heart went out to all those rich people trapped behind the bushes in their giant compounds. This town desperately needs a couple of bowling alleys and maybe a tattoo parlor.
What was your worst (or funniest) travel experience? Arriving at San Francisco International at 11:45 a.m. for a noon flight—too late. I had treated my partner and myself to a business-class upgrade, using frequent-flyer miles. Unfortunately, I thought the flight was at 12:30 (blame it on e-tickets, which I stash and never look at again). We were put on the next flight—in coach—where I spent five hours squirming in a combination of discomfort and guilt. All I wanted was to get home and celebrate with a beer and a burger. Unfortunately, we didn't land in New York until after midnight, when everything in our neighborhood was closed. The saddest part, though, was realizing that the city that never sleeps does.
2007: RING IN THE NEW
What's going to be hot this year?
There's no place left that hasn't been
discovered. Maybe Moldavia
(shown here), but first you have to find it.
What is going to be the
big-deal hotel opening? The Bel-Age in Los Angeles will become The London LA this spring, with a
restaurant from Gordon Ramsay. (The London NYC, also with a Ramsay outpost, is already open.) Both
of these names strike me as very cool. I keep imagining guests at either hotel
being so at home in all three cities—London, New York, and L.A.—that they
might wake up forgetting which city they actually are in. On an equally
luxurious if less glamorous note, the former head of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel
Company has founded a new chain called Capella, whose first two hotels will be restored castles in
southern Ireland.
What trips do you have
planned for 2007? San
Francisco again, with upgraded seats.
Where do you most want to
go in the world that is still a dream away? India (I wouldn't go if I couldn't
stay a month, and I can't).
Where wouldn't you go
even if you won an all-expenses-paid, first-class trip? Any place where the boast "with an endless
string of pristine beaches" is accurate.
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