Make no mistake, Beijing has an edgy, cool and contemporary vibe, hidden just under the surface of the government-run tour packages.  You just have to dig a little.  But per the divine Craig Barbour, a good friend who lived in Beijing while working on the Olympics, Beijing has a number of hip bars and restaurants, as well as a thriving art district that are worthy of exploring.

So…if you find yourself in Beijing, check out his recommendations:

The Green T. House

A unique venue in Beijing with inspiring design, art and performances alongside innovative “T” and “New China” cuisine by JinR – musician, tea connoisseur and trendsetter.

About GREEN T. HOUSE

Since 1997, through its innovative design, distinctive atmosphere and unique cuisine, GREEN T. HOUSE in Beijing has provided inspiration and beauty to its clientele.  It epitomizes the blend of tradition and innovation, brashness and refinement, energy and tranquility that defines New China.

GREEN T. HOUSE is the vision of glamorous musician, tea connoisseur and trend-setter JinR. From its beginnings as an intimate and elegant teahouse, GREEN T. HOUSE has become one of the hottest destinations in Beijing, garnering international recognition for its unique ambience and “T” cuisine.

GREEN T. HOUSE “Living” takes the brand further with a unique and spacious lifestyle destination that includes fine dining, art and a cultural events space as well as The Bath House Residence, a new bath and residence component which takes the GREEN T. HOUSE brand for the first time beyond tea houses and restaurants into the wider arena of spa and hospitality. GREEN T. HOUSE Living, internationally acclaimed for the “coolest bathhouse in China”, was voted ‘Spa design of the Year’  ‘Day Spa of the Year’ in the 2009 AsiaSpa Awards and “Best Spa Design” in Wallpaper* 2010 Design Awards.

Maison Boulud a la Peking

Several airlines are advertising excellent specials and offers to consider if you are traveling to Russia this May.   In addition, there are a few airlines that offer “premium service”.  This is usually several hundred dollars more than an economy class but far less than business class. In most cases, these cabins are a private smaller section of the aircraft.  Why not take advantage of these offers and consider stopping over in Paris or London on your return from Russia.  It may be worth your while!

Following are a few airlines that offer premium cabins.

Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy

British Airways World Traveler Plus

Air France Premium Voyager

KLM Economy Comfort Zone

Note: with KLM you can only purchase the seats with extra legroom 90 days prior to departure

Recent reports indicate that the famous restaurant /eco-project, The Yellow Treehouse Restaurant is coming back as a venue for private/corporate functions and events. Great news for companies running incentives to New Zealand and looking to create a spectacular experience.

The Yellow Treehouse Restaurant, which operated from December 2008 to February 2009 as part of a Yellow advertising campaign executed by New Zealand based Pacific Environments Architects Ltd. (PEL),  is a stunning architectural feat perched high above a redwood. Appearing for all the world like an enormous chrysalis – some say bird cage – grafted onto a 40-meter-high redwood tree, this isn’t just your regular tree house though. The Yellow Treehouse fits up to 18 guests and stands 40 feet high and 30 feet wide.  The views, understandably, are phenomenal, and the location – near a tumbling stream – makes you feel as if you’re perched atop a forest with no one else in the world.  The nighttime sky viewed through the restaurant, is a dream come true.

After the campaign finished, the treehouse went back to the original owner of the land, who is almost finished in permitting it for private events.  Keep posted, no pun intended.

I have known Melanie for over 20 years.  We hung out together when we both lived in NY.  Then hung out when we both lived in Venice.  She is a colorful girl, at minimum, with the greatest stories ever.  She’s worked for the French Film Institute in New York (fluent in five langues, I think).  Sold jeans for cabfare in Moscow.  Worked as personal assistant for a penultimate European royal family (no names, but some very good stories).  She landed in Italy several years ago, worked for Cartier in Capri, and things just took off from there.

She has been Managing Editor of GQ Magazine Italia, and last year, started up her own Personal Shopping & Styling services, PlanMilan.com, catering to tourists visiting the city, corporate wives, stylish friends and business women looking to lift their game, Italian-style.  Her taste and sense of style, as with her connections, have always been impeccable.  She is funny as hell, crazy as a loon (best possible way – though…) and sharp as a tack – no surprise, given both her parents were, seriously, rocket scientists.  Girl from Los Alamos makes good in Milan, Italy.

For more information on Melanie, click here. When visiting Milan, you must hire her for an afternoon.  Her take on the fashion scene will be second-to-none – informative and entertaining, likely with a celeb or designer sighting.

Recently, Melanie co-presented the Milan version of Fashion Ave. with Jodie Kidd.   Click Melanie Payge in Fashion Ave. to see the video.

I look forward to seeing her soon!

On a recent flight to Sydney on Air New Zealand, I experienced for the first time, the power of the pod – Air NZ’s answer to a good night’s sleep at 37,000 feet.

Now 3-weeks later, I am dismally confident that this experience has set impossible expectations for all future air travel, and find myself daydreaming about what I will happily borrow, sell or steal in order to pod hop again.

Initially though, I was not a believer – I did not drink the pod Kool Aid, thus my conversion from cynic to advocate makes me an eminently trustworthy critic, incapable of either greedy intent or personal agenda.  Indeed, if my story can inspire even one person to change their life and fly Air NZ Business Class, then my struggle will all have been worth it.  And in the unlikely event anyone from Air NZ reads this, I have been a proud, card-carrying Air Points member since 1997.  Hey, no shame, no gain.

I have flown Air NZ many times back and forth (and back and forth) to Auckland and to Sydney from LA.  However, I had not experienced pod travel.  I confess that when we boarded the flight to Sydney turning left through the door, I was surprised that someone had replaced the roomy leather Business Class seats with what appeared to be a cross between a high-tech fainting couch and an office cubicle.  As we headed to the very first row in the aircraft,  I began to panic as I worked out that these were our seats for the entire journey.  Taking note of Stuart’s obvious pod-approval, I stoically took my seat, um, pod, as passenger 1A, feeling a little bit like Lt. Ripley in “Alien”.  Without the whole stomach-alien thing.  Or the killer bicepts.

As I sat, and eventually lay in my little capsule of comfort, video monitor angled just so, glass of champagne within easy arms reach, tucked into my downy comforter and safely ensconced in the nose of the Southbound flight, I was perplexed by an ambivalence of feelings.

On the one hand, here I was in the very first row of the plane, pampered and prostrate, my every possible in-flight whim addressed with lightening speed,  professionalism and the Kiwi good nature abundantly and consistently displayed by the always-polished and lovely in-flight crew.  Yet given the layout of the pods, I felt just the slightest twinge of…loneliness.  Stuart, parked in the next pod over, may as well have been on a different flight.  He was the France to my Elba as the sense of isolationism became more and more pervasive.  I realized there would be no sharing of dinner, clinking of champagne flutes, or conciliatory expressions of exasperation at the slow beverage service or Philistine passengers who can’t work out how to use the video monitors.  Worse yet, there would be no opportunity to meet and shoot the breeze with my fellow travelers, something I have come to realize is as vital a part of my journey as boarding the plane.  An interesting revelation to me, though not significant enough to register even a blip on the radar screen for those who are familiar with my unparalleled gift of gab.

Being positioned in the very nose of the plane did not help the problem.  Remote and quiet, with nothing in front of me but a tan wall, I had the distinct and somewhat disorienting sense of being in my den, watching TV late into the night while my household was asleep.  On the odd occasion when I actually caught a glimpse of another passenger, my instinct was to grab a baseball bat and call the dogs, so engrossed was I in the homey creature comforts.

Stuart, it goes without saying, was completely and utterly blissful.  For him, there could not possibly be a more auspicious start to a holiday.   Let me see…Business Class to Sydney?  Check.  Seats that promote the notion of isolationism in the modern world, while at the same time allowing one to lay down?  Check.  A three-inch stack of gossip mags to savor slowly without the disapproving eyes of anyone in possession of a soul?  Check.  Lesley within eye shot but conveniently out of speaking range?  Enthusiastic check.  Had I been able to see over the wall of my pod and get a clear line of sight on him, I’m sure his expression would have beamed with a combination of smug satisfaction and something akin to a spiritual rapture.  Like the Mona Lisa.  If she were in a pod.

Fast forward to the end of the flight, and wouldn’t you know it, I found I had warmed to the experience of the pod.  I attribute this change in perception to the restorative powers of a seven hour, uninterrupted sleep.  The kind of deep sleep that often accompanies the vibration of an object in motion, particularly with a full stomach and eased mind.  The kind of deep sleep that can only be experienced when laying flat.  Why was I surprised by this?  For years, I have remarked that I can only sleep on a plane if I am laying down.  And in my quest to achieve this feat in a constrained space, I invariably begin to compromise my position, bending knees, tucking legs, or folding forward, all while wearing a blanket over  my head, like a chenille-covered Cousin It.  Why the blanket?  To cut out the light, of course.  But as I consider this further, it occurs to me that fully enshrouding myself in my blanket is really a way of isolating myself from the din around me, creating a little cocoon of comfort and privacy.  One might even call this a pod.

The flight back home was the tipping point, sending me blissfully careening into pod-eration.  The trick, I’ve learned, is not to sit in the first row, thus minimizing the disorienting sense of being on my couch at home while providing the all-important opportunity to socialize.  And to this end, I have learned to slum the galleys during flight, where other socially-minded chatter boxes find themselves drawn in the wee hours, like moths to a flame.

And while the pods still position me farther away from loving husband more than I would like, I recognize that they have been designed primarily for the business traveler who, astonishingly, does not want to be cajoled, spoken with, distracted, or otherwise bothered in any way, in order to obtain that pre-meeting freshness that only an 8-hour sleep on a trans-pacific flight can provide.  Whatever.  And my own happily ever after?  I have been assured by each and every Air New Zealand staff member kind and patient enough to listen to my pod harangues, that the new planes will have double pods (with a couch, too!)  Just perfect for us.  Well, for me.   Naturally, Stuart is not thrilled.

I’ve just returned from a long weekend in San Francisco.  Each time I visit the ‘City by the Bay”,  I am reminded of how intoxicating this town is.  In fact, I will go as far as saying that San Francisco is the most exciting and vibrant city in the U.S., with New Orleans a very close second.  Both are cities with real authenticity and soul, and a slightly unconventional character -  much like my favorite people.

My husband has been commuting from LA to SF for six years now, doing the San Francisco Shuffle, as we call it.  During this period we have culled a list of our favorite things in the city – hotels, restaurants, views, shopping, music, picnic spots.  Following is a list of what we consider to be de rigeur for like-minded, eclectic sorts visiting the “city by the bay.”

Hotels

There is a chain of boutique hotels called Joie de Vivre.  By city standards, they are all well-priced, though some definitely more so than others.  Each property is distinct, charming and full of character, tapping into a particular audience and making a guest feel as if he is surrounded by like-minded travelers.  Most of the hotels offer complimentary wine in the evening, an  entertaining way to shake off the day’s activities and transition into the excitement of a night out in Shakytown.

Following are our favorite JDV and non-JDV hotels:

Galleria Park Lobby

Galleria Park Hotel –Very cool and stylish – recently renovated – big rooms – frette linens!  Eclectic in a silvery, pastel kind of a way.  This hotel has pretty much everything you could want – big rooms, excellent location, great staff, hopping bar with quiet restaurant above, a small gym and a rooftop garden/walking track.  Located close to Union Square and downtown, it is both a commuter’s dream come true, and a great stay for visitors, as well.

Hotel Carlton Lobby

Hotel Carlton – Funky, eclectic and sublimely eco-chic. Modest yet cool and so comfortable.  You get the feel the guests are 20 and 30- somethings – hip, movers and shakers with a collective eco-conscious disposition.  This place is affordable,  sits in the middle of a great Lower Nob Hill neighborhood, and has a really nice, mellow vibe.  Plus, their eco-friendly practices are way ahead of the curve – this is a hotel with a cool conscience.

Hotel Rex Lobby

Hotel Rex –More like a private club or a funky salon in the 1930s.  The colors and decor are warm, comfortable and inviting.  Oil paintings and book shelves line the walls of the lobby cum bar area (excellent bar menu).  Whimsical touches, like lines of poetry stitched into the banquette in the casual, chic French restaurant, remind guests not to take things too seriously.  Certainly Max, the charming and gracious pug mascot of the hotel, paints a picture of an “everyone knows your name” relaxed, literati environment. Union Square area.

Hotel Kabuki Lobby

Hotel Kabuki –Cool Japanese aesthetic – calming not over the top.  Not your Shibuya pop-art scene – more sophisticated.  Eastern & Western influences come together to create a very well-appointed and sleek property, attracting an eclectic mix of guests.  Its Japantown location made it too far for us to consider as a commuter hotel for my husband, however we would definitely give it a try for a weekend.    Nice restaurant and heavenly, well-priced spa.

Harbor Court Lobby

Harbor Court Hotel

This Kimpton property is particularly well-situated in Steuart Street, down in the Embarcadero.  It is a study in metro-chic, with calming tones, modern touches and a sophisticated yet understated vibe.  Rooms are smaller, but who cares – they are well-appointed with gadgets, sheets with a high thread-count and snuggly robes, and oh yeah, a killer view of the water and Bay Bridge.  Sitting in a comfy robe, glass of wine in your hand, watching the fog roll in over Treasure Island while listening to the foghorns is worth the price of admission alone.

Dining

While these choices may not necessarily be featured on the new chichi hot list, they are a few of our mainstays.

Rijsttafel at Borobudur

Indonesian – Borobudur – 700 Post Street (Post & Jones) – Everyone raves about this place and it is truly fantastic.  Recommend doing the Rijsttafel for dinner – well-worth the price.

Slanted Door Exterior

Modern Vietnemese - Slanted Door – Ferry Building.  Despite the hype, the Slanted Door delivers every time.  Get’s crowded so book, and not inexpensive, but consistently good and good location.

Town Hall Restaurant

Great Place for Lunch -The Town Hall – Howard & Fremont – great lunches – best burgers and soup – exposed brick – known for its service – always a good meal – plus, the bill comes discreetly hidden in an old book!

Shanghai 1930 Bar

Chinese Cuisine & Jazz Club – Shanghai 1930 – Steuart Street – truly a restaurant that will transport you back in time.  We have been there several times, and its easy to feel like you’ve left the US.  The classic Chinese fare is good, but it’s really about the ambience and the live music.  The private cigar room isn’t so bad, either.

Cliff House Restaurant

California Cuisine & Killer View – The Cliff House – While you’re cruising around in your GoCar tour, time the trip so you can pop into the Cliff House for a late lunch.  Sure, this is a standard tourist trap, but the view goes for days, and is just as good while sitting at the bar as it is at a fancy table by the window.   Steeped in history, this is always worth the trip.

Farallon Restaurant

Seafood with Fabulous Style  – Farallon – Post Street – Certainly there is no shortage of good seafood in San Francisco, but Farallon is a preference for us.  Perhaps it’s the design, which reminds me of being in a very cool underwater grotto, complete with jellyfish chandeliers.  Truly, the interior of this restaurant is a work of art and testament to the importance of details.   We go for the oysters and the vibe, both of which they do extremely well.

Kuleto's Restaurant

Italian Rustic – Kuletos – located in the Villa Florence Hotel on Powell – this restaurant is always good.  Another one of those places where it’s more fun to saddle up to the bar and just graze over a meal of starters.  Soups are home made.  Anti-pasta salads are  fresh and feature some amazing, unusual additions,which vary from day to day.  Stop in for a late lunch or early dinner.  It’s definitely a great way to take a break from shopping or duck out of the cold.  Great breakfasts, too!

Cocktails

Tommy's Mexican Restaurant

Best Margarita -Tommy’s on Geary – focus group tested among serious local tequila drinkers.  Casual atmosphere and super friendly bartenders who will discuss tequilas and the level of inebriation you are looking to achieve.

Buena Vista Cafe

Irish Coffee – The Buena Vista – Hyde & Beach – is synonomous with Irish Coffee and is about as famous as they come in San Francisco parlance.  Plus, the story of how the Irish Coffee emigrated here is rich with history.  They take their Irish Coffees very seriously!  Plus, its a great place to kill a late afternoon and people watch.  Gets very crowded, so sharing a table is common and half the fun.

Top of the Mark (kitschy photo)

Best Place for View, Cocktails, Live Jazz & Dancing (Plus 4 stars for romantic) – unquestionably, Top of the Mark – The Mark Hopkins on Nob Hill.  Whenever we visit, I feel like I have entered my parents’ era- very grown-up and ever so slightly dated – but in a familiar, well-worn traveler kind of a way. And when I get a chance to dance with my husband to Sinatra or Duke Ellington, my life is just a little bit more fabulous.  Isn’t everyone’s? I like a table on the dance floor so we can literally dance back into our chairs, enormous dorks that we are.  I have heard there’s no cover before 7:30, but who cares, really?  This is a special place for a special night.

E&O Trading Company

Cool, Big Space & Exotic Cocktails – E&O Trading Co. on Sutter is a fun, lively, high- style place with a pretty good happy hour. Try the vodka mojitos – much lighter than Gin and definitely not as painful in the morning.

Attractions

We like to do fun things on a Saturday, especially if we’re in the city with kids and friends.  Sure, museums are amazing in San Francisco, but there’s a certain exuberance in doing something outrageously touristy, especially if it involves small, open vehicles.

GoCar Tours

We discovered those yellow little motorcycle/cars and have done them twice now.  Go Car Tours have three routes they offer for touring the city.  Each route is GPS navigated and there is a “guide” that tells you where to go and what you are seeing.  The Urban Park route is the one to do – so entertaining – you go through Golden Gate Park and see the Tea House and the bison, the Haight, Baker Beach, and it finishes up on Lombard Street.  The “guide” even screams “Wee” when you go through a tunnel.  Seriously – who couldn’t like that?  The tour takes about 3 hours, but you can stop and start whenever you want.  We like to stop at the Cliff House and have lunch.  Or pack a picnic and eat with the bison in Golden Gate Park.  Great fun either way!

Alcatraz Night Tour

I love all things spooky, so the Night tour of Alcatraz is right up my alley.  If you can time it so the weather is cold and foggy (not too difficult), then so much the better.  I defy anyone not to get creeped out while there at night.

Entertainment Resources

San Francisco has so much to offer in terms of entertainment and culture, I feel I have shortchanged myself if I don’t check into what’s happening in the city.  On any given night, you can catch Malawian hip-hop or amazing performance art.  The choices are vast and varied.  The trick is to find out about them.

I like two online sites to prime me for a weekend in the city.

Brown Paper Tickets is an excellent online resource for learning what’s happening in San Francisco, and beyond.  The service fees are minimal and at least 5% of their profits goes to organizations within the communities they serve.  Best of all, when you purchase a ticket through them, you can choose how these proceeds are divided, with the options being Animals, Children, Environment, and Human Rights. LOVE this!

SF Station focuses solely on San Francisco, offering a totally comprehensive listing of everything San Francisco has to offer – from music, clubs, restaurants, art, performances, events and shopping.   This is my first source for finding both mainstream and unusual goings on.

SF Marathon Mile 20 - Stuart, Cooper & Mom (with purse) offering support

Another fun fact of San Francisco – they have a great marathon.  Certainly one of the most beautiful.  Plus, you get to run over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is a kick.  This city is truly exceptional.  Looking forward to being back in a couple of weekends.

Few things in this world impress me to the point that I am unable to articulate decipherable words.   Funnily enough, the two things that come to mind both herald from distinguished British institutions.  The first is my husband Stuart and the second is the Centenary Collection from renowned British luggage maker Globe-Trotter.

Both examples represent the best of British tradition – size, strength, brilliant, elegant, understated, soft yet rugged, always in good taste and an excellent traveling companion.

Synonymous with great British design, Globe-Trotter is the very definition of handmade luxury luggage.  A modern-day classic, the Globe-Trotter suitcase has offered  functionality with drop-dead design details to generations past and present.   The quality and craftsmanship is stunning and legendary.  The aesthetic immediately hearkens back to a bygone era in which people traveled very well.  And as is often the case, good taste and classic style easily trump the test of time, making them even more alluring for today’s global nomads.

Globe-Trotter’s Centenary collection in orange is truly exquisite, possibly requiring me to change my name from battered orange suitcase to breathtaking orange suitcase.  Needless to say, it will be in my dreams.

Globe-Trotter Hand Made Luxury Luggage

Hellooo, Lover!

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Seems like everywhere I look, I’m reading about the shifting sands of travel preferences.  Whether we’re embracing our inner explorer or developing a long-overdue awareness of our place in the global scheme of things, it’s clear that travelers today are more eager than ever to go “off-menu” in search of a more-resonant travel experience.

Condé Nast Traveler recently conducted a poll in which 84% of its respondents indicated that an influencing element in making their travel choices now was, “new and different cultural experiences.” Given that only about 20% of Americans own a passport, I’d say it was about time.

Perhaps, as Condé Nast asserts, President Obama’s policy of hope and his diplomatic insistence on getting out of the house (so to speak) and visiting the neighbors makes the concept of traveling a little less daunting.  Certainly, its nice to walk into a bar these days, whether in Woollahra or Beijing, and not feel like you are related to the Village Idiot.

In keeping with this new zest for exploration, a travel magazine has recently launched with a clear imperative of heightening our travel consciousness.  Afar Magazine has the slick look of a publication aimed at the younger end of the demographic base in which I currently reside.  However, inside the trendy, non-glossy cover and clean, sans serif headlines lies a noble heart – a crystal-clear sense of compassion, cultural-curiosity, and a soul; where the destination is the ice cream sundae, but it’s the experience with the culture, people, art, music, lifestyle, that resonates, creating the proverbial cherry on top.

In Afar, co-founder Greg Sullivan strives to inspire cultural connectivity through features and articles that, “go beneath the surface”, and remind the reader that it is the experience gained through engagement and not the bobble-headed dashboard doll, that makes the best travel momento.  Accordingly, Afar has a strong under-pinning of sustainability and good global citizenship, sourcing paper through the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, off-setting carbon emissions for flights taken as part of the magazine’s business, and establishing the Afar Foundation to promote cultural connectivity through the funding of educational and immersion travel programs for students in need.

According to Sullivan, the magazine is just the first step in a travel empire, including a web community launching in early 2010, TV and radio partnerships and a series of books and events which will, no doubt, extend the brand well across the borders of the exotic destinations highlighted in its sustainable paper pages.

My suspicion is that there are many discriminating, borderline OCD travelers like myself who double and triple check hotel and destination information across a barrage of online sources in the hope of validating their choices (and possibly themselves), in the process.  Speaking from experience, this can be an exhaustive and overwhelming exercise, particularly for those of us who like to tread off the beaten path, without compromising comfort, vibe and – God forbid – aesthetics.  Not to put too fine a point on it,  but if you are like myself, you are not now, nor likely ever will be a card-carrying Hilton, Marriott – even Four Seasons (all due respect) club member.  And resorts more often than not feel as though you are being locked in to enjoy the experience of a new destination with precisely the people you were hoping to leave behind, or worse, as if something (perhaps the local culture?) is being locked out.  (I think of Fay Wray, bound and screaming in panic as the massive gates open and King Kong comes to scoop her up and away to his jungle lair.)

I’ve come to realize that exploration and adventure and comfortable chic are not mutually exclusive concepts in the travel space, they’re just a little more difficult to find.  With that said, following are two travel sites that seem to have a similar sensibility to mine.

i-escape – offers a nice selection of “Hip Hideaways and Boutique Hotels.”

Tablet Hotels – “Hotels for Global Nomads”, as the caption reads.  Good taste, “luxury boutique hotels” at a range of price levels.  Note: the site can be a little slow.

36 Hours – NY Times – an excellent resource for tapping into the local zeitgeist, offering a host of unusual and interesting things to see and do – though the 36-hour time period seems a bit ambitious for this traveler.