Antarctic Summer

Impress, with real mail postmarked Port Lockroy, birthplace of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The base has three buildings, one a museum, shop and post office. Best Antarctic weather is mid-December through February – ATP’s 13-day 200-passenger Le Boreal cruise also takes in the volcanic caldera of Deception Island, and Zodiac expeditions to visit penguin rookeries, seal colonies and orca, humpback and minke whale watching. Start 3rd February 2024, with three nights at Buenos Aires’ signature Alvear Palace. Tango and street-art education before sail-away.

 

Classic Cars Go Electric

Classics and no-gas can be compatible. John Piper and his son turned a 1929 Riley 9 Brooklands VE2986 electric – their EV conversion system can be installed in any special car. They’re also masters at high-class restorations, and if you want a specific vehicle, let ’em know. There’s a good-condition Austin Healey 3000 MK 3 1967 currently going.

 

Villa D

In Marrakech, escape the crowds at seven-bedroom Villa D – the Master Suite, with working fire, is 1,000 sq ft. Trad-style modernity by KO Studio’s Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty, the duo behind nearby Yves Saint-Laurent Museum, and top-trend restaurant Sahbi Sahbi. Chicken Rfissa is a gourmet’s essential.

 

Knight Air

Air Jordan 1, designed 1985 by Nike Creative Director Peter Moore, made Nike $126 million in that first year and transformed sneakers from sports-exclusive to anywhere-OK – Ben Affleck plays Nike’s legendary founder Phil Knight in Affleck’s must-see movie Air. 

 

Cartoon Capital

Kids up to Boomers love learning story-telling in Barcelona, a cartoon capital. Create cartoons with Escola Gossa’s English-speaking professionals (their Spanish is pretty good, too). Alfredo Borés and Berta González run daily scheduled classes, or go bespoke. Gossa is Catalan for dog: Escola Gossa’s café coffee cups show Yuba, the omnipresent rescue mutt.

 

New York, New York

New York’s Timothy Taylor Gallery relocated Thursday, 20th April, from Chelsea to Tribeca’s Leonard Street. The gallery currently features Manhattan-based Turk, Hayal Pozanti (she says her large abstracts represent statistical data but a 2022 series features ‘Seawater laced with honey’). Seven minutes’ walk away, Robert de Niro’s The Greenwich has the sexiest scarlet and black gym in town, and the 3,000sq ft two-room Greenwich Suite has 30-foot Atelier windows.

 

The Last Two Bottles

Where to get that connoisseurs’ delight, Laurent-Perrier’s Salon? Hôtel Plaza-Athenée Paris still has two bottles left of Salon Blanc De Blancs le Mesnil Champagne 1999 Vintage, from 50-year-old Le Mesnil-sur-Oger vineyards. After such investment why not treat yourself to a two-hour Rose de Granville holistic treatment in the hotel’s Dior spa.