The Travel Diaries

Today I’m joined by travel writer, author and photographer, Luke Abrahams. Luke is one of the UK's most prolific travel journalists, having been to 30 countries this year alone, and he's about to release a new book, The Luxury Travel Book: 25 personal experiences that make you rethink the world and your place in it. These are stories that make you rethink the beauty of life and the mastery of human creativity, and it is packed full of his beautiful photography too.

We'll be unpacking Ruthie Rogers' bucket list destination, Kyoto; reflecting on my Hotel of the Week, Casa Angelina; chatting about Luke's recent trip to Ladakh in Northern India, and answering your listener question.

Destination Recap

The Shinmonzen, Kyoto, Japan
Park Hyatt Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
Sowaka, Kyoto, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Okinawa, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Hotel Lo Scoglio, Nerano, Italy
The Amalfi Coast, Italy
Ravello, Italy
Casa Angelina, Praiano, Italy
Positano, Italy
Capri, Italy
Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy
The Path of the Gods, Amalfi Coast, Italy
Scala, Italy
Ladakh, India
Shakti Ladakh, Ladakh, India
Kargil, India
The Imperial New Delhi, New Delhi, India
Leh, India
Paro, Bhutan
Genghis Khan Retreat, Orkhon Valley, Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Kazakhstan
Tajikistan

Luke's new book, The Luxury Travel Book: Extraordinary experiences money can't buy is available for pre-order here.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

I’ll be back on Tuesday.
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Today’s guest is one of the most influential figures in British food. Ruthie Rogers is the chef and co-founder of The River Cafe, the legendary Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Hammersmith, which she opened with Rose Gray in 1987. Over nearly four decades, The River Cafe has completely transformed the way we eat and think about Italian food in this country, and its kitchens have helped launch the careers of some of Britain’s best-known chefs, including Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Theo Randall and April Bloomfield.

But Ruthie’s influence extends far beyond the restaurant. She’s the author of numerous much-loved cookbooks and the host of the hugely successful podcast Ruthie’s Table 4, where an extraordinary guest list, from Paul McCartney and Elton John to David Beckham, Tony Blair and Nancy Pelosi, share the food memories that have shaped their lives. The podcast has now inspired her beautiful new book, Table 4 at The River Cafe: Conversations about Food and Life.

And it turns out that food memories and travel memories have a great deal in common. Both can transport us instantly back to a particular person, place or moment in our lives.

I joined Ruthie at The River Cafe on a gloriously sunny summers day. Her travel diaries today take us from Cuba and Mexico to Maine and Marrakech, as well as her beloved Italy and the beautiful rhythm of family life she created with her late husband, the architect Richard Rogers, with summers in Tuscany, winters exploring the world and an almost constant desire to plan the next adventure.

Destination Recap:

Havana, Cuba
Hotel Lungarno, Florence, Italy
Camino Real, Mexico City, Mexico
Contramar, Mexico City, Mexico
Niddo, Mexico City, Mexico
Oaxaca, Mexico
Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Huatulco, Mexico
Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico
Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico
Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Naples, Italy
Lo Scoglio, Marina del Cantone, Italy
Amalfi Coast, Italy
Ravello, Italy
Capri, Italy
Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy
Trattoria Gianni Franzi, Vernazza, Italy
Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy
Portofino, Italy
Belmond Hotel Cipriani, Venice, Italy
York, Maine, USA
Marrakech, Morocco
Taroudant, Morocco
Tafraoute, Morocco
Essaouira, Morocco
Fez, Morocco
The Shinmonzen, Kyoto, Japan

You can listen to Ruthie’s Table 4, wherever you get your podcasts.
Her new book, Table 4 at The River Cafe: Conversations about Food and Life is available now.

I’ll be back on Sunday with another episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

Citalia - Discover the real Italy with Citalia, the UK’s leading Italian holiday specialists. Let the Italy Experts craft the perfect holiday for you and experience Italy like a Citalian.
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This week on The Travel Diaries: Unpacked, I’m joined by Lauren Ho, one of the world’s most well-travelled luxury hotel experts. Lauren is Travel Director of Wallpaper*, a contributing editor at Country & Town House and the Academy Chair for Western Europe for The World’s 50 Best Hotels.

Recorded just days after this year’s list was revealed in Paris, Lauren shares her reaction to the results, why Asian hotels continue to dominate the top 10 and which new entries she was particularly pleased to see recognised.

We also journey to AlUla in Saudi Arabia, where ancient Nabataean tombs, dramatic desert landscapes and extraordinary new hotels are putting the destination firmly on the travel map. Lauren shares her recent stay at Six Senses Amaala on the Red Sea and takes us inside her trip to Georgia, from the hidden corners of Tbilisi to Kakheti’s vineyards and traditional amber wine.

My Hotel of the Week is the newly restored Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, overlooking the impossibly beautiful harbour of Portofino.

Plus, in our listener Q&A, Lauren recommends the perfect luxurious but not completely bank-breaking destination for a special family celebration.

Destination Recap
The Peninsula Paris, Paris, France
Rosewood Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
Chablé Yucatán, Chocholá, Mexico
Upper House Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing, China
Rosewood São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Passalacqua, Lake Como, Italy
Atlantis The Royal, Dubai, UAE
Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, Thailand
Capella Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
Amangiri, Canyon Point, Utah, USA
Monument Valley, USA
AlUla, Saudi Arabia
Banyan Tree AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia
Our Habitas AlUla, AlUla, Saudi Arabia
The Chedi Hegra, Hegra, Saudi Arabia
Petra, Jordan
The Peninsula Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
FORESTIS, Brixen, Italy
Villa Treville, Positano, Italy
Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel, Cannes, France
Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino, Italy
Six Senses Amaala, AMAALA, Saudi Arabia
Rosewood Amaala, AMAALA, Saudi Arabia
Tbilisi, Georgia
The Telegraph Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia
Kakheti, Georgia
Estelle Manor, The Cotswolds, England

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Today’s guest is one of Britain’s funniest, most distinctive and most beloved writers, Caitlin Moran.

Caitlin began writing her first book at just 13, was published at 16, and became an award-winning Times columnist and the bestselling author of books including How to Be a Woman, More Than a Woman and What About Men?

Her brilliant new book is called How to Be Hopeful, and it begins with a feeling I think many of us will recognise: that the world has become overwhelming and the only reasonable solution might be to run away and start an entirely new life somewhere else. In Caitlin’s case, that meant fantasising about a self-sufficient farmhouse in the Welsh mountains, until she discovered quite how expensive Welsh farmhouses actually are. So what happens next?

From her wonderfully feral childhood summers she spent living with her seven siblings in a tiny caravan in Wales to a romantic road trip through the Scottish Highlands; the lavish trip to Antigua that taught her luxury travel wasn’t necessarily for her; and why Corfu remains the island she returns to again and again, and much much more, here are the Travel Diaries of Caitlin Moran.

Destination Recap:

Tregaron, Wales
Strata Florida Abbey, Wales
Ynyslas, Wales
Ullapool, Scotland
Rannoch Moor, Scotland
Cornwall, England
Antigua and Barbuda
Tenby, Wales
Kassiopi, Corfu, Greece
Paxos, Greece
Antipaxos, Greece
Iceland
Japanese Alps, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Abergavenny, Wales
Bannau Brycheiniog, Wales
Florida, USA
Austria
Scandinavia

Thanks so much for listening today. If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll be back on Sunday with The Travel Diaries: Unpacked and our guest, World’s 50 Best Hotels European chair, and travel journalist, Lauren Ho.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

Hotels with History podcast - Hotels with History is a podcast hosted by actor Richard E. Grant and travel & hospitality expert Jules Perowne, uncovering the scandals, legends and surprising stories behind the world's most legendary hotels. Search Hotels with History wherever you get your podcasts
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Hello and welcome to our very first episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked, your weekend travel fix.

Today I’m joined by the fabulous John O'Ceallaigh. John is a travel journalist and consultant to luxury hospitality brands, who previously served as the luxury travel editor for The Telegraph for nearly a decade.

We'll be unpacking Nisha's bucket list destination, China; reflecting on my Hotel of the Week, Six Senses London; chatting about John's recent trip to Azerbaijan, and answering your listener question.

Destination Recap:

China
Beijing, China
Shanghai, China
Yunnan, China
Shangri-La, Yunnan, China
Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, Shangri-La, China
Yellow Mountain, Anhui, China
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
Six Senses London, Bayswater, London, England
The Whiteley, Bayswater, London, England
Notting Hill, London, England
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Baku, Azerbaijan
Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan
Fairmont Baku, Flame Towers, Baku, Azerbaijan
Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
Uzbekistan
Khiva, Uzbekistan
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Registan Square, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

All the destinations mentioned are included in the episode show notes and on thetraveldiariespodcast.com

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

I’ll be back on Tuesday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.