Where In The World #2
Mariah Carey has invited you over for Christmas, the Prince and Princess of Wales spotted loitering at Heathrow, and neon travel prints so bright they'll give you toothache (in a good way)
Christmas wrapping
December is my favourite month for travel media because there’s nothing I love more than a ‘Where to Go Next Year’ listicle wrap-up. They’re the Christmas gift guides of the travel media world (and generally more attractive than actual travel Christmas gift guides which inevitably involve lots of grey and black tech).
Here’s my wrap-up of the wrap-ups:
Condé Nast Traveller’s 23 Best Places To Go In India (I really need to scratch the India itch I have right now), Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel 2023 (big fan of how they group everything into experiences like ‘Eat’, ‘Journey’, ‘Connect’, ‘Learn’), Escape’s Top Travel Destinations for 2023 According to the Team (both writer Jenny Hewett and I picked Botswana so there must be something in it), and Qantas’ dreamy 23 places to go in 2023 December cover story:
I also like to give AirBnb's travel trends list a good eyeballing because it’s entirely data-driven: they reveal where people are planning to go next year according to search traffic. I consider it a cautionary tale; if anywhere’s looking too popular I’ll probably steer clear. Turns out Australia is huge on the search list this year, so I guess that’s a sign I should evacuate the country even more often than usual.
Canada-do Attitude
It’d be nice, though, wouldn’t it, if we could be sure that our hospitality and tourism operators were adequately staffed to handle this coming tourist onslaught. Everywhere I travel I meet overseas workers and students who say they’re desperate to come to Australia to work but our visa laws are too strict. Last I heard the government couldn’t find enough workers to staff the offices that decide whether or not we need more workers.
Meanwhile, the level-headed Canadians have announced that they will allow 90,000 extra foreign students to work in Canada in 2023 to help support their restaurant and tourism industries.
Just like that. Is it really that hard, Australia?
A Hack for Hacks
I love a good travel hack but I think Travel + Leisure have got rocks in their … hand luggage on this one. They shared a trick (originally from June) for getting full waterbottles through airline security: freeze the water. But wait! There’s a catch. If it melts a bit then it could be knocked back (and good luck trying to ‘empty out’ a semi-melted block of ice).
Even if this high-maintenance scheme succeeds, you have to lug around a great big heavy ice brick. Was refilling your bottle on the other side of security really a problem that needed to be solved?
BTW, It’s Christmas Party season! Got any party pics you want to share? Send them to alex@alexandracarlton.com.au
All She Wants For Christmas Is You
Booking.com has launched a competition to win a tour of Mariah Carey’s New York penthouse over Christmas. The O Holy Night singer has a few rules if you win though. If you read the very, very, very fine print you discover that guests will not be able to enter with cameras or a phone, must sign a non-disclosure agreement, basically stray nowhere in the home beyond its rooftop terrace and ‘powder room’ and the songstress herself won’t actually be there. Everything about Mariah screams Bad Santa and I love it.
Boston Regal
A member of a frequent flyer Facebook group snapped these two jetsetters at London Heathrow, waiting to board their First Class British Airways flight to Boston last week:
This guy worked it out:
Stuff I Like
Last week this segment was called ‘Three Things’. Yeah, well, guess what. This week I liked four things. a) I make the rules round here and b) as previously discussed, I can’t count.
Electrolytes. What even are they. Some deeply sciencey thing your body needs, that’s all I know. What I can say for sure is that they electrocute jetlag using their special electric zapping powers, a tip I got from Tori Goddard at Gate 7. I never travel without a pack these days. I think we all know deep down that an electrolyte is an electrolyte and your plain old Hydrolyte will do perfectly well but sometimes a girl just wants an aesthetic electrolyte, like Cure’s Grapefruit Daily Electrolyte Mix from Mayple Store ($39 for 14 serves).
Another thing I don’t travel without? A squishy, pretty clutch bag. That’s all I need to elevate my relentlessly monochrome cotton separates into something a bit fancy for evening, and because they smoosh, they take up next to no space in your suitcase. Mad for this little sunset number from Maria La Rosa at The Standard Store, $540.
Two fab-looking travel and travel-ish books you should pop into a Christmas stocking: The life, times and personalities of soon-to-reopen Bondi Icebergs by Maurice Terzini (which, if you’ve ever interviewed the very energetic, bouncing-off-the-walls Terzini, I imagine would have been wild for an editor to pull into shape). Icebergs Dining Room and Bar 2002-2022 by Maurice Terzini, Dymocks, $100
The other is travel writer Ben Groundwater’s guide to Tokyo which looks thorough and secret-crammed and impressive. My hat is perpetually tipped for anyone who has the stamina to write a book. A whole book! All those words! The research! I need a good lie down and probably some electrolytes just thinking about it. Neon Lights in Tokyo by Ben Groundwater, Booktopia $26.25.
Speaking of neon, how gorgeous are these neon travel prints from NY digital artist Mischelle Moy. I’ve already stage-managed an Instagram post in my head: me, holding my new pink and yellow clutch, standing in front of these zingy pink and yellow prints, reading Ben’s Neon book while sipping my fizzy pink grapefruit electrolytes. It’s called styling, bebes, look it up (N.B. you will 100% never catch me making that post).
Check out more of Mischelle’s work on her Insta and website.
Yours in a bright, not-twisted fantasy,
Alex
P.S. In Monday’s newsletter, I spelled my own email address like this:
A few days later I very nearly sent an editor a piece with my name spelled like this:
Contrary to the evidence, I can spell my own name (the ‘a-r-l-t-o’ sequence is quite acrobatic on a keyboard, okay?).
This is my actual email address: alex@alexandracarlton.com.au. I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line if you have news to share, party pics, tell me what you like or hate or just want to remind me how my name’s spelled.