Travel

By Narbeh Minassian

Sometimes, travel is hard. With so many hotels now able to offer the highest luxury and the holiday business now being so competitive, it is difficult to isolate any possible advantages one resort has over another. Admittedly, these are the most shameless of first-world problems, and will be ‘suffered’ without an accompanying choir of violins. Nonetheless, the solution may well have been found by Heather Lockington, who has channeled all her experience gathered from her extensive travels toward creating the only luxury boutique cottage hotel in the Cayman Islands.

By Jackie Yin

It’s snowy white and leafy green. It’s sizzling sun and starry skies. It’s cozy fireplace and babbling creeks. It’s the speed of skiing, the elevation of paragliding and the repose of a hot spa. It’s a place where seasons disappear and life invigorates. Get ready to meet the coolest crowd while enjoying haute cuisine and shopping. Welcome to Aspen, a true alpine paradise.

By Narbeh Minassian

I feel as though the United States could sometimes be renamed the Competing States. Every state is seeking its own identity and uniqueness and always wants to be better than another state in any given competition, which is perhaps best exemplified by the NFL and NBA. We are fortunate enough to be in arguably the only state that does not need to prove anything, and I am confident that I do not need to give any reasons for this. That is not to say, however, that we should be justified in closing ourselves off from other states, and, as of June 2012, Hawaiian Airlines offers a direct journey to one of the most special states in the nation. As one of only two states that is not physically united with the rest of the country, Hawaii’s claim to uniqueness is strong.

By Pamela Jacobs

On my first night in Lake Como, Italy, I dined on a lakeside terrace under twinkling stars, enjoying homemade pasta and fine Italian wine, and playing a spirited round of “speed desserting” with friends who enjoy eating and drinking as much as I do; I thought “I could get used to this.” When we moved into the wine cellar and finished the evening with more wine and cheese, I thought “I wish I were staying here longer.” By my last night, while sitting in the coziest restaurant imaginable, eating meats, cheeses, and fondues to the point of exhaustion, and drinking the best Italian wines I’ve ever had, I thought “I could live here.” Before going to sleep, I had already begun inquiring about apartments.

By Bob & Sandy Nesoff

Scotland may have invented golf and Florida may have refined the golf community, but Ireland has defined the game.

By Mikhail D. Poloskin & Jackie Yin

When one thinks of vacation, it’s always the picture of the seaside that first jumps into mind. Indeed, who can refuse the charm of the beach? But there comes a time when one feels an urge to go somewhere far and exotic, to meet people from a completely different world, to reconnect to nature and purify the spirit. If that’s on your mind now, then let’s raise the altitude to 8,000 feet as we fly across the equator to the southern hemisphere to the miraculous UNESCO World Heritage Site of Machu Picchu in Peru. Let’s discover the legacy of the ancient Inca Empire!

By Christopher Pape and Narbeh Minassian

The Waldorf Astoria has resorts located nationwide, but there are not many that can compete with the scenery of Park City’s resort in Utah. Mountainous and secluded, Park City is equally beautiful in winter and summer, providing the ideal year-round getaway.

By Narbeh Minassian

Buenos Aires has always been something of a mystery. As the much maligned capital city of a historically troubled country, the city has such a recognizable name with such an unrecognizable identity. The name was given by the Spanish in 1324, meaning ‘fair winds’, which is on balance a fair indication of the area’s obvious potential that had remained untapped for so long. Recent statistics, however, suggest that Buenos Aires is addressing this eternal stigma, with the influx of international tourism in Argentina increasing by 27% in 2010, and with visitors to Buenos Aires rising by over a million in three years, its capital deserves the lion’s share of credit. Indeed, Buenos Aires is undergoing a process of reinvention.

By Hillary Latos

From the moment you step off the plane you are greeted by the warm wafts of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger in the air and you know you are on the idyllic island of Grenada. Known as the Isle of Spice because there are more spices per square mile here than any other place in the world, it was first discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1498 and has been under rule by the French and British until it became independent in 1974, and still its rich colonial history has remained and influenced the culture and cuisine without the onset of overdevelopment. Unlike some of the developed neighboring islands, there are no hotels higher than a palm tree and the island is free of any large hotel chains or fast food franchises, where life here is about the same as it has been for years.

By Narbeh Minassian

Any New Yorker knows immediately from the name exactly what to expect from a resort located in the Hamptons, so you may have to forgive me for excluding a plethora of adjectives and superlatives that could be applied to the eastern reaches of Long Island. In the Sole East Resort and Sole East Beach, you have two highly recommended places that provide the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the area.