Conde Nast Traveler April 2020

SUDDENLY IT SEEMS TO BE THE WORD of the moment. The best compliment to give a person, the highest accolade for a work of art. “He’s so thoughtful,” someone will say, and we’ll immediately and collectively comprehend that the individual referred to is clever, sophisticated, evolved. In this new iteration of the word, it also appears to involve—and this is crucial—not knowing all the answers. For so long those given a voice have filled the air with their endless chatter. But with the way things are, “I don’t know” now seems to be the boldest, the bravest, the most knowledgeable of all responses. People will continue to travel despite this unknowingness, because it’s in our blood, the nomadic urge, but also because we long for connection. More than ever, people…

Come Together Why the conversation around sustainable travel needs to focus on human beings as well as plastic SOME OF MY STRONGEST MEMORIES from trips I have taken are of the people who have done kind things for me: the airport manager who helped me rebook a flight home 20 years ago when I arrived at Charles de Gaulle without my paper ticket, which had been stolen on a train in the South of France; the family that pulled over for me and my girlfriend when we were stranded by the side of the road in the central Yucatán; the crusty old codgers in Buffalo Bills jerseys in the Adirondacks last summer who came running to push me and my family to safety when they heard me spinning my wheels after having…

THE LION’S SHARE In an effort to conserve the declining lion population across Africa, top safari operators Singita, andBeyond, Ultimate Safaris, and Wilderness have joined the nonprofit Lion Recovery Fund to form the Lionscape Coalition. The goal is to double the number of these cats by 2050 in traveler-heavy eastern and Southern Africa, as well as in the west, where wildlife faces the same threats but there is less tourism to fund conservation. FLIGHT PLAN Australian industrial designer David Caon is leading the charge to bring wellness to air travel with his work for Qantas, including a new first-class lounge at Singapore’s Changi Airport that he designed with Akin Atelier. “In the golden age of flying,” he says, “luxury was about indulging the customer—bottomless Champagne, silver service. Now it’s got to be intelligent.…

ON A SIDE STREET in the 17th-century borough of Verdun, I recently had what struck me as the most Montreal meal of my life. Beba, opened last summer by brothers Pablo and Ari Schor, pays homage to the Spanish and Italian émigré cooking of Buenos Aires, their birthplace. “It’s the food we grew up eating, but with Montreal touches and ingredients,” says chef Ari. “We’re re-creating the immigrant flavors of our former homeland.” Take the empanadas, which combine nods to Galicia, where empanadas were invented, and the hand pies the brothers loved as boys in Argentina, but are filled with Quebecois cheese curds for a reverse poutine effect. Sometimes they’re stuffed with duck hearts instead of the usual beef—“because, Quebec,” Ari says. The Schors’ open-minded, continent-hopping cuisine represents a new way…

The Ride of Your Life The Lanesborough is one of those magical hotels that can make any request happen, no matter how farfetched. Now the London property has partnered with the Somerton Sporting Club to give guests access to some of the world’s best athletes. Its cycling experience is as close as you can get to replicating the Olympics: a private session on the velodrome with an Olympic athlete. Depending on your skills, you can learn how to ride a fixedgear bike or actually challenge the Olympian for a race you’ll never forget. Doubles from $846; lanesborough.com Paddle Up Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988, but the mixed doubles competition was dropped in 2008. To celebrate its return this year, the OMO5 hotel in Tokyo is adopting a full-blown Ping-Pong…

WHEN I MOVED TO CAPE TOWN from New York in the middle of April a few years ago, I regretted going straight from one winter to another. But I’ve since come to appreciate the cool, rain-lashed months of Cape Town’s low season, which runs from June to August. While the Cape Winelands and their anchor hamlets of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are radiant at any time of year, summer’s heat and crowds made me reluctant to take the hour-long drive in peak season—but the magic of winter in the region is South Africa’s best-kept secret. Bundling up in ponchos and scarves and staying cozy near a crackling fire might not be most Americans’ idea of a mid-July activity. But that’s just what you’ll find many Capetonians doing at retreats like stalwarts Babylonstoren,…