Conde Nast Traveler Volume VII, 2018

New Yorkers often forget that it’s actually faster to get to Bermuda by plane than it is to drive to the Hamptons in the height of summer. Come late fall when we’ve tapped those last grains of sand out of our tote bags, the three-hour puddle jump on Delta’s 8:40 a.m. flight from JFK means fish and chips and a cold Dark ’n’ Stormy by noon—and a full dose of vitamin D to get you through the shortest days of the year. The photographer Yuki Sugiura based herself out of Rosewood Bermuda and Hamilton Princess & Beach Club—two properties that made this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards—and mastered “wrong side of the road” scooter driving in search of the island’s most inspiring beachscape. The resulting cover image, captured on Google Pixel…

High Style in the Berkshires “It’s all about texture and color; the two go hand in hand,” says the former head of J.Crew menswear Frank Muytjens. Only instead of slim suits and chambray shirts, he is referring to his latest venture, the Inn at Kenmore Hall, a five-guest-room Georgian estate that he opened with his partner, the artist and chef Scott Edward Coles, in August in the town of Richmond, Massachusetts. The couple share a passion for interiors and talked for years about opening a bed-and-breakfast; when they saw that this Georgian manor was on the market not far from where they lived, they jumped on it. The guest rooms, decorated almost exclusively in blues and grays (“Navy is always a good color,” Muytjens says), have wide-plank oak floors, brass chandeliers,…

HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION My son joined me on my recent work trip to Kyoto, the city of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, because he was loving his Eastern philosophy class and wanted to study the mind-bending idea of impermanence IRL. One morning, the concierge at the Ritz-Carlton Kyoto sent us to Tofuku-ji temple, where a Rinzai roshi led us in meditation; on another, they arranged a predawn candlelit tea ceremony at Saigyo-an, the former residence of a 12th-century poet, where we zenned out to the hushed prayers of the tea master and the mossy smell of matcha—inducing way more chills than you get from a college textbook. ALEX POSTMAN Required Reading in Rajasthan “At times, the Jaipur Literature Festival felt more like Coachella than a highbrow book event. Imagine more…

Not so long ago, it felt like there was very little friction in our lives that a few days away — preferably in the sun, with a steady diet of good (or bad) novels and margaritas—couldn’t resolve. Even, that is, as the plastic vortex in the middle of the Pacific and, say, the ongoing struggle to care for an aging parent loomed at the periphery. Travel’s primary job has always been to suspend reality, if only for a few precious days. It also allows us to see our lives and the world in sharper focus. Travel is such a curious barometer in these strangest of times, when our nation’s sociopolitical outbursts are felt around the world. It seems like now more than ever people want—dare I say need?—to travel with a…

Adventurers have trekked Nepal’s Annapurna circuit and Chitwan National Park for decades, but on a recent visit, my husband and I wanted to truly push our limits. So we set out for Upper Mustang, where rivers swirl around mighty peaks and life in chalk-white villages moves slowly. The region, defined as much by its 13,000-foot passes, striated rock formations, and colorful stupas as by its almost unfathomable remoteness, was, until 2011, accessible only by foot, horseback, or private aircraft. Seven years ago, the first gravel track opened between two regional hubs, Jomsom and Lo Manthang. (The former is now reachable on scheduled turboprop flights.) Still, any crush of tourists has been tempered by a forward-thinking permit system that demands a $500 fee of every visitor. Sounds steep, but at a…

In 1903, Jeptha Wade II had an idea. His grandfather Jeptha Wade I had founded Western Union, establishing the Wades as one of Ohio’s most affluent families; now in the swing of his own success, J.W. II decided to find the family a place to gather when Cleveland winters got rough. Thomasville, Georgia, was already an established refuge for well-heeled Northerners, so he purchased the vast Millpond Plantation and ordered a 38,000-square-foot Mediterranean villa be built, a decision so bold that even a century later the property is wonderfully incongruous to the area (the plant-filled atrium, under a retractable pyramid skylight, looks more like Indonesia than Savannah). The mansion remains in the family, but when they aren’t staying there? You can—with a full staff, a chef, and a seat on…