Travel Plans 2025

Where is wanderlust leading you?

Hi team,

What are your travel plans for this year? Curious to hear where you’re headed and what’s on your bucket list.

These are my destinations for the year:

• Vienna & Krakow

• Berlin / Neustrelitz

• Vancouver & Vancouver Island

• Marrakesh

• Copenhagen

In January I went to London on a business trip and tacked a few days on to explore the neighbourhood. My best travel tip — picked up from the boss I had in New York (hello Geoff!) — is this: Slip a cash tip to the person checking you in at the hotel, thanking them for taking good care of you. You may find yourself with an upgrade. At the very least, the staff will usually make an effort to accommodate your needs, and even your whims. (This may not work in Japan, where tipping is not a custom).

I also always ask the person checking me in for the best coffee in the neighbourhood, or what they recommend I see within walking distance. My hotel was near Paddington Station and Little Venice was recommended for a walk. It’s the area along the canals where people live in houseboats. I knew that the London correspondent for the German ARD TV network lived on a houseboat (thanks to her Instagram account), so in the early morning mist, I went exploring. That’s my favourite thing to do in a city. I don’t like to be over-scheduled. It was delightful, very Dickensian, with only a few people on foot in the light rain.

The activities on my agenda for any city are usually the same: Vintage shops, flea markets, the city’s premier retail shop (Sak’s in New York, Bon Marché in Paris, Harvey Nichols or Selfridges in London, ILLUM in Copenhagen, Holt Renfrew in Toronto), and art galleries or museums. Add gardens in summer. And coffee and cocktails.

The walk to Little Venice eventually took me to Portobello Road, self-proclaimed “world’s largest antique market”. The older I get though, the less I’m interested in tat. However I was interested in a fluffy fake fur jacket in a boutique, aubergine in colour, and 30% off in the winter sales, shown here in a loo selfie.

Otherwise I scouted fabric and trimmings shops and museums. Here are the details:

The Cloth Shop: Located on Portobello Road, a deliriously wonderful shop specialising in fabrics with natural fibres. I drooled over the heavy, soft cream-coloured linen that would make fabulous curtains but bought only a few meters of embroidered ribbon with the thought of trimming a jacket.

VV Rouleaux: For as long as I can remember, this shop in Marylebone Lane has been on my radar. It probably goes back to my magazine addiction and seeing their ads in Martha Stewart or Victoria magazines. It did not disappoint! Two floors of ribbons, trims, feathers, even raffia fringe. Just across the lane is the Ottolenghi deli, a must stop for lunch.

Dennis Severs House: One of the most curious experiences I have ever had in a “museum”, I can highly recommend a visit to this Georgian house in Spitalfields. The abode, a mix between a hoarder’s dream and a camp stage designer’s experiment, is a homage to the owner’s imagination of life in the 18th century London. No electricity or heating, it is a staged non-performance.

I also managed to slip into the Van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery (thanks to a friend who is a member) and saw Francis Bacon at the Portrait Gallery.

Next on the calendar is a road trip to Vienna and Krakow. What are your interests in those cities? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks all,

xx Angela