The Travel Diaries

This week on The Travel Diaries: Unpacked, I’m joined by Sarah Allard, Digital Director of Condé Nast Traveller, for your weekly weekend dose of wanderlust.

Sarah’s job takes her to some extraordinary places, and today she’s sharing the trips, hotels and foodie finds she thinks should be on your radar. We start with the growing appeal of Northern Europe, including the Danish island of Bornholm, before heading to New York for her 40th birthday celebrations. Expect bagels, martinis and a few days in the Hudson Valley, where pretty towns, farm shops and gorgeous hotels make the perfect contrast to Manhattan.

We’re also talking Greek island favourites, from the spectacular restaurant setting that won Sarah over on Sifnos to a new hotel on Paros.

My Hotel of the Week is Monastero Santa Rosa on the Amalfi Coast, where I found what might just be my favourite swimming pool in the world.

And if you’re looking for somewhere closer to home this autumn, Sarah answers a listener’s question about cosy British boutique stays, with two delicious recommendations in Somerset and Devon.

Destination Recap

Sweden
Finland
The Lofoten Islands, Norway
Bornholm, Denmark
New York City, USA
The Hudson Valley, New York, USA
INNESS, Accord, New York, USA
The Catskills, New York, USA
Wildflower Farms, Auberge Collection, Gardiner, New York, USA
Rhinebeck, New York, USA
Athens, Greece
Sifnos, Greece
Faros, Sifnos, Greece
NÓS Hotel & Villas, Sifnos, Greece
Paros, Greece
Luura Paros Cliff, Paros, Greece
Santorini, Greece
Mykonos, Greece
Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Scotland
The Amalfi Coast, Italy
Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa, Conca dei Marini, Italy
Amalfi, Italy
Positano, Italy
Capri, Italy
Bruton, Somerset, England
Number One Bruton, Bruton, England
At the Chapel, Bruton, England
Glebe House, East Devon, England
India
The River Nile, Egypt
One&Only Moonlight Basin, Big Sky, Montana, USA
Edinburgh, Scotland
Glasgow, Scotland
The Scottish Highlands, Scotland
Hope by WildLand, Sutherland, Scotland

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok. I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you. You can also send me your travel questions for a future episode of Unpacked at thetraveldiarespodcast@gmail.com

With thanks to...
Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is returning to the podcast after 5 years! TV presenter, adventurer and explorer Steve Backshall is one of the most travelled people in the world, and one of the best story tellers - so he is the ultimate Travel Diaries guest.

Just listening back to his first episode in preparation for today was a reminder of what an amazing episode that was - if you haven’t listened to that scroll back and listen to that first, because his life is so interesting, and then come back and listen to this one!

It was so lovely to meet him in person this time, just last week. We filmed this in London, and it was really good fun putting some of your new travel diaries chapters to him - his answers were sensational. When somebody has been to this many places it's hard to know where to start, but I think that you're going to be absolutely captivated by Steve's stories, as I was.

So from Suriname to the Scilly Isles, Jerusalem to Alaska, and so much more, here’s Steve.

**Listeners - there's a strange video with the loading of Apple Podcasts' video today, so I'm reuploading this as an audio only file until it resolves.**

Destination recap

West Cornwall, England
Land’s End, England
South Africa
Suriname
Alaska, USA
Juneau, USA
The Azores, Portugal
Dominica
Colombia
Papua New Guinea
New Britain, Papua New Guinea
New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
New Caledonia
Yucatán, Mexico
Cancún, Mexico
Tulum, Mexico
Bimini, The Bahamas
The Isles of Scilly, England
St Martin’s, Isles of Scilly
Jerusalem
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Negev Desert, Israel
Kyrgyzstan
Northeast Greenland, Greenland

Steve’s Deadly Live tour begins in October. Find out more here.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll be back on Sunday with another episode of Unpacked, this time with Conde Nast Traveller’s Digital Director, Sarah Allard.

With thanks to...

Kimpton Los Monteros - a five-star hotel for discovering the best of Marbella.

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is returning to the podcast after 5 years! TV presenter, adventurer and explorer Steve Backshall is one of the most travelled people in the world, and one of the best story tellers - so he is the ultimate Travel Diaries guest.

Just listening back to his first episode in preparation for today was a reminder of what an amazing episode that was - if you haven’t listened to that scroll back and listen to that first, because his life is so interesting, and then come back and listen to this one!

It was so lovely to meet him in person this time, just last week. We filmed this in London, and it was really good fun putting some of your new travel diaries chapters to him - his answers were sensational. When somebody has been to this many places it's hard to know where to start, but I think that you're going to be absolutely captivated by Steve's stories, as I was.

So from Suriname to the Scilly Isles, Jerusalem to Alaska, and so much more, here’s Steve.

Destination recap

West Cornwall, England
Land’s End, England
South Africa
Suriname
Alaska, USA
Juneau, USA
The Azores, Portugal
Dominica
Colombia
Papua New Guinea
New Britain, Papua New Guinea
New Ireland, Papua New Guinea
New Caledonia
Yucatán, Mexico
Cancún, Mexico
Tulum, Mexico
Bimini, The Bahamas
The Isles of Scilly, England
St Martin’s, Isles of Scilly
Jerusalem
Tel Aviv, Israel
The Negev Desert, Israel
Kyrgyzstan
Northeast Greenland, Greenland

Steve’s Deadly Live tour begins in October. Find out more here.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

I’ll be back on Sunday with another episode of Unpacked, this time with Conde Nast Traveller’s Digital Director, Sarah Allard.

With thanks to...

Kimpton Los Monteros - a five-star hotel for discovering the best of Marbella.

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I’m joined by travel writer, author and photographer, Luke Abrahams. Luke is one of the UK's most prolific travel journalists, having been to 30 countries this year alone, and he's about to release a new book, The Luxury Travel Book: 25 personal experiences that make you rethink the world and your place in it. These are stories that make you rethink the beauty of life and the mastery of human creativity, and it is packed full of his beautiful photography too.

We'll be unpacking Ruthie Rogers' bucket list destination, Kyoto; reflecting on my Hotel of the Week, Casa Angelina; chatting about Luke's recent trip to Ladakh in Northern India, and answering your listener question.

Destination Recap

The Shinmonzen, Kyoto, Japan
Park Hyatt Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
Sowaka, Kyoto, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Okinawa, Japan
Osaka, Japan
Hotel Lo Scoglio, Nerano, Italy
The Amalfi Coast, Italy
Ravello, Italy
Casa Angelina, Praiano, Italy
Positano, Italy
Capri, Italy
Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy
The Path of the Gods, Amalfi Coast, Italy
Scala, Italy
Ladakh, India
Shakti Ladakh, Ladakh, India
Kargil, India
The Imperial New Delhi, New Delhi, India
Leh, India
Paro, Bhutan
Genghis Khan Retreat, Orkhon Valley, Mongolia
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Kazakhstan
Tajikistan

Luke's new book, The Luxury Travel Book: Extraordinary experiences money can't buy is available for pre-order here.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

I’ll be back on Tuesday.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is one of the most influential figures in British food. Ruthie Rogers is the chef and co-founder of The River Cafe, the legendary Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Hammersmith, which she opened with Rose Gray in 1987. Over nearly four decades, The River Cafe has completely transformed the way we eat and think about Italian food in this country, and its kitchens have helped launch the careers of some of Britain’s best-known chefs, including Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Theo Randall and April Bloomfield.

But Ruthie’s influence extends far beyond the restaurant. She’s the author of numerous much-loved cookbooks and the host of the hugely successful podcast Ruthie’s Table 4, where an extraordinary guest list, from Paul McCartney and Elton John to David Beckham, Tony Blair and Nancy Pelosi, share the food memories that have shaped their lives. The podcast has now inspired her beautiful new book, Table 4 at The River Cafe: Conversations about Food and Life.

And it turns out that food memories and travel memories have a great deal in common. Both can transport us instantly back to a particular person, place or moment in our lives.

I joined Ruthie at The River Cafe on a gloriously sunny summers day. Her travel diaries today take us from Cuba and Mexico to Maine and Marrakech, as well as her beloved Italy and the beautiful rhythm of family life she created with her late husband, the architect Richard Rogers, with summers in Tuscany, winters exploring the world and an almost constant desire to plan the next adventure.

Destination Recap:

Havana, Cuba
Hotel Lungarno, Florence, Italy
Camino Real, Mexico City, Mexico
Contramar, Mexico City, Mexico
Niddo, Mexico City, Mexico
Oaxaca, Mexico
Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Huatulco, Mexico
Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico
Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico
Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Naples, Italy
Lo Scoglio, Marina del Cantone, Italy
Amalfi Coast, Italy
Ravello, Italy
Capri, Italy
Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy
Trattoria Gianni Franzi, Vernazza, Italy
Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy
Portofino, Italy
Belmond Hotel Cipriani, Venice, Italy
York, Maine, USA
Marrakech, Morocco
Taroudant, Morocco
Tafraoute, Morocco
Essaouira, Morocco
Fez, Morocco
The Shinmonzen, Kyoto, Japan

You can listen to Ruthie’s Table 4, wherever you get your podcasts.
Her new book, Table 4 at The River Cafe: Conversations about Food and Life is available now.

I’ll be back on Sunday with another episode of The Travel Diaries: Unpacked.

If you’d like to find out who’s joining me next Tuesday, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok, I’m @hollyrubenstein and I’d love to hear from you.

With thanks to...

Airbnb - Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.co.uk/host

Citalia - Discover the real Italy with Citalia, the UK’s leading Italian holiday specialists. Let the Italy Experts craft the perfect holiday for you and experience Italy like a Citalian.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.