Who could’ve imagined our spring break trip to Napa, sipping wine we couldn’t pronounce served by a handsome young man, likely named Lucas on some Tuscan hillside would be replaced with a stack of BBQ Pringles and a cheaper, more familiar bottle of wine enjoyed from the depths of our living room. Nope, not this spring, ladies. Our luggage is somewhere in a closet collecting dust; passport buried under a stack of unopened mail while we are left with no choice but to reminisce on travels past. I close my eyes and try to imagine that the hum of the 1994 Toyota Corrolla driving past my apartment window is actually the wheels of the plane kissing the runway goodbye as we take off only to come to my senses and remember that I have no clue when the next time I’ll be able to flag down a flight attendant for extra socks will be. Still, we have our memories. And wine is still wine and we cling to the hope that although times are tough, the world as we know it ..can’t possibly be closed forever. If we can manage to survive a middle seat on a red-eye flight, we really can get through anything, girls.
Face it, we’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Here’s a few of our fav films that take us around the world and back right from the couch.
7. GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, 2014 (Comedy/Drama)
Technically, the Grand Budapest Hotel is a popular European ski resort is nestled in a fictional town, but you get the idea. Also the lobby boy is adorable. WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME
6. THE TOURIST, 2010 (Action&Adventure/Romance)
I mean it’s Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp running through Venice for their lives. But make it fashion. WATCH ON NETFLIX
5. HOTEL MUMBAI, 2018 (Drama/Action Thriller)
All we have to say is you will be on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Keep the tissues handy. WATCH ON HULU
4. AMELIE, 2001 (Romantic Comedy)
This one will make you smile on the inside. WATCH ON HULU
3. ROMA, 2018 (Drama)
Picture Mexico City in black and white during the 70’s and there you have it. WATCH ON NETFLIX
2. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, 2011 (Romance)
Calling all bibliophiles and bookworms, this one’s for you. WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME
1.EAT, PRAY, LOVE, 2010 (Romance/Drama)
Does this one really need any explanation? WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME
“One is the idea of leisure time and the pathway to luxury as a black American. The ability to engage with the mundane and to have leisure time, as a black human being, is luxurious and radical to envision. I made a film called Idyllic Space, which is very much about that. It has hypnotic scenes of young black men in suburbia, jump roping and hula hooping. The tradition I want to leave behind is to make all of that second nature.” -Antwaun Sargent, the critic, curator and author of The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion, a new book that showcases the work of emerging and established black photographers who are pushing the fashion industry towards an inclusive future.
What does your coffee table book say about you?
A few months ago I watched Micheala Coel deliver an unforgettable Emmy acceptance speech in which she dared us all to “not be afraid to disappear… And see what comes to you in the silence.” A lot has come to me in the silence since my social media journey grew legs back in 2010. I’d just begun my senior year at Spelman and the days of Facebook pokes and organizing a top 8 on MySpace had now become a distant memory in the wake of an emerging social landscape known today as Instagram. I struggled a bit at first, inventing and reinventing myself in those little square boxes in an attempt to decide which story I wanted to present to the world. During a post-grad gap year and self described emboldened quest to “find myself,” I stumbled upon a Condé Nast magazine that offered a simple reminder: Life is oftentimes much more about the journey than the destination.
Source: The Whitney Museum
Dolce far niente - “the art of doing nothing.”
If you’ve watched Eat, Pray, Love as many times as we have, this Italian phrase is not lost on you. Quarantine has begun to feel like one long, never-ending day where we finally come face to face with the ugly truth that our list of hobbies don’t extend much further than drinks with friends, followed by dinner with friends, topped with brunch with those same wonderful friends. After scrubbing down every countertop, reorganizing all of my furniture and accidentally clicking on people’s Instagram live videos, it’s now come to this.
What if at the heart of the day, when the sun is at its highest we all create space to do absolutely nothing in the most beautiful way possible. We’ll call it picnic for the sake of our collective anxiety not flaring up at the thought of un-productivity.
The steps are simple, really. What’s better than a party of one.
“Dandelyan in a nutshell: A multi-award-winning bar (including World’s Best Cocktail Bar at the 2017 Spirited Awards) in South Bank’s Mondrian London hotel, serving imaginative, botanically inspired cocktails designed by drinks maestro Mr Lyan, aka Ryan Chetiyawardana.
Dandelyan is sleek but not intimidatingly so, with luxurious Tom Dixon-designed interiors that include a sweeping dark-green marble bar, velour lounge chairs and lavender-hued banquettes. Smart without being stuffy, the vibe is buzzy.
Chetiyawardana regularly shakes up the menu at Dandelyan and his latest concept is a typically thoughtful and original one. The Modern Life of Plants explores the impact of mass agriculture and large-scale food systems, with the cocktail offering based around three crops produced on an industrial scale – mint, grapes and hops. Fans of Dandelyan’s previous menus will be relieved to hear that the team have also included a roster of old favourites from previous menus, from the Koji Hardshake to the BC3 Negroni.”
- Hannah Guinness
Quarantine has officially taken cabin fever to an entirely new level. After only two weeks, stay at home orders are beginning to trigger high school FOMO while grounded. To balance the binge-snacking and recycled POPSUGAR workouts on YouTube, I’ve found imagining life Post-Corona to be most helpful medicine. I get it, most people will likely want to start by dipping the their toe back in to the world of travel. Then it hit me, what better way to test the waters than with a stay-cation. And honestly, after all of the time spent indoors, DC is already starting to feel like a big backyard I never get to play in.
My heart is set on a weekend getaway to The Riggs Hotel (formerly known as the Riggs National Bank.) I can see it now, leaving an afternoon stroll through The National Portrait Gallery heading a few blocks away to grab my keys from the teller counter checkin desk. I’ll likely have booked one of the four First Lady suites as a silent ode to Michelle herself. While the concierge is explaining the best way to the elevator, I’ll be busy praying to Juno Moneto, the Roman goddess of money on the medallion atop the vaulted ceilings.
Before they can even bring my bags upstairs, I’ll be walking across the bathroom’s Italian marble floors in the complimentary slippers and robe holding whatever bubbly I could find in the carefully curated mini bar (which doubles as a 19th century safe.) Just before sunset, I’ll slip into a navy silk dress something that will catch the glow of the sensual elevator lighting that whisks me up to the rooftop. There, I’ll meet meet a few friends and take in the view of the Capitol and together, we’ll let out a sigh of relief because social distancing will be long behind us. Downstairs at dinner, we’ll order one of everything on the menu at the brasserie, Cafe Riggs before kissing Chef Patrick himself.
...the air warm, the scent sweet –
"I want a room," thought he, " to rest." "Certainly my dear," he was told, "you have a choice of eight." "You lie," said he… on counting he saw only six. "Ah yes, but eight rhymes with cake." "Okay," said he,"what shall I find?" "Well," said the voice, "if you are very hungry and have coins in your pocket, ascend the stairs and you will find a dining hall of such magnificence, it will so take your breath away that your face will be a certain hue." "Gosh," thought he, checking his pockets and his complexion in a mirror, "what else do you have?" "There is a bar ranked with chairs of every discernable shape… one is bound to suit… and gentlemen behind the bar who will mix a beverage so fair to help sooth the most pained head."
As the man savoured, and savoured some more, the voice again came to his head: "there is a gallery of projected art in a room so clean and rare while the sun is up, which at night, at 7, becomes a brasserie of light. Food of all kinds passes the table where you sit, to be picked and chosen for your heart’s desire. As the midnight hour approaches, tables and chairs are brushed away to allow movement and dance that comes when music infuses the room. Come, sir, another night in the same image you would not see." As the man’s thoughts wandered in and out of his head, one trickled out of his ear, never to be thought again. "Do you like cakes?" "Well, yes I do." "Well," said the voice,"there is a fine tea room, too." "What is this place?" "All I wish," said the voice, "is that you arrive with an open mind and imagine, if you will, a painting that never dries."
The Wing is a network of work and social spaces designed for women. Let’s forget the membership fee for a moment and look at the bright side. I’m talking cozy nooks, secret passageways and get this: A salon! The geniuses over at Munna Design are just of the few of the interior designers officially added to the 'where to shop for my dream home, featuring just a few of their plush couch and fringe armchairs that wrap around the room like a snake. Their mission of The Wing is the advancement of women through community. They celebrate activism, film, culture, and diversity and look cute AF doing it. Their members are a stylist bunch. The whole place makes We Work look like the boys locker room in somebody's middle school. Suggestion: totally steal NPRs idea and host some Tiny Desks concerts. Change the name obviously. With locations is Dumbo Brooklyn, Flatiron, Georgetown DC, and San Fran, we can’t wait to see where the girls are headed next.
Lastly, can I live here?
If a road trip with our girls could be a fragrance, it’d definitely be STELLA McCartney’s “POP.”
There’s should be a little Samantha in all of us. A little voice that says fuck being polite, being polite never got me anywhere other than the back of a line outside the club. The world is her playground and Ms. Jones is here to play. Boys are merely toys and feet were made for shoes that go click clack when you tip down marble hallways. She’s more than bathroom sex and French Martini’s. Sure we all love a little sex and city slicking, but Ms Jones know what she wants and she’s not afraid to go get it. Here’s to some of our favorite Samantha moments.
This is a story a girlfriend of mine once told me. She’d just gotten out of a three year engagement with her asshole of a fiance’, cut her hair and flew halfway around the world in search of a romance free summer. She wandered into a cute little chicken and lobster spot, she’d heard so much about and plopped down at the bar at Mama Kelly. Tempted to take her kitten heels off, she tried to keep it cute wishing she’d heeded all that advice about renting a bike along the river. She wasn’t halfway though her first drink before catching the glance of some handsome guy she pretended to not see. She was annoyed with herself for noticing his bare ring finger from all the way over there. She was too preoccupied with her own thoughts that she hadn’t realized he’d finished the last bit of cognac swirling around in his glass and was not about five steps away and counting. TO BE CONTINUED.
I think we can all agree that French is the sexiest language of them all. A few weeks of quarantine may not be enough to be fluent, but we surely we can master the art of flirting in French.
Pronunciation is key so don’t be too shy to practice with our BFF, GOOGLE Translate.
And while we’re here, here’s a list of our favorite language learning apps to practice with until we can get back on a plane again. Click each to find out more:
DUOLINGO - Our fav for learning the language basics. The good stuff will cost you a little extra.
TANDEM - If you want to talk to real people, this app is for you.
ROSETTA STONE - She’s like the rich auntie of learning new languages.
DROPS - This one’s for the gamers. Why not mix learning a new language some healthy competition.
MONDLY - Probably has the most languages you could ever want access to. Overachievers.
“We wanted to capture a little of that vibe and magic, and be a place that’s a little bit mysterious, a little bit romantic — something that doesn’t feel like it was just newly opened, but had lived in the city for a long time,” Cooper explains. “There’s definitely a narrative of new versus old, and…we’re doing the development hopefully in the right way and being sensitive to that and celebrating the people that were there and have been there, or are from there. We’re highlighting and celebrating those people.”
The building’s narrowness worked well for The Siren’s concept, which incorporates a wide variety of room types; Heckman describes the hotel as “democratic.”
“Because there are small bunk bed rooms up to penthouse suites with dining rooms in them,” he explains. “The idea is to make the place accessible to a wide range of people. We’re sensitive to what we’re labeled, a luxury hotel, because there’s certainly luxurious, romantic, well thought-out elements to the hotel and it is beautiful, but it’s also not meant to be just an exclusive space.”
First of all, does anyone know if Wes Anderson is single? Why does he live inside my mind.
In the 1930s, the Grand Budapest Hotel is a popular European ski resort, presided over by concierge Gustave H. Zero, a junior lobby boy, becomes Gustave's friend and protege. Gustave prides himself on providing first-class service to the hotel's guests, including satisfying the sexual needs of the many elderly women who stay there. When one of Gustave's lovers dies mysteriously, Gustave finds himself the recipient of a priceless painting and the chief suspect in her murder. Movie night anyone?
NEW LUGGAGE is giving away 2 drinking passports for FREE courtesy of our collaboration with The Passport Program! It’s simple: Just post your favorite travel photo on Instagram and tag #NEWLUGGAGECLUB. We’ll choose the best 2 and ship your passport directly to you! Cant wait to see our winners at our next #STAMPandSIP! (DC ONLY!)
The Passport Program features pocket-sized field guides that are the same size as a real government issued passport. Each page contains a 2-for-1 craft beverage special and will be stamped by the bartender or server upon redemption.
There is nothing typical about a NetJets flight. NetJets goes to extraordinary efforts to make every flight specific to your individual tastes and timeline. With NetJets, air travel is no longer a burden. It's an advantage. Not only will NetJets change the way you fly, it will transform your sense of what's possible.
NetJets Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is an American company that sells part ownership or shares of private business jets.
Your luggage should pull more than its weight—it should be your home between homes, your closet between closets, your outlet between outlets. Because if you’re looking down at your dying phone and broken bag, you can’t see up, out, and ahead to the world in front of you. We started with the perfect suitcase, then built from there, creating a range of travel standards that speak to different personal travel styles and needs, each one developed from the travel stories of friends and seatmates. Our pieces aren’t “smart,” they’re thoughtful, with features that solve real travel problems and premium materials chosen to be resilient and beautiful. The result: travel standards that are perfectly, functionally minimal—that help you find your way by staying out of it.
