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On the site of a former brick windmill in what is today central Auckland, an old Sheraton tower underwent a $9 million renovation in 2006 to become one of the city’s most luxurious hotels: the Cordis. Across the common spaces and 411 guestrooms, this property is draped in fine silks and velvets, appointed with antiques fit for royalty, and crowned by gilded dome ceilings and chandeliers. It’s a popular meeting place for the corporate elite, featuring a striking ballroom that seats 860 people, banquet style. High-tech conferencing equipment and an in-house audio-visual team create a seamless experience, which has helped the hotel earn Earth Check certification. When work is complete, there are ample options for unwinding, from the high tea at the elegant lobby lounge—a more delicate version of the London lobby—and the Chuan Spa, which specializes in traditional Chinese medicine. Also on site is an exclusive Club Lounge, a fitness studio, a swimming pool, and the renowned Eight restaurant, which offers an interactive dining experience with eight specialist kitchens, each dedicated to a different cuisine and led by an expert chef.

Before cotton reigned supreme in the South, tobacco was the money-maker. Planters channeled their profits into increasingly ornate homes, and one of the best examples of this post-Revolutionary architecture can be found in the Harrisburg district of Augusta, Georgia. Between downtown and the Augusta National Golf course (where The Masters takes place every April) is the Ezekiel Harris House, dating from the 1790’s. In later years, the area around the Harris House would become known as Harrisburg, before becoming incorporated into Georgia’s second-oldest city. The South’s first industry grew up nearby after the Augusta Canal was dug in the 1840’s. While the neighborhood is awaiting renewal today, the house remains as a relic to the society and tastes of a fledgling United States. The house is open for tours every Saturday and by appointment during the week. The Smithsonian has called it ‘the finest 18th-century house surviving in Georgia.’

From the moment you step into the Mark Hotel, with its art deco-inspired lobby clad in black-and-white marble floors, the vibe is a blend of fashionable, worldly, and understated. Located in a landmark 1927 building on a tranquil corner of the Upper East Side, just a couple of blocks from Central Park, the 153-room hotel was designed by French interiors maven Jacques Grange. Accommodations feature furnishings in ebony, sycamore, and granite, while black-and-white-floored marble bathrooms are outfitted with soaking tubs and heated towel racks.

From its new location on the Singel, Supperclub maintains the old traditions of one of Amsterdam’s most innovative nightclubs. In few other upscale restaurants can you take off your shoes, get in an oversize bed with friends, and savor an unconventional five-course meal over the course of an evening. But supperclub is not for everyone. Part culinary journey, burlesque/vaudeville club, cocktail bar and experimental free state, it’s a unique if somewhat pricey venue for a fun, quirky evening with friends or business colleagues. When not wintering in India, flamboyant Howie may greet you, ushering your posse to La Salon Neige, where you’ll scoop courses from hospital bowls, ash trays and sensual models dressed in slices of Carpaccio, brandishing salad dressing in syringes and deep-fried cricket tidbits—crunchy croutons! Opt for the upper level lounge and you can watch from above as dykes, belly dancers and aerial artists perform. Don’t worry about crumbs in bed; get into the act while the drag queens vamp and the dancers swirl. Between courses, enjoy a Lavender Love or Leap of Faith cocktail in the Chapter 21 bar. Or venture to the downstairs smoking room that doubles as a gay toilet. While puffing on a joint, don’t be surprised if spontaneous music erupts or locals engage you in conversation. There are supperclubs in Istanbul, London, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but this is the original. And there’s nothing conventional about it!

Near the southwestern edge of Snow Canyon State Park is this wellness-oriented resort, a sprawling 55-acre property filled with fragrant mesquite trees, black lava gardens, and 106 rooms and villas. Stays here can be as low-key as a swim under the desert sun in one of two outdoor pools or an exfoliating red clay treatment at the renowned Sagestone Spa & Salon, but most visitors come for the full range of adventure offerings, from hiking and kayaking to sunset rappelling and horseback riding deep in red rock country. While the “consciously-planned entrée portions” at the hotel’s Canyon Breeze restaurant are all 500 calories or less—with most well under—dishes like grilled grass-fed strip loin steak with cheesy potato au gratin will leave you feeling anything but deprived. As of 2017, the resort is easier than ever to get to, thanks to new daily flights by United Express from Los Angeles to St. George.

A favorite cultural activity of mine is to visit bookstores wherever I go. Even if I can’t understand the language, I can usually get a sense for the themes of the most popular books. Luckily, the massive bookstore Eslite has a great English-language section in addition to the hundreds of shelves devoted to books in Chinese. What I enjoyed most was browsing through the travel section, especially the American travel area, to see exactly what the popular perceptions are of traveling to the United States. If you get hungry, there’s also a cafe and some great gift items to take home as keepsakes.

Blueberry Boy Bait may sound like a B-side song from an alternative band, but it’s actually just an ice cream flavor offered by Humphry Slocombe, a small shop in the Mission District. Owner and former pastry chef Jake Godby has made the name Humphry Slocombe synonymous with flavors and ingredients not often found in ice cream or sorbet. Case in point: best-seller Secret Breakfast, the flavor that launched a thousand Humphry Slocombe fans, a combo of homemade cornflakes and bourbon. Traditionalists will be happy to find “normal” flavors, too, but it’s Godby’s “march to your own drum” ethos that brings out his best work and keeps people lining up for creative scoops. Pick up a copy of The Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream Book, with 40 recipes you can re-create at home.

Spring is a wonderful time to visit Trelissick Gardens in Cornwall. Once a stately manor this country estate is now a magnificent garden on the banks of the River Fal. This is a garden where the plant hunters and travellers have left their mark with rhododendrons, magnolia and camelias blooming in springtime. Plant hunters were nineteenth century explorers who brought botanical species back to England and Cornwall has a sub tropical climate making it perfect for these varieties from the Himalayan Regions to grow.There are daffodils too, with Cornwall seeing these charming flowers earlier than other parts of England, formal flower beds and trails leading to secret corners of the garden. The clunking noise of a chain sounds in the distance. This is the nearby King Harry Ferry which takes cars across the river and a path leads to this historic form of transport at the bottom of the garden. Trelissick is a splendid place to visit and walk amongst the floral displays, the woodland and to enjoy the gardens with the river below. I particularly enjoy it in springtime.

If there were ever a hotel with history, it’s the Singular Patagonia. Opened as a hotel in November 2011, the original building once served as a post-Victorian cold-storage factory built by the British in 1915 for the purpose of processing sheep’s wool and meat to be shipped back to England. Overlooking the waters of Last Hope Sound, the long, red-brick building is located just outside the town of Puerto Natales. After operating for almost 70 years as a factory, it was declared a national historic landmark before being transformed into a luxury hotel.

History is by no means forgotten. The hallways are still stocked with brightly colored machinery—from steam condensers to boilers and forges—all stamped with the name of the British city in which they were built: Derby, Birmingham, London, or Glasgow. Designed by Chilean interior designer Enrique Concha and local architect Pedro Kovacic, the 57 bedrooms stretch along a new wing that was added to the original buildings, and these rooms are furnished with Victorian-inspired furniture.

The 50 best restaurants in the world, the top restaurants in Asia, the best restaurants in India—this elegant eatery has made all those award lists and more, often for several years in a row. Helmed by chef Manish Mehotra—himself a perennial “best chef” winner and MasterChef India judge—Indian Accent first opened at The Manor in 2009, where it quickly garnered acclaim for its modern take on subcontinental cuisine. It moved to The Lodhi hotel in 2017, where—in a striking, contemporary space lined with windows, paneled with mother-of-pearl, and centered around a “floating” glass-box private dining space—the high-quality and creativity has continued to soar. Some dishes skew “new Indian,” while others are more global with an Indian twist; either way, plates are colorful, flavorful, and artfully presented. Don’t miss signature dishes like galautis (kebabs) stuffed with fois gras, pulled pork tacos, butter popcorn upma, and duck khurchan served in a cone and topped with yogurt and chili. Get your carbs on with one of the nine types of bread—some layered with potatoes or Camembert—and wash it down with a “chat” sangria or masala-infused martini. While there are now Indian Accent outposts in New York and London, the Delhi location remains a must-visit—and, as of 2018, is still the one of the only restaurants in India to make all those award lists.

Stylishly lavish interiors are mere footnotes at Cipriani Yas Marina. Featuring classic Italian fare, the restaurant’s dishes are surprisingly authentic and the atmosphere is perfect for a romantic night out. To make things even more memorable, after dinner take a walk around the marina which is spectacularly illuminated in the evening.

At Greenfield Village, part of The Henry Ford, the goal is to recreate what life was like in the early days of the United States of America. That goal is more than accomplished through the historic structures, activities, and even the work of the actors and employees who populate the 240 acres that make up the Village, which was founded on October 21, 1929. It’s not just American history that’s highlighted, as some structures, like the Cotswold Cottage and the Swiss Cottage, represent the cultures of other countries. Every year the Village also hosts the World Series of Historic Baseball. There are working farms, and craftsmen still create with traditional methods, such as glass blowing and metalworking. Inventors and important historical figures are also highlighted, such as the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford himself, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln.

Live out your Swiss Family Robinson dreams at this small resort, where rope bridges and jungle paths connect 22 treehouses to a main lodge and restaurant serving fresh, organic produce harvested nearby. The treehouses are all set above the tree line; three VIP units feature king-size beds, outdoor showers, and the best views. There’s no Internet, cell service, or TV here, but there is a zip line that starts in the mountains and ends at a waterfall, and a rope swing near the resort’s back entrance. If you desperately need to check your email, there’s Wi-Fi just outside the property at Emma’s Café, where the staff will also teach you to dance merengue, bachata, or salsa.

Once an oyster-farming backwater, this area was held sacred to the shark goddess Ka‘ahupahau. But it’s forever etched into America’s psyche due to the 1941 Japanese surprise attack on the naval base, which launched the U.S. into WWII’s Pacific theater. Today, more than a million visitors pay their respects annually at the museums and memorials, which include the USS Bowfin, the USS Missouri, and the wreck of the USS Arizona. Buy tickets online to avoid the inevitable long wait. Ford Island also houses the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum here: Historic hangars showcase vintage aircraft like a Japanese Zero and a Curtiss P-40E Warhawk. Plane buffs should add on a $10 combat-simulator flight.

After long nights spent partying, studying, or working, a karak chai trip is a near-sacred tradition—cars packed with friends take a trip to a drive-through or a roadside stall to pick up sweet, hot chai. HumYum takes this longstanding and beloved ritual inside. The small café, decorated to evoke the bedouin and Emirati past, offers a wide variety of quick snacks and sweet drinks, perfect for a pick-me-up. Some of the city’s best people-watching takes place here, as you inhale the calming scents of cloves and cardamom and watch the late-night parade of tea-drinking regulars.