1) Last 3 stamps in your passport?
Italy, Mexico, US

2) One thing you can’t travel without?
My Smythson Travel Wallet- As I travel a lot and often to multiple countries in a single trip it is great as it organises currencies, passports, tickets, etc…I feel super organized and efficient when I arrive and there is no searching for anything, it is all at hand! …And to be honest, the international travel charger for my BlackBerry!

3) Favourite hotel room?
Any of the suites at the Emiliano, São Paulo. There are now newer hotels in Sao Paulo but when the Emiliano opened I was amazed at how incredibly well designed and comfortable the rooms were, not to mention chic and with great service. They are well thought out rooms, without wasted space and with everything one needs to be truly comfortable…I still use the wood comb I took from my first visit six or seven years ago. I also love my room at the Bauer in Venice. I always get the same room for the Venice Biennale; in the modern sort of high fascist part of the hotel – I love it. And again the service is the best in Venice and the concierges are good at dealing with everyone during that crazy time. I love to stay there.

4) Dream destination – somewhere you haven’t been to but would love to visit?
Ouro Prieto in Minas Gerais, Brazil. I have tried to go every time I have gone to Brazil and I still have not made it to this beautiful colonial city that is rich in history and cultural patrimony.

5) Best/worst travel adventure?
Worst, as a teenager on a trip to Europe with my grandparents. We were on a train from Sevilla to Madrid that ended up having a bomb on it, we were evacuated off the train in the middle of nowhere and had this crazy time trying to get back to Madrid, finally brawling onto an overfull bus where I was forced to sit on this metal thing for hours that ended up burning blisters on my legs and ass! It was insane and sort of exciting at the time…too many good beautiful adventures to chose one.

6) Last book you read on holiday?
I always read more than one book at a time, but now over Christmas I read: A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole; The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan; White Tiger, Aravind Adiga; Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts.

7) Best insider travel tip?
I truly think bombarding the body with vitamin C before during and after a flight works to avoid jet lag and getting other peoples germs! I take Emergen C and Airborn together and I am never jetlagged and rarely sick from the flights.

8) Best secret hideaway?
I love the Anderson Valley, north of San Francisco, near Napa and Sonoma but farther afield…same amazing vineyards, restaurants, and local foods, but also towering Redwoods and a tenth of the crowds…America at its finest.

9) Favourite travel outfit?
I wear a variation of the same thing always on a trip; just with a shifting of weights of fabrics etc…I wear a jacket almost always with pockets to carry all the things I need, in the hot places it is.

10) Most treasured holiday souvenir?
Antique embroidered Uzbek ceremonial horse decorations from an incredible textile dealer in Istanbul…

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