Holiday Goddess

Bahrain for Beginners Victoria Aitken is invited to a wedding in Bahrain, where the locals wave at you in the streets – and mineral water can cost more than oil. When the door to the plane opened to the dry heat and sunshine of Bahrain, I felt so grateful to be visiting, smallest state in [...]

By Victoria Aitken
Categories Bahrain, Middle East

Oxford Street, Paddington is possibly Sydney’s most female-friendly street with cult cosmetic brands from all over the world, a legendary charity shop and famous Australian names like Sass & Bide, Collette Dinnigan and Dinosaur Designs. By Jessica Adams. Oxford Street, Paddington is very close to the city and you can spend a whole day here [...]

By Jessica Adams
Categories New South Wales, Sydney

Los Angeles Travel Goddess Vicki Arkoff ignored her cardiologist’s orders and returned to a favorite Hollywood greasy spoon for another hearty (and possibly heart-stopping) helping of the city’s best soul food.  Every day, tour-bus mobs stop at Hollywood & Vine to shoot photos of Walk of Fame sidewalk stars. If only they knew that just [...]

By Vicki Arkoff
Categories California, Los Angeles

Scottsdale offers a Frank Lloyd Wright fix and some excellent bars and restaurants. By Felicity Loughrey. Where to Stay Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch 7500 East Doubletree Road Ranch, Scottsdale, Arizona http://scottsdale.hyatt.com With views of the McDowell Mountains and the Sonoran Desert, the Hyatt Regency plays up to its dramatic location. [...]

By Felicity Loughrey
Categories Arizona, Scottsdale, USA

Felicity Loughrey explores Brooklyn’s Fort Greene, just ten minutes from downtown Manhattan and home to Spike Lee and a cult beauty store. In the final series of Sex and the City, Miranda bought a brownstone in the boho Brooklyn enclave of Fort Greene. On screen she was in the doldrums about her new life on [...]

By Felicity Loughrey
Categories New York, USA

Victoria Aitken leaves New York to live it up in The Hamptons and wonders if it would make a good documentary… My friend Robin Leacock, invited me to spend the weekend with her in The Hamptons. She is a documentary film maker and is married to Robert Leacock. The film credits include Madonna’s Truth or [...]

By Victoria Aitken
Categories New York, USA

Felicity Loughrey talks a walk on the wild side of New York law and tries to find someone (anyone!) who will tint her lashes. In a city where you’d think anything goes, eyelash tints are illegal in New York. But damn it, my lashes are impossibly fair and could do with the treatment. Breaking rules [...]

By Felicity Loughrey
Categories New York, USA

Felicity Loughrey interviews a man who took his last US vacation the easy way – surfing the couches (and spare rooms) of willing single women.

By Felicity Loughrey
Categories How To Travel, USA

Karen Moline (who describes herself as a true New York Cheapallonia) finds budget-friendly places in Manhattan for hungry children.   Doesn’t it just drive you crazy when you go out to eat with the kids, and they either pitch a fit in between you finding a waitress and the mac’n’cheese arriving, or they eat two [...]

By Karen Moline
Categories Budget Travel, New York, Travelling with Children, USA

Felicity Loughrey tries underwater music at one of Arizona’s best spas. In a prim uniform and wedge espadrilles, spa director Dzeneta Arslanovic, pads around Spa Avania. Attached to the Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale Arizona this spa is a relatively new addition to North America’s spa capital. As she moves through the US$9 [...]

By Felicity Loughrey
Categories Arizona, Scottsdale, Spa breaks, USA