New Zealand's most populous city sprawls across an isthmus between two harbours, its downtown commercial district perched on the waterfront of the Waitematā, a spiky cluster of skyscrapers and sails. Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population – and one of the most culturally diverse populations – in the world, and its refreshingly unique food culture is heavily inspired by this multiculturalism, along with the region's fertile volcanic soils and its bounty of seafood.
As founding chef of a number of Auckland restaurants over the past few decades, including The Sugar Club, which remains at the top of the city's Sky Tower, internationally acclaimed chef Peter Gordon has long been associated with the cutting edge of the city's culinary scene. And after more than 30 years based in London, his restaurants building his reputation as the "godfather of fusion cooking", Gordon returned to Auckland in 2020 to create something he'd long yearned for: a "food embassy for Aotearoa [New Zealand] and the Pacific".
Gordon has Scottish and Māori ancestry (Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāi Tahu are his tribal affiliations), and Homeland – his restaurant, cooking school and artisan food store – is a vehicle to showcase the Māori concept of manaākitanga – hospitality, generosity, compassion – via the sharing of food and the preparation that goes into it. Gordon has a nose for finding delicious and innovative food that's demonstrative of the city's cultural and geographical landscape. Here, he shares some of his top picks.
Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world and boasts Māori culinary history stretching back at least 700 years. How do those elements influence the city's food scene?
As a youth, I'd travel to Auckland for the school holidays and back then, there wasn't anything Pacific-influenced about the food. More recently you might find [Pacific] Island food at the weekend produce markets at Otara and Avondale, but it was kind of seen as only for Pacific people.
But that's started to change within the past decade, and it's exciting. Hāngi is being rediscovered. It's the oldest way of cooking in New Zealand and methods like it feature around the Pacific Islands too. It's an earth oven: we dig a big hole in the ground and put rocks in, or even big railway sleepers and steel car parts; anything that retains the heat. We lower baskets full of food on top and cover it: these days it's with hessian sacks but traditionally it was woven flax, then soil. The food cooks away for hours. I once cooked hāngi for 800 or more: a whole sheep rubbed with smoked paprika and fennel seeds and wrapped in banana leaf. You can't really dig a pit at a restaurant, but more people than ever are able to enjoy hāngi thanks
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Travelers now have the chance to win enough airline miles to last for many trips to come.Air Tahiti Nui's “Share The Love” contest will give away a total of 1,000,000 airline miles from the loyalty program in increments of 25,000 miles each to winning travelers. As for the ‘sharing’ component of the contest, each winner who gets the prize of 25,000 miles, can give 25,000 to a person of their choice. The original winner also receives a private helicopter flight courtesy of Tahiti Nui Helicopters.
There are so many majestic landscapes to view and things to do in Scotland that it can be hard to narrow down where to visit. So why not choose your hotels as a starting point? Scotland is known for its inclement weather, so choosing a hotel with spa facilities can be an excellent backup for something to do if the weather is terrible. It can also be a great way to soothe weary muscles and feet after all the hiking and sightseeing.
If you’ve never heard of Iceland-based booking website Dohop, you should check them out. The company has been nominated for two World Travel Awards—World’s Leading Flight Comparison Website and World’s Leading Travel Technology Partner—and recently launched an amazing tool called FLYR Fare Protection, in partnership with FLYR.
EasyJet is about to give its customers a bit more freedom: The low-cost carrier has announced a new booking program allowing travelers to connect with other low-fare airlines. The initial project is based at London’s Gatwick Airport, and is focused on connecting EasyJet European flights with long-haul ones, like Norwegian and WestJet routes across the Atlantic, and Loganair flights to Scotland. EasyJet plans to expand the program quickly to some of its larger hubs around Europe, and to add new partnered airlines, including some based in Asia. But the program already has its limits.
Calling Europe a “hot” destination this year has little to do with trends; when Paris hit 109 degrees in July, it marked the city’s hottest day on record—shattering the previous record by five degrees. And the worst may not be over: August could be even hotter, and heat waves in Europe, where fewer than five percent of homes have air conditioning, seem to be getting more common overall.
Halfway through my international journalism program at City, University of London, COVID-19 hit. I was forced to move back in with my parents in rural Wales for three months. I then made the impulsive decision to fly to any airport that would take UK travelers. I found myself on the last flight out to Belgrade, Serbia.
After one too many lost-luggage incidents, I never check a bag if I can help it. My trusty carry-on suitcase and backpack have served me well through numerous trips abroad, including Scotland, New Zealand, and Iceland.
Traveling with children can often feel like you're preparing for a military expedition. The packing list alone can overwhelm even the most organized parents, not to mention the precision planning required to ensure the children's needs are met at every step of the journey. But imagine if all that stress could be whisked away, replaced with an environment specifically designed to cater to the needs of your little ones and yours. Hotel Café Royal in London is making this dream a reality through collaboration with Louenna Hood, the former Royal Nanny.
For five days of the year each summer, the somewhat soulless exhibition centre in Earls Court is transformed into a giant pub (pictured above). Or at least that’s what it feels like. Gone are the trade stalls and suited delegates, replaced by an army of (mostly bearded) volunteers manning hundreds of kegs, dispensing beers few people have ever heard of to thousands of squiffy punters – a lot of whom are wearing traffic-cone hats or sombreros for no apparent reason.
The Northern Irish coast is justifiably famous for its beauty, all craggy inlets and brooding cliffs topped by crumbling castles. Most people explore this coastline from the land, walking along the clifftops and driving the winding road that snakes along from the Scotland-facing east coast to the large inlet of Derry in the west.