Chef Ravinder Bhogal on Fresh Vegetables, Intuitive Cooking, and the Lasting Influence of Matriarchs

Magdelena Arbelaez-Chujfi may only be 2 years old, but she's already quite the jet-setter.

The Greek government has just reopened an ancient palace where the well-known conqueror Alexander the Great ascended to the throne as King of Macedonia roughly 2,400 years ago. 

One Thursday last March I emerged from the Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest train station, and crossed into another world. Inside the station, a guide with a novelty Swiss flag was marshalling a party of Asian visitors. Outside, we were soon on the Jungfraufirn, a small glacier that feeds the Aletsch, the largest glacier in the Alps. Sunlight shone through breaks in the cloud, and the ice, flanked by buttresses of dark rock, ran south for miles. The pitch was gentle and the ungroomed snow looked inviting.

I grew up with African food, but in a Lebanese way.Let’s take my mum’s okra stew — the African version is filled with fried fish, cow foot, sheep tail, oxtail and beef all in one stew — while Lebanese cooking is quite simplistic and based around fresh salads and grills, that sort of stuff. So, the stew she’d make would have none of that, just beef, and it wouldn’t be made with palm oil. It was African food but in a tame way, because of my Lebanese dad. Whenever my mum makes it, I go absolutely mental — it warms up your belly, is full of good nutrients and is a different flavour to anything you’ve ever had before. My grandma once made it in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with fufu (pounded cassava root and green plantains, rolled into small balls) — proper authentic. I choked on a fish bone but it was the best meal I’ve ever had.

You’ve probably heard of Alexander the Great, the king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon in the fourth century B.C. Known for conquering lands as far away as India, and taking steps toward creating the world’s first multicultural empire, he was a legend even before his death at 32. But until recently, there were few historic places travelers could visit to learn about his life.

In our 5 Shops series, we’ll point you in the direction of our favorite independent shops across some of the world's best cities. From food markets and bookshops to vintage and homegrown design stores, we’ve found a diverse and exciting mix of local retailers where you can pick up one-of-a-kind pieces.

Top five destinations for flight bookings during the first week of the Big Orange Sale were Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Alicante and Malaga.

The survey compared hotel rates across 40 European destinations for December 31, with prices at all hotels with a central location and rated three stars or more in each destination recorded.

BrewDog and SSP Group have announced plans to open a new bar at Edinburgh Waverley station and a new pub at London Waterloo in early 2024

56 travel industry awards won in 2023.

OBTs, AI and NDC will continue to dominate business travel landscape.

As a travel and food writer, I am beyond lucky that my work takes me to dozens of dreamy destinations both near and far each year. But the very best trips make me reluctant to walk out the door for the last time, wishing I could hit a rewind button and begin the trip all over again even while I’m still there.