As the Olympics take over Paris, the hospitality scene is expanding in the city — and beyond — with a handful of new hotel openings worth bookmarking for a visit once the crowds have died down. Le Grand Hôtel Cayré opened in the Seventh Arrondissement earlier this month with 123 rooms, all with handcrafted wooden beds and mustard yellow velvet chairs, some with balconies and views of the Sacre Coeur or Eiffel Tower. In Carry-le-Rouet, a seaside village outside of Marseille, L’Hôtel Bleu’s design follows its name with 44 harbor-view rooms decorated in shades of blue. The property’s restaurant offers three seafood-heavy, Mediterranean-inspired tasting menus, while a private cinema room can be reserved when the weather calls for some indoor time. Further east toward Cannes, in the commune of Mougins, Hôtel Le Mas Candille was recently redesigned by the architect and decorator Hugo Toro, whose hand-painted patterns appear on the curtains and carpets in the 46 rooms. Its Glow House spa has four treatment rooms, each with its own terrace, and a private swimming pool overlooking Provence. In Nice’s old town, Hôtel du Couvent opened last month within a 17th-century convent surrounded by two-and-a-half acres of gardens. The former nuns’ herbal shop has been revived and now offers personalized remedies, some made from herbs grown on the property. There’s also a bathing area with pools of varying temperatures inspired by the nearby Roman baths.
We live in hotels full-time with our 14-month-old baby. We won't be settling in the suburbs.
24.07.2024 - 11:43 / insider.com
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Yusuf and Sumaiya Omar, co-founders of Seen TV . They have no fixed address and travel constantly with their son, Noah. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Yusuf: My wife Sumaiya and I were childhood sweethearts who married young.
I was born in London and Sumaiya in Durban, South Africa. Our lives have been nomadic since our engagement 11 years ago. When my wife got pregnant with our 14-month-old Noah, we continued traveling throughout the pregnancy and Noah's infancy.
Parents often adapt their lives to their children, but we've adapted Noah to our lives. Noah was born in 2022 in the Gold Coast, Australia, where we stayed for his first few months and then continued traveling. At 14 months, Noah's visited over 10 countries.
Yusuf: Early in my career, I worked as a journalist and traveled to many difficult places, covering war and conflict.
Then, in 2015, my wife and I moved to India after I got a job at the Hindustan Times. We moved to London in 2016 when I got a job at CNN International. At CNN, we noticed the critical lack of diversity in the media.
Sumaiya: In 2017, we started a project training communities to tell their stories on mobile devices, which became our media business, Seen TV. Between 2017 and 2020, we delivered training to people in over 100 countries.
It demanded a seriously nomadic life with no apartment, car, or postal address. We only slowed down in 2020 due to COVID.
Yusuf: Building Seen TV, we fought to be the opening speaker or keynote at conferences and events.
After landing the first few, we used video footage to send to other speaker events, which had a snowball effect. In addition to being paid to speak, flights, food, and accommodation were covered.
As young people on an international speaker circuit, it was an amazing way to see the world at no cost.
From 2017 onwards, we didn't pay rent and had no direct debits, gym membership, or phone contracts. We were in a different place every few days.
Sumaiya and I would often be double booked, speaking in different locations.
We could feel like two ships passing in the night. Our marriage involved meeting in airport lounges, and it was hellishly tiring.
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Sumaiya: COVID forced us to spend longer periods in a few locations and build our media company. Although terrible, the pandemic slowed our schedules, and we could develop our business.
Sumaiya: Now, we're building our company and raising Noah, our 14-month-old, as best we can.
Yusuf: Settling down has never been on the cards. Time differences and travel have been the only constants in our marriage. Everyone said we'd settle down with a baby. Our question was: why?
Sumayia: Be
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