Everyone wants to save money on vacation, but steep discounts are rare for most — unless you are a high-profile celebrity, influencer, or, it seems, the mayor of New York City.
24.09.2024 - 20:59 / cntraveler.com
Few films drive home travel’s ability to help us understand one another as poignantly as Will & Harper. When Will Ferrell’s longtime friend and Saturday Night Live collaborator Harper Steele comes out as a trans woman, the two set off on a road trip from New York to Los Angeles to better understand her transition and, in turn, their friendship. “I love this country so much,” Harper says. “I just don’t know if it loves me back right now.” Over 17 days, a three-vehicle crew followed the pair and, with mounts on Harper’s Jeep and car-to-car shooting, captured 240 hours of footage. Here, director Josh Greenbaum reflects on the places that moved him and on navigating the country in a new light.
On Location is a column that lifts the curtain on the destinations behind the season’s most exciting new releases, from film and television to music.
Will & Harper follows longtime friends Will Ferrell and Harper Steele on a cross-country road trip after the latter's transition to live as a woman.
Some of the film’s locations like Iowa City and Mojave hold a special meaning for Harper. How did you go about putting those other pins on the map?
At the start of the project, I said to Harper, “This is your and Will’s trip. Map it out, I just need to make sure production can pull it off.” We knew Will would meet Harper upstate before heading west. New York City is special for them, so they started where they first met: Saturday Night Live. Will then wanted to go to DC, where I lost him in the International Spy Museum. He’s calling “Come find me!” and he’s hiding in an air duct. I knew Will and Harper wanted to go to an NBA game because they used to do that together. Iowa City, which you mention, is special because it’s where Harper is from. I remember hitting a patch of snow and saying “Let’s go south,” because it was getting cold up north, so we headed towards Texas. We always wanted to do that southern route and stop along the way. I can’t remember if Vegas was on the original itinerary—neither of them are big Vegas people—but I let Will and Harper steer the road map.
These are roads that Harper has at once traveled down before yet never travelled down as this new version of herself. What do you think that says about coming back to places?
I think we’ve all returned to places years later, which bring out different emotions. I vividly remember the first time I came back to my hometown after being away at university: walking into my house and it feeling different, smelling different. There’s a nostalgia and a distancing that’s sad, yet joyful. For Harper that was much of the experience, because she was rediscovering these places. Returning where she wasn’t sure she could be accepted and then being accepted was
Everyone wants to save money on vacation, but steep discounts are rare for most — unless you are a high-profile celebrity, influencer, or, it seems, the mayor of New York City.
When the Van Cortlandt family acquired their sprawling Hudson Valley estate in the late 1600s, they couldn't have imagined that it would one day host a jack-o'-lantern festival with pumpkin sculptures including a Kraken, moving windmill, and Statue of Liberty.
Dallas-Fort Worth travelers who want to take high tea overlooking Victoria Harbour at the Peninsula Hong Kong or chow down on dim sum have a new way to get to the bustling Asian metropolis next spring.
The Catskills does Autumn very well. A getaway in the fall provides a consolation for the end of summer. It feels like a homely embrace, offering comfort, warmth, and a sweep of color that will bring cheer to even the most die-hard warm-season devotees. As fall begins to drape across New York State, it’s the perfect time to book a getaway — after all, we deserve to celebrate this time of year in a place where the season is in its brightest incarnation. The Catskills’ Hamptonsification, however, means that a weekend in the mountains can quickly get expensive. There are some ways to do a getaway on the dime. One is to set a reminder for October 3, noon ET. On a first-served basis, Urban Cowboy Lodge, arguably the best cabin hotel in the area, is offering a stay on the Big Indian Wilderness for $24 per night.
Scotland has no shortage of draws for travelers. More than 4 million people traveled to Scotland in 2023, and that number is only growing. Famous draws like world-class whisky and museums fill itineraries, as do castles and nature that’s being restored through an ambitious rewilding program. And while there are plenty of things to do, the best way to experience Scotland is through slow travel, which the region is actively promoting. It’s just one of the reasons Matador Network named Scotland its Sustainable Destination of the Year in 2023.
The US housing market is gradually tilting more toward buyers.
In the dusty desert of Marfa, Texas, hotel and campground El Cosmico serves as an eclectic respite in Far West Texas.
When recording his ninth solo album, Flow Critical Lucidity, Thurston Moore stayed local, holing up in a London studio near his home in Stoke Newington to lay down tracks. Yet while that process played out within walls thrumming with the sound of reggae, jazz, funk, and soul from neighboring musicians, the writing process took place further afield on Lake Geneva, where the Sonic Youth frontman reflected on the places that shaped him, like New York City during his No Wave days, as well as locations that serve as a call to action in protecting the planet, such as the rich nature of the Galápagos islands. Condé Nast Traveler caught up with Moore in the East Village earlier this summer to learn how nature informed much of the making of the album—and what life in 1980s downtown New York City, as captured in his recent memoir Sonic Life, was really like.
JetBlue announced on Thursday it would open its first-ever lounges, at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). The new premium spaces are set to debut in late 2025, first at the airline’s JFK Terminal 5 hub followed “soon after” by a JetBlue lounge space in Boston Logan’s Terminal C.
Fall travelers can rejoice with new discounts on airfare. Frontier Airlines recently announced a fall vacation sale, with one-way fares as low as $19 to popular destinations including Chicago, Philadelphia, Orlando, and more. Dallas has the highest number of deals in the sale, including flights to/from the city to Detroit, San Jose, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Portland, and more. Other popular markets in the sale include flights to Orlando from New Orleans, San Antonio, and Syracuse. The sale also includes discounts to several international destinations that Frontier flies to, such as one-way service between Atlanta and Cancun from $85, and Denver to Puerto Vallarta from $99. The lowest discounts at $19 are exclusively for members of Frontier's paid membership program, Discount Den. The program has an annual fee of $99 for the first year, and $59 for subsequent years, and provides access to lower cost fares as well as benefits including free flights for children. The sale ends on September 23, 2024 at 11:59 p.m., and is valid on travel for select days through November 20, 2024. There are several restricted dates in the sale, such as discounted travel to Las Vegas is only available on Sunday through Wednesday. The sale is currently available on Frontier's site. For travelers looking to book a fall vacation, Travel + Leisure spotted deals including:
Working in social media at The Points Guy means that my "saved" tab on Instagram is full to the brim with travel inspiration, including recommendations for destinations, restaurants and experiences around the globe. But one destination has seemed to appear more and more frequently in the last couple of years: Paris.
Dubai-based airline Emirates is expanding its premium economy service in the United States by bringing an upgraded cabin to six new routes.