Interesting & Inspiring- Women Now In Time Slow Beauty

The Icons 

Forces of Nature ( A bit unreal I admit but let's admire)

you get the idea

the narrative goes like this:

Age + Perception = Who Cares? We can't all look like these ladies, but we can live like

them by example and get inspired by the timeless and eternal fascination of being

naturally lit women radiant and reinventing what it means to be over 

50

get out in the world, do what you love, keep the beauty

thing going your unique way, look to your elders, the 

icons, women in film, literature or on your block, in your social circle

 who light the way

‘IT’S RIDICULOUS TO PRETEND THERE ARE NO BEAUTIFUL OLDER WOMEN'

by Bethan Holt, September 2016 (United Kingdom)

 

RealWomen 

This is What 81 Looks Like (My Aunt Frannie)

Travels With My Aunt in South Africa

My Over 50 journey

article in LA Times regarding dating 

 Finding bliss has many flavors when you have been all over the world and it has been all over you. Who are the spirited ones who defy the narrative and remain timeless in their pursuit of a life well lived? They are famous, not famous, moving in ways that lift all of us women up through the ages to think beyond limits, time, society, lit inside still very mindful of the power of beauty, the joys of freedom, the grace of good genes and the courage to wear them. 

  My travel pal Ursula Beatt

  A beautiful inspiration & woman

        of the world 

If you like to explore places and faces, doing what you loved in your 20's, life can be even better a few years later. Get in the water, lay in the sun, eat ice cream and laugh. Beautiful friends can inspire you and share secrets, tips, attitudes and the focus and courage to constantly reinvent themselves. God bless my friends and family!

Super Model Now Cindy Joseph

Check out her story on getting married at 66

 "Stay curious, keep looking for ways to experience the world a little different than yesterday or the day before, keep reaching to learn new things and taste life." Marisa Berenson 

Style, simplicity, wellness, peace, inspiration, adventure, beauty, creativity and connection over time  takes it toll and taking it well is an art. When experience married with a well composed life studied and surrendered combines luck, timing and listening to your own voice, the result can be startling. A woman who does not subscribe to convention and continues to contribute to life by chronic curiosity, engagement, the urge to immerse in her talents with the gift of discipline 

The Mermaid - My Maltese Sea Maverick- Solange (56)

My Sea Cove tour guide in Malta inspires me in the Mediterranean, she knows all of the secret spots around the Maltese islands and takes her friends on amazing adventures in coves across the channels to tiny little beaches. She has shown me my free spirit over and over again on the water, in the sea in the middle of the Mediterranean. 

"I love showing people the beauty you can get to on a "Rib " Zodiac

The Artist:

The Artist

Georgia O'Keefe

I just went to  Santa Fe and spent time wandering the streets of this New Mexican idyll. Even though I have been to Taos many times, the homage to Georgia O'keefe renewed my faith in the power of creativity, the language of nature, and the blend of intense focus, urban immersion combined with total fascination and exposure to big nature. O'Keefe was a naturalist and a city intellectual, a loner and a woman of the world deeply engaged with community. As I travel through time, I love to discover aspects of iconic women who display layers of femininity and fierce courage, trust in their calling and personal style.

The Brilliant Pioneer 

Jane Goodall 

ABOUT JANE

Click above to a link to her new documentary. 

In July 1960, at the age of 26, Jane Goodall traveled from England to what is now Tanzania and ventured into the little-known world of wild chimpanzees. The rest is history! Check out her new documentary

We are all creatures of the wild and creatures of habit. Some are wonderful, some keep us stuck in time afraid to reach out into new frontiers because of our age. I hope these images reveal a little more truth and beauty to your day and life.  

Austin Motel

I love the  description in the culture section of this historic motel in Austin Texas that was recently acquired by a new owner. The story is an American Dream and a real slow kind of cool. 

The History of the Austin Motel

The history of the Austin Motel and the land on which it stands is not a story of corporate success with multi-million dollar profits, high end stocks, explosive growth into franchises, and financial wizards at the helm. It is nevertheless a success story. It is a success story of ordinary human beings—average everyday folks with normal ups and downs, hardships and joys, and persistence to endure. It is a very human old fashioned grass roots story of families—of love for the land and for the community. It is a story of a small unique little home grown business that has survived well through several generations and over 65 years of continuous operation while experiencing both hard times and joyful good times. It is a story of connection with other people and satisfaction for what has been accomplished from personal hard work, “hands on” attention, and love. Everyone who has owned this property has been personally involved with the work and vision of building and maintaining it. Families have been integral to its operation. It has always involved a direct inter-relationship with the local community.

Though Mr. and Mrs. Eck were very enterprising with business property in several locations, for our purposes, this story begins in May of 1888 when Leonard and Frances Eck, immigrants from Germany, bought the land that now comprises the Austin Motel and its associated businesses. The following year, he built the first business south of the river in Austin at 1200 S. Congress. He also installed the first Telephone south of the river. This was initially a general merchandise store that had a pawn shop, sold jewelry, produce, and home goods, and had a livery stable and blacksmith shop next to it. This building still stands today and is now BLACKMAIL… a clothing and gift store. In its early years, we are told this building was lively and from time to time filled with at least a few fairly dubious characters.

Urban Legend (The Clash splashed here?)

Stories varied, but descendants of Mr. Eck tell of the friendship between Ben Thompson, an English immigrant and famous Texas outlaw, and Mr. Eck. Ben Thompson made frequent use of the pawn shop to pawn goods for gambling expeditions and then reclaimed them with his large winnings. Gambling was big around this area at that time and Ben Thompson found it a more interesting life than working at a job. He was feisty, an expert gunman, and his gambling habit frequently involved him in gun battles, duels, and brawls. He was an outlaw who later became one of the best “Marshall’s” Austin ever had and it is a mystery why he has not become more famous in the stories of the old west. According to Mr. Eck’s descendants, Ben Thompson had pawned a large diamond ring with him before going over to San Antonio to the Vaudeville Theatre and Gambling Hall with fellow gunslinger J. King Fisher. At the end of the evening, they were both dead. The famous ring was never reclaimed and still resides with the descendants of Mr. Eck. More information about Ben Thompson can be found on the internet.

Upon the death of Mr. Eck I 1925, Jennie Eck Stewart inherited the ownership of the Eastern Half of the 1200 S. Congress Block. Similar in entrepreneurial spirit to her father, she along with her husband Earnest Stewart expanded the stores along the block. In the ’30s when the country was experiencing the boom of the automobile and Americans wanted to travel with their cars, motels and motor courts… a new concept in the lodging industry designed to accommodate these new road travelers……sprung up all around the country. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were quick to see the value in this new concept and built the Austin Motel which opened its doors in 1938 and has never closed them since. It was the Stewarts who built the Austin Motel’s landmark neon sign way back in 1938 – read more about it here.

Pico Iyer on the art of slow travel

The Guardian

Chuck your phone, scrap your plans, and slow the heck down … introducing
our guide to relaxed holidays, Pico Iyer extols the virtues of mindful travel

Pico Iyer

 

“I have some bad news,” my British tour operator told me as I prepared to return to North Korea four months ago. “The DPRK is really short of basic materials. You’re going to have to take your own snacks and water. Even soap.” Then he brightened up. “The good news is that it’s still quite hard to get online there and most mobile phones don’t work. So you’ll be free for as long as you’re there!”

More and more people are spending hundreds of pounds a night to stay in “black-hole resorts”, one of whose main attractions is that you hand over your smartphone and tablet on arrival. In a world where the human race accumulates more information every five minutes than exists in the entire US Library of Congress, emptiness and silence are the new luxuries.

Welcome, in short, to “slow travel”, which comes to seem ever more tempting in an age of acceleration. This can take the form of simply unplugging; but it also speaks for the special, everyday allure of seeing somewhere on foot, of going to one place (and not 10) in 14 days, and sometimes of going somewhere to do nothing at all. This used to be known as idling, but in a multi-tasking world, in which we seem to be living at a pace dictated by machines, going at human speed suddenly begins to look like sanity and freedom.

I experienced my own first taste of slow travel 23 years ago, when I checked into a monastery, of all places – even though years of enforced chapel at school had left me all but allergic to church services. It didn’t matter. The chance to take walks, to forget about phone calls, to sit and just catch my breath, so invigorated me that when I moved to Japan, I took a two-room flat that had something of the quiet of a retreat house.

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But I also experienced a sense of freedom when I arrived in Zurich, to find I could get everywhere by easy and frequent tram. I’ve known friends take tours on bicycles, or long train rides so they can simply read and write and chat with strangers. I’ve seen them go skiing in Kashmir, where there’s just one chairlift, or fishing in Scotland or Montana to catch some stillness and clarity. Even Ritz-Carltons and Intercontinentals now offer “digital detox” packages to help open your eyes and ears to The essence of holidays, and therefore travel, is to get what you don’t get enough of the rest of the time. And for more and more of us, this isn’t movement, diversion or stimulation; we’ve got plenty of that in the palms of our hands. It’s the opposite: the chance to make contact with loved ones, to be in one place and to enjoy the intimacy and sometimes life-changing depth of talking to one person for five – or 15 – hours.

Of course, lying on a beach or in a hammock has always offered something of a respite from the rat race. But as I hear of westerners walking to Mount Kailash, or a film producer going to the Seychelles just to read books with his daughter, as I see how the appeal of a long walk in the woods is not just the woods but the lack of all signals, I suspect that the world has reversed direction since the time, not so long ago, when jumbo jets and Concordes first promised to whisk us across the planet at supersonic speeds. Concorde, after all, is gone now; but near where I live, in the old Japanese capital of Nara, there are more and more rickshaws in view – to cater to the very people who patented the idea of “Six Cities in Four Days”.

Long term investing in conservation is the approach to sustainable tourism while protecting, engaging, inspiring and learning as climate changes, people evolve, economies ebb and flow and life continues.  

Long term investing & nurturing in the future of place and environment = a realistic approach by taking the long view

Leaders with a specific vision and talent for stimulating investment, philanthropy, social impact and profit are creating another layer of tourism that engages the traveler beyond their own private journey. Tourism is a holistic venture where collaboration, capital, innovation, community, patience and heritage will support the benefits that only travel can provide.  Capital and vision will help preserve some of the most sensitive and breathtaking corners of the planet and this post highlights a few visionaries making an impact on tourism from New Mexico to South Africa. This post has a few snapshots of Luke Bailes, CEO Singita, Sonu Shavdasini, CEO & Chairman Soneva Group, Louis Bacon, Moore Capital Management, Ted Turner, Turner Enterprises and Richard Branson have taken corners of the globe under their wing to share, preserve and sustain through passion, capital and taking the long view.  I will be taking my first trip to Africa where I will learn about other visionaries on a smaller scale in South Africa and Botswana and look forward to bringing their legacies, journeys, experiences into my own narrative.

The Take Away Tourism + Saving The World Through investing in place, people, time and experience

= A Long Term Strategy with a lot of vision

South Africa - Luke Bailes CEO Singita  

As the world’s human population continues its exponential growth, the loss of pristine wilderness is taking place at an ever-accelerating rate, to counteract this Singita is making a profound difference in many parts of Africa.

Orchestrating an interdependent relationship between communities, wildlife and tourism that ensures true sustainability, Singita is blazing a trail which is seldom achieved on this scale anywhere else on the continent.

Courtesy of Blue Marble - UK                                      

Here, Luke shares his thoughts on falling in love with Africa, the benefits of a long-term plan and helpful billionaires...

Q: What was the genesis for Singita and what propelled you to commit to such an ambitious concept?

In the early days there were fantastic wildlife experiences on offer but very few complimentary hospitality experiences. Matching the two was our goal when we started Singita. We quickly realised over the years, that wildlife and pristine wilderness was under threat due to increased population growth and so over time the emphasis has completely shifted to preserving at-risk areas and working in partnership with local communities.

Singita is unusual in that you consider a very long term horizon when setting strategy and objectives. Can you explain the approach behind your "100 year plan”?

"One of our concerns is that businesses have become so driven by greed and short-term profit that it impacts on strategy and decision-making, which ultimately impacts on the health of the business. Our approach is totally opposite – we don’t look at the short-term. Our primary objective is to preserve and protect large tracts of land in Africa for future generations and everything we do supports that. Ironically when you do things properly and well, profits take care of themselves and this gives us the wherewithal to do what we do.

Singita's 100 Year Vision from Singita on Vimeo.

 Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. 

Louis Bacon 

 Bacon is the Founder and Chairman of The Moore Charitable Foundation, Inc. (“MCF”) and its affiliate foundations across North America, spanning southern Colorado, northern New Mexico, eastern North Carolina, The Bahamas, Panama and Long Island, New York. Mr. Bacon founded The Moore Charitable Foundation in 1992. The Foundation works with conservation experts and leaders and has provided significant funding to more than 200 local, national and international environmental organizations.

In 2012, he gave 90,000 acres to the federal government as a conservation easement, and created the Trinchera Blanca Foundation to permanently protect 167,000 of the 171,400 acres of his Trinchera Blanca Ranch, expanding the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area bordering the San Luis Valley in Colorado, and placed his 20,000 acre Tercio Ranch in a conservation easement as well. Prior to that, he’d also made significant contributions to conservation projects in his childhood home of North Carolina, on Long Island, New York, and in the Bahamas.

 Taos Ski Valley - Bacon Regenerates a Slow Tough Mountain and delicately handles the locals and the essence of the place.

Now, it appears as though Bacon has turned his eyes toward Taos, New Mexico. Having owned property there since 1996, Bacon had worked with the previous owners of the Taos Ski Valley, the Blake Family, to develop a master plan for renovating the aging ski resort that was ultimately approved by the forest service in 2012. The family, which had been seeing tourism decline, had wanted to make improvements for a long time, but could not afford them without risking the ability to pay their employees.

It was Bacon’s conservation ethic, as well as his willingness to work with the family, that Led the Blakes to offer to sell him the property. "We believe Louis is the right person to ensure a viable future for the ski valley and that his ownership will be beneficial to our employees, Taos' residents and guests," said Mickey Blake in a statement. "I'm in mourning a little bit but I realize this is really a good thing for the ski area," said Adriana Blake.

Bacon is dedicated to “advancing the Blake family vision and legacy of Taos Ski Valley by continuing to provide an unmatched skiing experience while serving as an economic driver for northern New Mexico,” according to his spokesman Peter Talty. And his commitment to conservation also has environmental protection groups in New Mexico looking to him to help further local conservation efforts. If history is any indicator, these groups may not have to wait long—his deal with the federal government for conservation easements in Colorado took just two years from genesis to completion.

 " Our theory is that a new luxury is emerging based on what is now missing in everyday life: nature, sustainability and good health. This is why our resorts win so many awards and have been so successful, as we try to inspire a lifetime of rare experiences."

Sonu Shivdasani is one of the founders of The Soneva Foundation and is Chairman and CEO of Soneva Resorts & Residences and founded Six Senses Resorts & Spas. For nearly 20 years Sonu and his wife, Eva, have created the template for sustainable tourism, coining the concepts of SLOW LIFE and intelligent luxury which recognises the ability for luxury holiday making and care for the environment to co-exist with perfect ease.

Sonu Shivdasani: We question and challenge what luxury is for the wealthy today. In the past, the wealthy were rural landed gentry and the language of luxury was that which was rare for them: dressing up, four piece bands, gold, crystal chandeliers… because that offered them a change from their daily life which was about nature and space. 

It’s estimated that the hospitality industry benefits the richest 20-30% of the planet, at the expense of the poorest 70-80%. We as an industry consume more than our fair share of resources. However, resorts and hotels are often central to a community, so we have the ability to raise awareness and change consciousness. We are in a position to encourage, utilise, and even mobilise our wealthy and collectively powerful patrons. 

What motivates Soneva's sustainability efforts, which focus not just on reducing your impacts, but on also ensuring you make a positive contribution to society and to environmental restoration?

Hoteliers must continue to work together to find ways to cause less “harm” and do more “good”. Companies must become ‘solutions’ rather than ‘problems’. I believe that in all our businesses we can make small changes to our business model, which has no negative impacts on our profitability or our guests’ perception of our products. Today it is the other way around: the wealthy live in their air-conditioned urban boxes, get around in their German car boxes, eat in designer restaurants with signature imported foods cooked by celebrity chefs, etc. Those things are no longer rare. They have become common place for the wealthy, global citizen. 

The foundation has so far raised almost US$ 6 million from the environmental levy, which is fantastic considering we are a small group of resorts. What is noteworthy is that this amount of capital for good causes has not been raised by blind donations but as a result of tweaking our business model.

We have used this money to fund a forest restoration programme in northern Thailand where we have planted around half a million trees to mitigate 255,000 tonnes of CO2. The money has also funded a windmill in South India. The foundation is also using the money we raise to provide heavily subsidised cooking stoves in Myanmar and Darfur benefiting around 180,000 people to date. You can see that with the most incremental of changes, a company can do an extraordinary amount of good without negatively affecting business aims.

We see that our guests respond very well to our sustainable initiatives. In terms of communicating about sustainability, we have taken the approach that we minimize information on what you cannot do and focus on what positive steps we are doing. It is important to focus on the opportunities sustainability gives and that often the most luxurious experience is the most sustainable. Our guests love to visit our vegetable garden and to see that the food they eat comes straight from the ground the same day. The Fresh in the Garden restaurant, which is the only restaurant at Soneva Fushi not near the beach, is the favourite for many of our guests.  

Having said that, we also show guests who are interested the less glamorous sides, but important practices we do at our Eco Centro ‘Waste-to-Wealth’ facility. What we find is that they truly appreciate our efforts and are impressed that through innovative thinking we are able to see value and turn waste into an asset rather than a liability. That is exactly what sustainability is about – seeing the opportunities rather than focusing on the restrictions.

 "It's Like National Parks WIthout the Crowds" Ted Turner regarding Vermejo Par Ranch and Casa Grande

 Ted Turner - Media Mogul, Environmentalist, Eco Tour Expeditions, Philanthropist

Turner’s appreciation for our beautiful Earth and its creatures runs deep, compelling him to work tirelessly to protect and conserve our environment, as well as its animal and plant species. It is through his numerous foundations, including the United Nations Foundation, Turner Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative and Turner Endangered Species Fund, that Turner has advanced his conservation and philanthropic efforts. Among Turner’s various and considerable contributions, including his historic $1 billion gift to the United Nations, he has given over $374 million to programs for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect our climate, safeguarding environmental health and protecting wildlife and habitats to maintain biodiversity.

Turner wishes to share his complete love of nature, wildlife and discovery in order to help all generations develop a keen appreciation for and awareness of what our Earth has to offer and just as importantly, a shared responsibility for the well-being of our environment. After much thoughtful consideration, Turner has established a way in which to achieve this through the launch of Ted Turner Expeditions

 “WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION AND A
PRIVILEGE TO PRESERVE AND
MAINTAIN OUR PLANET AND THE
SPECIES WE SHARE THE PLANET WITH.”
TED TURNER

Richard Branson The B Team |Virgin  Group - Morocco - South Africa - Necker Island

Richard Branson - Necker Island B Team and Virgin Group

 

Sir Richard Branson is continuing his push for sustainable energy in the Caribbean, and the Caribbean resident is putting his money where his mouth is.

Branson has been on a drive to make his private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands more green, following his regional call for sustainable energy development.

Branson has been perhaps the region’s most high-profile advocate for green energy, working with the Carbon War Room and the Rocky Mountain Institute to help regional stakeholders identify the region’s optimal energy future.

Last year, he convened a high-level regional conference on Necker that launched the “Ten Island Challenge,” which called for massive investment in green energy development in signatory countries, which ranged from Aruba to Colombia.

In 2004, Richard established Virgin Unite, his non-profit foundation. It mobilises the talent and resources from across the Virgin Group and beyond, to tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way. It is built on the belief that, the only way we can address the scale of the challenges facing the world today is by revolutionising the way businesses and the social sector work together – driving business as a force for good.

Richard has been working closely with Virgin Unite to bring together the right partners to help create new global leadership models to address conflict, climate change and disease.

Conservation| Philanthropy & Travel - Adventurous Philanthropists 

Interesting & Inspiring- Women Now In Time Slow Beauty

The Icons 

Forces of Nature ( A bit unreal I admit but let's admire)

you get the idea

the narrative goes like this:

Age + Perception = Who Cares? We can't all look like these ladies, but we can live like

them by example and get inspired by the timeless and eternal fascination of being

naturally lit women radiant and reinventing what it means to be over 

50

get out in the world, do what you love, keep the beauty

thing going your unique way, look to your elders, the 

icons, women in film, literature or on your block, in your social circle

 who light the way

‘IT’S RIDICULOUS TO PRETEND THERE ARE NO BEAUTIFUL OLDER WOMEN'

by Bethan Holt, September 2016 (United Kingdom)

 

RealWomen 

This is What 81 Looks Like (My Aunt Frannie)

Travels With My Aunt in South Africa

My Over 50 journey

article in LA Times regarding dating 

 Finding bliss has many flavors when you have been all over the world and it has been all over you. Who are the spirited ones who defy the narrative and remain timeless in their pursuit of a life well lived? They are famous, not famous, moving in ways that lift all of us women up through the ages to think beyond limits, time, society, lit inside still very mindful of the power of beauty, the joys of freedom, the grace of good genes and the courage to wear them. 

  My travel pal Ursula Beatt

  A beautiful inspiration & woman

        of the world 

If you like to explore places and faces, doing what you loved in your 20's, life can be even better a few years later. Get in the water, lay in the sun, eat ice cream and laugh. Beautiful friends can inspire you and share secrets, tips, attitudes and the focus and courage to constantly reinvent themselves. God bless my friends and family!

Super Model Now Cindy Joseph

Check out her story on getting married at 66

 "Stay curious, keep looking for ways to experience the world a little different than yesterday or the day before, keep reaching to learn new things and taste life." Marisa Berenson 

Style, simplicity, wellness, peace, inspiration, adventure, beauty, creativity and connection over time  takes it toll and taking it well is an art. When experience married with a well composed life studied and surrendered combines luck, timing and listening to your own voice, the result can be startling. A woman who does not subscribe to convention and continues to contribute to life by chronic curiosity, engagement, the urge to immerse in her talents with the gift of discipline 

The Renaissance Woman - Organic Skincare Entrepreneur, writer and timeless beauty Gaelle Kennedy

A high priestess of pure organic ingredients for gorgeous skin, Gaelle is her own best example at 72 embracing time and making it luminous. Once a model and well schooled in the art of beauty, she started her own line for herself and perfected botanicals we can all benefit from over time.  She does not wear makeup and has many tips in her amazing product book and line Gaelle Organic

"Once you give your skin a complete break from perfume, alcohol and other synthetic chemicals, and switch to quality organic products, you will see immediate results and your skin will become more radiant. " Her product line is filled with nature based ingredients that all have an essential role in looking naturally beautiful check out this beautiful chart:

Ingredients

My time with her products has been positive and empowering. I feel like I am nourishing my skin instead of  irritating it with intense peels and acids or camouflaging it with harsh chemicals. I use her Exfoliant Supérieure & Serum Supérieure and my skin is velvety naturally radiant and responsive. Not only do I love the serum, which brightens my skin and evens out the tone, the packaging is gorgeous to look at. Everything about her brand exudes beauty and careful thought. Thank you Gaelle 

 Gaelle Organic

 

Gaelle Organic products are certified organic by Ecocert according to Ecocert’s Organic Cosmetic Standard available at http://cosmetics.ecocert.com.

Gaelle Organic products are registered for sale in the European Union in compliance with EU Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009, the upgraded consumer safety standard that came into effect in July 2013. 

The Artist

Georgia O'Keefe

I just went to  Santa Fe and spent time wandering the streets of this New Mexican idyll. Even though I have been to Taos many times, the homage to Georgia O'keefe renewed my faith in the power of creativity, the language of nature, and the blend of intense focus, urban immersion combined with total fascination and exposure to big nature. O'Keefe was a naturalist and a city intellectual, a loner and a woman of the world deeply engaged with community. As I travel through time, I love to discover aspects of iconic women who display layers of femininity and fierce courage, trust in their calling and personal style.

The Brilliant Pioneer 

Jane Goodall 

ABOUT JANE

Click above to a link to her new documentary. 

In July 1960, at the age of 26, Jane Goodall traveled from England to what is now Tanzania and ventured into the little-known world of wild chimpanzees. The rest is history! Check out her new documentary

We are all creatures of the wild and creatures of habit. Some are wonderful, some keep us stuck in time afraid to reach out into new frontiers because of our age. I hope these images reveal a little more truth and beauty to your day and life.  

Long term investing in conservation is the approach to sustainable tourism while protecting, engaging, inspiring and learning as climate changes, people evolve, economies ebb and flow and life continues.  

Long term investing & nurturing in the future of place and environment = a realistic approach by taking the long view

Leaders with a specific vision and talent for stimulating investment, philanthropy, social impact and profit are creating another layer of tourism that engages the traveler beyond their own private journey. Tourism is a holistic venture where collaboration, capital, innovation, community, patience and heritage will support the benefits that only travel can provide.  Capital and vision will help preserve some of the most sensitive and breathtaking corners of the planet and this post highlights a few visionaries making an impact on tourism from New Mexico to South Africa. This post has a few snapshots of Luke Bailes, CEO Singita, Sonu Shavdasini, CEO & Chairman Soneva Group, Louis Bacon, Moore Capital Management, Ted Turner, Turner Enterprises and Richard Branson have taken corners of the globe under their wing to share, preserve and sustain through passion, capital and taking the long view.  I will be taking my first trip to Africa where I will learn about other visionaries on a smaller scale in South Africa and Botswana and look forward to bringing their legacies, journeys, experiences into my own narrative.

The Take Away Tourism + Saving The World Through investing in place, people, time and experience

= A Long Term Strategy with a lot of vision

South Africa - Luke Bailes CEO Singita  

As the world’s human population continues its exponential growth, the loss of pristine wilderness is taking place at an ever-accelerating rate, to counteract this Singita is making a profound difference in many parts of Africa.

Orchestrating an interdependent relationship between communities, wildlife and tourism that ensures true sustainability, Singita is blazing a trail which is seldom achieved on this scale anywhere else on the continent.

Courtesy of Blue Marble - UK                                      

Here, Luke shares his thoughts on falling in love with Africa, the benefits of a long-term plan and helpful billionaires...

Q: What was the genesis for Singita and what propelled you to commit to such an ambitious concept?

In the early days there were fantastic wildlife experiences on offer but very few complimentary hospitality experiences. Matching the two was our goal when we started Singita. We quickly realised over the years, that wildlife and pristine wilderness was under threat due to increased population growth and so over time the emphasis has completely shifted to preserving at-risk areas and working in partnership with local communities.

Singita is unusual in that you consider a very long term horizon when setting strategy and objectives. Can you explain the approach behind your "100 year plan”?

"One of our concerns is that businesses have become so driven by greed and short-term profit that it impacts on strategy and decision-making, which ultimately impacts on the health of the business. Our approach is totally opposite – we don’t look at the short-term. Our primary objective is to preserve and protect large tracts of land in Africa for future generations and everything we do supports that. Ironically when you do things properly and well, profits take care of themselves and this gives us the wherewithal to do what we do.

Singita's 100 Year Vision from Singita on Vimeo.

 Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. 

Louis Bacon 

 Bacon is the Founder and Chairman of The Moore Charitable Foundation, Inc. (“MCF”) and its affiliate foundations across North America, spanning southern Colorado, northern New Mexico, eastern North Carolina, The Bahamas, Panama and Long Island, New York. Mr. Bacon founded The Moore Charitable Foundation in 1992. The Foundation works with conservation experts and leaders and has provided significant funding to more than 200 local, national and international environmental organizations.

In 2012, he gave 90,000 acres to the federal government as a conservation easement, and created the Trinchera Blanca Foundation to permanently protect 167,000 of the 171,400 acres of his Trinchera Blanca Ranch, expanding the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area bordering the San Luis Valley in Colorado, and placed his 20,000 acre Tercio Ranch in a conservation easement as well. Prior to that, he’d also made significant contributions to conservation projects in his childhood home of North Carolina, on Long Island, New York, and in the Bahamas.

 Taos Ski Valley - Bacon Regenerates a Slow Tough Mountain and delicately handles the locals and the essence of the place.

Now, it appears as though Bacon has turned his eyes toward Taos, New Mexico. Having owned property there since 1996, Bacon had worked with the previous owners of the Taos Ski Valley, the Blake Family, to develop a master plan for renovating the aging ski resort that was ultimately approved by the forest service in 2012. The family, which had been seeing tourism decline, had wanted to make improvements for a long time, but could not afford them without risking the ability to pay their employees.

It was Bacon’s conservation ethic, as well as his willingness to work with the family, that Led the Blakes to offer to sell him the property. "We believe Louis is the right person to ensure a viable future for the ski valley and that his ownership will be beneficial to our employees, Taos' residents and guests," said Mickey Blake in a statement. "I'm in mourning a little bit but I realize this is really a good thing for the ski area," said Adriana Blake.

Bacon is dedicated to “advancing the Blake family vision and legacy of Taos Ski Valley by continuing to provide an unmatched skiing experience while serving as an economic driver for northern New Mexico,” according to his spokesman Peter Talty. And his commitment to conservation also has environmental protection groups in New Mexico looking to him to help further local conservation efforts. If history is any indicator, these groups may not have to wait long—his deal with the federal government for conservation easements in Colorado took just two years from genesis to completion.

 " Our theory is that a new luxury is emerging based on what is now missing in everyday life: nature, sustainability and good health. This is why our resorts win so many awards and have been so successful, as we try to inspire a lifetime of rare experiences."

Sonu Shivdasani is one of the founders of The Soneva Foundation and is Chairman and CEO of Soneva Resorts & Residences and founded Six Senses Resorts & Spas. For nearly 20 years Sonu and his wife, Eva, have created the template for sustainable tourism, coining the concepts of SLOW LIFE and intelligent luxury which recognises the ability for luxury holiday making and care for the environment to co-exist with perfect ease.

Sonu Shivdasani: We question and challenge what luxury is for the wealthy today. In the past, the wealthy were rural landed gentry and the language of luxury was that which was rare for them: dressing up, four piece bands, gold, crystal chandeliers… because that offered them a change from their daily life which was about nature and space. 

It’s estimated that the hospitality industry benefits the richest 20-30% of the planet, at the expense of the poorest 70-80%. We as an industry consume more than our fair share of resources. However, resorts and hotels are often central to a community, so we have the ability to raise awareness and change consciousness. We are in a position to encourage, utilise, and even mobilise our wealthy and collectively powerful patrons. 

What motivates Soneva's sustainability efforts, which focus not just on reducing your impacts, but on also ensuring you make a positive contribution to society and to environmental restoration?

Hoteliers must continue to work together to find ways to cause less “harm” and do more “good”. Companies must become ‘solutions’ rather than ‘problems’. I believe that in all our businesses we can make small changes to our business model, which has no negative impacts on our profitability or our guests’ perception of our products. Today it is the other way around: the wealthy live in their air-conditioned urban boxes, get around in their German car boxes, eat in designer restaurants with signature imported foods cooked by celebrity chefs, etc. Those things are no longer rare. They have become common place for the wealthy, global citizen. 

The foundation has so far raised almost US$ 6 million from the environmental levy, which is fantastic considering we are a small group of resorts. What is noteworthy is that this amount of capital for good causes has not been raised by blind donations but as a result of tweaking our business model.

We have used this money to fund a forest restoration programme in northern Thailand where we have planted around half a million trees to mitigate 255,000 tonnes of CO2. The money has also funded a windmill in South India. The foundation is also using the money we raise to provide heavily subsidised cooking stoves in Myanmar and Darfur benefiting around 180,000 people to date. You can see that with the most incremental of changes, a company can do an extraordinary amount of good without negatively affecting business aims.

We see that our guests respond very well to our sustainable initiatives. In terms of communicating about sustainability, we have taken the approach that we minimize information on what you cannot do and focus on what positive steps we are doing. It is important to focus on the opportunities sustainability gives and that often the most luxurious experience is the most sustainable. Our guests love to visit our vegetable garden and to see that the food they eat comes straight from the ground the same day. The Fresh in the Garden restaurant, which is the only restaurant at Soneva Fushi not near the beach, is the favourite for many of our guests.  

Having said that, we also show guests who are interested the less glamorous sides, but important practices we do at our Eco Centro ‘Waste-to-Wealth’ facility. What we find is that they truly appreciate our efforts and are impressed that through innovative thinking we are able to see value and turn waste into an asset rather than a liability. That is exactly what sustainability is about – seeing the opportunities rather than focusing on the restrictions.

 "It's Like National Parks WIthout the Crowds" Ted Turner regarding Vermejo Par Ranch and Casa Grande

 Ted Turner - Media Mogul, Environmentalist, Eco Tour Expeditions, Philanthropist

Turner’s appreciation for our beautiful Earth and its creatures runs deep, compelling him to work tirelessly to protect and conserve our environment, as well as its animal and plant species. It is through his numerous foundations, including the United Nations Foundation, Turner Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative and Turner Endangered Species Fund, that Turner has advanced his conservation and philanthropic efforts. Among Turner’s various and considerable contributions, including his historic $1 billion gift to the United Nations, he has given over $374 million to programs for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect our climate, safeguarding environmental health and protecting wildlife and habitats to maintain biodiversity.

Turner wishes to share his complete love of nature, wildlife and discovery in order to help all generations develop a keen appreciation for and awareness of what our Earth has to offer and just as importantly, a shared responsibility for the well-being of our environment. After much thoughtful consideration, Turner has established a way in which to achieve this through the launch of Ted Turner Expeditions

 “WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION AND A
PRIVILEGE TO PRESERVE AND
MAINTAIN OUR PLANET AND THE
SPECIES WE SHARE THE PLANET WITH.”
TED TURNER

Richard Branson The B Team |Virgin  Group - Morocco - South Africa - Necker Island

Richard Branson - Necker Island B Team and Virgin Group

 

Sir Richard Branson is continuing his push for sustainable energy in the Caribbean, and the Caribbean resident is putting his money where his mouth is.

Branson has been on a drive to make his private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands more green, following his regional call for sustainable energy development.

Branson has been perhaps the region’s most high-profile advocate for green energy, working with the Carbon War Room and the Rocky Mountain Institute to help regional stakeholders identify the region’s optimal energy future.

Last year, he convened a high-level regional conference on Necker that launched the “Ten Island Challenge,” which called for massive investment in green energy development in signatory countries, which ranged from Aruba to Colombia.

In 2004, Richard established Virgin Unite, his non-profit foundation. It mobilises the talent and resources from across the Virgin Group and beyond, to tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way. It is built on the belief that, the only way we can address the scale of the challenges facing the world today is by revolutionising the way businesses and the social sector work together – driving business as a force for good.

Richard has been working closely with Virgin Unite to bring together the right partners to help create new global leadership models to address conflict, climate change and disease.

Conservation| Philanthropy & Travel - Adventurous Philanthropists 

My Father's Wildlife and The Corridor He Donated

A Pioneer Who Unpaved the Way for The Largest Proposed Wildlife Corridor in California

recent coverage in LA Times see the dream unfold

Passages are metaphorical and literal. Earth Day marks the anniversary of my father's passing and every year I look back at aspects of his legacy. One of his proudest was donating land that he owned for many years to the Santa Monica Land Conservancy for a wildlife corridor. A builder and a street smart  wheeler dealer found his true grit by making way for bobcats, mountain lions and deer to roam freely on his property from one mountain range to the other by donating his land.  After holding on for 25 years, he let it go. 

 In 2001, he  donated  107 acres that bridge the  Santa Monica and Santa Susana Mountains just north of Los Angeles off of the 101 near Liberty Canyon. He was not a tree hugger, he was a land developer and built homes, apartment buildings and shopping centers. He had a turbulent relationship with that land from the day he bought it. His intention was to develop custom homes and secure a financial legacy for himself and us. Zoning and an evolving list of environmental obstacles kept him in the game, yet always at odds with the city trying to find ways to get his way. Courting offers, fighting city officals, making threats to use it for landfill, listing it and just sitting on it, over time, a 25- year effort, it became clear the land hosted a corridor that had everything to do with the migration of the animals.  When he came to his children to help weigh his decision, we all decided the animals would get the land. It was the right thing to do. See how our story and the corridor has evolved. LA TIMES  has covered this area World’s Largest Wildlife Corridor to Be Built in California

'I feel like I am grandpa to many many species of animals.'

                                                       Al Abrams

Mountain lions are being killed on freeways and weakened by inbreeding. Researchers have a solution 

Two wildlife crossings could give the species a long-term chance at survival in Southern California, a study suggests.

By JOSEPH SERNA

Graphics by JON SCHLEUSS

MAY 16, 2018

For humans, Southern California’s freeways link distant communities that are otherwise separated by rugged mountains, vast deserts and inland valleys.

For mountain lions, however, those multilane speedways are concrete killing fields that divide animals into isolated genetic pools, researchers say.

Unable to surmount these near-impenetrable barriers, mountain lions and other wildlife are left to mate with their own offspring. That inbreeding can lead to sterility and other physical ailments that threaten the species’ continued survival in Southern California.

Of particular concern to conservationists are Highway 101, which prevents mountain lion populations in the Santa Monica Mountains south of the freeway from mating with cats in the Santa Susana and Sierra Madre mountains to the north; and Interstate 15, which separates the Santa Ana and Palomar mountains.

Fortunately, a potential long-term solution is on the horizon.

An effort is already underway to fund construction of a wildlife crossing bridge over each highway — landscaped with native vegetation and with features such as sound walls, irrigation and fencing — to allow cats looking for mates to move back and forth freely.

According to a report by the National Park Service, UC Davis and the Nature Conservancy, experts have identified locations along both freeways that offer the best opportunity for a wildlife crossing. One would connect undeveloped land on either side of the 101 in Agoura Hills, while the other would link the grassy slopes buttressing I-15 in Temecula.

In Agoura Hills, a crossing of U.S. 101 would essentially allow the isolated community of 10 to 15 mountain lions living in the Santa Monica Mountains to access a huge swath of Southern California, including the Simi Hills, Santa Susana Mountains and Los Padres National Forest — what proponents call the “promised land” for pumas in this region.

Mountain lions are known to have successfully crossed that highway only nine times in the last 16 years, while most attempts end in death for the animals, the National Park Service said.

To be sure, freeway barriers affect other species, such as bobcats and coyotes, as well. For mountain lions however, the barrier effects of the 101, 405, 5 and 15 freeways are particularly severe. Genetic diversity for Santa Ana mountain lions is already lower than has been measured anywhere else in the West and the Santa Monicas’ population is not far behind.

A messy family tree

The few lions of the Santa Monica Mountains commonly mate with each other, including P-12, which mated with an inbred cat and later mated with his own daughter and granddaughter.

The island effect that the highway creates in the Santa Monica Mountains can be illustrated through the story of P-12 — the first mountain lion recorded to successfully cross into those secluded hills since scientists began studying the population in 2002.

According to scientists, P-12 has mated with three generations of his offspring. He first mated with P-13 to produce P-19. He mated with P-19 to produce P-23. He mated with P-23 to produce P-53, and then he is suspected of mating with P-53 to produce kittens P-59 and P-60, born last year.

Scientists have recorded only eight other 101 crossings since P-12 arrived, and all of them were in the last three years, the National Park Service said.

The second crossing came in March 2015, when female P-33 scampered across the highway from south to north near Camarillo on the western end of the mountain range. P-33 was also an offspring of P-12.

The third crossing came weeks later, when that cat’s brother, P-32, also crossed in the same area. He was the first male to leave the Santa Monica Mountains since the study began.

Although the siblings both crossed at locations at the far western end of the mountains near the Camarillo and Thousand Oaks border, their paths were different.

Researchers believe the female puma, P-33, crossed the eight-lane freeway near Camarillo sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. on March 9, 2015. P-32 dashed across the freeway near Thousand Oaks early on April 3, 2015, then crossed State Route 23 near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and settled into a natural area in the Simi Hills.

The fourth crossing was documented in July 2017, when P-55 crossed the highway from south to north near the Canejo Ridge open space south of the 101. Just 2½ months later, P-55 returned to the mountains by crossing the highway again near where the 101 meets Highway 23, the Park Service said.

The sixth crossing was earlier this year and was far more surprising, officials said, because of the path the puma took.

Mountain lion P-64, a male, used a dark culvert the length of two football fields to cross under the highway into the Santa Monica Mountains on March 1. It was only the third time since 2002 one of the animals is known to have crossed into the Santa Monica Mountain territory and officials hope he will provide some much needed genetic diversity for the population. P-64 has used the same culvert three additional times, officials said.

But the culvert is so remote and fraught with other drawbacks that scientists can’t bank on animals using it regularly, experts said. It can be inundated when it rains and, because of its curved route, animals can’t see from one end to the other.

When mountain lions do successfully cross the highway — either to the north or south — they are still surrounded by danger.

From the Santa Monica Mountains, the cats have been killed crossing the 405 Freeway and Malibu Canyon Road. On the northern side near the Santa Susana Mountains, they’ve died crossing the 118 Freeway.

Though documentation on crossings of Interstate 15 in Riverside County is scant, mountain lions face the same risks there that they do north of Los Angeles.

The Santa Ana and Santa Monica ranges are surrounded by dangerous highways and human development — where the cats also risk death if they ingest poison meant for rats and other pests, death if they’re found by poachers or capture if they’re founds by park rangers.

In Agoura Hills, experts said the best location to set up a crossing would be just west of Liberty Canyon Road, where the Simi Hills stretch down to the northern edge of the Santa Monica Mountains with only the 101 Freeway between them.

Bobcats and coyotes are known to frequent the area, which is full of natural vegetation and seldom used by hikers, the report stated. Other areas had too many people, cars and artificial light or required too much rehabilitation to make them suited for wildlife.

Similar conditions helped experts choose the area along a 6-mile stretch of I-15 just south of Temecula Parkway in Riverside County for that habitat’s crossing. Earlier this month, the Nature Conservancy purchased 73 acres of land along the highway to facilitate a crossing.

The best site would be where the Santa Ana Mountains run up against the highway and are paralleled by the Palomar Mountain foothills on the other side, each hill rising 15 feet above the roadway, the Park Service report stated.

Genetic analyses of 146 sampled pumas showed only seven have crossed the freeway in that area in the last 15 years.

“Survival rates in the Santa Ana Mountains are lower than in most other mountain lion populations through the West, compounding the threat posted to the Santa Ana Mountain’s population by genetic isolation,” the report stated.

Scientists have documented only one crossing of I-15 by a mountain lion wearing a tracking collar, and that one was leaving the Santa Ana range, said Winston Vickers, a wildlife veterinarian at UC Davis. That animal then traveled south and was fatally shot.

Other mountain lion crossings have been deduced by mapping the DNA of the local population. Of the three that scientists believe entered the Santa Ana Mountains from the east, one is dead, another is presumed dead and the third was able to breed, but half its offspring have also died, Vickers said.

“The high mortality rates in our study area mean that the odds are stacked against young males, even if they make it across the freeway,” he said in an email.

Inbreeding will eventually kill off the local population, said Cara Lacey of the Nature Conservancy, and, because mountain lions are among the top predators in the area, that would affect the entire food chain.

An existing bridge closer to the parkway has plenty of vegetation beneath it to accommodate a crossing below road level, but nearby developments and the possibility of encounters between lions and homeless people living under the bridge were considered too risky, experts said.

Now that the best locations have been identified, Lacey said, experts, engineers and public officials will begin studying what kind of wildlife crossings would be feasible.

Credits: Produced by Sean Greene

 

Regarding My Family Tree

The day he spoke in front of city and government officials and Santa Monica Land Conservancy delegates and media,  I waited for him to make a wise crack or lose his composure like someone we know in office right now. But it didn't happen. He was remarkable and poised. His message was about California and the land and the wildlife was clear, he truly wanted to help protect and leave a legacy.  His love of California was illustrated by his actions and making peace with the fact we would not see a secure future in that real estate development  but in keeping the land open space.

It takes all kinds to inspire and participate in change, even the most unlikely of candidates. That land did become a part of him. When he no longer owned it, he seemed untethered. The transfer was a source of philosophical comfort but it made him seem a little lost. I want to honor people who make choices that can be painful like losing a piece of your identity for the greater good. I know my father suffered from the dashed dreams of not building his empire on that land when he was young enough to oversee it.  By the time he transferred the land, his ability to make the leap in his mind that it wasn't his took some doing just like the animals across that vast freeway. I thank him and I am hoping and thinking the animals thank him too. 

Nature Unplugged @ A Little Dressed Up

From South Africa to the North Atlantic With La Dolce Vita In Between  - Lodges Speak A Specific Language That Bring Our Spirits Home In The Wild

Nature workshops just happen when you choose to stay in a delicate and courageous spot surrounded by uncontrollable creatures and landscapes. Just being somewhere that makes you think more than twice about where you step, how loud you talk, how fast you breathe, has a ripple effect. The animals feel it, the land gives way, and if you are lucky enough to travel into the belly of nature, lodges allow us to surrender to the ways of a place. Game drives, forest foraging, rock climbing, scuba diving, hiking or wandering in certain places require trust.  As much as uncertainty is part of the fun, a lodge can act as learning center, home, design inspiration, refuge, family. It is the shelter that lures us out off the path and the guides, hosts, chefs, rangers, teachers make the experience.  

Care of the Land, Wildlife and People

Fogo Island Inn

At The Edge of the wild North Atlantic

 As nature's fragility is amplified, so is the need to experience it. Here are some places that lure people from all over the planet to sample the world. Through the artistic lens of a lodge and all of the inspired minds that play, work, thrive and dwell there, here is a small exploration of some big places.

A Bit about Fogo

Nature links us and places inspire us. Lodges in the wild elevate and celebrate place with their unique flavor. The heritage and lineage of a lodge can be long with deep roots and family narratives or daring and raw perched the edge of the world like an open book. You get the idea and you get to write the story.

These splurges are worth it when you go large and into the wild. If you fly across the world to a remote place, chances are that place is doing something helpful (or I won't mention it here), for the land, the people, the imagination and wildlife. Think of a trip to an incubator of inspiration as an investment in the world and yourself. It's not all about the lodge or you but they make you feel like it is. 

Sandibe Lodge Botswana

Each bring something to our internal compass and craving to explore.  Whether a young innovative architect from a completely random entry point (and country) creates a structure that interprets the land, or a legacy family or steward extends a life long passion for conservation through a deep rooted relationship and history, lodges take us in. 

 .

Rhino near Londolozi
 

 My time @ Londolozi

When I traveled with my Aunt to Africa, my maiden voyage was with an 80 year old mama lion in the incubator of Londolozi,which taught me that nature is the ultimate equalizer  inspiring spirits from any age across the world.

 Our first lodge Londolozi,  seduced us into the culture The New Africa with a classical safari heritage and bush chic architecture at four camps laid out with different themes. There is something in the air that felt familiar to my history of spending time in Big Sur at Esalen and growing up between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a mentality that is slightly folded in the ethos of Londolozi as the young guard, the children of Dave Varty are at the helm.  Londolozi is a homegrown Varty family run community with conservation roots and a bit of bohemian culture.The camp was founded more than eighty years ago as a hunting ground and was transformed into a nature reserve in 1973 by Dave and John Varty, visionaries of the restoration movement. Bronwyn and Boyd Varty are now the legacy visionaries and environmentalists, the next generation. They were raised in the bush and created an incubator of classic safari meets “intentional community,” a chain of lodges that speak to the safari through different themes: tree, leopard, founders, pioneer. Each is interconnected and inspires guests and staff to live tribally and people can come to the bush and take field trips like tracking , etc., to figure out their own nature and life's purpose. My aunt and I wanted game drives and sundowners and the experience of seeing the animals. It was our very first time so the only thing I did similar to what I do at home was take a yoga class in the canopy @ Varty Camp.  I was immediately seduced by the container of Londolozi where my aunt and I dropped into the bush and found a magical connection of nature, ageless wisdom and a surprisingly compatible rhythm held up by the Londolozi ethos which I describe as The New Africa. 

Drawn from a diverse ancestral tapestry, these different family groups are united by their commitment to Londolozi, protector of all living things. These family members, some of whom are third generation Londolozi family, work in close proximity with one another, building a lifelong bond with colleagues and guests alike.

http://www.andbeyond/sandibe-okavango-safari-lodgea 

Italy Gives Experiential Nature Based Travel It's Own Style In The Wild.... 

Vigilius Mountain Resort

vigilius mountain resort.

 Up here, vigilius mountain resort is nestled into nature, becomes one with it, so simply and at the same time so aesthetically and clearly.

An island in the mountains at 1 500 m above sea level, a modernist chalet, a mountain hotel in South Tyrol with 5-star design that satisfies longings: many people interpret the vigilius mountain resort as a fallen tree which integrates into the landscape as naturally as if it had always lain there. You have come here with the desire to follow the rhythm of nature, your own nature, to feel your very own strength and be totally in tune with yourself, to spiritually arrive. Others compare the vigilius mountain resort to a tree house: a child’s secret hiding place and welcome refuge where they can float above the rest of the world and throw all of their everyday worries over board with a laugh, where they don’t have to be anyone but can simply be. And for some, the vigilius mountain resort is a mother hen who sits on her nest and places a protective wing over them. You value the sincere warmth of the people here. Take your time.
As a result, the vigilius mountain resort is an island in the mountains for everyone. Where everything unimportant is left down in the valley. Life can be so simple.

Italy's Simple Magic Composed in a dreamy lodge 

New Agency | New Ideas on The New Traveler

Wendy Abrams Editor On Slow Life  

  



 New Traveler | New Ideas

Most people don’t want to be labeled or categorized, but let’s face it, there seems to be two kinds of travelers. There is the tourist – the person that arrives in a new destination with the checklist of must-see attractions, and more often than not, stays at franchise hotels with predictable features no matter where they go. The tourist doesn’t get too far off the beaten path without a guidebook or a guide. What’s not to love about the salt spray in your face as you make your way to Alcatraz, or the feeling of national pride you feel when visiting the Statue of Liberty, and the sense of romance that comes gazing at Paris from the Eiffel Tower. Iconic landmarks will always be a part of travel and checking the boxes has value.

At the other end of the spectrum is the New Traveler – the person that arrives in a new destination in search of adventure, an authentic experience. The New Traveler develops a relationship with the destination, the culture, and enthusiastically indulges the senses with local food, music, art, and new -found friendships. The New Traveler pays attention to the details from the choreographed to the magic moments that happen spontaneously. Destinations that honor simplicity, beauty, authenticity, spirit of place have staying power with the New Traveler. Intuition and nuance are their guiding principles when seeking out their next journey, be it a city, a safari, a resort or a hotel.

The New Traveler asks what can I do to help? They are interested in the dialogue, not the monologue so prevalent in the tourist’s experience, The New Traveler is a solution seeker and a student of life who wants to contribute to the highest human potential whether it is health care, clean drinking water, education, human rights, or conservation. They want to know what is going on where they visit and contribute to solutions with their resources in whatever form seems meaningful.

The New Traveler is incredibly loyal, spreading the gospel of their experience with friends and family. This is the New Traveler’s currency - sharing stories of their adventures and being a self-proclaimed expert on the authentic and undiscovered.

Immersion and experience are the words of the time, and are timeless for travelers versus tourists. Collecting data and taking selfies, running through destinations and time zones for bragging rights is exhausting and hollow. Time is precious, how we spend it imprints the New Traveler more then ever and the creative bar equates to authenticity and story, the engaging tale of the experience and how it feels. A great Facebook post can inspire, Instagram photos are gorgeous postcards of one person’s worldview. These are key prompts but not the whole story. Not even close.

Go far, go visit and live life.

Do You Know Your Neighbors?

On Slow Life and your community begins with the neighborhood. Being a good neighbor is a state of mind and requires a delicate balance of openness and privacy. Keeping to yourself is not a bad idea but can ultimately cut you off from spontaneous friendships, unexpected security and a sense of well -being. Neighborhoods are microcosms of community and history with natural and architectural guideposts that help place us in a context. It can be a concrete jumble of buildings, but if people are talking to each other, smiling, doing a little of this and that to make someone feel cared for or at home, it’s pretty special. It’s the people and how they treat each other that makes a neighborhood.

Homage To Mr Rogers

Cooking With My International Neighbor

My neighbor is from Iran. She is a fabulous cook and when I visit her for a chat,  her kitchen always smells of freshly cooked homemade meals. I asked her to teach me how to cook a simple dish so I could do it at home. I live in a mulit-cultural part of Los Angeles with lots of specialized markets. My cooking class with her brought me into her kitchen and into her culture. Our dogs played, we had a few laughs and I learned how to make a dish with beans, vegetables, chicken, rice and exotic spices.  Her charming accent and command of the kitchen right across the street from my house opened doors to another country. I will get the name of the dish but my trip to her kitchen was a slow reminder of the art of the neibhbor.

 Learning How To Cook From My Persian Neighbor

When I moved into my house I was delighted by an old style welcome and the kindness of strangers.  I was doing  work on the place and found it quickly. I relocated from Northern California and I was a bit of a novelty, not a conventional family woman. Within the first week, I received cookies, pastries, cards and well wishes from several folks in the hood. And this is Los Angeles!  One thing I do know after living in old bungalow and courtyard cottages, my neighbors usually become a big part of my life. Front porches and courtyards enable a little interaction. Tending a garden, offering help or simply enduring a little chit chat can evolve into something amazing. After many years of moving around, I realize some of my dearest friends were neighbors. People I met at a garage sale in front of my house or on a hiking trail with our mutual dogs, a shared yard as a renter or a mutual mailbox in a condo were all opportunities to expand my world.

 Extreme Neighborhood Activity In Front Of My Old House in Marin

July 4th

    Slowing down and saying hello to the neighbor walking their dog or gardening is nice. Letting them dart back in the house in their PJs and pretending you don't see them is another way of being considerate. Picking up mail, papers, or letting them know when something loud and offensive is about to take place at your house is almost saintly. As much as we fear for our privacy and not getting involved, keeping the community spirit circulating no matter where you live is essential to the slow manifesto. Neighborhood gentility helps people of all ages interact, keep an eye on each other and mingle in a world that is getting more alienated. So now that we have social networks, who needs to look up and say hello? Think about it.

   Start the neighborhood conversation here and tell us some stories (the good ones) how a neighbor enhanced your life. Yes that means COMMENTS  Please we need some inspiration 

Do You Know Your Neighbors?

On Slow Life and your community begins with the neighborhood. Being a good neighbor is a state of mind and requires a delicate balance of openness and privacy. Keeping to yourself is not a bad idea but can ultimately cut you off from spontaneous friendships, unexpected security and a sense of well -being. Neighborhoods are microcosms of community and history with natural and architectural guideposts that help place us in a context. It can be a concrete jumble of buildings, but if people are talking to each other, smiling, doing a little of this and that to make someone feel cared for or at home, it’s pretty special. It’s the people and how they treat each other that makes a neighborhood.

Homage To Mr Rogers

Cooking With My International Neighbor

My neighbor is from Iran. She is a fabulous cook and when I visit her for a chat,  her kitchen always smells of freshly cooked homemade meals. I asked her to teach me how to cook a simple dish so I could do it at home. I live in a mulit-cultural part of Los Angeles with lots of specialized markets. My cooking class with her brought me into her kitchen and into her culture. Our dogs played, we had a few laughs and I learned how to make a dish with beans, vegetables, chicken, rice and exotic spices.  Her charming accent and command of the kitchen right across the street from my house opened doors to another country. I will get the name of the dish but my trip to her kitchen was a slow reminder of the art of the neibhbor.

 Learning How To Cook From My Persian Neighbor

When I moved into my house I was delighted by an old style welcome and the kindness of strangers.  I was doing  work on the place and found it quickly. I relocated from Northern California and I was a bit of a novelty, not a conventional family woman. Within the first week, I received cookies, pastries, cards and well wishes from several folks in the hood. And this is Los Angeles!  One thing I do know after living in old bungalow and courtyard cottages, my neighbors usually become a big part of my life. Front porches and courtyards enable a little interaction. Tending a garden, offering help or simply enduring a little chit chat can evolve into something amazing. After many years of moving around, I realize some of my dearest friends were neighbors. People I met at a garage sale in front of my house or on a hiking trail with our mutual dogs, a shared yard as a renter or a mutual mailbox in a condo were all opportunities to expand my world.

 Extreme Neighborhood Activity In Front Of My Old House in Marin

July 4th

    Slowing down and saying hello to the neighbor walking their dog or gardening is nice. Letting them dart back in the house in their PJs and pretending you don't see them is another way of being considerate. Picking up mail, papers, or letting them know when something loud and offensive is about to take place at your house is almost saintly. As much as we fear for our privacy and not getting involved, keeping the community spirit circulating no matter where you live is essential to the slow manifesto. Neighborhood gentility helps people of all ages interact, keep an eye on each other and mingle in a world that is getting more alienated. So now that we have social networks, who needs to look up and say hello? Think about it.

   Start the neighborhood conversation here and tell us some stories (the good ones) how a neighbor enhanced your life. Yes that means COMMENTS  Please we need some inspiration 

Long term investing in conservation is the approach to sustainable tourism while protecting, engaging, inspiring and learning as climate changes, people evolve, economies ebb and flow and life continues.  

Long term investing & nurturing in the future of place and environment = a realistic approach by taking the long view

Leaders with a specific vision and talent for stimulating investment, philanthropy, social impact and profit are creating another layer of tourism that engages the traveler beyond their own private journey. Tourism is a holistic venture where collaboration, capital, innovation, community, patience and heritage will support the benefits that only travel can provide.  Capital and vision will help preserve some of the most sensitive and breathtaking corners of the planet and this post highlights a few visionaries making an impact on tourism from New Mexico to South Africa. This post has a few snapshots of Luke Bailes, CEO Singita, Sonu Shavdasini, CEO & Chairman Soneva Group, Louis Bacon, Moore Capital Management, Ted Turner, Turner Enterprises and Richard Branson have taken corners of the globe under their wing to share, preserve and sustain through passion, capital and taking the long view.  I will be taking my first trip to Africa where I will learn about other visionaries on a smaller scale in South Africa and Botswana and look forward to bringing their legacies, journeys, experiences into my own narrative.

The Take Away Tourism + Saving The World Through investing in place, people, time and experience

= A Long Term Strategy with a lot of vision

South Africa - Luke Bailes CEO Singita  

As the world’s human population continues its exponential growth, the loss of pristine wilderness is taking place at an ever-accelerating rate, to counteract this Singita is making a profound difference in many parts of Africa.

Orchestrating an interdependent relationship between communities, wildlife and tourism that ensures true sustainability, Singita is blazing a trail which is seldom achieved on this scale anywhere else on the continent.

Courtesy of Blue Marble - UK                                      

Here, Luke shares his thoughts on falling in love with Africa, the benefits of a long-term plan and helpful billionaires...

Q: What was the genesis for Singita and what propelled you to commit to such an ambitious concept?

In the early days there were fantastic wildlife experiences on offer but very few complimentary hospitality experiences. Matching the two was our goal when we started Singita. We quickly realised over the years, that wildlife and pristine wilderness was under threat due to increased population growth and so over time the emphasis has completely shifted to preserving at-risk areas and working in partnership with local communities.

Singita is unusual in that you consider a very long term horizon when setting strategy and objectives. Can you explain the approach behind your "100 year plan”?

"One of our concerns is that businesses have become so driven by greed and short-term profit that it impacts on strategy and decision-making, which ultimately impacts on the health of the business. Our approach is totally opposite – we don’t look at the short-term. Our primary objective is to preserve and protect large tracts of land in Africa for future generations and everything we do supports that. Ironically when you do things properly and well, profits take care of themselves and this gives us the wherewithal to do what we do.

Singita's 100 Year Vision from Singita on Vimeo.

 Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. 

Louis Bacon 

 Bacon is the Founder and Chairman of The Moore Charitable Foundation, Inc. (“MCF”) and its affiliate foundations across North America, spanning southern Colorado, northern New Mexico, eastern North Carolina, The Bahamas, Panama and Long Island, New York. Mr. Bacon founded The Moore Charitable Foundation in 1992. The Foundation works with conservation experts and leaders and has provided significant funding to more than 200 local, national and international environmental organizations.

In 2012, he gave 90,000 acres to the federal government as a conservation easement, and created the Trinchera Blanca Foundation to permanently protect 167,000 of the 171,400 acres of his Trinchera Blanca Ranch, expanding the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area bordering the San Luis Valley in Colorado, and placed his 20,000 acre Tercio Ranch in a conservation easement as well. Prior to that, he’d also made significant contributions to conservation projects in his childhood home of North Carolina, on Long Island, New York, and in the Bahamas.

 Taos Ski Valley - Bacon Regenerates a Slow Tough Mountain and delicately handles the locals and the essence of the place.

Now, it appears as though Bacon has turned his eyes toward Taos, New Mexico. Having owned property there since 1996, Bacon had worked with the previous owners of the Taos Ski Valley, the Blake Family, to develop a master plan for renovating the aging ski resort that was ultimately approved by the forest service in 2012. The family, which had been seeing tourism decline, had wanted to make improvements for a long time, but could not afford them without risking the ability to pay their employees.

It was Bacon’s conservation ethic, as well as his willingness to work with the family, that Led the Blakes to offer to sell him the property. "We believe Louis is the right person to ensure a viable future for the ski valley and that his ownership will be beneficial to our employees, Taos' residents and guests," said Mickey Blake in a statement. "I'm in mourning a little bit but I realize this is really a good thing for the ski area," said Adriana Blake.

Bacon is dedicated to “advancing the Blake family vision and legacy of Taos Ski Valley by continuing to provide an unmatched skiing experience while serving as an economic driver for northern New Mexico,” according to his spokesman Peter Talty. And his commitment to conservation also has environmental protection groups in New Mexico looking to him to help further local conservation efforts. If history is any indicator, these groups may not have to wait long—his deal with the federal government for conservation easements in Colorado took just two years from genesis to completion.

 " Our theory is that a new luxury is emerging based on what is now missing in everyday life: nature, sustainability and good health. This is why our resorts win so many awards and have been so successful, as we try to inspire a lifetime of rare experiences."

Sonu Shivdasani is one of the founders of The Soneva Foundation and is Chairman and CEO of Soneva Resorts & Residences and founded Six Senses Resorts & Spas. For nearly 20 years Sonu and his wife, Eva, have created the template for sustainable tourism, coining the concepts of SLOW LIFE and intelligent luxury which recognises the ability for luxury holiday making and care for the environment to co-exist with perfect ease.

Sonu Shivdasani: We question and challenge what luxury is for the wealthy today. In the past, the wealthy were rural landed gentry and the language of luxury was that which was rare for them: dressing up, four piece bands, gold, crystal chandeliers… because that offered them a change from their daily life which was about nature and space. 

It’s estimated that the hospitality industry benefits the richest 20-30% of the planet, at the expense of the poorest 70-80%. We as an industry consume more than our fair share of resources. However, resorts and hotels are often central to a community, so we have the ability to raise awareness and change consciousness. We are in a position to encourage, utilise, and even mobilise our wealthy and collectively powerful patrons. 

What motivates Soneva's sustainability efforts, which focus not just on reducing your impacts, but on also ensuring you make a positive contribution to society and to environmental restoration?

Hoteliers must continue to work together to find ways to cause less “harm” and do more “good”. Companies must become ‘solutions’ rather than ‘problems’. I believe that in all our businesses we can make small changes to our business model, which has no negative impacts on our profitability or our guests’ perception of our products. Today it is the other way around: the wealthy live in their air-conditioned urban boxes, get around in their German car boxes, eat in designer restaurants with signature imported foods cooked by celebrity chefs, etc. Those things are no longer rare. They have become common place for the wealthy, global citizen. 

The foundation has so far raised almost US$ 6 million from the environmental levy, which is fantastic considering we are a small group of resorts. What is noteworthy is that this amount of capital for good causes has not been raised by blind donations but as a result of tweaking our business model.

We have used this money to fund a forest restoration programme in northern Thailand where we have planted around half a million trees to mitigate 255,000 tonnes of CO2. The money has also funded a windmill in South India. The foundation is also using the money we raise to provide heavily subsidised cooking stoves in Myanmar and Darfur benefiting around 180,000 people to date. You can see that with the most incremental of changes, a company can do an extraordinary amount of good without negatively affecting business aims.

We see that our guests respond very well to our sustainable initiatives. In terms of communicating about sustainability, we have taken the approach that we minimize information on what you cannot do and focus on what positive steps we are doing. It is important to focus on the opportunities sustainability gives and that often the most luxurious experience is the most sustainable. Our guests love to visit our vegetable garden and to see that the food they eat comes straight from the ground the same day. The Fresh in the Garden restaurant, which is the only restaurant at Soneva Fushi not near the beach, is the favourite for many of our guests.  

Having said that, we also show guests who are interested the less glamorous sides, but important practices we do at our Eco Centro ‘Waste-to-Wealth’ facility. What we find is that they truly appreciate our efforts and are impressed that through innovative thinking we are able to see value and turn waste into an asset rather than a liability. That is exactly what sustainability is about – seeing the opportunities rather than focusing on the restrictions.

 "It's Like National Parks WIthout the Crowds" Ted Turner regarding Vermejo Par Ranch and Casa Grande

 Ted Turner - Media Mogul, Environmentalist, Eco Tour Expeditions, Philanthropist

Turner’s appreciation for our beautiful Earth and its creatures runs deep, compelling him to work tirelessly to protect and conserve our environment, as well as its animal and plant species. It is through his numerous foundations, including the United Nations Foundation, Turner Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative and Turner Endangered Species Fund, that Turner has advanced his conservation and philanthropic efforts. Among Turner’s various and considerable contributions, including his historic $1 billion gift to the United Nations, he has given over $374 million to programs for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect our climate, safeguarding environmental health and protecting wildlife and habitats to maintain biodiversity.

Turner wishes to share his complete love of nature, wildlife and discovery in order to help all generations develop a keen appreciation for and awareness of what our Earth has to offer and just as importantly, a shared responsibility for the well-being of our environment. After much thoughtful consideration, Turner has established a way in which to achieve this through the launch of Ted Turner Expeditions

 “WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION AND A
PRIVILEGE TO PRESERVE AND
MAINTAIN OUR PLANET AND THE
SPECIES WE SHARE THE PLANET WITH.”
TED TURNER

Richard Branson The B Team |Virgin  Group - Morocco - South Africa - Necker Island

Richard Branson - Necker Island B Team and Virgin Group

 

Sir Richard Branson is continuing his push for sustainable energy in the Caribbean, and the Caribbean resident is putting his money where his mouth is.

Branson has been on a drive to make his private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands more green, following his regional call for sustainable energy development.

Branson has been perhaps the region’s most high-profile advocate for green energy, working with the Carbon War Room and the Rocky Mountain Institute to help regional stakeholders identify the region’s optimal energy future.

Last year, he convened a high-level regional conference on Necker that launched the “Ten Island Challenge,” which called for massive investment in green energy development in signatory countries, which ranged from Aruba to Colombia.

In 2004, Richard established Virgin Unite, his non-profit foundation. It mobilises the talent and resources from across the Virgin Group and beyond, to tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way. It is built on the belief that, the only way we can address the scale of the challenges facing the world today is by revolutionising the way businesses and the social sector work together – driving business as a force for good.

Richard has been working closely with Virgin Unite to bring together the right partners to help create new global leadership models to address conflict, climate change and disease.

Conservation| Philanthropy & Travel - Adventurous Philanthropists 

Nature Unplugged @ A Little Dressed Up

From South Africa to the North Atlantic, Patagonia and La Dolce Vita In Between  - Lodges Speak A Specific Language That Bring Our Spirits Home In The Wild

Sandibe Lodge Botswana

Nature workshops just happen when you choose to stay in a delicate and courageous spot surrounded by uncontrollable creatures and landscapes. Just being somewhere that makes you think more than twice about where you step, how loud you talk, how fast you breathe, has a ripple effect. The animals feel it, the land gives way, and if you are lucky enough to travel into the belly of nature, lodges allow us to surrender to the ways of a place. Game drives, forest foraging, rock climbing, scuba diving, hiking or wandering in certain places require trust.  As much as uncertainty is part of the fun, a lodge can act as learning center, home, design inspiration, refuge, family. It is the shelter that lures us out off the path and the guides, hosts, chefs, rangers, teachers make the experience.  

Care of the Land, Wildlife and People

Fogo Island Inn

At The Edge of the wild North Atlantic

 As nature's fragility is amplified, so is the need to experience it. Here are some places that lure people from all over the planet to sample the world. Through the artistic lens of a lodge and all of the inspired minds that play, work, thrive and dwell there, here is a small exploration of some big places.

A Bit about Fogo

Nature links us and places inspire us. Lodges in the wild elevate and celebrate place with their unique flavor. The heritage and lineage of a lodge can be long with deep roots and family narratives or daring and raw perched the edge of the world like an open book. You get the idea and you get to write the story.

These splurges are worth it when you go large and into the wild. If you fly across the world to a remote place, chances are that place is doing something helpful (or I won't mention it here), for the land, the people, the imagination and wildlife. Think of a trip to an incubator of inspiration as an investment in the world and yourself. It's not all about the lodge or you but they make you feel like it is. 

This is Really About Wellness

Londolozi South Africa

Legacy Lodges For The Next Generation

It's a Family Affair

Listen to their story

Live Guided from Londolozi on Vimeo.

Each bring something to our internal compass and craving to explore.  Whether a young innovative architect from a completely random entry point (and country) creates a structure that interprets the land, or a legacy family or steward extends a life long passion for conservation through a deep rooted relationship and history, lodges take us in. 

 My time @ Londolozi

When I traveled with my Aunt to Africa, my maiden voyage was with an 80 year old mama lion in the incubator of Londolozi,which taught me that nature is the ultimate equalizer  inspiring spirits from any age across the world. Generations play in the fields of nature with the help of a Land Rover Defender and a good cocktail!

  

 Londolozi 

Italy Gives Experiential Nature Based Travel It's Own Style In The Wild.... 

The Soul Gets A Reboot & Architecture

Romances Our Need for New Ways to

Experience

ALPINADOLOMITES 

A beautiful lodge hotel in the Italian Alps where wellness and nurturing the urge to merge in nature has modern intelligence.

Vigilius Mountain Resort

vigilius mountain resort.

An island in the mountains at 1 500 m above sea level, a modernist chalet, a mountain hotel in South Tyrol with 5-star design that satisfies longings: many people interpret the vigilius mountain resort as a fallen tree which integrates into the landscape as naturally as if it had always lain there. You have come here with the desire to follow the rhythm of nature, your own nature, to feel your very own strength and be totally in tune with yourself, to spiritually arrive. Others compare the vigilius mountain resort to a tree house: a child’s secret hiding place and welcome refuge where they can float above the rest of the world and throw all of their everyday worries over board with a laugh, where they don’t have to be anyone but can simply be. And for some, the vigilius mountain resort is a mother hen who sits on her nest and places a protective wing over them. You value the sincere warmth of the people here. Take your time.
As a result, the vigilius mountain resort is an island in the mountains for everyone. Where everything unimportant is left down in the valley. Life can be so simple.

Italy's Simple Magic Composed in a dreamy lodge 

Mary Karr & George Saunders Get Real with 50 plus writers on an island that takes a village to get to, but once you are there, it's pretty damn remarkable. Thank you Good World Journeys

The Alchemy of This Literary Salon- Patmos Greece

                            George Saunders                 Mary Karr

"I went to the island of Patmos and took a chance on my creativity. I found a community with voices shared and strong. We journeyed so far, it was physically impossible not to mine from this well of creativity to help me through the anguish of a lonely craft, into the continuum of pushing out stories." Wendy Abrams

Mary Karr is an award-winning poet and best-selling memoirist. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed and New York Times best-selling memoirs The Liars' Club, Cherry, and Lit, as well as the Art of Memoir, and five poetry collections, most recently Tropic of Squalor.

George Saunders has published more than twenty short stories and numerous Shouts & Murmurs in The New Yorker since first appearing in the magazine, in 1992. His work includes the short-story collections “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” (a finalist for the 1996 PEN/Hemingway Award), “Pastoralia,” “In Persuasion Nation” (a finalist for the Story Prize), “Tenth of December” (a finalist for the National Book Award and recipient of the Folio Prize), “Congratulations, By the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness,” and “Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel (WINNER of the 2017 Man Booker Prize)

The Build- Up

It took two days to get to Patmos from Malta via Athens where I hiked, explored, ate tasty green, heard cicadas and collided with dramatic weather. Caught in torrential rains darting in and out of shops at night, I was mesmerized by the looming well lit Acropolis above. Athens did not disappoint. I was determined to hike The Acropolis before boarding an eight hour ferry with a group of writers to the island the next day. My throat was scratchy from too much  A/C  and different zones, planes, cars, homes and hotels. After arriving at my boutique hotel,  I ventured out and discovered an apothecary where a concerned shopkeeper, a friendly woman described the benefits of an olive oil based sauve to rub on my throat. I bought it.  And  she sold me a small bottle of Greek Cinnamon liqueur too soothe my pipes. It was delicious and it worked. Remedies and booze and crafts all in one shop, go Athens! I was healed within 24 hours. "Send me an email and let me know if you feel better from Patmos!" she said giving me her card.

Athens Calling!

James Bondish architecture near the Acropolis      Street Art in Athens feeling the changes

 I had a good night sleep and very high expectations for my day in the city before heading to the port. I climbed the Acropolis by myself, slipped on marble, and finally saw Athens from the glorious columns & tree lined hills. I confessed to my new friends that I cut in line to get my chance to see this iconic structure up close without spending half the day waiting in line. 

When I committed to this salon, based on referrals from a writer's camp I went to in Big Sur, the wheels of planning began. Good World Journeys, curated and created by Dan Siegel and  Jenny Yancey, know what the hell they are doing. They are a married couple who create the ultimate modern age bohemian creative salon life all over the world. They have a crack team, their kids, Weezie and Satchel helping herd, organize and produce. They are ridiculously good at putting these gatherings together -but it takes some doing on everyone's part.

I had to rendez-vous with other writers through a Facebook group, plod and plan a ferry schedule to share a cabin. I paired with an amazing editor from Seattle who grew up in Montana, has incredible insights, was the perfect cabin mate after my aversion of sharing little quarters with strangers. She turned out to be a great mind to connect with through out the salon. Before we boarded our ferry, the other participants and I coordinated Meet Ups in Athens from a boutique hotel in the Plaka, the Home & Poetry Hotel.

We were a collection of people from around the world. Some of us met in Athens the day before virtual strangers, using our GPS to find each other in cafés, wine bars, hotel lobbies and  cobble stone streets. I hiked the Acropolis and fell on the slick marble and found a literary pilgrim, a Western poet in a cafe who was having a Prosecco and a salad in an Athens Cafe through Facebook Messenger. She wore a Panama hat, lived in Telluride Colorado ( one of my favorite places in the world), is an award winning poet Kierstin Bridger and now a personal friend who I even visited in September post Salon. Things got off to a good start. 

                            Patmos

We get to our hotel at 3am and sleep off the ride; a bunch of wanderers from boat to bus to room to bed with immediate luggage deliveries. Wow! When I wake up, my eyes adjust to the white washed brilliance and velvet azure glistening Aegean Sea, the stillness and the far off laughter in the sea below of life on holiday. The scrubby hills and kayakers, the hikers, the juicy watermelon and disappointing tepid coffee start my day. Smokey bacon, the feta cheese, the olives and the smiles, this is not how I usually eat, but I dive in. I am in Greece. There will be lots of watermelon and feta cheese and bad coffee. When we have our first formal session, to be honest, I had no idea what kind of talent I had sailed into. I read these writer's books, but not everyone of them. There was a cult following and I was not that pilgrim. I was more about the island, the genres, and yes, of course, the writers, but I had a fraction of the passion many of my fellow writers had until I began to listen.  

"Hi y'all," Mary Karr says. Her intense gaze, mixed with amusement, great eye lashes and vivid eyebrows etch an immediate impression. She scans the room. I am in the presence of hard earned confidence. She drops the f bomb effortlessly, describes craft elements like  carnality, tone, the art of editing and the underbelly vernacular of Texas, her homeland always, as she reveals the mastery of Chekhov or her colleague George Saunders. She is a force of nature and a total sweetheart. 

Then there is George Saunders, a sharp, quirky hilarious and insanely disciplined literary master, disguised as a transcendental dude, humble, awestruck, specific and mellow. 

The blend of these two requires deep thinking and passion about writing. Here we are sitting in paradise riveted in a hotel lobby for six 3- hour morning sessions to listen and talk and five 2- hour evening Salons on the veranda.  Everyday I learn something extraordinary about craft, adventure, Greece, literature  and the courage to mix with all kinds of people and speak up. Daily sessions split between the two felt balanced and intense, exhausting, riveting, slow as molasses and fast as the mind can grasp ideas and tales. We write some, analyze a lot, listen, absorb and have our own readings in the afternoon if we feel like it. NO pressure!  It is simply  an adventure in storytelling and you paid a hell of a lot of money and put some time into it. Are we better storytellers? That is another story.

     The Art & Soul of Mind Travel

We Listen                             We Dance

Take two great writers, add a Greek Island and 50 people from around the world that don't know each other. You are perched over a stretch of beach, a white washed church, the sea is under your nose, and villages, and tavernas not far.  Mix a lot of conversations, lectures, fresh food, Aegean swims, hillside chats and starry nights and a lot of other things I probably do and  don't know about. If lucky, this mixture creates magic. Patmos definitely is magical.

The result was ten days of immersion in the craft of Island life, literary marathons, readings, making friends, meeting poets, doctors, professors, economists, students, academics, journalists, and even (not famous) actors etc. Quite a cocktail of diversity and learning under the Greek sun. Find your muse, find your feet, find your friends, and find an adventure that can not be written up but can be written about. The takeaway? Choose your experiences in life sometimes on impulse, other times, strategically. I did this one carefully and it was worth all of the work to get there. 

One word YEP!

Patmos village of  Chora 

I like to write. I like to travel and I also like to connect with interesting people and learn. I have spent many years  questing around the world as a writer, a traveler, a friend, a tourist and a believer in the essential magic of going away. I have been to a couple of writer's conferences, one in Montana and one in Big Sur. I don't like "workshops" where your stories get dissected and it's an ego fest. I have been through the workshop experience and it's helpful and necessary, but the salon is a unique portal into the creative process. It's less about dissecting your work, but dissect we did  from Hemingway to our teacher's writings as well. There was even a live performance of Lincoln In The Bardo by our fellow writers cast by Mr. Saunders himself.

Every summer for the past few years I have been lured to the Mediterranean or the Aegean. Each year had a different reason for my pilgrimages. A friend in Malta, a sea voyage through the iconic islands of Greece, a Sicilian fantasy and different friends to join me as a traveler. Patmos was Patmos, not to be repeated but to be savored and I have the notes, the memos and the desire to keep feeding from the salon to help with my own writing from travel to fiction to personal essay. Oh yes, and swimming, and getting a tan. 

When you marry place, creativity, collective think and two great teachers perched over the Aegean, the reality of a salon is magical

My New Best friends Linnea, Leslie and Kiersten

Karen, Spyros and Yours Truly

I have made real friendships with the writers, and visited one in Telluride and Ridgway Colorado, one along the Golden Gate Bridge, another on a Greek Island and more reunions are in the works. Connections matter as much as the writing and it can be just for this slice of time or for as long as you choose to continue the conversation. 

We read each other's writing, we offer feedback, this is a salon mind-set!  
With George Saunders Closing Dinner 

The stories I learned to tell  under the spell of Saunders and Karr felt to me like MFA bootcamp in one of my favorite parts of the world. I still download the information months later, finding gifts from their teachings. Prompts from  tone, sense memory, editing and even borrowing from other great writers aid me in finding the inspiration to continue.  The simple and sublime influence of the sea and the sky gave it a literary cinematic impression. Excursions from exploring villages, to taking a choppy boat to remote islands for snorkeling and lunch, swimming in the sea and finding new friends through love of writing is a great portal into creativity.  If you are a life long learner and love travel as much as your craft, salons and retreats are an incredible way to experience the world and get your voice out there.

Long term investing in conservation is the approach to sustainable tourism while protecting, engaging, inspiring and learning as climate changes, people evolve, economies ebb and flow and life continues.  

Long term investing & nurturing in the future of place and environment = a realistic approach by taking the long view

Leaders with a specific vision and talent for stimulating investment, philanthropy, social impact and profit are creating another layer of tourism that engages the traveler beyond their own private journey. Tourism is a holistic venture where collaboration, capital, innovation, community, patience and heritage will support the benefits that only travel can provide.  Capital and vision will help preserve some of the most sensitive and breathtaking corners of the planet and this post highlights a few visionaries making an impact on tourism from New Mexico to South Africa. This post has a few snapshots of Luke Bailes, CEO Singita, Sonu Shavdasini, CEO & Chairman Soneva Group, Louis Bacon, Moore Capital Management, Ted Turner, Turner Enterprises and Richard Branson have taken corners of the globe under their wing to share, preserve and sustain through passion, capital and taking the long view.  I will be taking my first trip to Africa where I will learn about other visionaries on a smaller scale in South Africa and Botswana and look forward to bringing their legacies, journeys, experiences into my own narrative.

The Take Away Tourism + Saving The World Through investing in place, people, time and experience

= A Long Term Strategy with a lot of vision

South Africa - Luke Bailes CEO Singita  

As the world’s human population continues its exponential growth, the loss of pristine wilderness is taking place at an ever-accelerating rate, to counteract this Singita is making a profound difference in many parts of Africa.

Orchestrating an interdependent relationship between communities, wildlife and tourism that ensures true sustainability, Singita is blazing a trail which is seldom achieved on this scale anywhere else on the continent.

Courtesy of Blue Marble - UK                                      

Here, Luke shares his thoughts on falling in love with Africa, the benefits of a long-term plan and helpful billionaires...

Q: What was the genesis for Singita and what propelled you to commit to such an ambitious concept?

In the early days there were fantastic wildlife experiences on offer but very few complimentary hospitality experiences. Matching the two was our goal when we started Singita. We quickly realised over the years, that wildlife and pristine wilderness was under threat due to increased population growth and so over time the emphasis has completely shifted to preserving at-risk areas and working in partnership with local communities.

Singita is unusual in that you consider a very long term horizon when setting strategy and objectives. Can you explain the approach behind your "100 year plan”?

"One of our concerns is that businesses have become so driven by greed and short-term profit that it impacts on strategy and decision-making, which ultimately impacts on the health of the business. Our approach is totally opposite – we don’t look at the short-term. Our primary objective is to preserve and protect large tracts of land in Africa for future generations and everything we do supports that. Ironically when you do things properly and well, profits take care of themselves and this gives us the wherewithal to do what we do.

Singita's 100 Year Vision from Singita on Vimeo.

 Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. Louis Bacon is a conservation philanthropist who has spent more than two decades supporting efforts to protect natural resources in the United States and abroad. 

Louis Bacon 

 Bacon is the Founder and Chairman of The Moore Charitable Foundation, Inc. (“MCF”) and its affiliate foundations across North America, spanning southern Colorado, northern New Mexico, eastern North Carolina, The Bahamas, Panama and Long Island, New York. Mr. Bacon founded The Moore Charitable Foundation in 1992. The Foundation works with conservation experts and leaders and has provided significant funding to more than 200 local, national and international environmental organizations.

In 2012, he gave 90,000 acres to the federal government as a conservation easement, and created the Trinchera Blanca Foundation to permanently protect 167,000 of the 171,400 acres of his Trinchera Blanca Ranch, expanding the Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area bordering the San Luis Valley in Colorado, and placed his 20,000 acre Tercio Ranch in a conservation easement as well. Prior to that, he’d also made significant contributions to conservation projects in his childhood home of North Carolina, on Long Island, New York, and in the Bahamas.

 Taos Ski Valley - Bacon Regenerates a Slow Tough Mountain and delicately handles the locals and the essence of the place.

Now, it appears as though Bacon has turned his eyes toward Taos, New Mexico. Having owned property there since 1996, Bacon had worked with the previous owners of the Taos Ski Valley, the Blake Family, to develop a master plan for renovating the aging ski resort that was ultimately approved by the forest service in 2012. The family, which had been seeing tourism decline, had wanted to make improvements for a long time, but could not afford them without risking the ability to pay their employees.

It was Bacon’s conservation ethic, as well as his willingness to work with the family, that Led the Blakes to offer to sell him the property. "We believe Louis is the right person to ensure a viable future for the ski valley and that his ownership will be beneficial to our employees, Taos' residents and guests," said Mickey Blake in a statement. "I'm in mourning a little bit but I realize this is really a good thing for the ski area," said Adriana Blake.

Bacon is dedicated to “advancing the Blake family vision and legacy of Taos Ski Valley by continuing to provide an unmatched skiing experience while serving as an economic driver for northern New Mexico,” according to his spokesman Peter Talty. And his commitment to conservation also has environmental protection groups in New Mexico looking to him to help further local conservation efforts. If history is any indicator, these groups may not have to wait long—his deal with the federal government for conservation easements in Colorado took just two years from genesis to completion.

 " Our theory is that a new luxury is emerging based on what is now missing in everyday life: nature, sustainability and good health. This is why our resorts win so many awards and have been so successful, as we try to inspire a lifetime of rare experiences."

Sonu Shivdasani is one of the founders of The Soneva Foundation and is Chairman and CEO of Soneva Resorts & Residences and founded Six Senses Resorts & Spas. For nearly 20 years Sonu and his wife, Eva, have created the template for sustainable tourism, coining the concepts of SLOW LIFE and intelligent luxury which recognises the ability for luxury holiday making and care for the environment to co-exist with perfect ease.

Sonu Shivdasani: We question and challenge what luxury is for the wealthy today. In the past, the wealthy were rural landed gentry and the language of luxury was that which was rare for them: dressing up, four piece bands, gold, crystal chandeliers… because that offered them a change from their daily life which was about nature and space. 

It’s estimated that the hospitality industry benefits the richest 20-30% of the planet, at the expense of the poorest 70-80%. We as an industry consume more than our fair share of resources. However, resorts and hotels are often central to a community, so we have the ability to raise awareness and change consciousness. We are in a position to encourage, utilise, and even mobilise our wealthy and collectively powerful patrons. 

What motivates Soneva's sustainability efforts, which focus not just on reducing your impacts, but on also ensuring you make a positive contribution to society and to environmental restoration?

Hoteliers must continue to work together to find ways to cause less “harm” and do more “good”. Companies must become ‘solutions’ rather than ‘problems’. I believe that in all our businesses we can make small changes to our business model, which has no negative impacts on our profitability or our guests’ perception of our products. Today it is the other way around: the wealthy live in their air-conditioned urban boxes, get around in their German car boxes, eat in designer restaurants with signature imported foods cooked by celebrity chefs, etc. Those things are no longer rare. They have become common place for the wealthy, global citizen. 

The foundation has so far raised almost US$ 6 million from the environmental levy, which is fantastic considering we are a small group of resorts. What is noteworthy is that this amount of capital for good causes has not been raised by blind donations but as a result of tweaking our business model.

We have used this money to fund a forest restoration programme in northern Thailand where we have planted around half a million trees to mitigate 255,000 tonnes of CO2. The money has also funded a windmill in South India. The foundation is also using the money we raise to provide heavily subsidised cooking stoves in Myanmar and Darfur benefiting around 180,000 people to date. You can see that with the most incremental of changes, a company can do an extraordinary amount of good without negatively affecting business aims.

We see that our guests respond very well to our sustainable initiatives. In terms of communicating about sustainability, we have taken the approach that we minimize information on what you cannot do and focus on what positive steps we are doing. It is important to focus on the opportunities sustainability gives and that often the most luxurious experience is the most sustainable. Our guests love to visit our vegetable garden and to see that the food they eat comes straight from the ground the same day. The Fresh in the Garden restaurant, which is the only restaurant at Soneva Fushi not near the beach, is the favourite for many of our guests.  

Having said that, we also show guests who are interested the less glamorous sides, but important practices we do at our Eco Centro ‘Waste-to-Wealth’ facility. What we find is that they truly appreciate our efforts and are impressed that through innovative thinking we are able to see value and turn waste into an asset rather than a liability. That is exactly what sustainability is about – seeing the opportunities rather than focusing on the restrictions.

 "It's Like National Parks WIthout the Crowds" Ted Turner regarding Vermejo Par Ranch and Casa Grande

 Ted Turner - Media Mogul, Environmentalist, Eco Tour Expeditions, Philanthropist

Turner’s appreciation for our beautiful Earth and its creatures runs deep, compelling him to work tirelessly to protect and conserve our environment, as well as its animal and plant species. It is through his numerous foundations, including the United Nations Foundation, Turner Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative and Turner Endangered Species Fund, that Turner has advanced his conservation and philanthropic efforts. Among Turner’s various and considerable contributions, including his historic $1 billion gift to the United Nations, he has given over $374 million to programs for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect our climate, safeguarding environmental health and protecting wildlife and habitats to maintain biodiversity.

Turner wishes to share his complete love of nature, wildlife and discovery in order to help all generations develop a keen appreciation for and awareness of what our Earth has to offer and just as importantly, a shared responsibility for the well-being of our environment. After much thoughtful consideration, Turner has established a way in which to achieve this through the launch of Ted Turner Expeditions

 “WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION AND A
PRIVILEGE TO PRESERVE AND
MAINTAIN OUR PLANET AND THE
SPECIES WE SHARE THE PLANET WITH.”
TED TURNER

Richard Branson The B Team |Virgin  Group - Morocco - South Africa - Necker Island

Richard Branson - Necker Island B Team and Virgin Group

 

Sir Richard Branson is continuing his push for sustainable energy in the Caribbean, and the Caribbean resident is putting his money where his mouth is.

Branson has been on a drive to make his private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands more green, following his regional call for sustainable energy development.

Branson has been perhaps the region’s most high-profile advocate for green energy, working with the Carbon War Room and the Rocky Mountain Institute to help regional stakeholders identify the region’s optimal energy future.

Last year, he convened a high-level regional conference on Necker that launched the “Ten Island Challenge,” which called for massive investment in green energy development in signatory countries, which ranged from Aruba to Colombia.

In 2004, Richard established Virgin Unite, his non-profit foundation. It mobilises the talent and resources from across the Virgin Group and beyond, to tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way. It is built on the belief that, the only way we can address the scale of the challenges facing the world today is by revolutionising the way businesses and the social sector work together – driving business as a force for good.

Richard has been working closely with Virgin Unite to bring together the right partners to help create new global leadership models to address conflict, climate change and disease.

Conservation| Philanthropy & Travel - Adventurous Philanthropists 

Mary Karr & George Saunders Get Real with 50 plus writers on an island that takes a village to get to, but once you are there, it's pretty damn remarkable. Thank you Good World Journeys

The Alchemy of This Literary Salon- Patmos Greece

                            George Saunders                 Mary Karr

"I went to the island of Patmos and took a chance on my creativity. I found a community with voices shared and strong. We journeyed so far, it was physically impossible not to mine from this well of creativity to help me through the anguish of a lonely craft, into the continuum of pushing out stories." Wendy Abrams

Mary Karr is an award-winning poet and best-selling memoirist. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed and New York Times best-selling memoirs The Liars' Club, Cherry, and Lit, as well as the Art of Memoir, and five poetry collections, most recently Tropic of Squalor.

George Saunders has published more than twenty short stories and numerous Shouts & Murmurs in The New Yorker since first appearing in the magazine, in 1992. His work includes the short-story collections “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” (a finalist for the 1996 PEN/Hemingway Award), “Pastoralia,” “In Persuasion Nation” (a finalist for the Story Prize), “Tenth of December” (a finalist for the National Book Award and recipient of the Folio Prize), “Congratulations, By the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness,” and “Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel (WINNER of the 2017 Man Booker Prize)

The Build- Up

It took two days to get to Patmos from Malta via Athens where I hiked, explored, ate tasty green, heard cicadas and collided with dramatic weather. Caught in torrential rains darting in and out of shops at night, I was mesmerized by the looming well lit Acropolis above. Athens did not disappoint. I was determined to hike The Acropolis before boarding an eight hour ferry with a group of writers to the island the next day. My throat was scratchy from too much  A/C  and different zones, planes, cars, homes and hotels. After arriving at my boutique hotel,  I ventured out and discovered an apothecary where a concerned shopkeeper, a friendly woman described the benefits of an olive oil based sauve to rub on my throat. I bought it.  And  she sold me a small bottle of Greek Cinnamon liqueur too soothe my pipes. It was delicious and it worked. Remedies and booze and crafts all in one shop, go Athens! I was healed within 24 hours. "Send me an email and let me know if you feel better from Patmos!" she said giving me her card.

Athens Calling!

James Bondish architecture near the Acropolis      Street Art in Athens feeling the changes

 I had a good night sleep and very high expectations for my day in the city before heading to the port. I climbed the Acropolis by myself, slipped on marble, and finally saw Athens from the glorious columns & tree lined hills. I confessed to my new friends that I cut in line to get my chance to see this iconic structure up close without spending half the day waiting in line. 

When I committed to this salon, based on referrals from a writer's camp I went to in Big Sur, the wheels of planning began. Good World Journeys, curated and created by Dan Siegel and  Jenny Yancey, know what the hell they are doing. They are a married couple who create the ultimate modern age bohemian creative salon life all over the world. They have a crack team, their kids, Weezie and Satchel helping herd, organize and produce. They are ridiculously good at putting these gatherings together -but it takes some doing on everyone's part.

I had to rendez-vous with other writers through a Facebook group, plod and plan a ferry schedule to share a cabin. I paired with an amazing editor from Seattle who grew up in Montana, has incredible insights, was the perfect cabin mate after my aversion of sharing little quarters with strangers. She turned out to be a great mind to connect with through out the salon. Before we boarded our ferry, the other participants and I coordinated Meet Ups in Athens from a boutique hotel in the Plaka, the Home & Poetry Hotel.

We were a collection of people from around the world. Some of us met in Athens the day before virtual strangers, using our GPS to find each other in cafés, wine bars, hotel lobbies and  cobble stone streets. I hiked the Acropolis and fell on the slick marble and found a literary pilgrim, a Western poet in a cafe who was having a Prosecco and a salad in an Athens Cafe through Facebook Messenger. She wore a Panama hat, lived in Telluride Colorado ( one of my favorite places in the world), is an award winning poet Kierstin Bridger and now a personal friend who I even visited in September post Salon. Things got off to a good start. 

                            Patmos

We get to our hotel at 3am and sleep off the ride; a bunch of wanderers from boat to bus to room to bed with immediate luggage deliveries. Wow! When I wake up, my eyes adjust to the white washed brilliance and velvet azure glistening Aegean Sea, the stillness and the far off laughter in the sea below of life on holiday. The scrubby hills and kayakers, the hikers, the juicy watermelon and disappointing tepid coffee start my day. Smokey bacon, the feta cheese, the olives and the smiles, this is not how I usually eat, but I dive in. I am in Greece. There will be lots of watermelon and feta cheese and bad coffee. When we have our first formal session, to be honest, I had no idea what kind of talent I had sailed into. I read these writer's books, but not everyone of them. There was a cult following and I was not that pilgrim. I was more about the island, the genres, and yes, of course, the writers, but I had a fraction of the passion many of my fellow writers had until I began to listen.  

"Hi y'all," Mary Karr says. Her intense gaze, mixed with amusement, great eye lashes and vivid eyebrows etch an immediate impression. She scans the room. I am in the presence of hard earned confidence. She drops the f bomb effortlessly, describes craft elements like  carnality, tone, the art of editing and the underbelly vernacular of Texas, her homeland always, as she reveals the mastery of Chekhov or her colleague George Saunders. She is a force of nature and a total sweetheart. 

Then there is George Saunders, a sharp, quirky hilarious and insanely disciplined literary master, disguised as a transcendental dude, humble, awestruck, specific and mellow. 

The blend of these two requires deep thinking and passion about writing. Here we are sitting in paradise riveted in a hotel lobby for six 3- hour morning sessions to listen and talk and five 2- hour evening Salons on the veranda.  Everyday I learn something extraordinary about craft, adventure, Greece, literature  and the courage to mix with all kinds of people and speak up. Daily sessions split between the two felt balanced and intense, exhausting, riveting, slow as molasses and fast as the mind can grasp ideas and tales. We write some, analyze a lot, listen, absorb and have our own readings in the afternoon if we feel like it. NO pressure!  It is simply  an adventure in storytelling and you paid a hell of a lot of money and put some time into it. Are we better storytellers? That is another story.

     The Art & Soul of Mind Travel

We Listen                             We Dance

Take two great writers, add a Greek Island and 50 people from around the world that don't know each other. You are perched over a stretch of beach, a white washed church, the sea is under your nose, and villages, and tavernas not far.  Mix a lot of conversations, lectures, fresh food, Aegean swims, hillside chats and starry nights and a lot of other things I probably do and  don't know about. If lucky, this mixture creates magic. Patmos definitely is magical.

The result was ten days of immersion in the craft of Island life, literary marathons, readings, making friends, meeting poets, doctors, professors, economists, students, academics, journalists, and even (not famous) actors etc. Quite a cocktail of diversity and learning under the Greek sun. Find your muse, find your feet, find your friends, and find an adventure that can not be written up but can be written about. The takeaway? Choose your experiences in life sometimes on impulse, other times, strategically. I did this one carefully and it was worth all of the work to get there. 

One word YEP!

Patmos village of  Chora 

I like to write. I like to travel and I also like to connect with interesting people and learn. I have spent many years  questing around the world as a writer, a traveler, a friend, a tourist and a believer in the essential magic of going away. I have been to a couple of writer's conferences, one in Montana and one in Big Sur. I don't like "workshops" where your stories get dissected and it's an ego fest. I have been through the workshop experience and it's helpful and necessary, but the salon is a unique portal into the creative process. It's less about dissecting your work, but dissect we did  from Hemingway to our teacher's writings as well. There was even a live performance of Lincoln In The Bardo by our fellow writers cast by Mr. Saunders himself.

Every summer for the past few years I have been lured to the Mediterranean or the Aegean. Each year had a different reason for my pilgrimages. A friend in Malta, a sea voyage through the iconic islands of Greece, a Sicilian fantasy and different friends to join me as a traveler. Patmos was Patmos, not to be repeated but to be savored and I have the notes, the memos and the desire to keep feeding from the salon to help with my own writing from travel to fiction to personal essay. Oh yes, and swimming, and getting a tan. 

When you marry place, creativity, collective think and two great teachers perched over the Aegean, the reality of a salon is magical

My New Best friends Linnea, Leslie and Kiersten

Karen, Spyros and Yours Truly

I have made real friendships with the writers, and visited one in Telluride and Ridgway Colorado, one along the Golden Gate Bridge, another on a Greek Island and more reunions are in the works. Connections matter as much as the writing and it can be just for this slice of time or for as long as you choose to continue the conversation. 

We read each other's writing, we offer feedback, this is a salon mind-set!  
With George Saunders Closing Dinner 

The stories I learned to tell  under the spell of Saunders and Karr felt to me like MFA bootcamp in one of my favorite parts of the world. I still download the information months later, finding gifts from their teachings. Prompts from  tone, sense memory, editing and even borrowing from other great writers aid me in finding the inspiration to continue.  The simple and sublime influence of the sea and the sky gave it a literary cinematic impression. Excursions from exploring villages, to taking a choppy boat to remote islands for snorkeling and lunch, swimming in the sea and finding new friends through love of writing is a great portal into creativity.  If you are a life long learner and love travel as much as your craft, salons and retreats are an incredible way to experience the world and get your voice out there.

 Marseille A Total Surprise From Wanting To Rush Out To Savoring Its Unexpected Beauty

France's Second Largest City A Diamond in the Med

Marseille has always been a big village, with its distinct dialect and style,a slow, noisy rough but cool magnet for bohemia, like Berlin except hilly and sun kissed, open to the world with its own sad stories.

Excerpt by Michael Kimmelman T Magazine

Word of mouth was definitely on the wrong track regarding Marseille. I heard it was seedy, dangerous, not that pretty. How wrong that was. When we landed in Marseille, the idea was to get in and out as quick as possible. The plan was to drive into the soul of Provence and enjoy the villages of Arles, Les Baux, St. Remy and not savor  Marseille an unsavory place? We wanted to eat slowly, drive in and out of towns, walk the hills, melt into the scenery. Marseille was the Capital of Culture in 2013, walking through the MucEM, The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations was a spectacular surprise weaving architecture, ancient and modern against the azure sea with olive trees, stone, wood, iron, walkways and the lacy and industrial handiwork of Rudy Ricciotti

The takeaway for me was to not always listen to people. I literally thought this place was a fly by and it proved to have such an effect on me. The contrast of the sea and the gorgeous old French port mixed with the vibrant French style and the food and art combined was so much of what I love about France. It felt so modern and old. As women on the road, we were warned not to spend any time in Marseille. Honestly the worst part was getting ripped off by the car rental agency for false damages. That is another story and it happened through a conceirge at the posh and huge Intercontinental so just enjoying the street, the local fish, the sights and sounds of Marseille was amazing. Check out the video clip below and the article from Emile Flou of Lonely Planet. But first, some of my iPhone snaps:

When my friend and I embarked on Provence, Marseille was the place we would land and flee. While eating breakfast at our hotel, we casually asked the server where we should walk. We did not research the city I just kept hearing the mantra, oh you don't want to be there. You would think no kidding, there is so much to see but we were on slow time and had no agenda. That's the best way to be if you can, but we might have missed one of my favorite days in France. She said oh you must see the old town and the museum. We walked along the water front where the the boats and the beautiful masts, the colorful artisans with soaps, olive oils, lavendar and the sea breeze became intoxicating. When we came back after our deep dive into the country, we actually took a small train through the city up to Notre- Damedde la Garde.  Soaking in the tourist  experience and checking out the nooks and views of the city and finding a great sea side place to eat Boulibaisse landed us at Restaurant Peron.

photos Wendy Abrams

Restaurant suggestion Peron - Perched on the wild sea and rocks on the craggy cliffs out of the center of town. Very hip with mod  Bouillabaisse a little over priced fish soup but the views and the chic organic wood mixed with great crisp French wines make the place irresistible.