Among My Souvenirs

Italy, among the world’s top destinations, reigned atop three categories: favorite global, honeymoon and family destination Where are upscale travelers in the know heading for their getaways? The Virtuoso Luxe Report has the inside scoop on the world’s top destinations for the year ahead. Published each year, the report surveys Virtuoso’s expert travel advisors around the globe on the hottest trends they see for the year to come. Read on to discover where everyone from families to adventure-seekers to honeymooners are off to in the coming year.

We lay on the sand, the brilliant white moon glowing above us. Her electric blue hair danced in the breeze as she sat watching the stars and I sat watching her. She is utterly radiant. Skin the colour of polished copper and amber eyes so brown they are almost black. Small and kind, funny and tough, she can roll a joint in under two minutes. The sound of the waves kissing the beach, just meters away, mixes with Carbon Based Lifeforms, my go-to chill out music, playing softly as another shower of shooting stars flash across the night sky. The red sand of Hormuz island, a stunning place of fantastical volcanic rock formations and multicoloured beaches, drains through my hand as my mind races at five hundred miles an hour. I think I am falling in love. This was not part of the plan. Nina is beautiful, she’s funny, she’s easy-going, she’s a yoga enthusiast, a photographer, a local explorer. We have spent a month hitchhiking across Iran after a stand out first date. We explored Iran on...

Frozen air slipped past my layers of clothing, slowly penetrating my hands, feet and face. The snow came thick and fast, whirling and dancing, a decadent snowstorm to satisfy even the most ambitious of snow-day fantasies. Below me, the small town of Goreme, the centrepiece of this snow-globe world, the bright green minaret of the Mosque surfacing for air from amongst the drifts, the Muslim call to prayer echoing across the land. Cappadocia’s famous fairy chimneys, pinnacles of rock inhabited for thousands of years, reaching out into the sky like outstretched fingers, the hands of a giant preparing to scoop up a mighty snowball with which to wage war upon the world. I worked my way through the slushy streets, my brother Alex at my side, my beard catching as many snowflakes as possible, my transformation into a mountain man nearly complete. We walked to the edge of the town, a cold wind howling from the north, the trees rustling like live things. We stopped, gazing outwards, t...