Travel news

GLASS HALF FULL Amsterdam’s waterfront Mediamatic ETEN has set up individual greenhouses where diners can enjoy a meal with stunning views of one of the city’s canals, while remaining separated from one another. The four-course menu is plant-based and dishes are served up on large wooden planks, so wait staff don’t come into contact with diners.

T he future of food

Restaurants the world over are shifting their business models to match the current demand for socially-distant eating experiences. Here’s how fine-dining establishments are meeting the moment with fresh concepts – and rapid innovation.

Table for one Owners of Bord for En – which means “table for one” – Linda Karlsson and Rasmus Persson (the latter a trained chef) believe the future of dining is singular. Opened on 10 May, the one-table, one-person restaurant is located among a Swedish meadow and has no wait staff; instead, a three-course, drink-paired vegetarian meal is delivered via a basket strung up from the couple’s kitchen window.

Fine dining drive-through For 70 years, Seattle’s Canlis has been a beacon of fine dining. Today, it has reinvented its business structure and narrowed down the menu: in the AM, it sells bagels and sandwiches; in the PM, burgers and salads, all via a drive-through operation. Tasty Michelinstarred burgers One of the world’s most highly regarded eateries, Noma meals are usually an elaborate affair of tasting menus dished up in a Copenhagen dining room. The venue now operates a casual wine garden serving cheese and veggie burgers – no reservation needed.

RESTAURANT IN ROOM

In Sydney and Canberra, Ovolo Hotels has launched ‘Restaurant in Room’, offering two guests the chance to dine in one of their stylish rooms. Menus are three or five courses, with cellar lists and martini trolleys making socially distant rounds. Add on an overnight stay.

AN AUSTRALIAN COMEBACK

In line with government regulations, many of the nation’s Luxury Lodges are reopening, led by WA’s Cape Lodge on 29 May. These are places that combine everything travellers are looking for: a serene and secluded setting, small numbers of guests and style to spare.

Pretty Beach House 1 June 2020 Lake House 5 June 2020 Spicers Peak Lodge 12 June 2020 Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef July 2020 Lizard Island 1 July 2020 Mt Mulligan Lodge 10 July 2020 The Louise 1 August 2020 Capella Lodge 30 August 2020 Longitude 131° 1 September 2020 Bamurru Plains 1 March 2021 El Questro Homestead 1 April 2021 Silky Oaks Lodge 1 April 2021 Arkaba 1 April 2021 Southern Ocean Lodge 2022 (closed for rebuild)

Other notable openings:

Halcyon House 2 July 2020

Jackalope

26 June 2020 InterContinental Hayman Island Resort 1 September 2020

Expand your Horizons

From discovering the music of West Africa to debunking stereotypes in the American Deep South, these podcasts will take you out of your living room or morning commute and into other worlds.

Field Recordings This podcast asks audio-makers to turn on their microphones and “stand silently in fields (or things that could be broadly interpreted as fields)”. Recent episodes have taken listeners to a cloud forest in Ethiopia to hear colobus monkeys, and a bird’s nest in Iceland’s Seyðisfjörður. Afropop Worldwide This podcast takes listeners around the world – to everywhere African music has gone – to sample its sounds. From ’70s Brazilian soul to heavy metal in Botswana, let Cameroon-born host Georges Collinet transport you to places you’d have never guessed African rhythms have reached.

Portland, Unpacked “Portland is the town the US watches,” states local Proud Mary cafe owner, Nolan Hirte, in Portland Unpacked – she’s one of the many colourful characters featured. The series reveals the layers that make up Oregon’s largest city, showing off its vibrant

food, music, coffee and design culture.

The New Paris This podcast exposes the innovative aspects of a city often labelled as resistant to change. Each episode focuses on a certain topic or theme – dating, climate change, feminism, cinema – and features interviews to take a closer look at the people and ideas changing French capital.

Virtual

INNOVATIONS

Our favourite ways to stay in touch with the world – virtually.

Facetime with andBeyond guides andBeyond has extended its range of virtual safaris to help fund conservation initiatives in the reserves that it manages. Enter &Beyond Connect, a new series of face-to-face chats with guides, available for private groups at a number of locations and priced from US$100 to $200 for one to two hours.

RENT A PERSONAL HAPPINESS GUIDE Book an meeting with a Finnish Happiness Guide as part of Visit Finland’s Rent A Finn. Live broadcasts take online adventurers to the land of saunas, reindeers and the Northern Lights, all while teaching lessons of happiness and calm. The series also focuses on five Finnish lifestyles areas, including relaxation, food and fitness.

Master the Artistry of Gin Pioneers of the gin masterclass in Australia, Bass & Flinders Distillery, have debuted an At Home Gin Masterclass Kit focusing on native Australia botanicals, like strawberry gum and pepperberry. Create your own uniquely Down Under concoctions from the comfort of home.

Enjoy a moment of calm in Tassie Tourism Tasmania’s ‘Moment of Calm’ series is hoping to “soothe furrowed brows”, burnt out by the stressors of current daily life. The social media campaign invites virtual visitors into scenes of serenity in the state, such as breathing in the fresh air of Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park or soaking up the views from Bruny Island’s Neck Lookout. Travel through song One&Only is celebrating The Joy of Travel through its exclusive playlist with Spotify. The curated collection was selected by friends and families of the brand, including fashion designer Emilia Wickstead and culinary personality Giorgio Locatelli. From well-known classics to rousing road-trip anthems, the chosen songs aim to evoke personal memories from past sojourns.

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