Little Luxuries for a Staycation at Home
Let your mind accrue the miles.
If you’re like us, you have several friends who have eschewed big, spendy annual trips in order to make their homesteads their vacation. Whether actually relocating, undertaking minor construction or just adding some little luxuries, we’ve all looked anew at the cozy potential inside our own four walls. So it comes as no surprise that just because we can leave now doesn’t mean we want to venture out. If there’s one lesson we’re taking from our quarantine confines, it’s that it takes very little to shift the aperture and reap the benefits of travel—without going anywhere at all. We rounded up a few of our favorite things to help you make the most of that staycation.
Scents-ory overload.
Proust famously had the taste of warm madeleines, but for us remembrance of hotels past begins with the nose. Some of our very favorite spots have their signature scents and we haven’t been too shy to ask for the deets (and bring them home). To wit: We were instantly, irretrievably knocked out by the heavenly scent of The Lowell, a tiny jewel box of a hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, when we walked through the door. We assumed it must be their fresh flowers, but the concierge gave up the name of this Nest Candle. At the Connaught Hotel in London, insiders revealed our olfactory awe to be this Cire Trudon scent. And in Paris at the très chic Hotel Costes, wouldn’t you know—they have their very own signature fragrant candle?
Cook up a vacation.
We don’t suggest going full Julie & Julia (have at it if you want). But there’s a sense of escape to be found in focusing on a cuisine and living there for a bit; better understanding the history of ingredients and techniques can be truly transporting. Some culinary destinations we’re eyeing? Intrigued by the Gullah Geechee people featured on High on the Hog, we’ll be picking up Bress 'n' Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer. Also on the roster: the Mediterranean tastes of Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. From there, we’ll head east to dig into Betty Liu’s fantastic My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories from a City on the Water.
Your suite awaits you.
We could write a thesis on hotel bedding, but the abstract is enough: There is no reason your very own bedroom can’t have the look and feel of a luxurious, five-star suite. We already tucked many of you into these sheets (currently on sale), but most hotels have also caught on to your desire to bring the luxury home and responded fittingly, with their own bedding lines. If folding a fitted sheet still confounds you (we know, sh*t we should know by now), do as many hotels do and just go with two flat sheets. Done and done.
