Every May, Condé Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

Seviche is the draw at this airy spot in Mexico City's upscale Polanco district. Chef Richard Sandoval returns home after making his mark north of the border to offer up fish prepared with the same herbs and chilies piled up in local markets. Among the appetizers, the seared scallops with pungent papalo seeds served on watermelon slivers are as good as the seviche. Entrées can be uneven, but the tuna marinated in raw brown sugar and ancho chilies picks up the slack. This is a prime place to observe the social practices of Polanco's business elite, who often ignore dinner companions while taking cell phone calls (entrées, $11-$19).

Address: 42 Moliere
Tel: 52-55-5281-2010

Further reading:
* Hot List 2008
* The Mexico City guide

Gaudi's Barcelona.
Photo: Concierge.com

by Julia Bainbridge

Woody Allen's Barcelona is a lot different than mine. In his latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which I saw last night and adored, he coats the city--Gaudi funhouses, gorgeous gardens, and all--in a honey-colored glaze that tempts you to "lick the screen." (P.S. I am officially in love with Penelope Cruz.)

When I was in Barcelona in 2001 there was romance, yes, but also a less-than-golden tint to the whole thing--more like a rusty metallic one. My Barcelona involved a robbery at knifepoint.

Don't be alarmed; it wasn't all that scary. Let me explain.

Paul Grieco schools us all.

by Mollie Chen

Perhaps I haven't been going to the right kinds of events, but I have found that wine tastings are often high on posturing and low on fun. Not so with the "Summer of Riesling Festival" at Manhattan's Terroir.

Last night, the sliver of a wine bar hosted an intensive Alsatian wine tutorial led by general manager Paul Grieco. Grieco, who oversees the wine program at Terroir as well as at its sister restaurants Hearth and Insieme, may be the city's most exuberant (and most quotable) sommelier. The first clue that this was not going to be a typical tasting was the (temporary) gothic-style Riesling tattoo running along Grieco's arm; the second was the list of "safety tips" on the table, which included "Do not drink and drive or accept a ride from someone who claims that they don't like Riesling" and "Always carry enough money for another glass of Riesling."

by Bryan Pirolli

The Tour de France rolled down the Champs Elysées in August, but bicycle fever has hardly calmed in Paris. With the success of the year-old Vélib' public bicycle system, the City of Lights is looking beyond its periphery and toward the suburbs.

Vélib' allows anyone with a Carte Bleue or American Express credit card to rent bicycles from more than 1,400 stations in the city's 20 arrondissements. But by the end of the year, the city hopes to have 300 new stations with nearly 7,500 new bicycles in place in the closest suburbs. The expansion shows a major push for green transportation that is catching on with Parisians and tourists alike. Take a ride along the Seine and you'll wonder why you'd ever pay 15 euros for a smoggy boat cruise. As for the "banlieues," as the Parisian suburbs are called, they're probably better known for the riots and car burnings of 2005, but fortunately Vélib' bicycles are neither extremely flammable nor conducive to fire bombings. Whew.

And lucky for those stateside, Vélib's success in Paris--along with similar systems in Oslo, Lyon, Cologne, Amsterdam, and other European cities--is grabbing the attention of governments across the pond. A green-minded public bicycle service just launched in Washington, D.C., under the name SmartBike DC. Even Chicago and New York are considering a public bike system in the near future. (As if dodging taxis on foot wasn't scary enough.)

Further reading:
* Montreal's getting hip to the public bike scene, too--and it needs a name

A Gogo-produced video explains how in-flight Internet connectivity works.

by Barbara S. Peterson

After months of speculation about when, or even if, inflight WiFi would come to pass, American Airlines switched on the system this morning on its fleet of fifteen 767-200s that operate coast to coast out of JFK, San Francisco, and LAX airports, as well as on a daily Miami to New York roundtrip. The airline had wanted to be first in the market, a goal that undoubtedly became more urgent with rival Delta boasting it would offer WiFi systemwide within a year--although it has yet to install it. (Virgin America has also signed up for the Aircell service, which uses the brand name Gogo; JetBlue, Southwest, and Alaska are pursuing similar setups, but none has come out with a firm startup date.)   

When I stopped by JFK Airport at around ten this morning, I found Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein and American technology manager Doug Backelin hunched over their laptops in the Admirals Club, monitoring how things were going on the six WiFi-equipped aircraft that were airborne at that moment. One eager flier had jumped the gun and used the service on a red-eye flight from the West Coast last night, ahead of the official launch at 7 a.m. today. "He got on at 1:05 a.m. Central time, and he was on for four hours!" Blumenstein said with a laugh. So far, they said, results were promising--on one plane 50 people were logged on at once. 

The service costs $13 per flight ($10 for shorter flights, when that's introduced). Fliers can register ahead of departure on gogoinflight.com or do so at the boarding gate or on the flight itself. There's no limit to how many fliers can be on at once, though whether it could handle a full planeload of Web surfers has yet to be tested.

Corral del Rey's bedrooms feature wood
beams dating back to the 17th-century
home's first incarnation, Casa Palacio.

Every May, Condé Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

The stylish Corral del Rey proves that small is beautiful, with its six rooms in a seventeenth-century house just a five-minute walk from the Giralda. Though beautifully designed and decorated, the rooms here are snug--in fact, the standard double, delightful for a single traveler, would be tight quarters for two. However, the hotel makes up for its diminutive floor space in a variety of ways--all rooms are well equipped, and there's a roof garden with a Jacuzzi plunge pool and sun loungers. Spanish interior designer Kuky Mora-Figueroa has created rooms with almond-colored walls, bleached-oak floors, battleship-gray window shutters, and beds covered with quilted white cotton coverlets. Rounding out the room amenities are a gratis bottle of La Gitana sherry, an iPod dock, and a DVD player. Best of all, the smiling young staff here takes its hospitality personally, and is quick on the draw with restaurant recommendations and sightseeing tips.

Address: 12 Corral del Rey, Seville, Spain
Tel: 34 954 227 116

When to go: With the city's orange trees flowering, springtime in Seville is bliss.
Which room to book: Splurge, if you can, on the charming junior suite.

Further reading:
* Corral del Rey Web site
* Hot List 2008
* The Seville guide

The hotel key cards are made from
wood, not plastic.
Photo: Sustainable Cards

by Brook Wilkinson

When Barack and Michelle check into their Denver hotel next week for the Democratic National Convention, they'll be handed room key cards made not of plastic but of wood. It's no slight by a Republican general manager but an example of the ways in which the Democrats are trying to green their convention. (Delegates are also being asked to offset the carbon emissions that result from their travels through Native Energy, a company that supports Native American renewable energy projects.) Though wooden key cards have long been in use around Europe, this will mark their first appearance on U.S. soil. Since most travelers forget to hand in their key cards when they check out and subsequently throw them in the trash, the 70,000 biodegradable birchwood cards that will be put into circulation in Denver will save a whole lot of waste. Next time you're at a hotel and they hand you a plastic key card, ask them to switch to wood. If they all did, we'd save 1,300 tons of plastic waste per year.

Karma's flying Champagne flute.

by Julia Bainbridge

Virgin America, the California-based cool kids' airline, has partnered with KARMA Fine Beverages to serve cocktails on board, adding to its planes' already lounge-like environs. (Heck, they've got mood lighting; it was only a matter of time before they brought on the bubbly.)

KARMA will lend its California Brut--a single-serve sparkling wine designed to be sipped directly from the flute-like bottle--to Virgin travelers. I took home a few samples last night and enjoyed them with scallops and an arugula salad. No doubt the crisp, dry wine will pair nicely with Virgin's gastro offerings, too (which, by the way, can be ordered on-call from the screen at your seat). Think wedges of Brie, Gouda, and Colby Jack cheese paired with fresh clusters of grapes, dried apricots, and pecans or a salad of broccoli, yellow squash, carrots, green beans, sweet snow peas, and a light lemon parsley vinaigrette.

Further reading:
* Virgin America Joins the Space Race
* The airline will soon introduce Aircell service on all of its 15 A320s

For body scrubs, not cocktails.
Photo: Oberoizahra.com

Every May, Conde Nast Traveler releases its Hot List, a collection of the best new hotels, spas, restaurants, and nightspots. Check the Daily Traveler every day for a new post from this year's list.

The first Nile cruise ship spa, the Oberoi Zahra's, offers succor from the heat of temple trekking. Four treatment rooms have steam baths, incense menus, and picture windows. Thai, Balinese, Ayurvedic, Shiro Abhyangam, and yoga massages relax, as do the ever-changing views of the ancient river, pink striated cliffs, and ruins. Thai staff offer facials with Guerlain products ($74) and whip up body scrubs using banana, oatmeal, orange, honey, turmeric, and coffee beans. Book ahead, and specify a starboard room when in Aswan or Luxor to avoid views of the dock (massages, $95).

Tel: 20-2-3377-3222

Further reading:
* The Cairo guide
* Hot List 2008

Mina's take on goat cheese at XIV.

by Mollie Chen

You say Los Angeles, I think Pinkberry. But perhaps it's time I shook off my East Coast prejudices and faced the (long-established) fact that there is serious eating in the City of Angels. My former editor, who has since decamped for the fabulous Bon Appétit, writes me rapturous food-filled emails (oh my God! the farmers' markets! the weather!); she's luring me west this fall with the promise of fresh produce and a Sunday supper at Lucques.

Last week I got even more incentive to take an LA trip from two well-known chefs who are rolling out two very different restaurants. First Michael Mina came by the office to talk about his latest high-profile launch of XIV, a slick collaboration with LA hotspot-maker SBE (Katsuya, SLS Hotels). This new restaurant has all the requisite hip elements--Philippe Starck design, plum location on Sunset Boulevard--plus a novel dining concept. Mina is debuting an eating formula (one that necessitated a 34-page explanatory press book) he calls "Social Dining." I understand it as a small plates-themed Choose Your Own Adventure spot: the entire table picks a line-up of dishes, and for each course the waiters bring large silver platters with individual portions of those dishes.

To avoid the logistical nightmare that comes with any group dinner (and XIV will handle 180 seats' worth of these orders), the waitstaff will tap away at Palm Pilots, diners will keep the same flatware throughout the meal, and the 25 chefs in the massive open kitchen will have a huge plating table at their disposal. "There's no doubt it's going to be complicated," Mina says, but he wants to do away with the fussy pomp and circumstance--and the interruptions--that accompany most tasting menus.

Jesse Griffiths at the pit.
Photo: Daidueaustin.com

by Julia Bainbridge

Yes, yes, we all know I love Austin, and although I fear that drooling over the Texan town in yet another blog post will make me look like a lovesick schoolgirl entranced by the college quarterback, the truth is Austin is cool. Cool enough for multiple shout-outs and horn toots. (Cool enough, even, for two plane tickets this summer.) This time, though, I'll spare you the flowery prose and quickly list off some highlights from last week's trip:

* Jesse Griffiths and Tamara Mayfield of Dai Due Supper Club throw a mean, locally-sourced party. And their friend, David Alan of the Tipsy Texan, shakes a mean cocktail. He even came up with a recipe off the cuff once he found some new ingredients lurking under his picnic cloth-covered bar--I think the tequila et al. went from Alan's brain to my lips in under two minutes.
* Whole Foods got its start in Austin--and I got lost in its cases of Shiner Black in "Beer Alley."
* The Airstream trend continues to take off. Crepes, cupcakes, tacos--you name it--can be found sizzling away in mobile homes.
* Little City stills roasts the best. coffee. ever.
* Uchi might serve some of the best sushi ever.
* And even diner coffee is good in Austin--no watery, cardboard-flavored concoctions at places like Magnolia Cafe. (I can't say the same for my little West Village joint.)
* The blues are still rollin' at places like Antone's.
* Singer-songwriter Bruce Robison strums his guitar for two-stepping fans every Wednesday (only until September 3, though) at Scholz Garten.
* Hamilton Pool and the Pedernales River gave me some of the most gorgeous swims of my life.
* And finally, sunset never looked so good as it did from the UT Tower's observation deck.

That's just the tip of the longhorn, but I'll spare you the rest of the BBQ-filled details for now. Next stop: some pampering in Dallas, perhaps?

by John Oseid

You've read that French Première Dame Carla Bruni is a recording artist. And you likely know the ex-supermodel takes a lot of heat for her haughtiness and gets mocked for her narcissism. But guess what? Her new album Comme si de rien n'était is solid. This is no vanity project; you won't hear any cheesy celebrity faux-rapping or William Shatner-esque cover tunes here. Bruni is a strong guitar player and her smoky voice makes for an album of moody, classic sixties chansons.

For the composition to "Déranger les pierres" she turned, in fact, to the great chansonnier Julien Clerc. The rest of the album jumps styles very effectively, largely using American vernacular. "Le temps perdu" moves with a sort of tango-meets-swing rhythm. A mandolin appears on the bluegrass inflected "L'Antilope." When she compared the ecstasy of a lover to a line of cocaine in "Tu es ma came," she scandalized Anglo sensibilities. Never mind that; it's a cool jazzy blues tune.

Troops coming and going.
AP Photo

by Barbara S. Peterson

The airlines' new baggage fees have so many exceptions and contradictions that most of us have just given up trying to make sense of them. Some airlines charge for the first bag (American, United, USAirways), some let you check the first one free but then really get you on the second one (at Delta, a second bag is $50 each way), but there is one area of consistency: Dare to check a third bag and you'll fork over more than $100.

Okay, we can all understand the logic of that, although a small number of the airlines' VIP fliers are largely exempt from the new luggage levies.

But those VIPs apparently didn't include the men and women who are serving in the U.S. military overseas. They've got good reason for lugging along a lot of stuff, but the airlines either didn't think of this or were unmoved by their plight, demanding that uniformed members of the armed services pay up like the rest of the Clampetts crowd.

Until, however, a story appeared in a military publication detailing the plight of young soldiers who barely had enough cash to pay for their additional baggage and then had to wait months to be reimbursed by the military.

The unflattering coverage prompted a quick reversal:
* American Airlines waives third bag fee for military
* AirTran waives all bag fees for military personnel

 A bibbed side of South Beach:
Our crew in action at Joe's Stone Crabs.

by Ondine Cohane

I love Miami. My husband, my best friends, Sarah and Hugo, and I take a ritual weekend there each December to celebrate Sarah's birthday. We always go after Art Basel (before the holiday frenzy, mind you, so the city feels more chill and less overrun by fellow New Yorkers) and try to combine our classic haunts like Joe's Stone Crab with new arrivals. Last year we checked out The Tides on Ocean Drive, which stood out for its service (and in my experience, service can be less than stellar in South Beach) and the on-site restaurant La Marea, with its excellent fish dishes; in fact, the property made our annual Hot List.

I keep thinking that the hotel building boom will slow down--it seems like there are more properties than could possibly be needed--but every year I am proven wrong. Which means that the city just keeps getting that much more popular with currency-happy Europeans, sun-starved East Coasters, and South Americans looking for a real estate deal. This year there is yet another generation of properties opening its doors, and it sounds worth the trip.

Perhaps the most anticipated is The Mondrian, designed by Marcel Wanders and conceived as "Sleeping Beauty's Castle," which translates (according to the press release) as "chandelier shower heads, adult-size sandboxes, foliage-curtained cabanas, kissing gardens, and outdoor egg-shaped baths." Not to mention "appearances by the 'dancing angel,' suspended Cirque-du-Soleil-style above the pool's Happy Hour Chandelier." So Miami. The property is on West Street; I don't know the bay side of the city as well, so it will be interesting to explore. Other properties on my radar for this season include the Canyon Ranch outpost set to open in October, The Betsy, a new boutique hotel on Ocean, and the newly renovated Fontainebleau. I'll keep you posted on my findings.

Frequent flyer.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

* International gnome spotting
* Travel photos from North Korea
* The body of Bigfoot found in Georgia.  If only it were true.
* Jaunted.com's Airport WiFi map
* And you think the writing on this blog is bad.  Worst writing of 2008.

Dennis Hopper, left, with Julian
Schnabel.
Photo: AP/Jennifer Graylock

by Beata Loyfman

Pop quiz, Hot Shot: Which American actor famous for his easy ways has made a splash in the European art world? That's right, film buffs, it's Dennis Hopper. A collection of his paintings, sculptures, and photographs was exhibited last August at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Turns out that Hopper was the first living American to achieve this honor. Dude, I bet Keanu's jealous.

And now, the rest of Europe is taking notice as well. On October 15th, La Cinematheque Francaise in Paris will unveil an exhibit dedicated to Hopper and his works. It will also feature psychedelic videos from the 1960s (acid not included) and a selection of Warhols, Schnabels, and other art world heavies from his private collection.

Trés magnifique!

Tired of straining to view photos on his digital camera's tiny LCD screens and sick of losing spontaneously snapped cell-phone pictures to cell phones gone by, Alex C. Pasquariello examines the wireless ways to upload images to his computer and the Web.

Eye-Fi update!

The Eye-Fi, as you recall, is a SD Card that turns your digital camera into a wireless device, allowing you to upload your photos to a Windows or Mac OSX computer. The Explore model will also put your memories in the cloud, uploading them to whatever photo sharing site you use via pre-configured Wi-Fi or more than 10,000 Wayport hotspots nationwide.

Today the company announced a partnership with SmugMug.com giving members of the photo-sharing site one year of free Wayport hotspot access--even if you're using one of Eye-Fi's old cards or opted for the Home or Share cards that previously didn't have Wayport access.

How could this be? Well, it turns out that all levels of the Eye-Fi SD Cards feature the same technology (small Wi-Fi antennas) and therefore have the same capabilities. The Wayport access and geotagging features are authorized on the backend to those who paid for the Explore card through the Eye-Fi's Web page and its desktop photo manager software that you set up on your computer.

Georgia in better times.
Photo: David A. Land

When the news of Russian tanks pouring into South Ossetia hit the Web, our first stop was the Conde Nast Traveler archives for information on the region.

We didn't have to look hard.  In the December 2007 issue, contributor Gully Wells praised Georgia and its people.

The Georgian passion for feasting and hospitality is legendary. Gathering together young and old, relatives and foreigners, around a huge table heavy with platters of food and bottles of wine, with a tamada (toastmaster) in charge, is a profound affirmation of what life is all about.

But it was this paragraph that gave us a double-take.

Most Georgians--not to mention his friends in the White House--support the tough, outspoken manner in which Misha stands up to President Vladimir Putin. And Bush has been willing to put his money where Misha's mouth is, to the tune of $535 million in aid to date. As a thank-you present, W got his very own highway: George W. Bush Boulevard, which leads from the sleek new airport into town. Misha also agreed to send two thousand troops to Iraq, making Georgia the third-largest contributor of ground forces, after the United States and Britain.

For this and more read "Georgia Uncorked."

I'm guessing the ECO Pedal won't be a standard option in Nissan's latest supercar, the GT-R.

by Brook Wilkinson

Last week, Nissan announced that it would debut a new ECO Pedal to help drivers save fuel in 2009. The ECO Pedal gently pushes back against the driver's foot when it calculates that he or she is driving too aggressively--at least in terms of fuel consumption. Research done by Nissan suggests that the technology could help drivers improve fuel efficiency by five to ten percent.

Some enthusiasts are worked up about the notion of Big Brother watching over their gas gauge, but I, for one, am all in favor of the new pedal. I used to be the woman flying by you in the left lane, my radar detector tuned to pick up every ping, my GPS system constantly overestimating my driving times from point A to point B. That was a year ago, when I lived in New York City, didn't own a car, and drove only during occasional weekends in the country. Now I live in San Francisco, where I try to take buses as much as possible but still find reason to use my Audi at least once a week. Thanks to rising gas prices and my ever-increasing devotion to the environment, though, I'm now the one in the far-right lane, with the cruise control set as slow as traffic will allow. Just yesterday I got honked at--by a guy old enough to be my grandfather, no less--for slowing down 50 feet short of a light that had just turned red.

Some small part of me (the part that holds a diploma from the Skip Barber Racing School, I'm sure) still wants to put the pedal to the metal, but these days I derive my driving satisfaction from each extra mile I get per tank of gas, not the minutes I save on a drive down the Peninsula.

It's time Grandpa learned how much gas he could save by not accelerating up to every red light. And besides, you can turn the system off if you want to burn rubber every once in a while.

by Caroline Yost

Call me a princess, but I like to make sure that the scent I give off is sweet throughout the day. On a similar note, maybe I'm paranoid, but it puts me on edge when I have a glass bottle of perfume floating around in my already over-crowded bag. Luckily, there are plenty of travel-friendly perfumes on the market, including Pacifica's brand-new, affordable solid scents. These tiny, 100% organic and vegan perfumes are made from safe materials and don't contain--wait for it--parabens. Because they are non-liquid, you can take them through security, and this fall will bring five new, fresh scents. My favorite is Avalon Juniper, a winter-inspired scent that's both sweet and citrus-y (and even better, it's unisex). Each brightly-colored, cheery tin is 100% recyclable. Plus, they're only $8.95 a piece, which means if you lose one it's not the end of the world.

Pebbly beaches in Cinque Terre.
Photo: Concierge.com

by Ondine Cohane

I have been traveling a lot around Italy this summer, and on Friday I discovered my favorite new spot. In fact, it is such a gem that I hardly want to share it. But here goes.

A good friend in Cinque Terre has been telling me about a little seafood restaurant called Da Laura, which he says is one of the best places for Ligurian cuisine on the whole coast. I was recently in that area and decided to give the restaurant a try. What I didn't expect was the location: San Fruttuoso, a tiny village in a small cove at the bottom of Portofino's National Park, is absolutely gorgeous. Its centerpiece is a Benedictine abbey that sits right in front of the sea, where the remains of the Spanish martyr San Fruttuoso are said to be buried (the guy obviously had great taste). After walking around the abbey, with its remarkably well-preserved cloister, a tenth-century church, and sepulchres, I was smitten with the place. (How had I not heard of it before?)

And that was before I sat down for lunch at one of Da Laura's tables set up under the arched foundations on a pebbly beach. The food was simple but absolutely fantastic, with fresh anchovies marinated in lemon juice, lasagna with pesto, mussels in a marinara sauce, very light fritto misto (lightly fried mixed seafood), and tonaretti fritto, a fried type of octopus, which knocked the socks off most fried calamari I have had. The present owner told me that the restaurant was started by his grandmother, Laura, in the 1950s (she died a few years ago) and based on traditional casalinga (housewife) cooking. It's hard to believe they can produce what they do from a shack on the beach; I am always happy when I find these unexpected family-run places in such a unique destination. In fact, after I took a dip in the Mediterranean between courses, I was already plotting my return trip. The restaurant is open from mid April to early November when the weather's good.

by Mollie Chen

Seeing as how there's nothing I love more than ice cream sundaes and greasy fries at 2 a.m., it's hard to believe that I missed hearing about the best thing to happen to late-night eating since the frialator. Last week, the team behind the Grand Slam unveiled their most brilliant idea yet: a wee-hours menu with dishes created by bands like the Plain White Ts and Boys Like Girls. How are IHOPs and diners across the nation going to compete with the likes of the Eagles of Death Metal's white chocolate chip pancakes with strawberry syrup ("Hearts on a Plate"), or my personal favorite, "Potatochos," a mash-up of kettle chips, sausage, bacon, cheese sauce, AND shredded Cheddar cheese. Marketing ploy? Sure. But who am I to scoff in the face of greasy goodness?

Photo: Wikimedia

* The hottest thing in Belgium right now is a giant member of the plant kingdom. To see it in action, go here.

* Elsewhere in the world: It was a bad week for kangaroos.

* And polar bears.

* Not to mention the athletes combating Beijing's smog, er, fog.

* A ray of hope for all species: The release of free energy-saving software for your power-hogging PC.

by Mollie Chen

I've got the Lone Star State on my mind. Between my fellow DT blogger (and wannabe Texan) Julia Bainbridge's food-filled accounts of her Houston and Austin trips, and planning my own Dallas trip for the fall, I've been having serious barbecue cravings. It doesn't help that I just received a sneak peek at the forthcoming Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston and an invite to the book's September media bonanza (16 chefs, two days, and surely too many margaritas). I'm looking forward to meeting all the Texas chefs, especially since the invite is packed with the kind of insider info that we can expect from the finished book.

I'm dying to know more about Woody's smoked pork jowls and the CheesyGirl "Buff" chevre  that Michael Dei Magi, of Max's Wine Dive, can't get enough of. I now know that Reef's Bryan Caswell always has Blue Bell ice cream in his freezer; that Ibiza's Charles Clark harbors dreams of being a jazz trumpet player; and that the best place to find The Grove's would-be archaeologist Ryan Pera will be at Lupa, where he's planning on inducing a "pork fat hangover." Ah, gotta love those crazy chefs.

Matt Damon with orphaned children at the Chongwe Center outside Lusaka, Zambia.
Photo: J. Tayloe Emery

by Beata Loyfman

We usually don't spill the beans about upcoming covers of Condé Nast Traveler. But there's nothing "usual" about the man gracing September's Power of Travel issue. Matt "Jason Bourne" Damon's work with charities such as OneXOne and DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa) has established him as a serious activist--and one of our favorite celebrities.

In his recent interview with Deputy Editor Dorinda Elliott, Damon discussed his 2006 trip to Zambia, where he witnessed the dire need of clean water in communities near the Sahara. This trip led to his H2O Africa Foundation. In addition, Damon and some of his Ocean's Eleven buddies co-founded Not On Our Watch, which works to eradicate mass atrocities in Darfur and all over the world.

As you can see, Damon has his hands full. But even though he and his A-list friends rule the Hollywood roost, Damon maintains a down-to-earth humility that's pretty much unheard of among his peers. Now you understand why we're so fond of Matt? 

September's Power of Travel issue will be available on August 18. Meanwhile, check out this video about the making of our cover photo shoot in Morocco, and read the full Damon interview here.