Me after four programs?
AP Photo

by Ondine Cohane

One of my very favorite trips has to be when I learned to surf in Sayulita, Mexico. My program at Surf Las Olas was an all women's week-long intensive for both seasoned wave riders and mere beginners to practice on breaks not far from Puerto Vallarta. At that point, Sayulita was low on the radar (that's since changed), so the town had this sleepy, low-key, fishing-village feel.

My classmates and I had two surf lessons a day plus yoga classes. By the second day I was standing on my board, by day four I was catching long rides, and by the end of the week my shoulders and arms were in the best shape of my life. The camp's teachers were incredible, with a lot of patience and great board tips. They also helped to calm those students with fear of the water, which can be a real issue when getting up the courage to paddle into a wave. But best of all, the teachers made the sport lots of fun; surfing is something that really benefits from an intensive approach. I was especially proud that I was the only guppy of my group who graduated to a goldfish--guppies are beginners, goldfish are intermediate and I think dolphins are advanced (or was it sharks?).

Anyway, I am very excited to hear that the camp is now adding Baja, Mexico as its next surf safari destination. As I have been to Todos Santos a few times and the surf around there is fantastic, I think I need to head to the new location soon. There are a number of fall and winter dates such as November 6-12, December 4-10 and January 8-14. It's time I became a dolphin after all.

No cars here, Buddy.

by Ondine Cohane

Looking through June's Conde Nast Traveler reinforces another major gap in my travel education, and a country that's seriously on my wish list: Greece. In the Great Greek Island Finder, Bob Payne picks his 20 favorite spots from beaches to hotels--it made me realize how much I am missing out. But having Greece on the brain actually started a few weeks before the issue's debut, when I heard about a new boutique hotel opening this June in Santorini, the Santorini Grace. It sounds right up my alley: Perched up on the northwest coast at Imerovigli village, it has only nine rooms, all with the kind of jaw-dropping vistas of the Aegean that I have always dreamed about. (Its sister hotel, the Mykonos Grace was a Hot List property this year and it sounds like the Santorini outpost is of the same caliber.) I imagine sitting on whitewashed, sun-dappled terraces (in this case I could even have my own private plunge pool), eating meals of grilled fish, drinking local wine, and taking occasional dips in the sea down below. For some reason, certain destinations fill me with the energy to move around constantly. For others, like this, I would want to ensconce myself on one single island for a week before venturing further afield. After I tried Santorini, I would hit Hydra, where an old factory has been reinvented as a barefoot-chic hotel called the Bratsera, and where donkeys are the main source of transportation. Then I'd be off to Mykonos for the legendary beaches, and finally Anafi, a quiet place for hiking and contemplation that Payne reports is frequented by Greek insiders.

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As temperatures rise in Gotham, so do a host of zany structures. In Conde Nast Traveler's July issue, hot off the press, Word of Mouth editor Kate Maxwell shows how to see them all in under 12 hours.

10:30 a.m.: Olafur Eliasson's Waterfalls
Various waterside locations
Start the day by catching a Circle Line cruise from South Street Seaport for a tour of the summer's main event. Danish artist Eliasson is pumping the East River up 90- and 120-foot-high metal scaffolds to produce four waterfalls. On the Brooklyn side of the river, a waterfall juts out from beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, where Walt Whitman was inspired by the city's clash of nature and artifice. A second one gushes below the Brooklyn Bridge, and there's a third at Pier 35, on the Manhattan side, giving a cascading lift to far east Chinatown. The final fall sparkles from the shores of the oft admired, rarely visited Governors Island.

12 noon: David Byrne's Playing the Building
Battery Maritime Building
Former Talking Head and longtime artist Byrne has designed a surround sound experience for Lower Manhattan passersby. Walk into the hulking Battery Maritime Building, by the Governors Island ferries, sit down at an organ, and "play the building": Each key is connected to beams and pipes and vibrates them to produce eerie, if not quite "Psycho Killer"-tempo, hums (Fri.-Sun.).

2 p.m.: Work's Vegetable Garden
P.S. 1, Long Island City
Among the industrial garages around the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, in Queens, Work Architecture Company has transformed a rock-strewn, cement-walled courtyard and summer chill-out area into a vegetable patch growing in a very urban version of dirt: cardboard tubes.

4:30 p.m.: Home Delivery
Museum of Modern Art
Prefab homes go upscale in the (currently) empty lot next to Midtown's Museum of Modern Art, where five high-end trailers are installed as part of the "Home Delivery" show. They include a 76-square-foot green-energy-powered aluminum cube that can be helicoptered in to the vacation spot of your choice.

6 p.m.: Chris Burden's Tower
Rockefeller Center
Burden, famous for having himself shot as a piece of performance art, is now obsessed with giant Erector Sets. He has constructed the ultimate Erector challenge: a 65-foot skyscraper to boost the Midtown skyline, at least for the summer.

7:30 p.m.: Jeff Koons on the Roof
Metropolitan Museum of Art
End your day with a visit to the Met's rooftop garden, and sip a beer in the shadow of a giant steel balloon dog, among other pneumatic sculptures by conceptual pop master Jeff Koons.

Fellow DT-er Julia Bainbridge
opts for a hand-feeding, too.

by Mollie Chen

Of all the things I thought I would be doing on a muggy Monday night, having Chef Jose Andres hand-feed me a jamon iberico-and-caviar taquito was not particularly likely. For one, I have a knee-jerk aversion to being fed anything--a holdover from a particularly traumatic restaurant experience when the couple sitting next to me fed each other four courses with their fingers. But how do you say no when one of the world's most exciting chefs comes at you with a hundred dollars worth of caviar rolled up in a translucent slice of ham? At Monday's party for SLS Hotels at Beverly Hills, the Moss store was taken over by Andres and his crew for a playful preview of what guests can expect when the Philippe Starck-designed spot opens this August. Amidst the museum-like collection of huge black trumpet-like chandeliers, gothic Studio Job jewelry, and whimsical Friedrich Elais Meyer plates, Andres and his crew served up high-concept party fare: a creamy deconstructed Spanish omelet in a tiny shot glass, a tiny cone with crème fraiche and salmon roe ("bagel and lox," the chef said with a wink), and a squid ink "olive" that exploded in the mouth. Beverly Hills will be the first property from the brand-new SLS Hotel group and will set the tone for future development. Instead of a single restaurant, Andres' bazaar concept will include a traditional dining room, a tapas bar, and a jewel-box patisserie. In the lobby there will be carts doling out of upscale riffs on carnival and street food--think foie gras cotton candy and steamed buns. Libations are similarly forward-thinking: at last night's soiree, bartenders were creating refreshing tangerine-hued cocktails with a globe of liquid melon topped by sherry, champagne, and melon foam.

Solo a no-go?
AP Photo

by Ondine Cohane

I am definitely not a group traveler. In fact, I have a deep aversion to being part of more than a party of four. Friends who I like to explore with are subject to an exacting criteria and my husband is often called into service for driving, map reading, coffee getting and general forms of assistance (which he puts up with graciously). When I do go on assignment alone, I don't always feel comfortable reading a book over a solo dinner, especially in honeymoon destinations where the pity party can get heavy if the staff sees you as a strange creature with no friends. So, I am intrigued by a new service the outfitter Absolute Travel recently launched. The company matches partners with the same love of travel and similar ideas of what makes an itinerary scintillating, but who don't have companions to take along for their journeys.

Absolute Travel came up with the novel concept when two of the group's employees met a wandering widow in Chile who bemoaned the lack of like-minded mavericks to take with her on her getaway. She inspired them to set up this offshoot of the company for others like her. After filling straightforward questionnaires about where they want to go and what they want to see, potential travel buddies exchange emails and phone calls to see if they are ready to venture to far-off lands together (China, Vietnam and Africa are among the itineraries). Luckily, there is still an escape route: for new acquaintances who aren't hitting it off like they expected, separate guides and itineraries can be provided with short notice. The New York Times reported on some other groups who similarly understand those who don't want to hit the road alone, or if they do, that they don't want to pay the same supplements they would à deux.

White Thai beaches

by Ondine Cohane

Because of magazines' three month lead time, rather than sitting back and thinking about summer travel in June (happily I have many getaways planned for the next stretch), I am already coveting fall and winter destinations, and keeping an eye on what hotels sound like the next big thing. It's like covering the fall/winter fashion collections when you have only taken just your summer clothes out of storage.

In terms of a beach haven, I am already thinking about the new Six Senses property, Soneva Kiri, which opens in early 2009 on Koh Khood island in Thailand. The appeal is three-fold: firstly, I always like the group's low-key but luxurious properties (with decadent amenities like private plunge pools and butlers); secondly, I love Thailand's beaches with the kind of white sand and turquoise sea that lull me into thinking I have no responsibilities (in other words, that I am truly truly on holiday); and lastly, the fact that it is on the border of Cambodia means you can do day trips to places like Angkor Wat. Culture and great beaches!

Portrait of a Waikondo warrior
from Kinship an exhibit of work
by Stephen Bennett.

We're happy to welcome Conde Nast Traveler writer and editor Sara Tucker to the DT. Sara didn't have to go very far for her first post.  Read on.

By Sara Tucker

True story: Back when I was running safaris in Tanzania I went over to my friend Buck's house one day and there in Buck's living room was a gi-normous portrait of a Masai warrior that was like nothing I'd ever seen before (and I've seen plenty of Masai-warrior portraits, which are as plentiful in Tanzanian tourist stops as ticks on a hyena). This one was arresting, and not just because it was taking up so much space in Buck's modest little hovel.

Its maker was an amiable American by the name of Stephen Bennett, and he too was taking up a lot of space, mostly vertical, in Buck's living room. We chatted for a while about all the different countries he'd visited in his quest to paint indigenous peeps, then we bragged about all the tropical diseases we'd acquired in our respective travels, and finally we parted company. That was in 2001.

Photo: Neil Gower

The Daily Traveler is happy to welcome Conde Nast Traveler's Contributing Artist Neil Gower to the team. Last week, Neil visited Tarn, in southwest France, with the goal of eating and staying at the foodie mecca Le Manoir de Raynaudes. His dispatch is below.

by Neil Gower

The silence is the first thing you notice on arrival at Le Manoir de Raynaudes. Since we left Toulouse two hours ago, the roads have become steadily narrower and the countryside more enchanting. As we pass through the hamlet of Raynaudes and the grass in the middle of the track starts to scuff the underside of the car, I know we must have arrived.

It's four years since English food guru Orlando Murrin and his partner Peter Steggall bought this remote farmhouse and transformed it into a gastro B&B. The wild orchids bob in the meadow and the bare stonework glows in the Tarn sunshine just as it has since 1860. But it is inside, in a state-of-the-art kitchen, where you will detect the building's new heartbeat. That is where Orlando will be single-handedly fashioning tonight's gourmet menu from ingredients grown in Le Manoir's own potager, or the finest, freshest produce the Tarn region has to offer.

Viva il dollaro!
Photo: Casa Howard Florence

by Ondine Cohane

Many of the European-based hotel operators and travel agents I have spoken to lately bemoan the skyrocketing euro, which has caused their American-fueled business to drop about 40 percent. Not only that; anecdotal evidence points to drastically reduced spending by U.S. visitors who still do make the trip (people buying one bottle of Brunello instead of a case or opting for a standard room instead of a deluxe, for example). As someone who is paid in greenbacks and lives in euroland, I understand supermodel Gisele's requirement not to be paid in dollars (but unlike her luxe labels, I don't think the mag will go for a currency change).

Beijing-ites ready to rumble.
Photo: AP

by Ondine Cohane

My father-in-law was just visiting us from Taipei. (He is an immigration lawyer who works between offices in Taipei and Shanghai.) While in Tuscany, he told me that people in Beijing are moving in with their families for the Olympics just so they can rent their apartments for a premium; the run on beds will apparently be that huge. Hopefully most people traveling there for the Games won't have to depend on that kind of arrangement.

I have heard of a slew of boutique hotels opening there this summer. Among them: the Opposite House, a 99-room property in Sanlitun with restaurants by Australian chef David Laris (he has a fabulous restaurant, Laris, in Shanghai's Three on the Bund with some of the best views in that city), an 82-foot stainless steel pool (not sure if I have ever seen one of those before), and big rooms with iPod docks and tubs for soaking. Then there is Hotel G, the first of a new chain of Asian hotels in Gong Ti Xi Lu, which also promises big loftlike rooms (I am sensing a trend in size here) and a fleet of eateries on-site including Moroccan and Japanese restaurants. I like the sound of its garden terrace with outdoor Jacuzzis. The Emperor, part of the Design Hotels group, opened in late spring near the Forbidden City. With that kind of location, the rooftop bar, glass-enclosed spa, and fusion restaurant are sure to become city hotspots. And just today I got a press release that Aman Resorts is opening a property in September--too late for the Games, I know, but it sounds fantastic. Just outside the Summer Palace (built in 1750), it has only 18 rooms, with king-size four-poster beds and Ming-style furniture. The spa also sounds fabulous, with a Pilates and yoga room, a hair salon (but of course!), two squash courts, a juice bar, and an 80-square-foot indoor lap pool.

Further reading:
* Check out our Hot List Beijing video

A lit version.

by Mollie Chen

My desk smells like the ocean...Palm Beach, to be more precise. Ever since I nearly set off a smoke alarm while working late one night, I have refrained from burning scented candles at my desk. (I steer clear of desk diffusers: Clumsy girl + scented oil = broken keyboard.) But I've discovered that when left unlit, candles give off just the right amount of scent for a workstation (enough to banish stale office air but not enough to offend nearby sensitive noses). I adore Diptyque, but at $55 each, their candles are a bit out of my price range. After hearing our video and photo guru Damian rave about the well-priced and subtle Votivo candles, I decided to give the company's newest one, "Palm Beach Breeze," a test run. The scent was created specifically for the Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, which is how I found out about it. I wasn't sold on the idea of a hotel-branded candle at first, but the packaging is simple with minimal logo-age, and the candle itself is encased in plain glass. It doesn't quite smell like the ocean--more like what you'd imagine the air would be like at a beachfront café at dusk. All in all, not a bad way to fend off the workday blahs.

Maddalena Archipelago.

by Ondine Cohane

I'm just back from Sardinia for a Conde Nast Traveler feature story (I won't say what the subject is, but for now let's just say it involves the sand and sea). I used to go to this Italian island every summer when I was a kid during the days when my parents had delusions of grandeur (i.e., they thought we should keep a sailboat in Porto Cervo in summer and ski for a month in the Alps come winter, despite the fact that we were far from affluent) and I have both fond and scared memories of boating into secret exquisite coves and to other islands like Corsica. The scary memories involve my father heading off into obvious storm conditions--I think he was an eternal optimist--while my parents' three dogs and I were put into life jackets and tied to the mast (no, I am not kidding) as the waves grew bigger.

by Ondine Cohane

India is high on my wish list; I can't believe I still haven't made the trip. The colors, the landscape, and the people have really come to life in literature that uses the country as its backdrop, and now I need to see it myself. Also, a yoga fan for years, I'm dying to visit its birthplace; I actually got certified as a teacher so I could keep myself limber in the Italian countryside (when I can't get to my beloved studio in Manhattan, the Shala, that is). My teachers Barbara Verrochi and Kristin Leigh make frequent pilgrimages to see Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the guru for Ashtanga practitioners, in Mysore, India. (FYI: He will lead a series of classes on Islamorada in the Keys on May 23.)

Now yet another temptation to go: My friend Tom Marchant, who runs the maverick and always-ahead-of-the-curve Black Tomato, is just back from the southern Himalayas and Hot List property 360 Leti, a gorgeous four-tent camp that merges sustainability with luxury. Shakti, a responsible tourism group that stresses cultural immersion, organized his trip. Village walks high in mountains near Almora, home stays in renovated traditional homes--Tom says it was the best way to see local life and the spectacular countryside that winds through gorgeous terraces under the peaks.

Even though I am more attracted to the countryside, I want to see modern India, too. As one of the fastest growing countries in the world--it is changing more now than ever before. Case in point: The Four Seasons just launched a new property in Mumbai's Worli neighborhood. With a two-storey spa, a limousine fleet of 20 BMWs, and huge guest rooms, I imagine it will attract a big business market, as well as those looking for respite in one of the most chaotic cities in the world.

More Reading:
* 10 Perfect Days in Northern India

Future nightclub?
Wolfgang Wander/Wikipedia

by Ondine Cohane

One of the great pleasures of summer is getting out of the city and feasting on lobster rolls at Duryea's Lobster Deck overlooking Montauk's Fort Pond Bay. The spectacular views, a crisp rosé snagged from White Liquors nearby, and lobster shared with my best friends Hugo and Sarah captures the essence of the eastern tip of Long Island for me; the worn decks and old-school motels are a world away from the more manicured and trafficked Hamptons (though Sag Harbor is another of my favorites).

I am one of the Montauk fans who loves the more down-at-the-heels feel of places like East Deck and Montauket Inn. So I'm not sure whether to be excited or scared by the recent news in the New York Post's Page Six that nightlife impresarios Jamie Mulholland, Jayma Cardosa, and Rob McKinley (behind Cain) have taken over the family-oriented 32-room Surf Lodge just in time for the 2008 season. A barefoot-chic hotel with whitewashed walls, iPod docks, flat-screen TVS, and surf photos--not to mention hot tubs and the same pond view as Duryea's--sounds interesting, of course. And I like the idea of wandering through the Tracy Feith-curated one-stop sun store that will sell everything from bikinis to sunglasses and cute dresses. But I am a little alarmed at the news of a 2,600-square-foot lounge called The Deck with live music; images of club kids gone wild spring to mind. And what about the news that Top Chef protege Sam Talbot is to helm the restaurant?

Is Montauk turning into celeb central? Becoming a victim of the weekend party scene of the other Hamptons towns? I am suspending judgment until I can either check out the product in person after Memorial Day or send Sarah to do some reconnaissance...

Benoit New York

by Ondine Cohane

Whenever I leave Italy to visit New York, it's strictly no Italian: sushi, Indian, French, please. This is my time to check out the buzz about restaurants. So on one of those perfect New York spring days that make the city's citizens feel like they are living in the best place in the world (and they aren't wrong), I met my friend Norman at Benoit, Alain Ducasse's new Midtown bistro in the former La Cote Basque space.

I had heard, of course, about Ducasse's storming of the city with Adour, which opened to rave reviews in January (the chef seems to reinvent himself every few years here with a resiliency that few can muster). Even those heavyweights Adam Platt and Frank Bruni couldn't find much fault with Adour. But I was more interested in Ducasse's newer arrival: Benoit is an outpost of the old Parisian favorite (there's one in Tokyo, too), and I wanted to see how Monsieur Ducasse would interpret it stateside.

A view of Borgo Santo Pietro

by Ondine Cohane

Here in Tuscany, news travels fast. When word reached me a few weeks ago of a new luxury hotel preparing to open outside Siena, I ventured over to see it before the paint dried. Having lived through the maddening, gargantuan process of managing an Italian renovation with my husband, I am always curious to meet people who've gone through the same craziness.