Stunning global hotel openings, Moroccan dreams, a beatnik institution, a West Aus detour and surfing in the arctic. This is Wild Spin of the Web {6}.

TASTE – the Last Great Beatnik Cafe

San Francisco is a literary lovers dream. What – me? Literary lover? Totally. I’ve visited a lot of the sites here, the Beat Museum, City Lights Books, the house that Armistead Maupin set Barbary Lane on in his Tales of the City Series, Jack Kerouac’s house, Vesuvio Cafe and I even took a saunter past the wonderful Cafe Trieste, featured in this article on Messy Nessy, a blog worth your time if you like travel and curiosities. It was a joy to read about more of the history behind this beatnik institution, and indeed behind the literary scene of San Francisco.

STAY – l’Hôtel El Fenn

This is basically all my Moroccan hotel dreams coming true. The photography by Garance Dore on Atelier Dore is just as beautiful as the destination she depicts. I really need to get to Morocco soon. But in the meantime, I’ll just fantasise about it using pics and places like these as inspo.

STAY – Hottest hotel openings of 2018

Readers of this blog would know, I’m a sucker for a hot hotel. Take for example Hotel Hotel, The Slow, Fjaerland Fjordstove, The Atlantic, Miss Clara or Ace Hotel to name a few (there are more!). So, adding to the ever-growing must-go list is now a few beauties from Conde Nast Traveller’s list of the best 18 new openings set for this year. I want to go to there.

VISIT – Rottnest Island, Western Australia

This magical little island of quokkas and brown snakes off the coast on Western Australia is worthy a detour when you’re out west. Pay little attention to the brown snake part and more about the quokkas, which are adorable fuzzy marsupials that are found in oinly  select few places off the coast of WA. I camped here a number of years ago. We pitched our tent and slept peacefully, but when we woke in the morning, we law a long trail in the sandy ground going exactly around the circumference of our tent. At first, we were sure it was a brown snake (deadly mind you), only at closer inspection realised it had two small dots at either side of the trail, which were the tracks of little feet – it was a quokka. But I absolutely loved exploring the little beaches of crystal water and few people. Get the lowdown at one of my fave Australian outdoor sites We Are Explorers, who rightly call it a paradise.

 

Under An Arctic Sky – Chris Burkard

Whether it’s his mindblowing photography or his cutting-edge surf films, I’m a big fan of Californian creative Chris Burkard. It’s why I interviewed him for my Bondi Beach radio show Wanderlust a couple of years ago and why I keep an eye on his newest projects. Some of my absolutely favourite shots of his are the photos he took in northern Norway, with a surfer wielding waves before a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. His newest film has seen him taking to the icy waters again – this time on an arctic surfing mission.

 

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