Author: katiemayor

Dublin Cool: The Dean

We were in Dublin for a good time, not a long time, so The Dean was the perfect place to elevate our stay in one of the coolest cities in Europe. As much as we would have loved to stay longer to linger on the rooftop balcony over a few Guinesses and try the brunch menu at Sophie’s upstairs, or sample an Irish whisky at the entry bar, we found this place helped us to stay in style, while also hopping about Dublin easily. Definitely a superior crash pad, and one that we imagine would have some pretty awesome post-rock show parties. The Dean was so damn great because of the attention to detail – the room card that was ‘The Key to A Deadly Time’, the cheeky do not disturb signs, the Smeg fridge and subway tiles in the bathroom, the vinyl player with well curated records (Chemical Brothers! Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks!), the craft beers and ciders and boutique snacks not to mention barber products, the punchy prints, bright rug and those blue …

36 Hours in Bangkok

I was all gearing up to host my Wanderlust 5 year anniversary show on Bondi Beach Radio when I got a call from AirAsia – want to come to Bangkok next week to help celebrate the fact we’ve flow half a billion passengers? I hit pause on the playlist prep, packed my passport and that was that. Show? What show?! Arriving in Bangkok, after getting a pretty decent sleep on a Premium Flatbed (which, BTW, is the way forward when it comes to flying overnight to Asia), I was reminded of the few days I had spent in the Thai capital many years before. There was the chokey traffic and wide, in-progress highways, as well as humidity and haze, but as the cityscape flickers by you also glimpse the tops of Buddhist temples and signs with curly-edged Thai script. It has an exciting energy and I couldn’t wait to see how much I could ram into a short (two days and one night!) stay. Shopping at Siam Square I’d been reading about the cutting-edge fashion …

Wild Spin of the Web {7}

GUIDE/ STAY – This Is The Place I Was Telling You About  I have been quietly obsessing over this website and Insta account of late. They are two (very handsome) Texans, R’el Dade and Marcus Lloyd living in New York City, where they visit and document all the best places to eat, drink and stay. Of course I particularly fancy the posts about travel and hotels, including Lokal Hotel in Philadelphia (pictured above). Creates some serious FOMO and draws you like a magnet towards New York and surrounds. If you’re heading to the area, let this site be your compass. STAY – Fogo Island Inn, Canada I was told about this hotel recently from Fathom co-founder Jeralyn Gerba when she came on my show in Bondi. We were talking about off-the-beaten-track but AMAZING destinations and hotels – I was singing the praises of Fjaerland in Norway and then Jeralyn mentioned this little gem Fogo Island Inn. I’d never even heard of Fogo Island, despite having been to nearby Newfoundland. I wrote it down in my …

The Garden Isle: Kauai, Hawaii

The most spectacular green-ridged peaks, lazy ocean-side walks, canyons, food trucks and palm trees everywhere you gaze: Kauai is proper paradise. By law, no building can be higher than the highest coconut tree, which means you see lush vegetation and sky wherever you look – gaining it the name of the Garden Isle, which is apt my friends, very apt. We stayed on the south end of the island at Koa Kea Resort near Poipu Beach, so all of the exploring mentioned below began by driving north, usually through Old Koloa Town. Old Koloa Town When heading through the South (or exiting to explore North as we commonly were), it’s worth a stop off at Old Koloa Town, even if just for the coffee – seriously the best we found on the island! This is an old sugar plantation town from the 1830s, and the best way to arrive is through Malahui Road where you’ll drive beneath a luscious green Tree Tunnel. But back to the coffee – Aloha Roastery sits in the Waikomo courtyard …

STAY: Koa Kea Resort, Kauai, Hawaii

Choosing to stay on Kauai was easy. Choosing somewhere to stay on Kauai was hard. There are the Marriotts, Hyatts, Sheratons of the world which I wasn’t that interested by, and then I was very tempted by The Palmwood, but given it was our honeymoon, we actually wanted to sip cocktails by the pool if we so chose to, so the B&B vibe was less what we were going for. The pick of the bunch seemed the St Regis Princeville which is on the North Shore (which we discovered was our fave part of the island), but holy shit dude it be expensive! So, we opted for the Koa Kea Hotel and Resort which is a resort, but a slightly smaller resort and pretty perfect for what we were after. Situated on the south of Kauai, the Hawaiian island known as the Garden Isle – which is the luscious green paradise that this implies (check out this post on our helicopter ride over the island to see just how green) – Koa Kea sits next …