Staying:

Good morning, Sydney. It’s lovely to meet you.

Too bad my room’s view is obscured by a giant bridge…

Staying:

The Wynn is a world away from everything else in Vegas, but the Aria Sky Suites at the City Center are an elevator ride away from a hidden dog park… MORE »

Using:

My golden bottle of L’Artisan Parfumeur Tubereuse is like most beauties — a heavy-packing pain to travel with, especially when I’m only in Vegas for a few days.

Scent Genie travel atomizer finally makes it easier — flick off the cap of your favored fragrance, stick your Scent Genie on top of its naked nozzle, pump like you’re in a porno, and voila…

Missing:

You.

Sorry I’ve been gone so long. I tripped 10 days across the Basque Country, came home to Hollywood to jet to New York for business, and in the middle of spending these last weeks launching my new blog, Faster, PC! Clean! Clean, Kristopher Dukes, Inc. grabbed a new pad — it’s gorgeous.

But not like the Basque coast…

MORE »

Hating:

After a novel’s worth of broken English emails with Alstermo Bruk’s customer service, a wire transfer to a Swedish bank, and a brand new Zero Halliburton carry-on suitcase, what do I do with my Alstermo Bruk suitcase now?

Using:

I snagged a new Zero Halliburton 21″ carry-on from Craigslist for two Benjies. The plan was to gift it or let it be my German Shepherd Major Dukes‘s suitcase, but it’s so superior to my Alstermo Bruk luggage that I’ve decided Major should share.

Here’s what I’ve packed into it for my trip to New York this week: Marlies Dekkers panties, silk jersey tank dresses, bespoke linen shirt dresses, Donna Karan Collection snakeskin sandals, an Hermès Kelly Danse, a bottle of L’Artisan Parfumeur Tubereuse, an iPad and keyboard dock, and a few dog biscuits for Major (live chickens don’t travel well)…

Wanting:

I’ve a thing for classic hardcase luggage — it romanticizes an era when the journey was supposed to be as glamorous as the destination.

I usually carry-on Alstermo Bruk, handcrafted Swedish luggage that’s similar to Globe-Trotter — it’s essentially a fancy, empty, expensive cardboard box.

But I’ve always loved Rimowa, which has more function and as much form as Alstermo and Globe-Trotter. German goods store Manufactum collab’ed with Rimowa on a special-edition “Topas” suitcase that revives details from the original 1950′s “Topas” suitcases: handles made of cowhide, polished corner reinforcements, and black Rimowa-branded lining…

Missing:

Did you miss me as much as I missed you?

I’ve returned from roadtripping across Los Angeles, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and Vegas. And back. Finally.

I fell in love with the desert palette’s seamlessness: how the sand smudges into the dusty pink sky, which melts into the purple-blue of the creeping night, which dissolves into the smoke-black mountains to the east, with silhouettes that echo the outlines of burning clouds in the west…

The Grand Canyon was unbelievable, but Sedona’s beauty is better: it has a scale you can grasp, with buildings formed for pleasure, instead of bowing to a giant slash in the earth.

We stayed at L’Auberge de Sedona Resort, which I picked for its dining room on the creek. It’s those unnaturally white tablecloths against the muddy creek that sold me. Nature is best as a contrast to the urbane…

Using:

Normally I stuff a few silk racerback tank dresses and some Marlies Dekkers undies into an old kimono bag from college, but I thought I’d give these Travel Space bags a go for this week’s Grand Canyon-Las Vegas road trip.

When your hand-crafted, hard-case luggage is really a fancy cardboard box from Sweden, fancy Ziploc bags are necessary…

Hating:

This wheel-less Manufactum cardboard suitcase is too large to carry on, and likely too heavy for you to handle yourself.

Do you really want to sweat at the airport, or have to consider having someone help you?

No, thank you, sir…