KRISTOPHER DUKES .com » Travel

USB Travel Shaver

Kristopher — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:45:19 +0000

Using:

I travel with as few things a possible. Before I had my Alstermo Bruk hand-made, hard-case carryon, I managed to stuff stuff for international trips into my laptop bag.

Impressed?

Given that, I usually don’t bother bring a razor, as any decent hotel’ll have one. But this USB travel shaver was just too amusing. The USB-powered shaver lights up bright blue when you plug into into your MacBook…

L’Auberge de Sedona Resort

Kristopher — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:06:24 +0000

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…

Travel Space Bags

Kristopher — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:53:10 +0000

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…

Manufactum Cardboard Hat Box

Kristopher — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:46:00 +0000

Wanting:

I hardly romanticize life before electronic mail, the flying bus, the horseless carriage.

But there’s something romantic about a train ride, about a process of traveling outside of carefully placing your Giuseppes in a security tray, a journey that includes holding on to private packages like this Manufactum cardboard hat box.

Hugging a hatbox on a train is so seductively innocent.

Espesh if you stash your Marlies Dekkers panties in it…

Manufactum Cardboard Suitcase, Attache-Style

Kristopher — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:00:39 +0000

Using:

I take my Alstermo Bruk luggage everywhere, and people love the leather-trimmed retro trunk. A lady I just met at a photography show asked me if I had an orange suitcase — she’d noticed me in JFK airport seasons ago.

But as glam as hand-crafted, hard-case luggage is, you know what? Whether it’s James Bond’s Globetrotter attache or the Swedish royal family’s Alstermo luggage, it’s really just a fancy cardboard box.

Which I dig.

So I ordered this Manufactum cardboard attache, a Czech-made briefcase that cost less than Globetrotter’s four figures and Alstermo’s three. For fifty bucks, it’s the perfect home for the Hackintosh netbook I bought off Craigslist, and a spare silk jersey tank dress. What else do you really need…

Kiki James Military Wet Pack

Kristopher — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:26:06 +0000

Wanting

I love how London is littered with gentlemen’s gear: briefcases built to outlast grandsons, sterling silver flasks daintier than the ladies who shouldn’t use them, and leather cases crafted as carefully as the cigars they’re meant to hold. This Kiki James military wet pack reminds me of a Fortnum & Mason leather watch roll I wanted to buy for my toiletries. Handmade and styled after an early 20th century Brit army officer kit, the leather military wet pack can be personalized with your initials. That’s so much more choice than monogrammed luggage…

Online Auctions for China Trips K Is…

Kristopher — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:04:00 +0000

Wanting: Kempinski Hotel & Spa

Kempinski Hotel & Spa is on Hainan Island, which floats in the South China Sea. Sapphire water, lush jungles, baby powder sand, oh my. Wouldn’t you rather be here Monday? This China trip’s on sale at LuxuryLink.com. Why only wish? Life’s short…

Buying: Commune By The Great Wall

I love Hong Kong’s east-greets-west vibe, and this China trip captures that: you’re nestled near the Great Wall, cozy in a modern, minimalist collection of contemporary architecture…

Hating: Myths and Mountains

This sounds like Disneyland in Mandarin…

At London’s Design Museum, K Is…

Kristopher — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:48:36 +0000

Wanting.

I’m back from London: there was loads of shopping, tip-toeing through cobble stones in kitten heels, and walking across Tower Bridge to Conran’s Design Museum. The museum’s got a great cafe that overlooks the river, and tightly edited exhibitions on design. My only regret? My feet were so sore — I gave satin Loubies more wear in one day than they should see in a year — that I only glossed over the Design Museum’s exhibit on Jan Kaplický, the Czech architect behind some of Britain’s most remarkable buildings…

Seeing.

The main exhibit at the Design Museum was “Super Contemporary,” a celebration of London as the capital of forward design…

Hating.

Mariscal had a decade-spanning, genre-hopping career, but someone explain to me why — besides his brand-building — his scribbles were so magical…

LuxuryLink.com Bali Bids K Is..

Kristopher — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:19:35 +0000

Wanting: Bali’s St. Regis Resort

I love my work, mostly because it involves sitting around in panties and Giuseppes nine to five, five to nine. Still, sometimes Monday needs to eff off. So bid on Bali. There are tons of choice deals on travel auction site LuxuryLink.com, including five nights at the Bali St. Regis Resort. Get limo’ed to a villa with a private pool, garden, and ocean view. The package includes packing and unpacking, a 24-hour butler, and “keepsake beach tote with his & her sun hats.”

Yeah, the his and her sun hats sold me, too…

Using: Bali’s Kupu Kupu Barong

For less than two grand you get seven nights in Bali, with a private pool, Balinese massages, and butlers. Good bye, Monday…

Hating: Bali’s Hotel Tugu

Hotel Togu is Bali’s first museum boutique hotel. You can dine in an 18th-century temple or sleep in a Balinese pavilion floating over a lotus pond. So why am I hating? LuxuryLink.com canceled this Bali bid…

Desert Hot Springs Mineral Water Spas K Is…

Kristopher — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:10:23 +0000

Wanting.

Hope Springs is a midcentury modern spa in the Desert Hot Springs, the sister town to Palm Springs, CA. Their 10 rooms are filled with Jetson arm chairs, their three pools are filled with mineral water…

Using.

The only hotel in the area to be in Travel + Leisure‘s hotel issue and Taschen’s The Spa Book, Sagewater Spa is simple: billion-count-thread sheets, home-baked coffee cake when you arrive, and a hot tub and pool gurgling mineral water from a nearby well. A steady 90° F, Sagewater Spa water is like walking into air, only better…

Hating.

Living Water Spa is a “European-style, clothing-optional mineral water spa.” Seeing that I barely enjoy the average person clothed, how is sharing a pool with naked strangers a getaway? If anything, that’s some nightmare version of public life…