William Chamberlayne
Articles by William Chamberlayne
In this issue of the Lifetime Society Communiqué, we stroll the cobbled streets of one of Europe’s most atmospheric and beautifully preserved cities. History hangs on every corner. You can see it in the decorative art of the churches and cathedrals, and even feel it in your feet on the old town’s cobbled streets. This is Prague. A concentrated blob of pure baroque unscathed by the Second World War. It’s a glorious place where beer is still brewed by monks and the stories of mad kings, tragic queens and foul monsters are still told.
The glory days of the great transatlantic liners may be over…but in this month’s cover story, Paul Lewis finds you can embark on your own odyssey.
In your February issue, our travel correspondent, Paul Lewis, writes about the world’s rarest and most expensive wools. Shahtoosh shawls, made from the fine hair of the dwindling flock of Chiru, can retail today for $10,000 or more.
In our cover story, Paul Lewis writes about Cape Town’s wine regions. It’s a fascinating account, spanning 350 years, of how vineyards quickly spread across the Western Cape. And we hear from Lifetime Society Members Joel and Anna Moskowitz, who spent years scouring for affordable property in the U.S. and the Caribbean.
Museums are battling over the exhibited antiquities with the countries where the artifacts originated. Repossessions have occurred…and you can read just some of the examples of this in our cover story this month.
Also in this issue of the Lifetime Society Communiqué, we profile American Cynthia Mulder. Cynthia first visited Panama with her husband and son in 2001 and liked what she saw.
In this issue of the Lifetime Society Communiqué, we profile American Cynthia Mulder. Cynthia first visited Panama with her husband and son in 2001 and liked what she saw. “The year we first traveled to Panama we felt a contagious excitement across the country,” Cynthia says. “Business and construction were booming and potential retirees were flooding in to check the place out.”
Looking for an autumnal escape from the gray skies of London recently, I ventured out in full hunting season to the mellow hills of Burgundy. Spurning the attractions of Dijon and its quaint Mustard Museum, not to mention the wines of Beaune (I intend to return for the charity wine auctions in November), I traveled instead into new territory: the unknown hinterland of Auxerre in northern Burgundy, for no other reason than it was there and I’d never been before. A few empty cases in the Chamberlayne wine cellar may also have been a deciding factor.
During my recent trip to the east coast of China, I was able to use a well-known credit card in my hotel and in one anonymous international restaurant, but it was hard to get by with anything but cash elsewhere. Although credit is making inroads in this still largely rural nation, old peasant habits die hard—“better to do without until you can pay cash” seems to be the rule. My dear mother, who spent much of her youth in loan-wary France, taught me that same rule.
From an early age I embraced exercise with respect and regularity, be it a round on the fairway, a brisk walk around town or the annual tennis tournament at college. I’m glad I’ve eschewed the automobile for the delights of public transport as well, as I’m not in the least inconvenienced by today’s high gas prices and the witch-hunt that goes with a public confession of what is now termed my “carbon footprint.”
In this issue of your exclusive Lifetime Communique you can read about someone who has more time to explore other transport options since he moved to Mexico, and you can find out how to make your next international move in our upcoming events.
If I was going to put down roots in Latin America, I would head straight for Portugal’s only Spanish speaking colony, the tiny town of Colónia del Sacramento on the other side of the river Plate from Buenos Aires. In this issue of the Lifetime Society Communiqué, you’ll meet someone who shares my outlook and is planning a similar life, post-work, of following his whims—and the weather. And if you’re considering a trip down south of the border, there’s an address worth noting for good Mexican cuisine. You’ll also discover what happened in Auckland last March when some of your fellow Members got together in New Zealand.
I discovered this unpleasant fact on last year’s jaunt to Peru, where I holed up in Lima’s venerable Country Club Hotel. This colonial institution—vastly improved, by the way, since my last visit to San Isidro more than 20 years ago—overlooks a charming golf course, but the rigors of my travels had taken away all desire for even the simplest of swings. Instead I took to having a late breakfast in my spacious quarters (the eggs Benedict are perfectly comme il faut), rereading Shackleton’s Arctic hardships, and gazing wistfully over the fairway.
Like Thomas Hood, I don’t have much positive to say about November or December. Usually I manage to escape the grim grayness of these most unattractive of English months by disappearing, say, into the warmer hills of Madeira. This charming island benefits from the hot winds from sultry Morocco and was the number one resort for tired Jesuits in search of sunny R&R after intensive converting missions in India or China in the 16th and 17th centuries. Were I there now, doubtless I would be swimming in the giant rock pool at Porto Moniz that is protected from the waves and entirely sand-free. Or sipping a glass of the island’s chilled dry eponymous wine in Funchal while looking forward to a luncheon of fresh fish.
This issue William Chamberlayne, our travel editor emeritus and indefatigable wanderer finds a piece of the Loire valley in a corner of England and wonders at its material comforts and degree of warmth. We also profile Lifetime Member Howard Ribaud who’s raring to build a house in the sunny climes of Panama.
Keep up to date with our best addresses in the Pomme d’Or listings, this month featuring a Bohemian eatery in Cork, Ireland, and a coastal restaurant in France.
There is nothing like a dollop of old “Mr. Five Per Cent’s” loot for …
As I grow older and richer, I find that living gets cheaper. I now enjoy senior citizen discounts on rail and bus fares and reduced entry to museums, cinemas, and theaters.
This month we continue our travels in Egypt with our curmudgeonly travel editor William Chamberlayne, who finds just his kind of hotel in Luxor and muses in its comfort over the curse of Tutankhamun. We follow the film noir trail in Morocco, and in Panama we profile Lifetime Member Sarah Booth who’s been exploring investment opportunities there.
Keep up to date with our best addresses in the Pomme d’Or listings, this month featuring Panama City and Cozumel.
This month we travel to distant Laos with Victor Paul Borg to try and pierce the secret of the plain of urns. We also nearly touch the sky in one of the most remote golf courses in the world. Keep up to date with our best addresses in the Pomme d’Or listings, this month featuring Mexico and Spain, plus you can catch up on what’s been happening at the latest International Living VIP events in Croatia, and Panama, where we held our biggest ever conference, the Ultimate Event. This is where you can hear about the special receptions we’ve been holding just for Lifetime Society and Roundtable Members, and you can meet some new fellow members and read more about one in particular and his plans for international living.
“The trim restored houses in one street in Georgetown, Penang, their facades a subtle palette of Chinese architectural features painted in pastel hues, do not reveal their history; nor does the Chinese clan house or the restaurant that serves tea and delicacies. The
name of the street, Love Lane, is more suggestive, although still evasive for an alley of vices that lured traders, drifters, and rulers during the not so distant British colonial times.”Read on in this month’s issue of the Lifetime Communique.
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