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On tour at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Miles Franklin-winning author of Ghost Cities and his literary agent embark on the bromantic sequel to Eat, Pray, Bruv.
The first thing to know about The Ritz-Carlton Bali is that it is not Mandapa. Let us clear that up before anyone starts packing linen trousers for Ubud and preparing to commune with a rice field. This is the Ritz-Carlton in Nusa Dua, perched in that gloriously polished corner of Bali where the ocean sparkles like it has been briefed by management, and even the golf carts seem to glide about with a quiet sense of purpose.
There are two things Anastasia has in common with Taylor Swift and I feel both are worth celebrating. First, glitter. And when has glitter ever made anything worse? Second, American accents. Which, in a musical about Russia and France performed in Sydney by Australians, did initially make my brain do a tiny, confused pirouette.
Grand Hyatt Bali sweeps you up in a kind of tropical operetta involving parasols, palms, polished stone, and the sudden conviction that your normal life has been an administrative error.
At Hyatt Hotel Canberra – A Park Hyatt Hotel, however, the latest arrival has four legs, excellent manners and an employment history that would make most LinkedIn profiles quietly wilt.
Every year, when winter finally loosens its icy grip on the Great Plains, North Dakota wakes up like someone who’s had a very long nap and suddenly remembers they own several thousand square kilometres of spectacular wildlife habitat.
The brand-new, show-stopping, five-bedroom, seven-bathroom luxury penthouse at Rise Kirra Point has just landed on the Gold Coast, and it’s basically screaming, “Ta-da! Your dream holiday just got a serious upgrade!”
There was a time when Makepeace Island specialised in very discreet conversations involving phrases like “off the record” and “we’ll have legal look at that.” It was the sort of place where important people arrived looking important and left looking even more important, but slightly sunburnt.
Let us begin with the most astonishing detail.
The accommodation does not sit in the desert. It floats above it although it’s not a mystical, levitating way, sadly. It is in a deeply clever engineering way that ensures nothing permanently damages the fragile desert floor.
While Brad Pitt, Liam Hemsworth and Jacob Elordi are all undeniably thriving in the cheekbone arena, it takes more than symmetrical bone structure to make my heart do so much as a polite flutter. A jawline is lovely. A bicep is commendable. But talent? Talent is the thing that sends my pulse into a light jog.
“You have to be a very special Japanese person to stay at the Hoshinoya,” my taxi driver confided before he dropped me off.
If you’ve ever looked at a picture of the Maldives and thought, Yes, but I’d like that with a bit more soul and a lot less rushing, then allow Eri Maldives to introduce itself.
