Introducing: New York – Cosmopolitan to the Core

January 25, 2012

NEW YORK, US – Start spreading the news…We’ve launched The Purple Passport Guide to New York! Fittingly for the nation’s largest metropolis, it’s our biggest guide yet, featuring over 450 of the choicest hotels, restaurants, spas, nightlife spots, shops, and activities to help you plan a distinctive city experience. Drawing… (more)

Café L’Europe: Queen of the Palm Beach scene

January 18, 2012

PALM BEACH, USA – Sure, the US ditched its monarchy centuries ago, but if a shocking about-face brought royalty back in style, Palm Beach, with its glittering scene packed with aristocrats, titans of industry, and all-round queen bees, would be a good place to get started. And, once on the… (more)

A “bobo” bistro with cinematic charm at Hôtel du Nord

January 9, 2012

PARIS, FRANCE–Every time I walk through the streets of Paris, I can’t help but feel a little cinematic déjà vu. The Eiffel tower, the grands boulevards, the bourgeois-bohème crowd (bourgeois-bohemians, affectionately known as “bobos“) cupping espressos at sidewalk cafés…every mental snapshot I take feels like a frame of celluloid ripped… (more)

A Chic Week in Sydney and Melbourne

December 28, 2011

SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA- Last month, my husband and I traded in almost all of our frequent flier miles on Etihad Airlines to fly from our current home in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to Sydney, Australia. The 14-hour flight seemed to take forever, but it was much shorter than it would… (more)

Poetry on the plate at Le Comptoir du Relais

December 11, 2011

PARIS, FRANCE – Literary luminaries have long flocked to Paris’s Left Bank for its boho intellectual environs and café culture. The posh Hôtel Relais Saint-Germain honors that tradition with rooms dedicated to writers like Hemingway and Joyce, who once logged time on their typewriters in the Latin Quarter. But the… (more)

Tempting Tuesday: A Holiday Dining Deal in London

November 29, 2011

LONDON, UK- With the holidays quickly approaching, ladies around town are scurrying to find the perfect gifts or the chicest office-party-appropriate frock. Though with all this Christmas chaos, sometimes we forget to actually sit down and eat. Well don’t fret dear readers, because we’re here to help you out by… (more)

Beat the Paris blues at Chez Janou

November 27, 2011

PARIS, FRANCE – For all the enchanting art and lights of Paris, it’s a city somewhat devoid of color. Sure, you’ll get flashes of brightness at the Centre Pompidou, among the flowers in the Tuileries Gardens, or on the fashion runways. But aside from that, the historic streets are gray,… (more)

The Hunt: Dessert!

November 24, 2011

Global – Every week, The Purple Passport team goes out in search of a designated item in whatever city our team members happen to be in at that time. We wanted to share with you, our readers, some of our finds from around the world! This week’s theme, in honor… (more)

A hutong gets a remake (via Malaysia) at Café Sambal

November 21, 2011

BEIJING, CHINA – As Beijing’s traditional hutongs (mazelike alleyways of courtyard residences) are increasingly “chai’d” (demolished) to make way for the sleek, modern high rises of the cityscape, they’ve almost become like “endangered” habitat to those who treasure history. At Café Sambal, a delectable Malaysian restaurant in the Gulou neighborhood,… (more)

Skip bed and head straight for the pancakes at The Griddle Café

November 20, 2011

LOS ANGELES, USA – On weekend mornings, the lines for the manhole cover-sized pancakes at The Griddle Café snake out the door and around the block. It would be the kind of place you’d want to wake up early for in order to secure your spot. Except, with its vaguely… (more)