Would You Buy a Luxury Apartment Aboard a Residential Cruise Ship?
Do you dream of traveling the globe without ever leaving your home? Then you might consider buying one of the luxury apartments aboard The World. The converted ocean liner is now a 644-foot floating condominium home to 165 luxury apartments, with a full-size tennis court, multiple restaurants and a spa.
Residences on The World sell for between $2 million and $15 million, but don’t mistake them for cruise ship cabins. There is currently a 3,000-square-foot three-bedroom, three-bathroom property available with a full kitchen and a wraparound veranda for entertaining. Owners are free to design the interiors anyway they’d like.
As for how The World turns, every year residents and the captain get together to devise an extensive itinerary. Already in 2017, the ship has sailed to Australia, New Zealand and Vanuatu—and in the coming months, The World will explore East Asia, Hawaii, Canada, Alaska, Central America and more. New Year’s Eve will be spent in Miami before continuing to the Caribbean to start 2018.
Move Over Dubai: Why Doha Is the Middle East’s Next Big Destination
With the World Cup coming to Qatar in 2022, the Middle East nation is already burnishing its image as a must-see destination. Qatar Airways recently announced 26 new routes for 2017-18—including direct flights to San Francisco, Dublin, and Cardiff—which will only elevate Doha as a global city.
In addition to building all of those soccer stadiums, Doha recently opened Doha Festival City, a supermall featuring some 500 stores, an indoor ski slope, and of course Angry Birds World. Culturally speaking, Doha has a lot to offer—most notably the grand Museum of Islamic Art (above) designed by I.M. Pei.
But if you don’t want to leave your hotel, who would blame you? Because Qatar is a Muslim nation, alcohol is prohibited—but not in the international hotels. Doha has also taken weekend brunch to new heights, particularly the Dim Sum Brunch at the Shangri-La Doha and the Grand Brunch at the St. Regis Doha. And more luxury hotels are on the way in the next few years, including the Mondrian Doha and two Le Meridien properties. The world is coming in five years and Doha will be ready.
Travel Wise
Want to make sure you sleep well on an airplane? Fasten your seat belt. And secure it over a blanket if you’re wearing one. If you don’t, flight attendants may wake you to check that you have it on. So keep it visibly fastened—and dream on.
The Top 100 Bistros in Paris: Meet the New Gastronomic Stars
You don’t have to be a Michelin star-gazer to have a great meal in Paris. Along with the mayor of Paris, a group of seven internationally-renowned starred chefs, including Alain Ducasse (owner of Allard and Jules Verne), Christophe Saintagne (Papillon) and Stéphane Jégo (L'Ami Jean) have created a new list of the 100 best bistros in Paris as part of “L’Operation: Paris, le plus grand bistro,” to celebrate the culinary savoir faire of the city.
The establishments known as "bistrots" are quintessential to Parisian life, offering high quality and creative French cuisine at accessible prices, usually around $35 per person. Among the criteria the chefs looked for were a French culinary know-how, fair prices, focus on local and quality products, hospitality prioritized and based on conviviality, generosity and sharing, a quality wine list and a chef present on the premises.
The newspaper The Local selected one top choice from each of Paris’ 20 arrondissements including: L’Ardoise, Bistrot Vivienne, Elmer, Café de la nouvelle Mairie, Le Timbre, L’Evasion, Comptoir Canailles, Tempero, Les Petites Plats, Le Bouchon & L’Assiette.
Here is the complete list and an interactive map to the best bistros in Paris.
Five Watches Tough Enough for Any Summer Activity
Planning to be active this summer? Then it’s time to consider a watch that can keep up with the most rugged experiences on land and sea.
The Casio GST-W300 is part of the G-Shock line, which is built for high-impact sports. It’s solar-powered and water resistant to 200 meters, with functions that include a world timer, 1/100-second time measurement, and split timing. The case and crown of the Sinn U1 S diver’s watch are made of the same steel used for German submarines. It’s known for its extreme water resistance (to 1,000 meters) and high anti-magnetic properties. The Omega Planet Ocean Big Blue (above) is a combination GMT and diver’s watch (water resistant to 600 meters) with an indestructible case made from a single block of ceramic—which, by the way, is bulletproof.
Water resistant to 100 meters, the Panerai LAB-ID Luminor 1950 Carbotech 3 Days is almost entirely composed of carbon based or carbon-coated materials. This includes movement components which will never need traditional lubrication: Panerai guarantees it for 50 years. And the Citizen Eco-Drive Pro-Master Professional Diver is water resistant to 1,000 meters. It’s light-powered, with a running time of 1.5 years when fully charged, and the hands and indexes are illuminated for readability even in the dark depths of a long airline flight.
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