72 Hours in New Orleans Creoles, Gators, Music & Spice By Lauri Lyons La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in the Spring of 1718 by the French Mississippi Company. The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and remained under Spanish control when it reverted briefly to French rule. Napoleon later sold Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French, Creoles and Africans. Later immigrants were Irish, Germans and Italians. The major cash crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on nearby large plantations. All of these elements created a potent brew of Creoles, gators, history and spice that never seems to die. Mardi Gras World New Orleans is world-renowned for its annual Carnival celebration Mardi Gras, which is French for “Fat Tuesday”, the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. In layman’s terms, Mardi Gras is a bedazzled, feathered, wild, drunken, public hedonism festival that ends right before you go to church and pray. If you want to take a sneak peek behind the glitter and beads, head on over to Mardi Gras World to meet some of the artists and craftsmen who have built some of the oldest and biggest parade floats in the city. Since 1947, Mardi Gras World has built and decorated approximately 500 floats per year. Tours take place 7 days a week and begin every half hour, and last for approximately one and a half hours. Guides take you through the float...
Ask Astronaut Tim Peake A Guide to Life in Space By Lauri Lyons Tim Peake is a European Space Agency astronaut and former British Army officer, who completed a historic mission to the International Space Station in 2016. Since his return to Earth, Tim has been asked thousands of questions about what it is like to travel in space. His book Ask An Astronaut answers many of our curious questions with wit, candor, and facts. What is the International Space Station? It is the largest and most sophisticated spacecraft in history, a cutting-edge science laboratory, and a home in space for astronauts. How long do astronauts spend in quarantine before launch? The purpose of astronaut quarantine before a mission is to ensure that the prime crew remain fit and healthy, arriving at the ISS free from virus or infection. The length of time spent sequestered is usually around two weeks. Why do astronauts launch from Kazakhstan? The Baikonur Cosmodrome, situated in the desert steppe of southern Kazakhstan, is the world’s first and largest operational space launch facility. Ever since the American Space shuttle programme ended in 2011, it has been the only launch site in the world used to ferry crew to the International Space Station. What makes the launches at the Cosmodrome particularly dynamic are the visual pyrotechnics. Unlike some other launch sites where water is housed under the rockets at ignition, to souse the flames and muffle the sound at Baikonur, they don’t use water because of the desert setting. This makes for a fiery lift-off! What surprised you the most when you first got into space?...
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A Warrior of Light By Lauri Lyons As a person born after the signing of the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, I was not a witness to the loud calls for justice that took place in the United States during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Like many generations that followed, my knowledge of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. primarily came from what I was taught in school and from archival film clips of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington. With that rote knowledge, I, like many others felt that I had a good idea of who Dr. King was and what he stood for. My idea of him was a noble, calm, and well-spoken civil rights leader. Indeed, he was all of those things, but he was also so much more. He was fire, brimstone, determination, strategy, and human. Reflecting on his life and career, he was an individual who willingly became a foot soldier for equality, during a Vesuvian explosion of cultural, political and social change. This period of time in American history could easily be classified as the rebirth of a nation. MLK’s most daring acts of faith were his strategical acts of nonviolence. His stance to fight physical power with soul power was and still is, a radical choice of weapons. At a time when black people were not legally guaranteed basic human rights in the United States, Martin Luther King, Jr. had the audacity to demand that America be true to its commitments on paper, as was written in the Declaration of Independence and...
Cambodia’s Choice of Weapons A Honeymoon with the Khmer Rouge By Sheradon Dublin Editor’s Note: The Khmer Rouge was a communist guerrilla organization which opposed the Cambodian government in the 1960s and waged a civil war in 1970, taking power in 1975. The organization is remembered especially for orchestrating the Cambodian genocide. Firstly, let me get across I would return to Cambodia in a heartbeat. I love travelling, spending time in the Far East and meeting with people from other cultures. Immersing myself in their way of life is something I enjoy. I generally experience the history of their country through photo-tours and visiting temples. It is something I do without thinking because I love it, plain and simple. On this occasion, experiencing Cambodia’s history very nearly ended my traveling days quite abruptly. I was there for the best part of a week while on honeymoon with my wife. A few days before we left for the Far East, we found out that she was with child, so we decided it was best that she stay at the hotel because she wasn’t feeling too chipper with the morning sickness. My wife suggested I fill my boots with temple exploration as she was going to be out of action for the time being. After making sure she was going to be looked after during the day, I booked three daytime trips on the Angkor Wat trail with a local guide by the name of Po. The three days of exploring, climbing and walking through 1,000-year-old temples, and the overgrown jungle that surrounded them was a travellers dream. I was alone with...
Travel Inspired Luxury Bags For Love Or Nothing, Baby By John-Paul Pietrus I enter the warm, wood-lined walls of number 59 South Audley Street in Mayfair, London. Sitting at the back of the bar is a gorgeous couple, the understated and chic Runaway and the effortlessly stylish Vagabond. They’re just so cool. They’ve got the perfect slouch, heart, and soul. I venture forth and ask “Who are you and where are you from?” They reply, “We’re Love Or Nothing, Baby”. If bags were people, Love Or Nothing Baby (LONB) bags would be those cool cats in the corner that simultaneously stand out with style, but are welcome in any environment. They carry a timeless, beautiful form, created for travel as well as a quotidian living. The idea for LONB started several years ago with the brand’s masterminds, Melissa Morris and Reinhard Mieck, frustrations with finding the perfect bag. As a bag-lover, Reinhard amassed a collection of over 50 varieties of bags, some of which he loved for function, others of which he loved for aesthetics, but he never found one which was just perfect in every way. Reinhard comes from a background in the business side of the leather goods industry, having been CEO of Labelux. He recalls the stress of waking up at 6 a.m. to catch a flight, gathering keys from one jacket, wallet from another, passport, boarding pass and all the essentials, only to arrive at the airport and realize that one thing had been forgotten. Melissa remembers living in New York City, and getting dressed and ready to go to work, only to arrive at the...
The Ubud Hanging Gardens Bali’s Sustainable Getaway By Mackenzie Lowry It’s been said that bamboo restores emotional calm and stimulates creativity. So why not literally build a sanctuary upon those ideas? Ubud Hanging Gardens is a series of villas built on bamboo stilts in the Bali hillsides. The goal was to create a space magical and authentic, yet still harmonious with nature. There could be no better execution of this goal than Ubud Hanging Gardens. Ubud was built by over 700 local craftsmen, and reportedly only one tree in the forest had to be moved to make way for the villas. The attention to details in this high-top getaway is impeccable. Bamboo-topped funiculars were built as a method of easy transportation throughout the levels of Ubud. The stones used to create the walkways were individually cut from the local river and imprinted with leaves from a local fern. The steps were built from the local volcanic ash of Mount Batur. The all of the resort’s spa products and recipes include plants from the hotel’s exotic garden. The resort is surrounded by rice fields, ancient temples, mountains, forest, local villages, and abundant rivers free for you to explore. The hotel also offers diverse activities that you might not get the chance to try anywhere else. While taking a dip, guests can indulge in floating sunset dinners in ‘The Most Amazing Pool in the World’, five-star spa experiences, Balinese cooking classes, local village treasure hunts, traditional painting lessons, chakra meditation, open top VW rides, and even mountain biking. Between sleeping on bamboo stilts, practicing your cooking, taking a dip into infinity,...
Escape From A Spiritual Cult A Wellness Retreat Gone Wrong By Charmaine Selwood Editor’s Note: The following story is one woman’s personal view and account of visiting an advertised spiritual retreat in Australia. The events described have been reported to the authorities for investigation. Reader’s discretion is advised. Earlier this year I was working as an au pair in Brisbane, Australia. Things were going well until I found myself in a wild relationship filled with alcohol, drugs, and hotel rooms. As our relationship continued, I noticed my mental health deteriorating. I needed to get away, be somewhere pure, and come back to myself. So, I decided to go to the Samaya Ashram, in the Byron Bay Hinterland of Australia. This self-sustainable, spiritual community had a tight schedule. We rose at 5.30am before sunrise, had a jam-packed day of meditations, yoga, “meditation in action” (work), and vegan meals. In the evenings, we had a sangha. The essence of a sangha is awareness, understanding, acceptance, harmony, and love. By 7 pm, the moon-illuminated forest led us to bed. Samaya, the 80-year-old Italian guru, and owner of the ashram was wise, charismatic, and intelligent. Through listening to him, I realized how one could so easily become a slave to society. He made us feel like we had escaped all that pain and suffering, and the ashram would set us free. Over the first few days, the intensity of the Osho meditations shocked me. We practiced the ‘Mystic Rose’, which was talking ‘gibberish’ for 10 minutes, crying for 10, and then laughing for 10 minutes. After a few days, we did ‘Dynamic’ mediation...
The Ottoman Chic Lifestyle Interior Designer Serdar Gülgün By John-Paul Pietrus The Ottoman Empire reigned supreme from 1299 to 1922, ushering in an era of opulence and global expansion. Although the empire has fallen, the Ottomans legendary taste for the good life is still inspiring design enthusiasts today. East met West, as NOMADS Editor at Large John-Paul Pietrus sat down to discuss the Ottoman chic lifestyle with the acclaimed Ottoman expert, author and designer, Serdar Gülgün. I swiftly walked through Kensington Gardens one misty morning, aware that I was cutting it close for the morning tea invitation on Gloucester Road with Ottoman expert Serdar Gülgün. Sedar had come to London to launch his pop up store in collaboration Assouline Books on Piccadilly Circus. I made sure I dressed well, as Serdar was known to be always impeccably attired. I arrived at the café and luckily had a few minutes to catch my breath before he arrived. He was as dashing as ever, with his round glasses, Turkish moustache, and gorgeous tailored jacket that he “picked up somewhere in Florence.” Always the gentleman, he complimented me on my Toile de Jouy jacket. Over many a pot of fresh tea, Serdar told me his story. A native Istanbullu, Serdar attended a French school as a youth and then began studies in business administration, which he quickly decided was not his thing, and then moved on to SOAS University of London for his master’s degree. It was a wonderful awakening for him, all he wanted. Post studies he worked for a very short while at Sotheby’s before returning to Istanbul in the...
Mectoub The New Arab Man Switching Arab Gender Codes By Lauri Lyons Mectoub is an Arabic word that loosely translates as: “It was written”. The word denotes a sense of pre-ordained destiny. The beginning of the Arab Spring protests in 2010 marked a cultural shifting of the sand, throughout North Africa and the Middle East. The recent announcement that Saudi Arabia will lift the ban on female drivers is further evidence that things are changing. We are beginning to witness the rise of the new Arab man and woman. Scarlett Coten is a french photographer who explores identity and intimacy throughout the Arab diaspora. Her series Mectoub poses questions about the emergence of a new Arab masculinity. The series documents Scarlett’s personal encounters with men who are challenging the established codes of gender and the relationship to women. “I decided to photograph men. My journey took me from North Africa to the Middle East, in order to look into male identity. Hidden places, abandoned houses, forgotten shorelines, these are the places where men would come, at my invitation, for a photographic tete-a-tete. I wanted to photograph the men with all their complexity, fragility, sensuality and freedom. I set off to further my travels into countries which had long been close to my heart, including Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Palestine and Lebanon. I walked through the streets to alleyways, cafes to backyards, always searching. Mectoub is a relationship that I decided to have with men that were strangers to me, in these Arab countries. The men I chose had a freedom of spirit about them and I sensed a mutual connivance...
El Cosmico Hotel of Marfa The Cosmos Come to Texas By Mackenzie Lowry El Cosmico “the cosmic one” is located deep in the heart of Marfa, Texas. Technically, it is advertised as a hotel, but it feels more like an adventure waiting to happen. Guests have the option of taking shelter in a full-size tent, an Indian-style teepee, a funky old restored trailer, or an intriguing “yurt,” which is basically a thicker, round tent. El Cosmico also has a bathhouse for guests, as well as a community kitchen, and a very colorful “Hammock Grove.” This hippie dream vacation is not just about relaxing in bright red 70’s trailers. El Cosmico offers a chance for play and learning, while also connecting with your inner spirit. They host cooking and songwriting workshops, art classes, concerts, cultural events, community activities which change from week to week. Even the town of Marfa has plenty to offer. Built up from cattle ranchers, the town is now populated by artists and young individuals with exciting ideas, making for a quirky combination of locals. El Cosmico is inspired by “a long American history of hippies, nomads, bohemians and those living a life of self-determination.” The founder, Liz Lambert, wanted to create a place where people can feel an open connection to the land they walk on, while also actively taking part in an artistic community. Lambert has a philosophical view of living. “Mañana is the anticipation that it might happen today, and it might just as likely not. Either way, it’s not that big of a deal. Eventually mañana arrives and the tomorrows of our dreams,...
