Food & Wine Lifestyle Luxury Hotels Travel

Christmas gifts for luxury travellers, worldwide

Travel-Blue's three-piece adaptor takes your anywhere (except Australia, China and South Africa)

Travel-Blue's three-piece adaptor takes your anywhere (except Australia, China and South Africa)

Sometimes the most simple gadget makes luxury travel even easier.  For years the gal has been travelling with a multitude of adaptors, taking US plugs to European or UK, or vice versa.  On arriving in Sofia, I realised I had left a vital adaptor at home.

There, in Bulgaria, I picked up a treasure that now goes with me everywhere.  There are three components, that pack neatly, when not being used, into one cube, as shown. www.travel-blue.com

Travel-Blue's three-piece adaptor fits snugly together, for travelling - and is easily seen

The three-piece unit fits snugly together, for travelling - and is easily seen

Everyone is sharing Christmas lists and wants right now.  Top of my list is any luxury hotel where I can get into fast – and free – WiFi, with plenty of sockets next to a desk that is big enough and low enough for proper working. The chair must be ergonomic and swivel.

Bathroom lighting must be flattering but good. And there needs to be plenty of storage around the basin, which has a magnifying mirror handy.

Treehotel, Lulea, Sweden

Treehotel, Lulea, Sweden

Talking of mirrors, how about the outside of one of the four treehouse suites at Treehotel in Swedish Lapland? The exterior is tinted to avoid birds flying in. This seems like an ideal venue for a sexy end-of-year getaway.

Were I back home for Christmas, I would opt for something deliciously wicked, like a taste of real-gold stilton.

What?

Real-gold Stilton Cheese, $100 per 100-gram slice

Real-gold Stilton Cheese, $100 per 100-gram slice

Long Clawson Stilton Gold is made from premium white Stilton cheese, and shot-through with a combination of real edible gold leaf, and real gold-Cinnamon Schnappes.  I would cuddle up with a bottle of Haut-Brion and a slice of the cheese, knowing it costs only  $100 per 100-gram slice, www.Clawson.co.uk

The Christmas fairy's cook would create magic from tantalising recipes in Anna Hansen's The Modern Pantry

The Christmas fairy's cook would create magic from tantalising recipes in Anna Hansen's The Modern Pantry, Ebury Press

And in a dream world, the Christmas fairy would parachute in my own personal cook, say to produce Truffled beetroot, basil and mascarpone crostini…