Welcome to The Fast Track, a newsletter brought to you by the editors at Travel + Leisure. If you’re new here, my name is Nikki Vargas, and I’m an associate editorial director here at T+L. I’m popping up in your inbox with our weekly edit, exclusive to our paid subscribers, sharing the latest stories you might have missed from The Fast Track.

Recently, a…

Read more

I have been on a battery-powered icebreaker in Canada’s frozen Saguenay River in the middle of winter. I’ve been aboard a carbon-fiber IMOCA 60 racing yacht, doing 25 knots in New York Harbor.

And I’ve been sailing around the Cyclades islands on the supremely luxurious Four Seasons I, where I had Champagne and caviar beneath the cliffs of Santorini.

So, yeah, being the unofficial “cruise guy” at Travel + Leisure has treated me pretty well. I’m Paul Brady, the news director at the brand as well as the voice behind The Fast Track column, Making Waves, and I get pretty hyped when talking about boats.

But the latest vessel to cross my metaphorical radar could be one of the most exciting I’ve ever seen: it’s got an ice-hardened hull, enormous aluminum sails covered in solar cells, a Nordic sauna with a window onto the sea, and just 19 suites that look like something you’d find on a Belmond train sleeper car.

Read more

For many people, the flight is the part of the trip to endure—the boring stretch between home and the hotel lobby. I am not one of those people.

See, I obsess over how you actually get there, especially if it’s by plane. I’m researching the airline, aircraft, seat configuration, and even specific seat location. (Case in point: I once flew from New York to Frankfurt via…Mexico City, just so I could fly in the nose of a Boeing 747.)

Hi, I’m Chris Dong, an AvGeek and The Fast Track’s Aviation and Loyalty Contributor behind our column, On the Fly. I help travelers navigate the wild world of air travel and loyalty programs. You can find me on Instagram @thechrisflyer, and here on Substack at Checking In with Chris Dong.

Subscribe now

Plenty of the news I cover is the fun kind: swanky business-class suites, private airport terminals with a BMW driving you to your plane, high-end credit cards that unlock luxury perks. But not every airline or loyalty update actually benefits travelers, even if a company claims it does.

Let’s talk about how airlines are introducing “basic business class,” a contradiction in terms. After all, doesn’t “basic” fight the entire premium premise of flying in business class? I dug through the details so you don’t have to.

What “Basic Business” Actually Means

Around a decade and change ago, the big U.S. airlines took their lowest economy fares and stripped out things like seat selection and the ability to make free changes (and, on some carriers, access to the overhead bin). If you wanted those perks back, you had to pay extra. This is the world of basic economy, which is still going strong today.

Fast-forward to 2026. Earlier this year, both Delta and United announced they’d roll out versions of a pared-down business-class fare. The exact details differ by airline, but the concept is similar: you get the same business-class seat and service in the air, but what you give up is most of the other stuff. Think: premium lounge access, an advance seat assignment, the ability to earn all your airline miles, and the freedom to change flights without a penalty.

Does That Mean Business Class Is Cheaper?

In exchange for all the things that are taken away, the airlines say a “basic” fare gives travelers a lower business-class price point. And that might actually be true in some instances.

But the basic tier is also stripped down so much that many travelers will want to buy up to the full experience—one that now costs more than it used to. In fact, many corporate travelers are prohibited from purchasing any “basic” fares at all.

No matter what you choose, you’re stuck sorting through more fare options at checkout and combing through more fine print—all while relying on the airline to spell out precisely what you are (and aren’t) getting.

For travelers already overloaded with information about the flying experience, additional “choice” isn’t much of a gift. In fact, Delta knows how confusing this is and will give customers lounge access for basic business fares through January 18, 2027, as a transition period.

I’ll note that basic business isn’t a uniquely U.S. phenomenon. Carriers abroad have been chipping away at what premium cabins include for a while now, too. Airlines like Qatar Airways and Air France-KLM sell a stripped-down “light” business fare that drops checked bags, seat selection, or lounge access.

But it’s not all bad news. The onboard international business-class experience in the U.S. is vastly better than even a decade ago, with new amenities, dining options, and next-generation suites coming to all the major carriers. The best part? You get all of that even on the most basic business fare—the seat is the seat.

When Is Basic Business Actually Worth It?

Sometimes, basic business is the smarter buy. Here’s my rule of thumb:

Buy Basic When:

• You’re traveling solo.

• You’re not picky about the seat you end up in.

• Your plans are set in stone, so you won’t need to change the flight.

• You already have lounge access another way, or don’t care about the lounge.

Pay Up When:

• You’re traveling with someone and want seats together.

• You really want to access the premium lounge.

• You want the full mileage earning.

• You need the flexibility to change plans without a fee.

One silver lining if you decide not to go basic: pulling automatic lounge access from the cheapest business-class fare could help thin the crowds—welcome news if your favorite airline club has felt impossible to find a seat in lately.

As for me? I won’t be booking basic business anytime soon, unless the price difference is monumental. After all, I’m willing to route from New York to Frankfurt via Mexico City for my ideal seat and plane—clearly, I have preferences when it comes to flying.

What Else You Need to Know

Here are a few airline and points stories that have been on my radar in recent weeks:

Share The Fast Track

This curated monthly list by Travel + Leisure's editor in chief, Jacqui Gifford, will become an exclusive perk for The Fast Track paid subscribers. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber here, let us help you with that:

Subscribe now

The Allure of Train Travel

The romantic, vintage-toned allure of train travel? It’s real.

I was reminded of that aboard the new Belmond Britannic Explorer, which runs three-night/four-day itineraries through Wales, Cornwall, and the Lake District (my son and I did the last). Is it the luxurious experience portrayed on social media and by spellbound rail fans?

I’m no foamer, so take this review for what it is: the opinion of a longtime travel editor who has visited over 50 countries and sailed with 10 different cruise lines. The biggest draw wasn’t always the scenery. It was the food: brilliant dishes by chef Alex Lewis, developed with Simon Rogan. Lewis and two colleagues work in a galley kitchen no wider than a carry-on suitcase, plating delicate dishes like roast sirloin of dry-aged Cumbrian Fells beef, and rye waffles with cold-smoked Chalkstream trout, accompanied by cultured cream and soft herbs. The servers then perform their own miracles, such as pouring a perfect French-press coffee as the cars sway.

That said, the scenery was another highlight, whether we were pausing over a viaduct to admire hikers attempting the Three Peaks Challenge, or busing to the magnificent Graythwaite Estate for a brisk boat ride on Lake Windermere.

The community on board was surprisingly similar to what you find on a river cruise; the 36 passengers were together, pretty much all the time, in tight quarters, whether in the dining cars or the observation lounge, sipping spritzes. During our first hour on the train, we befriended an English couple, Guy and Tricia. Two days later, we were all in for a hot game of Monopoly: a five-hour affair, with a break for that Sunday roast lunch.

Strangers on a train, indeed. Would I do it again? Yes.

Three nights gave me just the right amount of time travel.

In Defense of Benedict Arnold

I am an AmRev geek, a passion I’ve rediscovered in our nation’s 250th year. Growing up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, I heard tales of George Washington crossing the Delaware and saw colonial-era homes and sites on the regular. Now, after reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s spectacular nonfiction book Valiant Ambition, I’ve found myself on an unlikely mission to rehabilitate the image of Benedict Arnold, who was a boastful but brave military tactician teetering on the edge of financial ruin. (Hence his unfortunate turn from the Continental Army over to the British.)

It also made me think differently about our 250th anniversary (something our deputy editor Liz Cantrell also did in this beautiful essay). My recent travels have taken me in Arnold’s footsteps: to Fort Ticonderoga, in upstate New York, an incredibly preserved time capsule offering reenactments and reminders of the perils of colonial life (disease, despair, and the like).

I also stayed at the family-owned Basin Harbor Resort, along the shores of Lake Champlain, where Arnold fought the 1776 Battle of Valcour Island against a superior British navy. Owner Bob Beach—never without his two golden retrievers, and one of the classiest hoteliers I’ve ever met in the business—took my husband and me out for a spin on his boat, stopping to admire an eagle’s nest and remind us that shipwrecks lie in those very waters.

Hermès Scarves Are Back

Hermès scarves are back in the conversation, thanks to social media and shows like FX’s Love Story. But the reality is they never really went away. I’ve collected them for many years now, viewing them as travel stories, rather than mere accessories. For example, my Tutankhamun scarf by Vladimir Rybaltchenko, originally designed in 1976, is a love letter to ancient Egyptian artistry.

I treasure-hunt for these pieces at the Manhattan Arts & Antique Center, a gem in my neighborhood, as well as on The Real Real: every editor’s true shopping mecca du jour.

My latest find? A 1981 Early America scarf featuring George and Martha Washington, a coveted reissue of the original timed to the bicentennial.

What I’m Ordering at the Bar

Do cocktail sightings come in threes? I’ve become obsessed with the Aviation, an early-20th-century drink made with gin, lemon juice, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, and hard-to-find crème de violette. I’ve now ordered it at two very different places: the newly reborn Vineta Hotel, a boutique hideaway in the heart of Palm Beach, Florida; and Fraunces Tavern, in Lower Manhattan, where George Washington once drank. Where will I find my third? Only time will tell.

Why Do American Airports Close So Early?

One place I definitely couldn’t find an Aviation: Terminal C of Newark Liberty International Airport, on a Wednesday night in July, during a severe flight delay courtesy of United. My son, Bobby, and I were flying to London to board the Britannic Explorer—and wouldn’t you know it, our Boeing 767-300 had a mechanical issue, and then the pilots were fatigued, and then they had to find a new crew, and then … the two of us found ourselves stuck in a rapidly closing terminal, with a meal voucher that could be used at an impersonal, workerless kiosk.

It made me wonder why American airports close so early, when people are still milling about with anticipation. The answer: they close at night due to noise restrictions, staffing challenges, and all sorts of reasons. As a result, today’s travelers often find themselves stuck with nowhere to go at 3 a.m.

“I’ve been at airports, and they close the airline lounge in spite of the fact that more than 100 people are delayed on THEIR airline,” my friend and travel pro Jessica Nabongo commented on my Instagram post, further explaining the situation.

If we want to keep up with Singapore Changi or Istanbul, something’s gotta give.

What I’ve Been Reading

Some books take me years to read because they require a high level of concentration. Others I can finish in two days, like Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse, a first-edition find from Heywood Hill in London, and A Marriage at Sea, a true story about a shipwrecked couple, Maralyn and Maurice, who managed to survive off fish blood and turtle fat after their yacht sank in the Pacific in 1972.

Until next time,

Share The Fast Track by Travel + Leisure

A colleague recently asked me whether she should spring for a Rimowa suitcase, and it got me thinking about why I swear by my carry-on—as well as the items currently sitting in my own shopping cart.

What makes a Rimowa so coveted in the first place? One can certainly make a case for its quality. My Original Cabin suitcase rolls more smoothly than any other luggage I’ve owned, weighs less than 10 pounds, and constantly surprises me with how much I can jam inside while keeping things organized. The telescoping handle feels rigid in my hands, and I never worry about the hinges falling apart when I’m hoisting the bag into the overhead compartment.

My name is Denny Lee, and I’m an articles editor here at Travel + Leisure. I’m also a firm believer in the “buy it for life” credo. I have a closet full of roller bags from reputable but less well-made brands. They served me well for years but—with their stuck zippers, wobbly handles, and small tears—have outlived their usefulness. I should donate them soon.

Read more

Welcome to The Fast Track, a newsletter brought to you by the editors at Travel + Leisure. If you’re new here, my name is Nikki Vargas, and I’m an associate editorial director here at T+L. I’m glad you’re here. I’m popping up in your inbox with our weekly edit, exclusive to our paid subscribers, sharing the latest stories you might have missed from The Fast Track.

Today our associate editor, Asa Canty, shares a guide to Rome that combines the expertise of Travel + Leisure and Travel + Leisure Italia, our Italian edition. Led by editor in chief Federico De Cesare Viola and based in Rome, Travel + Leisure Italia combines original Italian reporting with Travel + Leisure’s overall dedication to covering exceptional hotels, cultural moments, and luxury experiences. From our favorite restaurants to our favorite shops, this might not be the ultimate guide to Rome, but it is a guide fueled by the combined expertise of our Travel + Leisure family, here and abroad. Divertitevi!

This week, in our Styl(ish) column, I was joined by our editor in chief, , for a conversation inspired by her Hermès scarf collection, and how these artful accessories capture a sense of place. In our Added Value column, Jess Feldman, our associate director of special projects, tackles a question many of us New Yorkers often wonder: Is Uber really the best way to get to JFK airport? As it turns out, maybe not.

Until next week,

Read more

Schlepping through massive crowds on a blistering day at the Colosseum, it’s easy to find yourself resenting Rome as a mere simulacrum, an open-air museum, rather than a city where people actually live, work, breathe air, etc. But that would be making the mistake of applying our prudish modern rules of time and mortality—you know, past is no more, and now is being, and then future is going to come next—to this unique patch of earth that, ever since twin boys suckled by a wolf mother quarreled over their preferred parcel of hills, has required a more mystical understanding.

It’s a weighty place, eternal in a Schrödinger’s cat sort of way. As if by some “no temporal zoning” policy, thousand-year-old columns mix in among gelato shops, ancient fountains are surrounded by new apartments, and neither the train heading backward nor the one moving forward is slowing its roll. It is, in this most uncomfortable sense, the most entirely present city on Earth, where you’re constantly aware of the suspended, uncanny realm of its residents’ here-and-now. It’s a land of lived-in déjà vu. It is an otherworldly beauty, because that other world has already been ours.

“But what do real people actually do there?” you may still ask. Well, beyond letting the city’s open-oven summers set them off on deranged musings about collapsing timelines, there’s a wealth of lovely restaurants, parks, museums, hotels, and ancient cat sanctuaries that won’t trigger flashbacks to your middle-school trip to the National Mall.

While this might not be the ultimate guide to Rome, it’s a guide fueled by the combined expertise of Travel + Leisure and Travel + Leisure Italia, our Italian edition. Led by editor in chief Federico De Cesare Viola and based in the city, it combines original Italian reporting with Travel + Leisure’s overall dedication to covering exceptional hotels, cultural moments, and luxury experiences.

All of which is to say: we know a thing or two about Italy, and have a special place in our hearts for Rome. Here are our favorite spots in Caput Mundi.

Read more

I live in Red Hook, Brooklyn—a quaint little neighborhood that maintains its charm, in part, by not having a direct subway line. And while I absolutely love where I live, as someone who travels at least three times a month, getting to and from one of New York’s major airports is the bane of my existence. I know how long it takes and how much money I will spend every time, and yet I still feel the same level of annoyance.

And that’s why I found myself hovering 500 feet above the New York City skyline in a helicopter on a cloudy Thursday morning in July, holding on for dear life.

I’m Jess Feldman, the associate director of special projects at Travel + Leisure. In addition to running our World’s Best Awards, I spend a lot of time thinking about—and investigating—where true value exists in the luxury travel industry. In this economy, the question “what’s worth it?” holds even more weight.

Subscribe now

I’ve tried several routes to get to and from JFK over the past year. Among the most irritating but also the cheapest is a bus, followed by a ride on the Long Island Rail Road, followed by AirTrain—this option takes at least an hour and a half. With suitcases in hand and given public transportation timing, it’s less than ideal. So I’ve decided the best option is to spend the average price of $108 (according to Uber) on a car to the airport—a ride, I might add, that generally takes 47 minutes and almost always involves stop-and-go traffic.

Living by the water, I see helicopters fly overhead all the time. And one day, after getting home from a particularly heinous hour-and-a-half drive from JFK, I thought: I wonder how long it would take to get to the airport in a helicopter? I had heard of Blade—a platform that sells seats on a helicopter, a seaplane, and jet flights in a similar way to Uber or Lyft—but it always felt inaccessible to a traveler like me. Someone who, when I am not on assignment, prioritizes the dive bar over the cocktail bar, or the long walk over the private car.

But, glass of wine in my hand, I downloaded the app. After answering a few standard questions, I was given choices of where I wanted to go. I discovered that the standard price of a flight from the Blade port on the West Side Highway to JFK is $195. Initially I thought that was far too expensive for a one-way journey. But then I noticed how long the flight takes: just five minutes.

Now, I’ve never been good at math. But to me, $195 and five minutes feels cheaper than $108 and 49 minutes. Add on the fact that there are complimentary drinks and snacks available in the Blade lounge, and I am immediately saving the $30 or so that I would spend on coffee and a snack at the airport if I arrived by car. So I booked it with a swift click of the button: I would be flying out for my upcoming trip, two weeks from when I booked.

Getting to JFK by Helicopter

On July 30, after a short 20-minute drop-off from my fiancé, I arrived at the Blade port on the West Side of Manhattan. From the outside, the space does not look like much; inside, though, is a whole different story. The waiting area for a flight is like a retro homage to the airline industry. There are vibrant blue couches, red acrylic chairs, and a light-up flight wall with all the destinations Blade can take you to, East Hampton, Miami, Monaco, and Westchester County among them.

The only other passengers there were a family of four: parents and two young boys. After my bag was weighed to check the 25-pounds-max requirement (I was just over, but the young woman at the desk let me off with a “warning”), I sipped sparkling water at the bar before it was time to go. We were given a quick safety briefing and then instructed to line up “elementary-school style” to walk down the tarmac. I was placed in the back, which meant I would be sitting up front with the captain.

I had only been in a helicopter one other time, and that was on a work trip, on a bright sunny day in Queensland, Australia, where helicopters are a normal form of transportation from one island to the next. On this day, however, the sky was full of clouds, and rain was imminent.

Before I had time to even process my nerves, I was getting strapped in, and headphones were put on my head. It was time to go. The helicopter gently rocked back and forth as it lifted above the ground, and we were off. The first thing the captain said was, “Never flown in a helicopter before, huh?” He proceeded to walk me through nearly everything he was doing, and reassured me that, despite the rain we saw up ahead, he had flown in much worse.

Flying just above the city, everything seemed so small and compact. The sails from boats down on the Hudson looked like little cocktail flags, and I noticed the green roof of my office building in the Financial District. We even flew right above Red Hook, where I could briefly see all my go-to haunts as we passed by. It was more or less peaceful, aside from a few shakes of wind here and there.

Then, all of a sudden, I heard the captain say into the radio something along the lines of “Permission to land at JFK.”

I said, “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” he replied.

We landed and were immediately met by two staff members, who grabbed all of our bags and walked us through a small building. A driver was waiting for us, and we were swiftly taken to Terminal 4, which took about three minutes.

So … Was It Worth It?

As an AMEX Platinum cardholder, I have the wonderful benefits of Clear and access to the Delta Sky Club. I arrived at the Blade terminal at 11:30 a.m. for an 11:40 a.m. helicopter take-off, and was through security, coffee in hand, sitting in the lounge by 12:04 p.m. If you include my initial drive from my fiancé, it took me 44 minutes to get to the airport.

So all in all, the timing was about the same as a direct drive to the airport—but the convenience and service of the Blade experience left me feeling special, as well as shocked at how easy it was.

Will I do it all the time? Absolutely not.

But was it worth it? Absolutely.

Share The Fast Track

Hermès is one of them. I’ll be honest with you: I’m not traveling with a Birkin bag, but I am traveling with a colorful scarf. These carrés are the ultimate travel storytellers, packed with an encyclopedia’s worth of artistic and historical nuggets.

Read more

Welcome to The Fast Track, a newsletter brought to you by the editors at Travel + Leisure. If you’re new here, my name is Nikki Vargas, and I’m an associate editorial director here at T+L. I’m glad you’re here.

I’m popping up in your inbox with our weekly edit, exclusive to our paid subscribers, sharing the latest stories you might have missed from The Fast Track. This week, we considered a question we’ve seen floating around the Substack community: Do legacy brands belong on Substack? It’s a good question and one that deserved a thoughtful answer, so I sat down with our editor in chief, , for a candid discussion about Travel + Leisure and its place in the Substack ecosystem.

We also launched our new fashion column, Styl(ish), which will share stories at the intersection of fashion and travel. To kick off Styl(ish), our articles editor, Denny Lee, turned to the Travel + Leisure family for a story on the many ways a destination can influence how we dress. Speaking of fashion, join Jacqui and me this afternoon at 11 a.m. EST for a Substack Live chat all about style.

Finally, does the perfect hotel exist? In Japan, it does. In today’s story, our senior editor Maya Kachroo-Levine looks at the hotel that scored a rare and perfect 100 out of 100 with our readers—and why.

Until next week,

Read more

Travel + Leisure’s 2026 World’s Best Awards dropped last month, and in them, Patina Osaka was named the No. 1 hotel in the world. In fact, it showed up with a perfect score: 100 out of 100, which is a huge deal.

It’s the equivalent of a gymnast scoring a 10 on execution at the Olympics, which last happened in 1992. It’s a perfect game, which Major League Baseball hasn’t seen since 2023. In the T+L universe, only one other hotel, resort, or spa has managed to claim this score in the past 10 years (andBeyond Bateleur Camp, in Kenya’s Masai Mara).

Before I pile on with a whole host of reasons why this is [Meryl Streep voice] groundbreaking, I’m Maya Kachroo-Levine, the hotel expert at Travel + Leisure. I’ve been working on hotel awards at T+L (and before that at our sibling publication Departures, RIP) for eight years. I handpick our best new hotels of the year for T+L’s annual It List, which involves scoping (with the help of our discerning reporters) at least 200 new properties each year. I also oversee all of our hotel news coverage in the magazine and online, and T+L’s ever-growing stable of hotel reviews.

Subscribe now

Read more

Travel has a funny way of changing how we dress. You wouldn’t pack for Paris the same way that you’d pack for a boys’ trip to San Francisco. Athleisure would instantly mark me as a clueless tourist on Avenue Montaigne, but I’d blend right in at a café in San Francisco’s Dogpatch. Of course, context matters. Visiting a Hindu temple in Kerala calls for a very different wardrobe than spending the day at beach clubs in Goa.

But there is another side to travel: the places that we visit can stay with us long after we’ve come home. They expand and enhance our taste, expose us to different cultures and styles of dressing, and in turn, reshape what we reach for in our closets.

My name is Denny Lee, and I’m an articles editor here at Travel + Leisure. One of these moments happened to me in Milan.

Subscribe now

I couldn’t get over how dapper the men looked there during an ordinary workday at lunch. They weren’t wearing boring navy suits and ties, as you might find on Wall Street in the days before COVID. Instead, they looked effortlessly chic in neutral cashmere sweaters, tailored chinos, crisp white shirts, and minimalist sneakers.

Even the puffer vest looked sophisticated. Unlike the Patagonia fleece versions that became a Midtown meme, these Milanese men layered quilted vests under—and sometimes over—tailored wool jackets as they dashed between meetings. That look embodies sprezzatura, an Italian term that roughly translates as “studied nonchalance” or “effortless grace.”

I had a similar revelation in Tokyo while wandering around Roppongi Hills, a modern “city-within-a-city” with upscale boutiques, offices, and residences. One thing I admire about Japanese style is its ability to borrow ideas from other cultures and reinterpret them in fresh ways. What caught my eye wasn’t streetwear—it was how creative professionals paired unstructured blazers with simple T-shirts.

This was a uniform I’d previously associated with Miami Vice. Yet there, somehow, it felt understated, modern, and perfectly suited to everyday life—something I could see myself wearing to gallery openings, to the office, to cocktails. Before long, I was browsing the racks of venerable Japanese retailers like Beams and United Arrows, looking for pieces that I could bring back home.

I know I’m not the only one who’s come home from a trip wanting to dress differently. So I asked a few of my colleagues at T+L about destinations that permanently changed their style. And here is what they told me about the places that shaped them.

Read more

One day, while happily swimming through a feed made up of book recommendations and interesting posts, we spotted a comment about The Fast Track and its place within the Substack universe. It posed an interesting question, which gave way to even more interesting questions:

Do legacy brands belong on Substack?

How will Travel + Leisure’s Substack differ from its magazine and website, anyway?

How will Travel + Leisure support other Substackers, and what exactly is The Fast Track bringing to the metaphorical Substack table?

All valid questions. All deserving of responses.

And so our associate editorial director, Nikki Vargas, sat down with our editor in chief, Jacqui Gifford, to ask these very questions. In doing so, we hope to bring the same intentionality and thoughtfulness to your questions that the Substack community has shown us since our launch.

What do you want to see from Travel + Leisure on Substack? Tell us in the comments below!

Get more from The Fast Track by T+L in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Welcome to The Fast Track, a newsletter brought to you by the editors at Travel + Leisure. Every week in this space, T+L editors share stories from their travels to inspire your next trip, and take you behind the scenes of exciting events and happenings in the world of travel and leisure.

My name is Nikki Vargas, and I’m an associate editorial director here at Travel + Leisure and one of the editors behind The Fast Track. I’m popping up in your inbox with a weekly newsletter, exclusive for our paid subscribers, sharing the latest stories you might have missed.

Read more

My first stop in a new destination usually isn’t a famous landmark, or even my hotel (mostly thanks to the universal tyranny of the 3 p.m. check-in). It’s the nearest grocery store.

I’ve wandered into a Tesco in London jet-lagged at 5 a.m., ducked into a neighborhood Oxxo to stock up on snacks in Oaxaca, and detoured to a supermarket in Ilulissat, Greenland, simply to browse the aisles in the Iceberg Capital of the World.

Everyone talks about “eating like a local,” but depending on who you ask, that can mean many different things: tracking down the best street food, avoiding American chains, or squeezing into a tiny restaurant with no English menu and a handwritten specials board. I’m all in favor of all of the above, but if you really want to understand how people eat, start at the local grocery store.

Hi, I’m Susmita Baral, a senior editor at Travel + Leisure, where I cover breaking news across all of experiential travel, from trains and hotels to food and aviation.

Subscribe now

Read more

Here in New York, we’re in full-on sweat-all-day mode, the time of year when taking the subway is a surefire way to soak through your shirt, and sitting at a sidewalk-café table is pretty much impossible.

But I’m not here to gripe—I’m here to give you the solution to beating the heat, which is, as ever, heading for the water.

I’m Paul Brady, and I’m the news director at Travel + Leisure. A lot of what I write and edit for T+L is about how to have better trips: ways to save money, strategies for traveling smarter, the trends shaping the industry that, in turn, open up new avenues for exploration.

Subscribe now

And it’s the same when I’m at home in NYC. I’m always looking for an edge, an opening, or an opportunity to do something new or try something that feels undiscovered.

That’s how I ended up spending a good part of the past dozen years involved with a waterfront organization, Hudson River Community Sailing, that’s become very near to my heart.

HRCS, as we like to call it, is a nonprofit sailing center where the principal mission is educating young people. The organization uses sailing and a fleet of boats as a platform for teaching STEM topics, building confidence, and developing leadership skills—all of which help the students with their collegiate futures. There are also several other programs for getting people of all ages and all abilities out on the water—even if they’ve never been on a boat before.

True, the Hudson River and New York Harbor have a bit of a reputation, some of it earned, as gritty places. But I’m here to tell you that sailing silently, powered only by the wind and your own sails, past the Statue of Liberty is pretty damn special. And you can try it out, whether by signing up for a weekend-long lesson or just booking a sunset sail with one of the HRCS instructors.

That said, sailing your own boat is maybe a little too hands-on for some folks. Which is why I have these other options for you…

Classic Harbor Line

This operator has a fleet of beautiful motor and sailing yachts, including the new-this-year Manhattan III, a 114-foot cruiser with a glass-enclosed (but climate-controlled) salon. If you’d rather be out in the open air, the company’s Adirondack schooners have spacious decks and do all sorts of tours and trips, including sunset cruises.

Tribeca Sailing

My buddy Clark Caldwell, who has been around HRCS about as long as me, is now a Coast Guard–licensed captain who offers tours of the harbor on a gorgeous vintage Hinkley yacht. I’ve been lucky enough to go sailing with him on Tara, which has room for just six guests, and we were luckier still to see the northern lights on the night we went out. I can’t promise you that, but Clark does have great stories about the harbor, and the boat itself is a magical piece of hardware.

Ventura

Another vintage yacht at more than 100 years old—do I have a type?—Ventura does charter trips and the occasional open-to-the-public sailing. (It also runs tours for the Mark hotel, which arranges for Jean-Georges Vongerichten catering plus tins of Caviar Kaspia.) I keep up with it on Instagram, where the team posts last-minute availability.

NYC Ferry

They don’t win many style points, but these boxy boats are a phenomenal way to spend an afternoon. Since launching in 2017, they now connect lots of neighborhoods, including several that too many visitors skip, like Red Hook and Long Island City.

Staten Island Ferry

It may not be the cushiest ride on this list, but you can’t beat free. The fact that it never stops running is another big upside—as is the relatively accessible 30-minute one-way trip.

Fireboat

This last one, which doesn’t actually go anywhere, is a new bar from the restaurant group Crew, which specializes in nautical projects such as Grand Banks and the Yacht Club. Its latest is this restored fireboat from 1961, now docked in Brooklyn Bridge Park and offering a short list of excellent bar snacks (BBQ prawn skewers, cod hush puppies) and plenty of frozen cocktails with views of Lower Manhattan.

Share The Fast Track by Travel + Leisure

Welcome to The Fast Track, a newsletter brought to you by the editors at Travel + Leisure. Every week on The Fast Track, T+L editors offer up their expertise and share stories from their travels to inspire your next trip and take you behind-the-scenes of exciting events and happenings in the world of travel and leisure.

Of course, in a world brimming with content, we want to make sure you don’t miss a beat, and so here I am, popping up in your inbox with a weekly newsletter exclusively for our paid subscribers, sharing the must-read stories you might have missed. My name is Nikki Vargas, and I’m an associate editorial director here at Travel + Leisure and one of the editors behind The Fast Track. Nice to meet you!

Read more

He once delivered a case of expensive wine to my Manhattan doorstep.

He waved goodbye with a sheepish grin.

And we’ve been best friends ever since.

Hi! I’m Jacqui Gifford, editor in chief of Travel + Leisure, and right now I’m sitting with Ray Isle, my longtime colleague and buddy who also happens to be the executive wine editor at Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure. During the deepest, darkest days of the pandemic, Ray had a surplus of Far Niente at the office. I asked if he could spare me some, and he graciously obliged.

Subscribe now

Read more

They say it takes one year of living in Los Angeles to fall in love with it—and I’d say it takes seven to become a SoCal stereotype. How do I know?

I’m writing this from my boat, while my golden retriever admires her likeness in the logo emblazoned on its stern.

I’m Nina Ruggiero, insuf…

Read more