Plus, Is Bhutan, the ‘World’s Last Shangri-La’, Worth the Hype—and the Price Tag?

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Hello!

I’m back home in D.C., albeit just for a few days before I embark on a drive to Arizona for the holidays, stopping in Asheville, Nashville, Oklahoma City, and Santa Fe. And while I would not complain if a hotel along the way wants to throw me a massage, our contributor Paul Richardson just might. In his riotous new essay, he’s putting major hotels on warning over the many ways in which their spas are abysmal. I think many of you will agree at least in part, if not entirely!

Earlier in November, I was traipsing around Bhutan trying to get a handle on one of the world’s most sought-after destinations. If it’s a spot you’re considering, you’ll no doubt find what I got up to (and what I got wrong) useful.

I won’t include any spoilers from Sunday night’s White Lotus finale, but let’s just say the one star of the show we never had to worry about dying was the hotel. Adam Manno, from our Entertainment team, chatted with the staff of the hotel used this season and apparently they’re loving all the attention. Enjoy!

— William O’Connor, Travel Editor

“As if on cue, the curtains of rain lifted, revealing a hulking spiral tower of black clouds slowly revolving to our southwest. A bell-shaped depression dipped out of its base, obscured by a film of rain and hail draped around it. Two arm-like appendages—channels of inflow cork- screwing into the fifty-thousand-foot-tall storm—were wrapping around each other like a curved staircase of brume to the stratosphere. We were watching a supercell. It looked villainous.”

The J-Pillow isn’t just for your neck. It was designed by a former airline attendant and supports your neck, chin, and head. It sort of looks like you are wearing a child’s plush toy, and I think that might be the inspiration here: It’s plush and soft like a pillow, but it has enough support that it doesn’t feel squishy. The result is that you don’t feel like your head is resting against a couch cushion, but its three-pronged design kept my head and neck from bending over and bobbing along with every bump in the road.

Travel to a Decaying Rome With This Book

Walking its dramatic boulevards and strolling through its preserved monuments, it’s hard to imagine Rome as anything other than glorious. But from the fall of Rome until a couple hundred years ago, Rome was mostly notable for its overwhelming appearance of decay. One man, more than perhaps any other, captured that decay over and over in his art and in doing so, captivated worldwide audiences. The art of Piranesi drew travelers again and again to the Eternal City and sparked a desire to restore her dignity.

Given Rome’s centrality to travel today, it’s fitting that the latest selection for Just Booked, our series on gorgeous new travel-related coffee table books, is Taschen’s latest tome, Piranesi. The Complete Etchings by Luigi Ficacci.

Don’t miss our other selections for our series on gorgeous travel-related coffee table books, Just Booked.

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