The Savvy Traveler :: Jackie

[trip style = urban + sightseeing]

I'm obsessed with croissants. I chalk this up to a longing in my heart {and stomach} for Paris. Paris is always a good idea, non? When I can't jet over to the City of Lights for a cafe au lait and croissant, I visit Beaucoup Bakery & Cafe, a recently-opened Vancouver bakery that turns pastries into poetry. Beaucoup and owner Jackie Ellis have a tight connection with France. After running her own design firm for several years, she closed up shop and set off for Paris to study pastry making at École Gastronomique Bellouet Conseil, and taste her way through Europe---for research purposes, of course! Cue blockbuster movie-in-the-making...

Just a few months after the Beacoup's opening, Jackie visited Paris encore {check out her snaps on Instagram} to take more courses and fill her foodie list to the fulleth by grazing markets, cafes and patisseries, as well as donning her finest duds at the fanciest Michelin-starred restaurants in town. With this, we're pleased as pie to welcome our latest Savvy Traveler, Jackie!

1/ Pick your top trip styles
[trip style = urban + sightseeing] I love discovering the history and local lifestyle of a new city through its cuisine and markets.

2/ The destination that stole your heart and why
Paris. I spent months there studying pastries and during that time, the city helped me to discover who I was and taught me to be passionate about life.

3/ Your favorite food abroad
This is an impossible question to ask a foodie! Right now, I have to say it is the Millefeuille Praliné at Pierre Hermé in Paris. I dream of it! It is a classic French pastry with layered caramelized pastry and cream. I love that it’s simple, and when beautifully done, the perfect contrast of textures and flavors.

4/ I can't travel without...
- A beautiful Maxmara or Dries Van Noten dress
- Music on my iPhone {I'm an old-school music girl. Right now I'm digging The Stones, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, The Beatles, Neil Young, Queen, Steve Earle, early Elton and Nick Drake.}
- Lots of restaurant reservations
- A dining guide like the Michelin Guide, Zagat or Gambero Rosso
- Twitter and Instagram to capture cuisine

Trip Styler Tip: If there are restaurant reservations you MUST have, make them before you leave so you aren't disappointed.

5/ Last trip
An inspiration trip to Paris. I toured pastry shops and restaurants for the latest food trends, taking a course on breads with an *M.O.F. boulangiere as well as a petit gateaux class to research new products for Beaucoup. I am always looking to taste the most outstanding food as a way to compare and challenge myself to create at the same level. I find traveling centers and focuses my creativity and passion. For me, inspiration comes from exploring the nuances of daily life in a city.

*The art of baking bread is so respected in France, the government awards a designation to the very best practitioners called Meilleur Ouvrier de France, given at the end of a grueling, three-day examination some bakers train for years to score a good grade.

6/ Destination on your radar
Turkey

More Savvy Travelers
Lori, A License To Move
Marc, Extraordinary Adventurer
Marissa, 30 By 30

{If you know anyone who should be featured in our Savvy Traveler series, drop us a line!}

[photo of Jackie from @BeaucoupBakery by @collectiveyou wearing @blush_bridal]

Grand Hotel - An Affair To Remember

[trip style = staycation]

Pop Quiz: where in the world can you travel, and stay in multiple iconic hotels at the same time? Answer: The Vancouver Art Gallery, at its just-launched Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life, April 13 - September 15, 2013.

Do yourself a favor; run, fly, sail, drive---or use any transport at your disposal, moped maybe?---to reach Vancouver, Canada this spring-slash-summer.

As the Vancouver Art Gallery's newest exhibition still had a figurative Do Not Disturb sign on the door, I peeked in last Thursday at the show's pre-open. To say I liked the exhibition is an epic understatement, in fact, it left me in a hotel high---higher than Dubai's Burj Khalifa {pop quiz #2...which contains the Armani Hotel}!

Nearly seven years in the making, the exhibit charts the evolution of the hotel from its origins as a utilitarian structure to a cultural phenomenon, tracking hotel trends through four lenses: travel, social, design and culture.

Chronicling game-changers from the 1887-built Raffles hotel to the 2010-built Marina Bay Sands {where people book a room for the sole purpose of perching in the surfboard-shaped SkyPark’s 150-meter infinity pool}, the multimedia show acts as a lab into hotel life.

Anyone obsessed with vintage or modern travel memorabilia will be like a kid in a candy store. {Dare we say it’s better than Pinterest travel porn?} Artifacts are everywhere, think: vintage travel trunks, an original Pan Am Airways poster {above}, or Richard Hutten’s Tokyo popup hotel room {below}, to name a few.

Speaking of artifacts, one of Trip Styler's FAVE hotel groups, Ace Hotels, is not only showcased in every major area of the expo, but they also have an Ace-exclusive popup shop featuring some in-room faves like the grey jersey Wings + Horns boxing-style bathrobe, or the near-iconic Pearl+ soap bars, plus some Vancouver-only products. Here's a six-second video I shot at the popup: {Can't view this video?}

Visiting Grand Hotel is a travel taster of international proportions. Warning: every step will extend your bucket list.

The Details

• The exhibition runs from April 13 - September 15, 2013
• An adult ticket is $21, but admission is by donation every Tuesday after 5pm
• If it’s sunny, take a break from hotel-spotting and sit on the Gallery’s cafe patio, a gorgeous urban space complete with marble tables and euro flair
• Find insider tips via the exhibition's blog, active since 2011

[photos by @tripstyler]

Virgin Diaries :: Airtight Hair

[trip style = any]

{Editor's Note: Virgin Atlantic’s got the market cornered on runway-ready beauty (pun intended). Intent to find out how flight attendants look hot on high, I flew to London to attend their grooming school, a three-pronged skin, makeup and hair course EVERY uniformed staff—guys and gals—goes through when they sign up, up and away with Branson’s birds.}

Following this week's Virgin Diaries in Sky-High Skincare and Inflight Makeup, the final leg of our journey achieves lift for airtight hair, before touching down on solid ground.

Airtight Hair During Virgin's hair demo, everyone attending the class stood in awe as Helen Kavanagh, Virgin's Grooming Standards Hair Manager, teased, pinned and wound the crew member/model's golden tresses into red carpet territory. Whether she was doing a french twist, voluminous bun or pouffy pleat, each hairstyle clocked in at six minutes flat---six minutes for a gala-coiffed updo! To say she left me in shock and awe is a huge understatement.

Once the demo was over, Helen styled my locks into a pouffy, side-swept do a la Mad Men era. All it took was a little backcombing basics and haircare essentials like bobby pins, spongy hair donuts {Helen is holding one above} and L'Oreal Elnett hairspray to achieve six-minute liftoff.

To get the look, Helen backcombed the top of my tresses, smoothed it over with a brush and secured it with a low, side pony, which she flipped over and weaved through a part just above the elastic. Leaving a few strands out to wrap around and cover the elastic, she wound my ponytail from the bottom up around a squished donut, fanned the hair over it, then pinned it to my head.

Virgin’s Airtight Hair Tips 1/ According to my class and the Virgin manual above, you MUST secure the essential ingredients; a teasing brush, L'Oreal Elnett Hairspray, dry shampoo, suzon hair pins or large bobby pins, non-tear hair elastics and a mesh donut. 2/ A little teasing goes a long way for mile-high hair. 3/ Ladies, wearing your hair up inflight means it won't get messy and dishevelled for landing. 4/ To give it some va-va-va-room before landing, re-tease and spray over flyaways.

Recalling my skin and makeup sessions, I gleaned the grooming day's theme wasn't about spending hours on my roaming routine, but learning the travel beauty basics, plus the best products for the job. Now, every time I fly, I operate by this mantra: WWAVCMD {what would a Virgin crew member do}?

Trip Styler Tip :: As we mentioned late in 2011, Virgin’s birds are flying West {again} this summer. Starting May 14th, a seasonal non-stop service takes flight from Vancouver to London {return}. Yay!

[photos by @tripstyler (as well as one from Virgin's crew grooming mag) taken when I was a guest of Virgin Atlantic in London]

Virgin Diaries :: Facing The Sky

[trip style = any]

We're currently mid-flight in our three-part series on grooming for globetrotters, applying tips we learned at Virgin Atlantic's beauty school in London. Hot off the tarmac of Monday's sky-high skincare session, I give you:

But first; a refresher: Virgin Atlantic’s got the market cornered on runway-ready beauty {pun intended}. Intent to find out how flight attendants look hot on high, I flew to London a few months ago to attend their grooming school, a three-pronged skin, makeup and hair course EVERY uniformed staff—guys and gals—goes through when they sign up, up and away with Branson’s birds.

Face-ing The Sky After a long travel day starting at 8am in Vancouver, I arrived at Heathrow around 2am Vancouver time/10am London time. Speaking of time, it was in short demand, so upon touchdown I was whisked off to Virgin's training base, for my intensive grooming session. At this point, I was operating on pure adrenalin.

When I sat in the makeup chair in front of a too-bright-for-the-hour mirror and a counter full of open grey-hued eye shadows and pinky blushers, I obviously looked tired---raccoon-like, actually. And then the inevitable happened, Mim Allgood, Virgin's makeup maven, gingerly asked if she could take off my half-there makeup to reapply it a la Virgin. Pl-ease {and thank you}.

Bare-faced {ah!},we started fresh with a spritz of rose toner and a dollop of day cream from Dr. Hauschka. Smelling like my first ever perfume, "Tea Rose" from The Body Shop {which I still hold in high regard to this day}, Mim went about making me up. Here's what I learned:

Virgin's Modern Makeup Tips For Travelers 1/ Virgin has a minimum look; for ladies it's black or brown mascara, blusher and red lipstick. For men, it's all about manscaping. 2/ Mim used a cocktail of bareMinerals powders to mask my jet lagged skin. 3/ For the eyes, she applied a quick base, layered a grey shadow in my crease and swiped the same color with an angled brush below my lower lash line. To add more impact, she finished off with one coat of mascara, followed by a swish of mineral powder {to thicken my lashes} and a second coat of mascara. 4/ A light dusting of pink-hued blusher on the apple of my cheek followed. To St. Tropez-ify my pale skin, bronzer was applied in a "number three" formation starting just above my brows, over my high cheekbones and down my jawline. 5/ Finally, lipstick. Red, of course. Mim told me there's a shade of red that suits every woman---she'd know, she's applied the saucy stuff to thousands. If red makes you nervous, she suggests starting with a blue-red hue. To preserve your pout, exfoliate the lips and apply a liner over the whole lip. Fill in with lipstick, blot, and apply another coat. Mwah!

While this 5-step process might seem lengthy "on paper", once Mim worked on me for a mere five minutes---she's that good---my eyes popped like sapphires and my lips dazzled like rubies. Freestyling Virgin's minimum look into my own jetset repertoire, I'd add a dash of Visine to take away red eyes, a dab of cover-up {especially focusing on the inner corners of the eye}, and per the Virgin way, paint my lips a blue-red, because red personifies polished {and distracts from a multitude of skin imperfections}. Voila, jetset in two minutes flat.

Trip Styler Tip :: As we mentioned late in 2011, Virgin’s birds are flying West {again} this summer. Starting May 14th, a seasonal non-stop service takes flight from Vancouver to London {return}. Yay!

[photos by @tripstyler taken when I was a guest of Virgin Atlantic in London]

Virgin Diaries :: Sky-High Skincare

[trip style = any]

Virgin Atlantic's got the market cornered on runway-ready beauty {pun intended}. Intent to find out how flight attendants look hot on high, I flew to London a few months ago to attend their grooming school, a three-pronged skin, makeup and hair course EVERY uniformed staff---guys and gals---goes through when they sign up, up and away with Branson's birds.

Curious how Virgin's flight attendants, dubbed "red hotties" by travelers, look impossibly airbrushed {read: runway hair, luscious red lips, rosy cheeks and bright eyes} at hour 10 of an international flight, I was schooled in Virgin's sky-high skincare, modern make-up tips and airtight hairstyles as if I was signing on as staff. Jumping into character from top to toe, I even slipped on the signature red uniform and red shoes, complete with a set of wings pinned to my lapel.

Confession: as a devotee of beauty magazines since I applied tinted lip gloss as a pre-tween, part of me wondered what I could really learn at London sky school. A lot! Sky-high beauty is VERY different from day-to-day beauty.

Gleaning enough grooming tips to fill a 747, I'm commandeering Trip Styler's content on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week with red carpet-ready---er, make that red concourse-ready---tips for glam globetrotting. Today will focus on sky-high skin. We'll devote Wednesday to jet lag-masking makeup tips. Friday will take us into the hair chair for updo {pun intended} 101.

Sky-High Skin "If you spend money on one (travel) skin saver, buy a good moisturizer" said Mim Allgood, Virgin's ultra-groomed Grooming Standards Manager. Looking at the dewy-faced crew, I'd tend to agree. Somehow, they come out of a long haul flight with picture-perfect skin while everyone else is as parched as the Arizona desert. This isn't just good genes. Recruits are taught to prep for travel daily with a solid skincare regime {and find a good facialist to visit once every six weeks!}. Here's the photo-ready formula:

Pre-Flight 1/ Exfoliate the night before, apply a hydrating masque and slather MORE moisturizer than your usual amount to give skin a boost of extra hydration. 2/ Before you leave for the airport, cleanse and moisturize, massaging the moisturizer onto the complexion with your knuckles for up to two minutes to achieve a plump facade. 3/ Avoid any diuretic---tea, coffee, pop---and hydrate with nature's nectar: H2O. 4/ Trip Styler Tip :: in an exclusive travel beauty interview with Dr. Murad, he said we should also "eat our water."

Inflight 1/ Keep your moisturizer close by to refresh your skin throughout the flight. Virgin flight attendants favor Dermalogica and Kiehl's. 2/ Drink a lot of water. For example, the flight attendants I interviewed each consume a litre and a half of water on an eight-hour trip. 3/ On the topic of inflight bevvies: consuming is not recommended because it saps skin of moisture. However, when the Virgin flight crew I spoke to are traveling personally, they indulge in a flute or two of bubbly. 4/ Spritz md formulations Moisture Defence Antioxidant Spray on the face throughout the flight for mini moisture surges.

Post-Flight 1/ Cleanse skin and place a few drops of lavender essential oil into a basin of hot water. Stand over top, soak a face cloth and compress your face two to three times. Not only does this refresh tired skin, but if you do it before bed, lavender is known to assist in calming the body.

The night before my flight home to Vancouver, I stood in front of the mirror in my London hotel room eager to put my training to the test. At hour six of the eight-hour flight, I noticed my skin appeared visibly plumper. In this moment my hypothesis was confirmed: travel beauty is oceans away from everyday beauty.

Trip Styler Tip :: As we mentioned late in 2011, Virgin’s birds are flying West {again} this summer. Starting May 14th, a seasonal non-stop service takes flight from Vancouver to London {return}. Yay!

[photos by @tripstyler taken when I was a guest of Virgin Atlantic in London]