Virtuoso Life - March/April 2009 - (Page 30)

PASSPORT POLAR EXPRESS NORTH IS THE NEW EAST Emirates’ inaugural San Francisco-Dubai flight this winter modeled what could be the future of direct routes. Rather than flying east-west, Emirates took the north-south path over the North Pole, saving 2,000 gallons of fuel and 30,000 pounds of associated carbon emissions on the 16-hour flight. Until a permanent route is negotiated, the thrice-weekly service will take the more traditional – but still direct – path. GROUND CONTROL LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN All systems are go for the launch of Virgin Galactic s flights from Spaceport America. Located 50 miles north of Las Cruces New Mexico the complex was recently approved by the Federal Aviation Administration as the first facility for the vertical and horizontal launch of aircraft into space. Terminal hangar and road construction is now under way test launches are expected to begin this year. Galactic endeavor: Spaceport America. BOOKS LAND OF MARVELS BY BARRY UNSWORTH (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday $26) When a starched British archaeologist and his unhappy wife collide with an opportunistic bedouin and a cunning American petro-geologist in Mesopotamia on the eve of World War I it s like dropping a match into the enormous untapped reserves of oil beneath their feet. In this historic thriller Booker Prize winner Barry Unsworth sets the final days of the Ottoman Empire against the back- HOLY PLACES SACRED SITES BY EDUARDO RUBIO MÉNDEZ AND JUAN MASIÁ CLAVEL (Thames & Hudson $45.25) Eduardo Rubio Méndez isn t sure he believes in God so he sets out to explore the nature of faith with his camera. That quest takes him through 100 countries and yields 70 000 images. From a bird s-eye view of the Hajj to Myanmar s red-robed child-monks Méndez s pictures reveal shared truths and dramatic differences simultaneously. Expect to leave home only two U.S. locations are represented: Mesa Verde and Yosemite. Doubleday $24.95) A memoir that opens with a 12-year-old devouring marinated herring and foie-gras-laced pâté aboard a cruise ship en route from Singapore to Genoa sets a high bar for the food-themed adventures to follow. But Moira Hodgson s foreign-service childhood in Port Said Beirut Stockholm and Vietnam (all rendered in delicious culinary detail) instilled a lifelong appetite for extended stays in places like Morocco and Chiapas – often with bohemian luminaries. Peppered with gossip and recipes her account is also a paean to food fads from Fletcherizing (chewing each bite 32 times) to today s molecular gastronomy. – LISA WOGAN 30 VIRTUOSO LIFE (BOOKS) IRIDIO SEATTLE (SPACEPORT AMERICA) SPACEPORT AMERICA CONCEPT DESIGN URS/FOSTER + PARTNERS (LAKE) RYAN MCVAY/GETTY IMAGES drop of a mysterious Assyrian tomb. The result is a smart character-rich account of the competing agendas that laid the groundwork for what became Iraq. IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME BY MOIRA HODGSON (Nan A. Talese/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Virtuoso Life - March/April 2009

Virtuoso Life - March/April 2009 Contents Editor’s Note Contributors Passport Bon Voyage Suite Talk City to Go Vanity Case Quick Escape Go Green What Matters Kauai Connection Life in the Slow Lane Down Under Australia High Spirits Tasting Notes Global Gourmet Well Traveled Great Outdoors Cuise Call Big Shot

Virtuoso Life - March/April 2009

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