And soon, you can keep them all close at the New York City mansion made famous from the 1972 absolute classic The Godfather, which will be available to rent on Airbnb from July 28.
The iconic 1930s built home is instantly recognisable from the front, with the stately drive and gate lined with hedges leading to the stonewalled exterior of the famous house.
While renovations have been made throughout there are still many recognisable features from the home, including the study of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), and Vito Corleone’s basement bar.
This is an unmissable stay for any film buffs or fans of the trilogy. The best thing about this all is that you hardly have to make them an offer they can’t refuse: it’s just $50 USD a night to stay at ‘the family’s house’.
You’re not told where you are you are staying until after you book (all we know is that they’re within a few hours drive of Toronto) and when you do arrive, the shimmering mirrored walls of the cabins give the impression they are camouflaged.
There’s forest bathing and hiking but if it’s us, we’re hanging out in the cabin…invisible to the rest of the world.
Nature seems to save its absolute best for Utah, where rock, mountain, lakes and valleys coexist in perfect harmony in America's west.
Within hours of flying in, our group is already travelling into the deep, ancient mountains of Zion National Park, near St George in the southwest of the state. This is a place steeped in natural wonders, adventure experiences and it’s one of the very few states in America ripe for those looking to experience the outdoors in its rawest form.
We arrive at the famous Angel’s Leading Ledgewalk via ferrata in Kolob Canyon, and very quickly I understand that Utah is not the place for your average outdoorsman. For the uninitiated, via ferrata means ‘iron path’ in Italian and is a type of climbing apparatus whereby metal rungs are drilled into vertical cliff faces thousands of metres in the air. Whilst the climber is attached to a steel cable, they walk across the cliff face with nothing but empty space and a cavern below them.
This particular via ferrata is advertised as something one can do from years 8 to 80, but obviously your comfort with heights may limit that severely. While you can now do via ferratas round the United States, here in Utah it affords you two spectacular advantages. The first is that the landscape here is nothing less than jaw dropping, as you spiderman through the seemingly painted chasms like you’re in a Kate Starling painting.
The second is that you’re guided by the man who actually created this particular course. Ian Crowe’s background in engineering affords you not just the benefit to ask a bunch of probing questions, but the added security knowing that if you go down, he’s going with you.
The next morning before the sun rises, we’re at Zion Outfitters sliding on thick neoprene socks and waterproof orange hiking boots. Before long we’re marching down a river flowing freely in an extraordinary cavern with walls about 150 metres high. The idea of walking in water for five hours sounds like a particular type of machiavelian torture chamber, but in reality it is one of the most amazing earth grounding experiences you can have in the natural world.
The walls are striated in reds, golds, blacks and whites, while trees sometimes defy gravity from cracks in the surface, and the rocky outcropping afford amazing light and shadow photo opportunities.
The water in late summer for a tall person can come up to your waist, higher in spring, and even higher the further you walk upstream, but the wetness of this experience is a welcome cooldown from the Utah heat.
The following day, no longer waterlogged but definitely feeling the memory of the trail’s watery beauty in my quads, we find ourselves in the darling hamlet of Cedar City. It’s a quirky model all-American town with an actual replica Globe Theater. As in, famous playwright, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, which our host Becki Lewis tells us is a major draw for the iconic town.
“We do about a dozen productions a year and people come from all over, even New York where the acting troupe is from. We have seminars before and after shows for anyone that wants to learn more about the plays. It’s a great way to get introduced to Shakespeare, even though we do other more contemporary plays here as well.”
But art thou looking for outdoor adventure in Utah? Back to the epic. Brian Head Resort is an epic ski destination in Southern Utah. This unplugged destination offers some amazing powder snow and epic backcountry skiing opportunities throughout the winter, and all without the crowds that typify the resorts up north.
In the summer, the fun doesn’t stop, as mountain bikers flock to the hill to fly down at breakneck speed. At Capitol Reef we stop at a pick-it-yourself cum honour system apple orchard, grabbing a few ripe Red Delicious off perfect trees which could be cartoons. I throw some cash in a little basket hanging on a tree like something out of the 1920s.
The next day is a bucket list moment for myself – a filmmaker in another life – when we visit Sundance, the mountain resort made famous by the film and arts community that resided and worked there. We visit exquisite restaurants and famous Owl Bar, frequented by the likes of Butch Cassidy and Robert Redford.
While most of our travelling group take to the mountain to hike or bike, I opt to instead visit the local art studio, to learn from the myriad artisans how to spin plates, make jewelry or in my case, perfect the art of crafting beautiful, artisan candles. I love bringing a bit of hand made magic home from magical places.
We stay in ‘Switzerland’…or as close to Switzerland as possible while still being in the southwest of the United States. Zermatt Utah Resort is an eerie carbon copy of it’s Swiss namesake. Complete with chateaux style hotels and mountain cuisine, Utah’s Zermatt Resort is something to behold; a grand hotel with spa and ski service, and quite simply the best apple strudel you can find in the New World. It’s kitch and crazy and I loved every minute of it.
At Soldier Hollow in Midway, a town which hosted the Biathlon event for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, we strap on some roller blades and roll around shooting precision .22 caliber rifles at targets, all while being guided by a Olympic Biathlete Zach Hall. I never gave the Biathlon much thought when watching on TV, but after channelling a little of my inner-James Bond, it is my new favorite event.
IT IS TRULY A UNIQUE ADVENTURER’S PLAYGROUND, READY TO BE DISCOVERED. JUST BE SURE TO PACK AN EMERGENCY STASH OF BOOZE AND WATERPROOF SHOES.
On our final night we land in Salt Lake City; a brackish mix of staunch belief and wild outdoorism. It’s surrounded by geological brilliance, and cultural importance, and an interesting history beginning with its Mormon founders.
This is a unique American city where the food and bar scene is cosmopolitan and prolific, but with a sprinkling of country hospitality. During the day, we explore Utah’s famous Natural History Museum which resides right along the great bath tub ring of the Great Salt Lake, with a petrified ocean that you can see from space and a fossil record that would amaze even the most advanced of paleontologists.
In the evening I dive deep into the bowels of the city and explore Carson Kitchen, a modern American eatery where every plate is a welcome adventure. Then at Fisher Brewing Company, I finished a beer flight featuring every ale on the menu before seeking out a nightcap at an alluring establishment called BAR-X, which made me feel like I was back in a trendy part of East Village, New York rather than a Mormon-stronghold.
Even the arduous stumble home to the Peery Hotel was a delight in itself, this old Grande Dame of lodging made me feel honoring it’s historic roots while prioritising modern comfort.
In the morning I leave the mountains for my metropolis home, and I marvel out the window at the immense span of land beneath me. This is some of the oldest earth on Earth, a wilderness that many visit, but fail to even scratch the surface.
Utah is not glamorous from the outside. It’s probably not yet fully set up for hordes of tourists, but therein lies the beauty of this natural amphitheatre.
It is truly a unique adventurer’s playground, ready to be discovered. Just be sure to pack an emergency stash of booze and waterproof shoes.
get lost’s man on the ground Roberto Serrini is no stranger to being out and about in a foreign city after dark, so he’s a good judge when it comes to this sort of thing.
Ever wanted to join the Mile High Club? No need to bother with cramped Qantas toilets.
There’s an actual flight you can take where you and your spouse/significant other/lover you met at Bingo can get down to business while the plane you’re on flies 5,280 feet up in the air. And yes, for those playing along at home – that is exactly one mile in the air.
In what is possibly the most Vegas thing ever, Love Cloud are a ‘scenic’ flight tour company that offer short ‘joy rides’ over Vegas. For $995, you get your own cabin just back from the cockpit, with “custom made romantic interiors, a wireless sound and light system, red satin sheets, sex position pillows and cushions, and a custom made foam mattress to make your flight extremely comfortable.”
If you’re more of a ground-level sort of operator when it comes to getting frisky, Love Cloud also do romantic three-course dinners ($1,595) as well as weddings (weirdly cheaper at $1,195).
But it’s the ‘MHC Flights’ that are most popular, with participants even receiving ‘His and Her Mile High Club VIP Certificate Cards’ which you’ll be able to proudly display at home for friends and family to see.
The Western Market is a food hall which has only been open for about a year. Set in the colourfully named Foggy Bottom neighbourhood, this is no ordinary food hall.
Here, there’s dozens of vendors but ONLY top of the line culinary experiences.
Think lobster rolls, Bandoola bowls, burgers…you know, all the good stuff.
Ever thought you would make a great undercover agent?
If you’ve got an everyday job like an accountant or a nurse but have watched a lot of spy movies and have secretly always fancied yourself as a 007 type of operator, then this might be for you.
get lost sent our man on the ground Roberto Serrini (undercover, of course) to the International Spy Museum in Washington DC recently, to see if he’d make the grade.
At get lost we don’t spend a lot of time in tents. But if it meant trying a variety of expertly curated scotches and accompanying cigars, we probably would.
Meet Safari Tent: a two hour, private scotch and cigar tasting experience where you chill out in finely-decorated luxury tents, each with comfy old-man armchairs, rich wood floors, oriental rugs, wood plank ceilings and other rustic touches.
The tent is a pop-up in Rhode Island from Preserve, who do lots of cool shit like this, and the tastings themselves come from legendary brands Laphroaig and Cobina.
As well as this, there’s some charcuterie, chocolate and roasted nuts to go with. You’ll truly feel like royalty….in a tent.
Mexico City is emerging as a destination for architecturally stunning hotels, and Downtown Hotel is no different. It’s a boutique hotel of thoughtful design that looks like it could be both the perfect place to unwind, or wind-up – whatever you’re feeling
The seemingly strange bedfellows of 17th century colonialist opulence and historically simplistic Mexican minimalism work together beautifully, like a champion Mexican wrestling tag-team.
The rooftop bar and pool is to die for, an oasis of calm in a bustling city that is anything but. The hotel is located in trendy La Condesa, an upmarket jungle of bistros and art galleries.
The human race is obsessed with drones at the moment, and for good reason: they’re fricking awesome.
The DJI Mavic 3 has just been released, and drone experts (doctors of the drone, droneis considered the best that exists. Seriously, this thing is super cool.
Previous versions of the Mavic have been the gold standard for drones for a few years, and there’s a hype around this one that appears to be justified, judging from the footage below.
You can fly these for up to 46 minutes, which is 15 longer than any previous Mavic. There’s a couple of cameras in there, for different uses, but it’s the 5k video quality that you come for – we’re talking crystal clear here.
It’s got a price tag to match the hype but with Black Friday coming up, you might be able to find a deal somewhere…and even if you don’t it’s worth it.
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