At Bloomberg Pursuits, we love to travel. And we always want to make sure we’re doing it right. So we’re talking to globe-trotters in all of our luxury fields—food, wine, fashion, cars, real estate—to learn about their high-end hacks, tips, and off-the-wall experiences. These are the Distinguished Travel Hackers.
Globetrotting chef and TV host Curtis Stone was born in Australia but now lives in Los Angeles with his wife actress Lindsay Price and their two sons. He doesn’t count his air miles but commutes worldwide to juggle his various businesses. Curtis is the chef-owner of Gwen and Maude in L.A.—both named in homage to his different grandmothers—and author of several cookbooks, including Good Food Good Life.
“All I know is that I fly to Australia at least five times a year and I cross the United States around 20 times,” Stone laughs. His newest TV show, Celebrity My Kitchen Rules, starts Jan. 12 on Fox.
Always pack a suitcase full of dirty clothes.
I’m a strange packer because I pack all my dirty clothes and have them cleaned when I get there. When you arrive at a place with a suitcase full of clean clothes, they’re all wrinkled by the time you open the suitcase, then you’ve got to stand there and iron them all anyway. So the first thing I do when I check into a hotel is walk into my room and call housekeeping and ask for laundry to be done. When I come back after a day’s work, you see half a dozen perfectly pressed shirts, your jeans, and all your clothes perfectly hung.
I remember early on in my relationship with my now-wife, we went to the Turks & Caicos, and I was sitting on the balcony having a cocktail while she was still unpacking. "Don't you have any stuff to put away?" she asked me, and I said, "Babe, it’s all in the laundry, but it’ll be back in a couple hours, ready and pressed to go."
Hack the room service menu and stay healthy on the road.
After a big day’s work, it’s easy to be tempted into eating poorly—and once you’ve ordered in your room, the likelihood of leaving to do some exercise is low. To avoid temptation, I don’t even open the room-service menu. I don’t want to see all the things that will tempt me, like a burger or steak with French fries and Bordelaise sauce, which is more like something you’d order when you’re out for dinner with your wife. I just call down and ask what soup they have on, or if not, ask for a healthy salad, blah blah, which will end up being very like something they have on the menu.
The signature Stone trick to finding the best restaurants no one tells you about.
I’m in a fortunate position, because I’m friends with other chefs—and I think it’s a good idea to Google, say, "Where do chefs eat in Berlin?" when you’re doing research to have that in your back pocket. But I chanced on a trick when I was in Amsterdam, and there was this one restaurant where I really wanted to eat, but the only night I was available they were closed for dinner. So my assistant e-mailed them and asked where the chef would suggest we eat instead, and he recommended four or five incredible places.