At Bloomberg Pursuits, we love to travel. And we always want to make sure we’re doing it right. So we’re talking to globetrotters 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.

Interior designer Alexandra Champalimaud was born in Lisbon and now lives in New York. She’s one of the world’s top hotel designers, having overseen décor for the Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles, The Pierre and the Carlyle in New York, and Aspen favorite the Little Nell. Her latest is a personal passion project, Troutbeck, an ultra-luxe country guesthouse in New York’s Dutchess County designed by Alexandra and run by her son, Anthony.

She doesn’t track her miles, but she’s banked plenty. “I’m on a plane at least twice a month. I’ve just come back from London and Portugal, Toronto is next week, and so is Palm Beach. I must have hundreds of thousands of miles.” She has lifetime gold status on British Airways, but has recently been partial to OneWorld partner Japan Airlines. “They have the most wonderful selection of things you can watch.”

Champalimaud relies on an Ayurvedic in-flight ritual whenever she travels.

For years, I have been using essential oils from Floracopeia as a scent and as an air purifier.  I have an array of favorites that help my mood, assist my sleeping, and are wonderful in my bath to hydrate my skin. Small bottles of Floracopeia oils come in tiny packages, take no room, and are easy to carry.  So I never leave home without them. Scent jogs our emotions and memories that are comforting on the road. I am careful in my traveling to create an aura, or a space—a cocoon, if you would—around myself. That way, the stresses of travel are limited. I also have a beautiful shawl that I often put over my head and face, wrapping myself up once I’ve dabbed oil on my wrists and behind my ears. I actually love patchouli because it fortifies your inner strength, too. I take that. Only once in my life did I have someone perk up from the back seat and say, "What is that? Is that patchouli? I hate patchouli."

The secret to a great safari experience doesn’t involve the animals, necessarily.

Safari clothes are uncool, OK? So don't pack safari clothes; bring relaxed clothing that is practical: versions of jeans and light cotton things, not in bright colors. Definitely cover your head with something, because you're going to get burnt, guaranteed. Definitely take something warm, like some fleece, because at night it's always cold. And some [sarong-like] kikoys for relaxation. One pair of proper boots to hike in, and a pair of flip-flops. You don’t over-pack. As for food, I eat masses of fish when I'm there, and I drink lots of alcohol. The combination of those two things is the best recommendation I can give anyone. Lots of fish, lots of alcohol, because that's always great fun, and the beers are amazing, especially Tusker. It's also a product that is so local, that they're very proud of. Today, absolutely everyone drinks it. It's super-refreshing and you can get it anywhere, wherever you stop, anywhere in Africa, at every little hole in the wall.

Want to get a sense of the people in a particular place? Try this simple trick.

I make eye contact with people. It’s something that not everyone does, and when I do, I smile. When you go somewhere, and someone doesn’t smile back, it tells you a lot about the atmosphere of the place—either people are too hurried or too threatened. It’s one of the reasons I love Japan: Everything is done with such great ceremony.

Though she’s designed many spas, her favorite is a simple destination in Kerala, India.

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