Nana Banana

Fleas, Road Trips and the Kalahari Bushmen

I wrote a few pieces for Travel + Leisure's 40th Anniversary Issue. Read on to learn:

• How to kick it with the Kalahari Bushmen
• Where to find circle skirts and porcupine quills
• How to sleep with Frank Lloyd Wright

Mr. Lohan Explains It All

I chatted with modelizer, sometimes Lohan paramour and hip kid hotelier Vikram Chatwal about his favorite hangs for Travel + Leisure.  Check out the article here.

Botswana & Namibia: A Trip That Floated My Boat

 

The first time I went to Africa, I got molested by a Sri Lankan man and stranded without food or water by a malaria crazed woman.  The second time I went to Africa, they lost my luggage and I got laid off. But I keep on coming back for more.  And it's a good thing I did.  My most recent trip through southern Africa included a dreamy float down the Chobe River between Botswana and Namibia on the Zambezi Queen riverboat. You can read about it in this article for BBC Travel.

Typography and wanderlust

A treat for fans of either or both. This makes me want to hop on a plane.

 

Loosen your borscht belt

Epicurious just posted the piece that I wrote on Moscow restaurants. But if I'm really honest with myself, my favorite culinary experience is pictured below.

Toy Camera!

Hi friends,

Back after nearly a month of adventures in the Ukraine and Russia (Orthodox skull oil!  Liberace theme restaurants! Detention by Russian immigration officials!).  Finally have the photos up online.  But really wanted to share the results of my experiments with iPhone's Toy Camera app.  I know it's cheating, but it just might replace my Holga in the very near future.

Happy Wednesday!

Colleen

Piss ups, fur hats and the mob

Greetings friends,

I'm gearing up for my next jag of travel assignments. I'll be spending most of the month of November working from scenic locales like:

Also, London, Kiev, St. Petersburg and Moscow.  I'm full up on London ideas, but if you know anyone that lives in or knows people in the Ukraine or Russia, I'd love to chat, get ideas and perhaps meet up. I'm not above begging for wodka-sipping partners. Drop me a line with any travel tips!

-Colleen

PS - Photo above is from Prypiat, the Ukranian town frozen in time after the Chernobyl disaster. I wrote about it for a Concierge.com story on abandoned places and urban exploration.

Photo of by Ben.

Esquire's Big Black Book

It's not all mid-day hot toddies and Elvis movie screenings here in Nana Banana land. Sometimes I vacation in 9-5 land. And my latest stint was with the fine gentlemen at Esquire. If you want to know how to wear the shit out of a pocket square, pick up their special Big Black Book issue. In it I'll learn ya how to tell time like an astronaut, cloak yourself for a fox hunt, and shop for socks like a serial killer.  Put on your big boy pants and buy a copy or I'll cry.  And we all know you guys still haven't figured out how to handle that (instructions also in the issue).

New York Fashion Week 2010

Hi hi friends,

I'm going to be covering fashion week again for AOL's Stylelist. Today I talked intellectual property law with Diane von Furstenberg and underwear choices with Bloomberg, so it's already shaping up to be an interesting week.  If you want to take a gander at the posts as they roll out, you can click here.  And I will have the trusty camera along in the hopes of catching some gems like last year's Fashion's Night Out-Rageous favorites Botox Skeletor and the Weeping Widow of Chef Boyardee (see below).

 

Smooches friends.  And to all you purty young catwalkers out there, EAT A BURGER.

-Nana Banana

New Design Piece for Manhattan Magazine

Hey there kids,

Just wanted to share a piece that I recently worked on about three Manhattan interior designers. You can click each page to zoom in for easier readability...or just look at the purty pictures.

Best,

Colleen