Window shopping #60

A much-needed airline food upgrade, the best travel beauty discovery I’ve made all year, and the hotel collection climbing my rankings fast

This is Window Shopping, a weekly mini-letter from Window Seat—your stylish scroll through what’s new and noteworthy in the world of travel. Each issue blends timely headlines, personal favorites, and design-forward hotels to keep your wanderlust well-fed.

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United is taking a page from the luxury hotel playbook with a new partnership alongside Chef’s Table, the Emmy-winning Netflix series. Starting August 1st, Polaris passengers on select international routes will be able to preorder dishes created by 11 acclaimed chefs from around the world, including Nancy Silverton in Los Angeles, Tomos Parry in London, and Tashi Gyamtso in Tokyo. The menus are designed around each chef’s home city and paired with exclusive in-flight content that tells the story behind the meal. I’m very happy to see this because the meals I had during my Polaris experience were, sorry to be blunt, not edible. Overall, we’re seeing a shift in which airlines are increasingly borrowing from luxury hospitality and fine dining to differentiate their premium cabins, and it’s about time United joined the pack.

For those of us who have mastered the art of the Dyson Airwrap, international travel presents a unique challenge: it doesn’t work abroad. Fortunately, I think I’ve found the solution.

I’ve been testing a new styling tool by T3, which is essentially an Airwrap dupe with one major advantage: it’s dual voltage. I’ve used it on recent trips to both Italy and Ireland and it’s performed flawlessly every time.

Unlike the Airwrap though, it comes with a structured travel pouch that keeps all the attachments organized and securely in place, which makes packing it sooo much easier. At this point, I just keep it packed in my carry-on. In fact, it’s become my go-to travel styler even for domestic trips, which is probably the highest endorsement I can give it.

Cotton House Hotel — Barcelona, Spain

This pick was inspired by a renewed appreciation for Marriott’s Autograph Collection. I’m writing this dispatch from one such hotel in Dublin after a top-tier stay at another in the Irish countryside, and I’ll be checking out tomorrow seriously impressed. Impressed enough, in fact, that I’ve spent the week researching other Autograph properties worth earmarking for future trips. This is one of them.

Housed inside the former headquarters of the city’s cotton guild, the property leans into its history with soaring ceilings, grand staircases, and enough marble, wood paneling, and rich textiles to make you wonder why we ever stopped decorating like this. (Really though, haven’t we all had enough of sad beige hotels yet??) It’s just a few blocks from Passeig de Gràcia, but countless reviews mention how surprisingly tucked away it feels despite its central location. My favorite detail I’ve spotted, though, is the lush interior courtyard and leafy terrace, which seems like the perfect place to do absolutely nothing for an afternoon in a city that usually encourages the opposite.

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Tori Simokov is a Travel Writer and Graphic Designer/Strategist based in New York. To get in touch, email tori@v1projects.com. Want more? Check out Instagram, TikTok, or shop her curated favorites.