THERE: Also, imagine that the money you spend on the experience will go to the right people. Back in North America, Emily Henry, author of books like Beach Read, People on Vacation, has sold millions of copies for her romance novels that people are obsessed with.
MS: If you’ve walked past a Hudson News and not seen everyone holding one, I don’t know where you’ve been.
THERE: It’s a Hudson News, it’s the Sun Lounges, he’s made a lot of money writing beach reads, but he’s doing it with a wink-wink because, again, that first book that really bought him into prominence was called Beach Read. She writes a genre that is not always taken particularly seriously, and often women are hired in writing, but she does it really well because I think she lets herself go a lot.
MS: I just think it’s so common that women do something and then it’s an art form and it’s seen as a lean stream or somehow not as worthy of praise. And it’s like, if she sells more books in every airport and every bookstore and every place online that sells so many more books about people on vacation than anybody else, she’s doing something good and something else that nobody else men do
THERE: It sold 6 million copies last year alone, in a publishing industry in 2023, 2024, which is quite rare.
MS: It speaks to an experience I have as a woman who falls in love with people on holidays or flings and knows how to do it in a way that people really like, she is very good, and people have fun, she likes her work .
THERE: The world is particularly heavy right now, and sometimes you just want to escape, immerse yourself in it, and I think it’s good to have fun and be silly in it often, for whatever reason, we don’t allow ourselves or others . joy sometimes.
MS: For sure.
THERE: After the break, how the power list inspires mine and Megan’s travels for the year. Regardless of where you’re listening right now, all Conde Nast Travelers markets share this list. So Conde Nast Traveler India, Conde Nast Traveler Spain, United Kingdom, Conde Nast Traveler Middle East, all markets publish this list on their websites, and I think it really speaks to how much of the world we are trying to bring to the world . this. And it also makes me want to travel, it makes me want to go and experience a lot of the things that these women talk about or create. Where do you want to go and who do you work for?
MS: I also interviewed Laila Gohar and I want to go see-
THERE: Wait, who is Laila Gohar for the uninitiated?
MS: …He’s an artist, he makes these very surreal food installations. He made these giant cakes that were in a garden in a hotel Paris and it just seems almost a little Alice Wonderland-y, but gorgeous, just really, it’s like I want to go see a hotel that has one of their facilities. I also think about Aditi Dugar, who is a chef in India, she has a restaurant called Masque that sounds incredible and they do these different pop-up experiences all over the country.
