People
Passported contributor Elisa Carbone Brown is a bit of a hero around these parts. She travels well, has a nose for sussing out the best guides, sends back reports of amazing restaurants, and often she does it all while wrangling her three kids solo. Seriously, she rocks. She recently shared some of her Napa Valley tips, which is a place everyone in the office is dreaming about now that spring has finally sprung. Read on to get Elisa's tips on where to stay, what to sip, and more.
In light of this East Coast whopper of a storm, we're sharing some photos of a place we'd rather be: Anguilla! Photographer Michael Edwards, whose credits include Sports Illustrated, Glamour and Vogue, recently spent time on the island while shooting supermodel Ashley Graham. He shared snaps from his stay at one of our favorite hotels, Malliouhana, and it's pretty much all we want to think about today.
Our philosophy at Passported is take your kids everywhere. So when we connected with Niels and Emma van Gijn via their gorgeous Instagram feed @silverless, we immediately loved them. This UK-based couple managed a luxury safari camp in Botswana's Makgadikgadi Salt Pans and honed their photo skills documenting a six-month drive from Botswana to the UK. When they had children, nothing changed, apart from a bag of nappies. Now based in the UK, the family still hits the road frequently, with adorable Inigo (now four) and Oriel (now two) along for the ride. Read on for their smart take on why a 10-month-old is no reason to skip a trip, and to see Niels’ beautiful photos.
Katerina Panayotopoulou, an Athens native, mama of one (with one on the way) and travel pro, shares her tips and places to discover in Athens energy-filled streets.
Travel-loving mom and author Isabelle Demenge shares our philosophy that there's no such thing as a non-kid friendly place. Her Leap and Hop children's travel activity books are the perfect companion for your little one—or ones—on your next big adventure. With plenty of adventuring and parenting under her belt, we couldn't resist asking Isabelle just how she does it all. Read on to hear Isabelle's story, including an inside look at some of her fave secret spots and her recommendations for Hong Kong, the city she now calls home.
Another day, another city to explore, and Copenhagen is one of our favorites. Hallie Burton, founder of our go-to line for easy-to-wear and stylish pieces for kids and adults SMOKKS, gives us insight into all the best shops, yummy restaurants, and sites to see when visiting Denmark's beautiful capital city.
English expat, Lauren Mansell is a Manhattan mama on a mission to make your date days and nights even better with her app, Hello Sitter. With Hello Sitter, you can hire pre-vetted on-demand babysitters with the tap of the screen. So what will you do with all of this free time? Lauren has some ideas. Read on for her date night picks.
TriBeCa dad and badass photographer Michael Edwards has a mic-drop resume, which includes spreads in every mag that matters (Vogue and Glamour, to name a couple). Plus, he's the man behind the lens in the inspirational new Swimsuits for All campaign #beachbodynotsorry. When we got the opportunity to chat with him, we couldn't resist asking our most embarrassing photo questions, from the best way to take flattering family photos to what apps can make our vacation pics look like a fashion mag. Oh yeah, and we wanted to know his favorite places to travel so we can roll like the Edwards crew (hint: swimsuits are involved). Read on for his picks, including the a secret must-buy souvenir in Nosara and the best place to grab a drink in downtown Manhattan.
We're already huge fans of JetBlue when it comes to flying with kids of any age, but this Mother's Day promotion makes our team love them even more. On a cross-country flight (New York aaaaallllll the way to Long Beach), the crew announced that every time a baby cried, every passenger would receive a 25% discount on their next flight. Four cries, free flight for everyone.
Brooklyn Mamas is a collective of creative and ambitious mamas who are raising kids, working hard and finding the nearest bar. (Their words, not ours!) According to their mantra, finding the right community can change everything. As some Brooklyn mamas ourselves, we wanted to find out more about the women behind the @brooklynmamas Instagram account and their witty posts on love, life, and the kiddos in hippest borough.
Mini Magazine is one of our favorite resources for all things new and cool for style savvy parents. We love Mini's vision and advice, so we reached out to Kaitlyn Kirby, founder and editor-in-chief of the online mag, to get her take on travel and running a business. She dished on everything from the inspiration behind Mini to her ultimate travel uniform, and of course, what it's like to run two magazines at one time.
We'd all like to think that our lives look rosier through Instagram filters. Despite the effortless feel, it does take a little (read: a lot) of skill to master the ultimate #photoftheday. So we tapped the Instagram queens from one of our favorite feeds, Heymama and got them to spill their secrets for the perfect photo finish.
Friends in fashion: for those of us less stylishly oriented, these are the girlfriends who keep tabs on up-and-coming designers so we can make a purchase that counts as cool every once in a while. Which is why we stalk everything that pops up on the curated shopping site Of a Kind. Founders Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo are the kinds of women we idiolize, with impeccable taste, a sense of humor and a constantly rotating supply of limited edition accessories, clothing and home decor. We recently chatted them up for designers to know, travel must-haves and destination intel from Brooklyn to New Orleans.
We're huge fans of Babyccino Kids here at Passported and were excited to meet co-founders Courtney, Esther and Emilie during their ShopUp Brooklyn event back in September. Courtney was in the midst of planning her family's year-long round-the-world adventure, so, of course, we got to talking travel. Knowing they would spend just three nights in Buenos Aires, we put the globetrotting family in touch with Oasis Collections, one of our go-tos for posh home rentals thanks to their curated picks and seriously well connected staff on the ground. Here, Courtney shares the highlights of their time in Buenos Aires.
Read more about the Adamos adventures at Somewhere Slower.
We were thrilled to help plan Passported reader Polly Brandmeyer's special trip to China to trace her family's roots — all with her Tin Tin–loving son, Nick, in tow. From her father's birthplace in Chongqing to her great-grandfather's grave in Hong Kong, read about the highlights of this big mother-son adventure.
Just in time for the gift-giving season, we've discovered a gorgeous new online store to blow the festive budget. Launched in fall this year, Over the Ocean is a showcase of stylish European design for kids, parents, and the home. We caught up with San Francisco–based founder and Munich expat, Birgit Sfat, to talk Euro style, life in SF, and where to vacation in the east Algarve.
As former creative director of Domino magazine, a New York Times T Magazine contributor, interior designer and mom of three, Sara Ruffin Costello’s life in New York happened at warp speed. A trip to New Orleans and kismet encounter with a Gothic-Italianate house in the city’s Garden District in summer 2010 changed all that, inspiring the family of five to make the leap from NYC to New Orleans for a slower pace, sunset scooter rides by the Mississippi and beignets for breakfast. Here, Sara shares her favorite spots in her new hometown, including the best restaurant for dancing in the aisles at lunchtime and the only-in-New-Orleans experience not to miss.
Lauren Imparato, the founder of I.AM.YOU, is known for her groundbreaking yoga classes—her disciples sweat and center to the grooves of a live DJ—as well as her nutrition programs. Her classes drawn thousands around the globe, and she was recently named as one of Athleta’s Top 100 Women in Wellness. She’s also an inspirational entrepreneur, a woman who ditched the trading floors of Wall Street to build her yoga empire—and she’s a friend. I caught up with Lauren over coffee and croissants recently and grilled her on advice for how to mesh a heavy travel load with a healthy lifestyle. Her advice: totally sane and incredibly helpful. Look for me doing lion breaths on my next trans-Atlantic flight.
Tips on navigating Florida's most famous theme park with kids plus a bun in the oven.