On a cold January night, I checked my iPhone to see an email from my boss. "Would you like to go on a press trip to the Bahamas to cover their 'mancation' activities?" he asked. "I AM SERIOUS." My editor received an invite to stay on Nassau Paradise Island but had a previous engagement that he couldn't break. At the time, I was sitting in my friend's apartment drinking white wine (with ice!). "Um," I said before reading the email aloud, to which my friend guffawed loudly. "A mancation, huh?" she howled. "Of course you have to go, if only because I am already excited to get all of the angry emails from you when you're down there."

It doesn’t get much more British than Belgravia, the posher-than-posh London neighborhood where row upon row of cream-colored Georgian townhouses surround lovely green parks locked to anyone not landed-gentry enough to have a key and a double-barreled surname. Everyone seems like they should be called Gemma or Jemima or Jeeves, and they all look like they emerged from the womb in a Burberry trench, clutching a long black brolly instead of a rattle. None of them even has bad teeth.

From snagging last-minute reservations at the hottest restaurant to parting the velvet ropes at the most exclusive nightclub, there's nothing Catherine Davids can't do in Chicago. As chief concierge at the Hotel Sax, Davids is responsible for making miracles happen for her well-heeled guests. It's her job to know everything that's going on in the Windy City, and Davids relishes the opportunity to help guests experience it in unique ways. BlackBook spoke with Chicago's star concierge to get a firsthand account of life at the Sax.

Gay travel. It’s a thing. And no, it’s not about finding the best dance parties in Provincetown, or at least not just that. It’s about, well, the same things straight travel is about—relaxing, having fun, getting in touch with history—with the added wrinkle of wanting to spend one’s precious time and money in a place that’s tolerant and welcoming in a world that can be anything but. LGBT travelers represent a massive section of the market, spending $65 billion on travel every year (according to some survey that I’m going to accept unquestioningly), which is to say there’s a lot of money to be made catering to this segment. And doing just that is former BlackBook contributor and prolific travel writer Jimmy Im (pictured), who, along with Todd Murray, is about to launch Out Escapes, a travel portal and flash-sale website that sells LGBT-friendly travel and event experiences selected by LGBT experts. I chatted with Jimmy to find out what exactly gay travel is, and how the site will meet the needs of gay travelers. 

Soon we'll be launching a travel column entitled The Upgrade. It will have a fancy logo and everything. But in the meantime, we'll periodically be suggesting you go places and do stuff in a more freeform way. Today, we suggest you grow a beard and head to Pennsylvania.

A new book by Jack Hitt tipped me off to an anecdote from 1778, wherein Ben Franklin visits the palace of Louis XVI to ask for support for the Revolutionary Army. He shows up at the gates wearing not the powdered wig and frilly sleeves customary to Versailles, but a coonskin cap and a brown fringe jacket a la Daniel Boone. Ben was hammin’ it up for the Frenchies, playing the colonial fool. When we talk of restoring our country to what the founders intended, we should look to Franklin, forefather of irony, original snarker. Now ask, what could be more in line with the history of American cheek, circa 2012, than a posh hotel in a gutted Williamsburg factory? One with XL twin bunk beds, each outfitted with mini TVs. 

The Waldorf Astoria Berlin, the gleaming new tower on the Ku'damm, is unapologetically luxurious, particularly with the opening of Les Dolites: French culinary god Pierre Gagnaire's first gastronomic temple on German soil, located within the hotel. The lushness of the space, awash in Italian silks and floral displays, extends to Germany's only Guerlain Spa.

In the classic 1942 film Casablanca, Ilsa tries to explain to Rick what happened in Paris that fateful day. "Can I tell you a story, Rick?" she asks. "Does it got a wild finish?" he replies with a sneer. It certainly does, and so did my recent trip to Aspen, Colorado, where I spent three blissful nights at the newly-renovated St. Regis Aspen Resort. 

This sexy new Gran Melia Rome hotel is an instant magnet for those seeking a truly contemporary luxury experience in the Italian capital. It's something of an urban oasis, as much a resort as a hotel, with sprawling grounds boasting a river and a serenely located swimming pool. Rooms are done up in classy, muted color schemes, and each floor represents a different classically- inspired art theme.