On Holiday With: Yolanda Edwards, Conde Nast Traveler
This week we’ve been on holiday with some of our favourite travel magazines. To end our holiday week, we’re back in New York visiting Yolanda Edwards, creative director of Conde Nast Traveler.
Where are you today?
I’m on the subway between Park Slope in Brooklyn, where I live, and downtown Manhattan, where I work.
What was the first magazine you remember enjoying?
Elle. I loved the stories that had girls wearing layer upon layer of gold, leather bracelets and lots of layered necklaces with tan and sandy skin.
Tell us about your first holiday.
My parents took us on camping trips to Yosemite and to Disneyland, but I feel like my first holiday is the one I paid for, when I was 16 and I went to Mykonos with my best friend and her family. I couldn't find a cheap flight into Athens, so I flew into Paris, and took the train to the bottom of Italy, where I took an overnight ferry. I slept on my luggage on the deck of the boat, and watched the sun come up, and haven't been the same since.
Are you a beach holiday or city break person?
I am happy going anywhere. Literally, anywhere. I love a city break because I don't have to slather myself in lotion, but I love a beach break for not having to think.
What is your magazine’s approach to travel?
Travel is a lifestyle, a state of mind. So whether or not you’re actually on a ‘trip’, you still approach what's in front of you with curiosity, exploring can happen anywhere, even just a block off your normal route.
Which holiday/trip from your magazine would you most like to experience?
I'd like to go to the salt flats in Bolivia!
Which magazine should people be taking away with them this summer?
I think our friends at Bon Appetit do a lovely job – if you’re renting a place I would suggest bringing that rather than spending your data looking up recipes.
Where will you be taking a break this year?
I will spend 2 weeks in the Médoc region of France. We went there on a story assignment, fell in love with the area, and bought a small village house. It has the most amazing empty Atlantic beaches, gorgeous food, and feels completely undiscovered.