Globetrotter: Giuseppe Zanotti
Portrait: Valentin Roma — Courtesy of Giuseppe Zanotti // Photos: Mandarin Oriental Paris
My favourite hotels, in no particular order, are: Bulgari Hotel in Milan (wonderful outdoor coffee house); Mandarin Hotel in Paris (awesome spa); The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo (in front of the gardens of the Imperial Palace); The Sherry-Netherland in New York (perfect view over Central Park); Belvedere Hotel in Mykonos; Destino Hotel in Ibiza…shall I go on?
I feel lucky when no one sits next to me on the airplane, so that I can relax and reflect. I also have more space for my luggage and newspapers. When a person sits beside me, I get the hood of my sweatshirt up, I wear my sunglasses, and I try to sleep while listening to music.
After thirty years of travelling, I can say that breathing deeply and walking in a park always works when it comes to jet lag. As an alternative, I would say you could try a relaxing massage to fall deeply asleep for an hour.
When packing, I must have at least two mobile phones and three credit cards (my God, they do not always work!), a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, one pair of sneakers, five t-shirts, one pair of soft loafers, and toothpaste.
I am not really obsessed by brands when it comes to luggage. I usually travel with some prototypes of my luggage line that were cut out from production. If you travel with branded luggage, you have to be prepared that at some point, they will be opened and the contents will be lost. So it's better if you go for black or grey, and maybe have them wrapped in protective plastic tape. But, absolutely, travel without branded luggage.
The most overrated destination in the world is New York, and the most underrated is New York!
If I were to run my own hotel, it would definitely be like my home in Seychelles.
The world's best-kept travel secret is a surprise. When you travel, you never know in advance what you can discover. Every time you feel yourself changed, different. Travelling takes things away from you but it also leaves you a lot in return.
I used to travel two hundred days per year and I own five frequent flyers cards, gold and platinum. Now that I’m getting older, I would also like to visit the hills around my village.
I am really easy to please as a hotel guest. If I don’t like something, I just change the place.
The most breath-taking scenery that I can recall was the first time I introduced my collection at the 18th floor of the Plaza Hotel, with the awesome view of a blooming Central Park in spring.
Mykonos and Ibiza are the most up and coming destinations.
The best travels are the ones you make with the right people.
