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IT—Inside Traveler
By Jessie Johnston and Emily King

August 22, 2006:

Seventh Heaven

Back in the day, a hostel with murals on the walls was IT's idea of luxury. OK, so maybe it still is. But apparently other people have slightly higher standards. This week, Kathy McCabe (editor of the newsletter Dream of Italy) fills us in on a truly luxe addition to Milan's hotel scene:

"If a five-star hotel just doesn't do it for you, a new seven-star hotel will be opening in Milan at the end of the year. Haven't heard of a seven-star hotel before? Well there's only one other one in the world, Dubai's Burj Al Arab.

"Promising to pile on the amenities, the seven-star, all-suite Town House Galleria will be housed in Milan's beautiful Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle—above the Prada store, no less. Town House owns two other hotels in Milan—but both have, alas, only four stars.

"So how will Europe's first seven-star property earn all those stars? Service. The hotel's small size—fewer than 30 guest suites—promises maximum attention for each and every guest. Each suite will have its own butler (and if there are children staying there, a nanny, too). Cars with drivers will be made available to guests at all times. There's talk of in-room physical training and massages. Several luxury brands will be involved in the design and amenities, including Caroli Health Club, Faber Castell, and Nespresso.

"While pricing hasn't been set, eFlyer guesses the nightly rates could be close to $2,000 per night, and reports that the hotel is solidly pre-booked for the first 90 days."

Now, if independent rating bodies are your thing, you'll want to know that there is in fact no official Mobil rating above five stars. Hotels designate themselves as having more stars when they offer amenities above and beyond what could possibly be expected. If seven seems too many, but five just isn't enough, you can find a happy medium at a six-star establishment.

IT Travels with Emily King

Having overdosed on D.C.'s concrete and humidity, IT's coeditor Emily King used her vacation days to detox in the West. She spent most of the time at home in Ogden, Utah, but convinced her loving parents to take her on a road trip like the old days. Emily's back and refreshed. She rambles (so much that this is the first of two installments) to IT about her trip:

"We planned to begin the discover-new-lands-and-eat-lots-of-food road trip on Saturday, but when my 92-year-old grandmother came down with a 103-degree fever and needed antibiotics pumped through her veins ASAP, the trip began several days late and unfortunately, McCall, Idaho, was knocked off the itinerary. On late Monday afternoon, with Grandma home from the hospital, we packed our bags and headed north on I-15. Utah's freeway isn't entirely scenic, so I entertained my parents with Traveler podcasts and Julian Barnes's novel, England, England.

"Sun Valley, Idaho, was the first stop. With no vacancy at the Sun Valley Lodge, we found a motel in Ketchum. The Clarion Inn was nothing special, but it fit my father's budget and my AAA three-diamond requirement—anything less and you're in for nubby blankets, dirty carpet, and the occasional hair. We ate dinner across the street at Globus—a chic Asian restaurant—but wished we'd gone instead for a deep-dish Ketchum Combo pizza at our old favorite: Smoky Mountain Pizza & Pasta.

"We spent the following morning drinking 'Bowls of Soul' from Java and watching preteen figure skaters practice spins on Sun Valley's outdoor rink. The resort, which dates back to 1936, still looked good: well-groomed but classically understated. Perhaps because of nostalgia (we vacationed here frequently in my youth), Sun Valley remains one of my favorite resort towns in the country. (I suggest visiting in post-Labor Day September when summer crowds have subsided and the chill mountain air sets in.)

"Onward-Ida-ho! We drove through Sawtooth National Recreation Area, home to the 1,500-acre (607-hectare) Redfish Lake. The lake—once so full of spawning salmon the water looked red—is now loaded with boaters and, sadly, bland in color. We preferred the smaller and lightly populated Petit Lake, accessible only by an unpaved road.

"While the life cycle of salmon is inspirational, the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery, our next stop, was anything but. Sure, the hatchery was successfully replenishing the chinook population in the Snake River, but the finger-length smolt (baby salmon) trapped in cement bathtubs made me sad. We stopped for lunch at the north end of the park in Stanley, Idaho. An established river-trip entry site, the tiny town mostly consists of log-cabin fishing supply stores. Word of mouth (and a Sunset Magazine article) sent us to one of the few restaurants: The Stanley Baking Co. (14 Wall Street; +1 208 774 6573). The food was awesome, especially the snickerdoodle cookies and the Italian sandwich—a delicious mash of Italian meats, pesto, and arugula on ciabatta bread.

"Back on the road, as I was reading aloud one of Alice Munro's short stories and Mom was snoring in the back seat, Dad caught sight of a candy store sign—how do you pass up homemade chocolate fudge?—so we stopped in Darby, Montana. More road with more beautiful scenery led us to Missoula in time for yet another meal. Per the recommendation of family friends who 'come to Missoula for the food,' we had dinner at the Depot. Its high-dollar menu shocked my father: 'Can you believe these guys in T-shirts are spending 30 bucks on steaks—and, in Montana!' Needless to say, we ordered the $10 burgers and a prime-rib salad off the bar menu. I, meanwhile, drooled over the jumbo lobster tail and accompanying melted butter of our next-table neighbor."

And with that crustaceous thought in your mind, IT will continue this travel-log of a blog on Thursday.

E-mail your feedback and tips to InsideTraveler@ngs.org.

Bookmark IT! www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/extras/blog/blog.html

Now that she's stuck indoors at her desk for the summer, Traveler's assistant to the editor Emily King misses the days when her only responsibility was serving turkey enchiladas at the Greenery Restaurant. ResearcherJessie Johnston, on the other hand, is only mildly nostalgic for the summers she spent serving hot chocolate and samosas to hundreds of people during the 15-minute intermissions at a free outdoor Shakespeare festival.

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