London

Download Wheely before you land. A nice black car at reasonable prices — the correct way to move around a city this size. The tube knows what it is and is useful, but it is not the way to arrive at The Twenty Two.

Stay at The Twenty Two or The London Edition. Twenty-two rooms in Mayfair that feel like someone's very well-appointed townhouse — the bar is one of the better rooms in the neighbourhood, the service remembers what you ordered last time. The Edition on Berners Street is the alternative: the lobby is the room everyone wants to be seen in and the rooms deliver on what the public spaces promise.

Your first night, do not leave the hotel. The Twenty Two restaurant is the right level of good for when you are tired and have not yet switched time zones. Order whatever the kitchen is running.

After that: Arlington in Mayfair. My top pick in London right now. The kind of room that makes you want to dress for dinner and mean it. Isabel Mayfair is next — one of the better-looking dining rooms in the city, and the food earns it. For lunch, Chiltern Firehouse has a garden that earns the journey — book it before anything else.

Shopping: Liberty first, even if you intend to buy nothing. Take the elevator to the top and walk every floor down — each one is worth it. Daunt Books in Marylebone if books are part of your trip; the building earns the visit before you look at a single spine. Fortnum & Mason for the tea department specifically — stock up, the tins travel well. Walk Burlington Arcade after — it is not what it once was, but Peal is still there, and E. Marinella at the far end has the best men's ties and swimwear in London. Stop into Assouline on the way out: one of the larger stores by the publisher, genuinely beautiful, worth a half hour even if you leave with nothing.