Ailbhe MacMahon

A red alert weather warning has flashed across Ireland. It’s a freak storm, one of the worst to hit the country in decades, but it hasn’t stopped the crowds gathering at Dublin’s annual TradFest music festival.
“Thank you for braving the storm,” eighteen-year-old Irish folk singer Muireann Bradley announces, before launching into a velvety “murder ballad” that dates to the 1920s.
She’s performing in St Patrick’s Cathedral, a soaring medieval church in Dublin’s Liberties district. The musky perfume of incense is in the air. All wooden pews are filled...

There’s a good chance you have never heard of Harry Kernoff. But if you have enjoyed a pint in Dublin’s oldest pubs, there’s also a good chance you have seen his artwork.
Born in London to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Harry Kernoff moved to Ireland with his family in 1914. He would go on to spend a lifetime making art from his attic studio on Stamer Street, in a small Jewish neighborhood known as Dublin’s “Little Jerusalem.”

Staying at Ballyfin Demesne is like playing house in a museum.
In this Regency mansion in Ireland’s Midlands, guests can warm themselves by Carrara marble fireplaces and comb through a library of 5,000 books.
They can check their reflection in glinting Chippendale mirrors, walk over a mosaic tile floor from Pompeii and stare up at the chandelier that once sparkled in the Parisian townhouse of Napoleon’s sister Caroline.
Ballyfin’s lustre has captivated the gilded set since its 2011 opening...

In Homer's Odyssey, he tells of an island abundant with the fruit of the lotus flower. When consumed, it sends the island's dwellers into a serene state of amnesia.
This 'Land of the Lotus-Eaters' is thought to be the Tunisian island of Djerba.
When I arrive in Djerba, the elusive fruit is nowhere to be found, but the island still possesses the same languid atmosphere of lore - thanks in part to its tranquil Mediterranean coastline...

I see the first corpse of my visit while I am sitting in a cafe.
The body, shrouded in saffron material and garlands of marigolds, is being moved by stretcher through the alleyway outside.
A group of men is heaving the stretcher towards the Ganges river, chanting in unison as they go.
It’s a jarring scene, but the staff in the cafe seem unperturbed. This is a routine sight in Varanasi, known to Hindus as India’s holiest city, with upwards of 100 bodies cremated every day out in the open by the riverside.
I have arrived at a time when India is making headlines worldwide for two separate eve

Two weeks before I visit Shinta Mani Wild, an email appears in my inbox.
It tells me that I have the option to arrive at the retreat by road or to 'fly in' via an 'exhilarating 400m (1,312ft) zipline'.
'The choice is yours,’ the email reads.
It’s an unusual proposal, one that builds hype for my stay at the all-inclusive ‘tented camp’ buried in the dense rainforest of Cambodia’s Southern Cardamom National Park.
Shinta Mani’s rugged isolation - and the privacy it affords - might be one reason why singer Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn checked in for a stay in 2019.

In the 12th century, a tranquil garden was built for a samurai in Kyoto, Japan’s ancient former capital.
Today, the same garden is home to Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto, a sumptuous retreat that offers a window into a bygone era of Japan.
I check in for a stay a few weeks shy of the garden's annual bloom of cherry blossoms and find glamorous travellers strolling where warriors likely once walked.
Japan lays claim to some of the world’s best gardens, but this oasis is of particular note in that it's one of the few remaining from the end of the Heian Period...

I’m experiencing ‘monkey mind’, the meditation teacher says.
It is my first introduction to this ancient Buddhist concept, which describes a distracted mind that jumps from thought to thought.
Enlightening meditation classes like this one are a staple of Aleenta Retreat Chiang Mai, the Northern Thai retreat named the world's best new wellness hotel in National Geographic Traveller’s latest hotel awards. This accolade is a big deal in a world where wellness is a fiercely competitive industry - it’s now worth an estimated £4.4trillion ($5.6trillion), according to the Global Wellness Institute.

There's a proposal. The answer is 'yes'. The happy couple kiss and the restaurant crackles with applause.

This is a weekly occurrence in this spectacular location, I'm told.

I'm dining at one of the world's highest open-air restaurants - Sirocco in Bangkok.

Positioned at a height of 702ft (214m), this alfresco spread of white tablecloths, topiary and soft lighting crowns the State Tower skyscraper in the Thai metropolis.

When I arrive at InterContinental Khao Yai Resort, I’m instructed to ring a gold bell.

The bell isn’t supposed to summon anyone.

Rather, it mimics the platform bell rung before trains depart from railway stations in Thailand, where the hotel is located.

It’s a clever way to throw me into the concept behind the retreat - recreating the 'golden age' of rail travel in Thailand, a period beginning in the late 1800s when the country’s first railway system was established under King Rama V’s reign....

‘You can see Mount Fuji this morning,’ a waiter remarks as I look out the window during breakfast on a particularly clear-skied Saturday.
Such views come as standard at Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo At Otemachi. Designed like a love letter to the Tokyo skyline, the 656ft- (200m) high hotel offers a new perspective on the biggest city in the world through its floor-to-ceiling windows.
It's not the tallest hotel in Tokyo, but it is a towering presence with a 66ft (20m) swimming pool, a Michelin-starred restaurant and one of the best cocktail bars on the continent...

'Versailles in the clouds.'

That’s the nickname local Vietnamese media gives to Hotel de la Coupole, where I’ve just arrived.

It’s owing to the hotel’s flamboyant French-influenced design and its location in lofty Sapa, a town that sits 1,600m (5,200ft) above sea level in the shadow of Vietnam's highest mountain - and that's often draped in dense mist.

Though less than a decade old, the mustard building it occupies is a grand pastiche of Belle Époque architecture.

They’re bullet trains, but not quite in bullet mode.
Rather than shooting along at speeds of up to 200mph (320kph), these glossy marvels of engineering are trundling in and out of Tokyo Station.
I’m watching this scene from my room at Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo At Marunouchi, both a boutique sanctuary and a trainspotter’s fantasy fulfilled.
My room, a Deluxe King, overlooks the eastern side of the station, which sees more than 4,000 arrivals and departures each day. As well as a commuter hub...

What makes the best premium economy cabin in the world so special? I'm boarding an EVA Air flight to find out.
The Taiwanese airline accepted the 'best premium economy' trophy at the most recent ‘Oscars of Aviation’ - the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards. Not only that but it was named the world’s ninth-best airline.
Its ties to premium economy run deep. EVA Air is credited as the first airline to launch premium economy class, introducing the game-changing cabin to the skies in the early 1990s.

'That's the middle of nowhere.'

We're standing outside Inverness railway station. Our train has been cancelled and we're telling the rail replacement bus driver that we need to get to Kinbrace, a minuscule village 80 miles north of Inverness.

When we arrive we quickly realise that the driver is absolutely right. But our journey doesn't end there. My partner and I are heading to a spot that's the middle of nowhere within the middle of nowhere - Garvault House, mainland Britain's most remote ho...