The best phone hack for overseas travellers
Renowned hotelier James McBride shares his tips for exploring the world from Bali to Portugal.
South African-born James McBride first travelled to far eastern Indonesia 12 years ago with his friend, billionaire US investor Christopher Burch, to scope out Sumba Island. Burch wanted McBride – the respected hotelier behind London’s Grosvenor House and New York’s The Carlyle – to cast his expert eye over a low-key resort there called Nihiwatu.
“We both felt as if we really had found the edge of wildness, and we knew this could be a place like no other,” McBride recalls. After a $US30m ($46m) makeover, Nihi Sumba opened in 2015, with its 32 pool villas, riding stables and beach spa.
It swiftly became a byword for laid-back, secluded luxury among elite travellers. The following year Travel + Leisure magazine crowned it the world’s best hotel, a rare accolade repeated in 2017. Nihi Hotels is set to expand to nearby Rote Island in Indonesia later this year, and to Santo Tomás in Costa Rica.
Sumba Island is a secret paradise
Nobody in the world had heard of Sumba, including me. It’s 2½ times bigger than Bali and there was literally nothing on it except for Nihiwatu. Its topography – its geographical opulence – is just extraordinary. The tribal nature of the Sumbanese people and how it still exists in this raw form make it completely and utterly unique.
My escape is in Portugal
I have a house in Santo Estevao in Ribatejo province. It’s a town that feels stuck back in time, where you can go and have a coffee for 60 cents, and it’s filled with old characters who live in a very authentic manner. It’s an unknown little haven and yet it’s only an hour outside the capital.
My greatest travel hack
It’s not a gadget or an app, it’s travelling with a fully loaded second phone. Whenever I upgrade phones, I keep the old phone so my email, WhatsApp, everything is there on my backup phone.
I got mugged two months ago but all the stress of losing your phone goes away. You don’t have to worry about trying to redo the numbers, the bank accounts because it’s already done. What would usually be a three-day nightmare becomes a five-minute problem, solved by turning on the back-up phone. You beat the thief.
Lisbon my way
I love to take a walk along the river, underneath the 25 de Abril Bridge and all the way to Belem. It’s a beautiful walk. Breakfast is at La Boulangerie on a little square in Lapa, a very nice residential area. They have delicious croissants and pain au chocolat and bread. My favourite restaurant is Pinoquio for traditional Portuguese food. The best dishes are the seafood rice and the clams in garlic butter sauce. My other favourite is Furnas restaurant in Guincho (half an hour west of Lisbon). Book early and always ask for a lower-level seaside table, it’s spectacular. Have the fish of the day – they often have beautiful fish from the Azores – and the carabineros (scarlet prawns).
Where I love to eat in Bali
Our place there is in Canggu. My favourite restaurants are Indigo, a Japanese place five minutes away, and Shelter on Pererenan Beach. But still my favourite place to go, as old-school as it is, is The Legian (pictured). It’s an old-world classic. To me it’s still the real Bali … a very special place. My favourite restaurant there was always Sardine. Owners Pascal and Pika sold it and moved to Rote, and they are going to do the restaurant at Nihi Rote, which is under construction.
A hotel that feels like home
I always like going to The Goring Hotel in London. I love its size and the people there. Jeremy Goring is a good friend and it’s got a little garden where you can sit outside. It just feels like home. Smell is very important. It doesn’t have a signature scent or anything, it just smells of England to me. And I also enjoy Singita Boulders, owned by my dear friend Luke Bailes. Having grown up in Africa, it always strikes a very special chord. You can’t get away from that emotional connection with Africa.
What makes a great hotel
An exceptional arrival. I’ve always been a big believer that the moment you get out of the car, to the doors opening, to you going to the front desk, establishes the emotional connection that you have with a hotel. Perceptions are formed immediately. The fundamentals that make the difference at any hotel are the people that work there.
They have the ability to connect and understand what your needs are, and do it with excitement and energy. Because I think the world we live in now, where a job is a job, when you’re in a hotel and you can feel that, it just disrupts the whole experience. But when you see a radiant smile and there’s genuine care it makes everything wonderful. It’s all about the human connection. Capturing the heart and mind of your guest is the most important piece, and that’s always done through people’
My last great adventure
Two years ago I climbed Kilimanjaro with my son and it was probably the greatest adventure I’ve ever done. There was no wi-fi all the way and no mobile phone service, which was the greatest luxury. I did it with True Summit Adventures and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone.
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