About Amy Laughinghouse

"If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?" Well, probably, Mom--if I thought it would make a good story...and if I was sure the bungee cord was tied on really, REALLY tightly. To that end, and to my mother's chagrin, I've paraglided 007-style in the Swiss Alps, walked with lions in Mauritius, swum with sharks in French Polynesia, dangled from chains on Scotland's Fife Coastal Path, and--my most terrifying challenge ever--taken ballroom dance lessons in London. (Fortunately, that's the only incident that nearly ended in a bloodbath). As a London-based globetrotting freelancer (and natural coward attempting to conquer my fears through my travel adventures), I've contributed stories to Qantas Airlines' in-flight magazine, Australia's Vacations and Travel magazine, The Irish Times, The Scotsman, The New York Post, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Globe and Mail, The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, and Virtuoso Life magazine, among other publications. Beyond travel, I've written about historic homes for BRITAIN magazine, and I previously worked as a television news producer in the Cayman Islands, as a freelancer for People and Teen People magazines, and as a regular contributor to Better Homes and Gardens and other architectural magazines while living in the U.S. I also wrote "The Orvis Book of Cabins," which was published by The Lyons Press.


View all posts by Amy Laughinghouse

Bucket-List Holidays: How to Travel Like a Mega-Millionaire

What do the Loch Ness Monster and the Pope have in common? (Hint: It’s not the long neck). Find out in my latest story for Wine Dine + Travel magazine.

Scotland Loch Ness Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness. © Amy Laughinghouse

The OMNIA: Swiss Alpine Hotel with Spy Appeal

The Matterhorn, Zermatt, Switzerland. Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.

Check into The OMNIA in Zermatt, Switzerland for a 007-worthy view to a thrill. Cinematically situated in a cleft valley beneath the nipple-peaked Matterhorn and accessed through a secret(ish) subterranean tunnel, this Alpine aerie has the sleek, sexy appeal of a Bond baddie’s lair. Read more about my five-star stay in Go World Travel Magazine.

The OMNIA hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland

The OMNIA hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland. Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.

 

Briggs & Riley Compression Suitcase: The Next Best Thing to Mary Poppins’ Magic Bag

Years ago, I travelled with a woman who claimed she could pack for a week’s skiing holiday in a handbag. Not the skis themselves, mind you, but she insisted she could fit every other essential in one average-sized, over-the-shoulder satchel.

My comrade had already proven her mysterious superpowers, having employed said sack for a trip we shared to Edinburgh.

But…how?

Did she possess some sort of pret-a-portable TARDIS, equipped with entire wardrobes instead of zip pockets?

When she went camping, could she crawl in there to sleep at night?

Given that every handbag is legally obligated to devote at least half its capacity to crumpled receipts, wadded tissues and lint-covered breath mints, did the thing require its own household staff to tidy unfathomable mounds of discarded detritus?

Okay, so this isn’t her…and this isn’t the magic bag, but it wasn’t much bigger than the one carried by Duane Hanson’s remarkably lifelike sculpture at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

As our train chugged back to London, I longed to ask her to turn her bag inside out so that I could explore its enigmatic dimensions. But somehow, it didn’t seem right to request that she dump her unmentionables on the tray table.

Nor did I wish to risk being sucked in by the gravitational pull of what I can only assume was her pocketbook’s fifth dimension.

Fortunately, given my own everything-but-the-kitchen-sink penchant for disaster packing, I have discovered the next best thing to Mary Poppins’ magic carpet bag.

Behold, my friends: patented CX™ Expansion-Compression Technology from Briggs & Riley(more…)

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