As one of India’s best known and best loved editors, we have always admired Nishat Fatima’s chic style. Intrigued by how she copes with the incessant travel schedules especially around fashion weeks, we asked her how she likes to travel
It’s a widely accepted fact that all Hyderabadis — all eight million residents, and their diaspora that spreads across the world — are somehow, inevitably, connected to each other. So I don’t know why I was so surprised when I showed my grandmother a fabulous article on Hyderabad in Condé Nast Traveller a few years ago only to have her glance at the byline and remark, “Oh, Nishat Fatima, that’s my friend’s daughter.” I’ve been in touch with Nishat ever since, and am in awe of her talent.
Since our first encounter, when she was a freelance writer contributing to countless publications including the aforementioned Conde Nast Traveller, Khaleej Times Dubai, and BBC Good Food, she’s now the editor of one of my favourite magazines, Harper’s Bazaar India. She’s also written two books, one an award winning coffee table book documenting 25 years of the Indian couturier Suneet Varma, and the other a work of fiction called Seriously, Sitara?
We caught up with Nishat in between fashion weeks to get her travel picks:
Occupation: Editor, Harper’s Bazaar India
Hometown: Hyderabad
Currently lives in: New Delhi
Just back from: Mumbai. From fashion week
Next stop: Paris. For fashion week
The one place I’m dying to go that I can’t believe I haven’t been to yet: Spain. Love everything about it, had two opportunities and cannot believe I missed both.
I plan for a trip by:
a) scouring every guidebook and travel website there is
b) learning a few key phrases in the local language
c) asking my friends for tips
d) Planning? What planning? I like to wing it.
Nishat says: D. Absolutely!
My top five packing essentials: Hand cream, tissue, chap stick, iPad, camera
Carry-on or check in? Why carry-on when you can check in. Especially, if I’m lugging all the things I didn’t think I could manage without.
I always keep _______ close at hand on the plane. A high-necked jacket. Shawls are too fiddly.
On the plane I…
a) read books
b) watch movies
c) pass out before takeoff
Nishat says: Watch movies. But there’s always a back-up book. Or two. Just in case.
My travel beauty regimen: Lots of water, juice, and regular applications of moisturiser and hand cream
My sartorial necessities: Comfortable shoes, and pants and a soft, full-sleeved cotton T-shirt
The first thing I do when I arrive at my destination: Shower, change and hit the street.
If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be: Melbourne
The city you couldn’t pay me to go back to: Dubai
I travel to:
a) Sight-see
b) Shop till I drop
c) Eat
d) Get my culture fix
e) Relax
Nishat says: All of the above. I’m a bit obsessive. I like to pack in as many things as possible into a trip.
My travel style is:
a) don’t-miss-a-thing
b) go-with-the-flow
Nishat says: A in my intentions, B in reality
Travel pet peeve: multiple security checks in the same airport.
The best hotel I’ve ever laid my head at: The Dorchester, London
The ultimate hotel amenity: Fluffy bathrobes. I remember one I could have spent the rest of my life in.
The most memorable meal of my life was at: Hong Kong, my first taste of real Sichuan food. Amazing. And totally different from anything I’d eaten in India
My kind of souvenir: Shoes. I’ve never been on a trip on which I didn’t buy shoes.
Earliest travel memory: A trip to Shimla. I remember a lot of snow.
Best travel memory: Three weeks in Melbourne on a holiday with friends in 2007.
Craziest travel experience: A trip to Geneva, in which I was stranded in Frankfurt on the way to, spent a night at the airport, and then fell sick on the flight back.
source: http://www.popxo.com / POPXO / Home / by Sarah Khan, Guest Contributor / Sunday – September 22nd, 2014