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Suits, suites and martinis: Here’s how you can travel like James Bond
Witch Spectre just around the corner, here’s how you can travel like James Bond. From spiffy suits to classy hotels, this is how Bond travels.
Is there more to James Bond than girls, guns and gadgets? Look beyond the high-octane action and you realise the secret agent is a seductive jet-setter who doesn’t break into a sweat as he checks into the most luxurious suites and dines out in style. As Spectre releases in a cinema near you, here’s your guide to travelling like Bond.
Never stand out: Stride into the security check without being conspicuous. According to the CIA’s secret travel guide for spies, travellers with “shaking or trembling hands, rapid breathing for no apparent reason, cold sweats...a flushed face, and avoidance of eye contact...” can arouse the suspicion of immigration officers and spy spotters. Keep your poise, the way James does.
Learn the lingo: Even if you have to keep a Berlitz phrasebook handy, you cannot falter on the small talk when you’ve got a licence to kill. Bond may not exactly be a polyglot but we hear him effortlessly mouth foreign phrases in You Only Live Twice (Japanese), The Spy Who Loved Me (Arabic) and Moonraker (Italian). When even Denise Richards can’t detect an American accent in his Russian, you know The World is Not Enough.
Suit yourself: Most of us can’t afford Savile Row and even if your budget allows only for Mohan Singh Place, don’t be caught dead in a dowdy dinner jacket. Turn out in an impeccably tailored suit.
Drink local: Forget all that talk about shaking and stirring vodka martinis. A well-travelled spy knows when to indulge in a little local spirit on the side. So when in Havana, he drinks a mojito with Halle Berry in Die Another Day, raises a cup of Japanese Sake in You Only Live Twice and even has mint juleps on a trip to Kentucky in Goldfinger.
Never, ever settle for a cheap suite: In Quantum of Solace, 007 walks away from a shoestring hotel room a fellow MI6 agent has booked for him in Bolivia. “I’d rather stay in a morgue!” he remarks. He goes on to spend those hard-earned Euros on a comfy, tasteful five-star suite.
Here’s one spy with taste!
