Last Saturday, Beyoncé was paid $24,000,000 (£19.5m) to perform for 1,500 invited guests in Dubai. Somehow, I was among them.
Continue readingThe Spectator: My night with Beyoncé at Dubai’s most lavish hotel
Category Archives: Travel
Country Life: A freak like me
Ever been barked at or serenaded on an Aspen ski lift? You might just have encountered one of the resort’s notorious ski gangs, writes Adam Hay-Nicholls.
Continue readingThe Official Ferrari Magazine: Caledonia calling
The last time a technologically advanced visitor from Rome arrived in Scotland, it didn’t end well. Two millennia later, a Ferrari Roma follows ancient legionnaires along the Antonine Wall, bringing grand tourer comfort to an enchanting environment.
Continue readingMotor Sport: Arctic Monkeys
Lining up in some of the most inhospitable locations on the planet, Extreme E is motor sport with an environmental message. Adam Hay-Nicholls travelled to the frozen wilderness of Greenland to find out what all the noise (or lack of it) is about.
Continue readingTempus: Explosive performance
We put the Lamborghini Urus through its paces on a daring drive to the top of volcanic Mt Etna – but can this powerful supercar really take the heat?
Continue readingBoisdale Life: Feel My Power
Adam Hay-Nicholls drives the McLaren Senna to East Anglia in search of something else very light and expensive.
Continue readingPMC Journal: Lost on the Dakar
The year was 1982. The British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, rerouted an RAF Hercules over foreign territory and requested the scrambling of jets and choppers and ground troops. The diplomatic cables burned back-and-forth. President Reagan expressed concern. The situation was desperate.
City A.M. Magazine: Dive and conquer
In 2011, the US Navy sunk its own vessel off the coast of Grand Cayman to form an artificial reef. Adam Hay-Nicholls grabs his camera and descends into the depths in search of it.
City A.M. Magazine: By land and sea
How a Lexus mid-life crises led to a £3m yacht and a car that outshines both Jaguar and Porsche. Words: Adam Hay-Nicholls. Continue reading
City A.M. Magazine: Fill your Phukets
It’s increasingly fashionable to hunt down your own ingredients, but as Adam Hay-Nicholls discovers in Thailand, foraging needed come at the expense of comfort. Continue reading
City A.M. Magazine: Living La Dolce Vita
Beachcombing Puglia in a retro-mod rental car, Adam Hay-Nicholls discovers La Dolce Vita for 300 Euros a day.
City A.M. Magazine: German design, meets French roads
From Calais to Paris to Provence, Adam Hay-Nicholls puts the new Audi R8 through its paces on some hair-raising ribbons of tarmac.
City A.M.: Safari in Style
Adam Hay-Nicholls takes a tour of South Africa’s finest luxury nature reserves. Continue reading
Boisdale Life: Over Hill, Overfinch
In darkest Exmoor, Adam Hay-Nicholls finds a pimped, £210,000 SUV to be the perfect ice-breaker with a publican yet to embrace electricity.
City A.M. Magazine: A Stallion in the Snow
The Ferrari GTC4Lusso is a four-seater, all-wheel drive statesman that can still shred just about anything from the traffic lights. Adam Hay-Nicholls drives it through the Swiss Alps.
City A.M. Magazine: Going to Ibiza?
Once a renowned party island, Ibiza is enjoying a reputation overhaul. Nobu’s latest hotel opening is leading the charge. By Adam Hay-Nicholls.
The Sunday Telegraph: Jurassic Parking
I’m bombing across the chartreuse-coloured hills behind East Devon’s Jurassic Coast. My destination is the dining table of top chef Michael Caines and, as I like to match my vehicles with whatever’s in store for the knife and fork, I have chosen the Range Rover Velar for the journey: A luxurious status symbol steeped in country cred, but one which is silkily contemporary and reductionist from every angle.
City A.M. Magazine: Ice Cold
From huskies to supercars, the wilderness of Finland is transformed is transformed into a billionaires’ playground by McLaren. Words: Adam Hay-Nicholls
City A.M. Magazine: Wheels of Fortune
The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, with its shamrock-emblazoned engine, may be the luckiest motor ever invented, writes Adam Hay-Nicholls
British GQ: You can now holiday on a James Bond set
GQ is in Sölden, Austria, 3048 metres above sea level and inside the summit of the Gaislachkogl Mountain. The slate grey entrance door is concealed against the side of the cliff face, and as it swings ajar it triggers the searing horns, piano and strings of Writing’s On The Wall, the opening theme to James Bond’s 24th mission.
The Pemberley: The Edge of Wildness
My wild Indonesian beach horse had a split personality. We headed to the tip of the three-mile-long Nihiwatu beach, me giving the animal polite but firm kicks to the ribs, yet it refused to so much as trot or go near the water. Then, and I knew this was going to happen, once we turned around and it saw where it lived it went, in two-wheeled terms, from being a push bike to a Ducati 1299 Superleggera. It went faster than anything I’ve seen at Ascot. It rode through the surge of the Indian Ocean, which was fun for the first mile. But as I pulled on the reins, and the nag refused to heel, the cartilage in my back went on strike and it felt like nails were being hammered into my spine. So, there I am, flat-out aboard one tonne of pot roast, and I see a couple on a romantic sunset stroll. Rather than scream HELP I decided to grit my teeth and try to look cavalier as I galloped past, leaning backwards ever further, knowing that at the end of the beach was a huge infinity pool and no way round it. Finally, as the frontier of sunbathers appeared, it slammed on its anchors, pulled a 90-degree left into its stable and, shaking and sweating, I prized myself off its saddle and gingerly slipped off.
City AM: On this real life Bond island, guests can pilot their own submarine.
Velaa Private Island, in the Maldives, is a resort for billionaires by billionaires. Where else, in addition to the standard private pool and butler, does the hotel provide a personal submarine? Welcome to the real James Bond island.
The Sunday Telegraph: Going on holiday by mistake in a Jaguar F-Pace
As I thunder north up the M6, I am fulfilling a mission 30 years in the making. I’m at the wheel of a Jag and the destination is Uncle Monty’s cottage. I am re-enacting Withnail & I. Continue reading
City AM Bespoke: New Dawn
This limited-edition Rolls-Royce, produced to celebrate the 50th birthday of Saint Tropez’ Hotel Byblos, is something to behold. Words: Adam Hay-Nicholls.
Adam Hay-Nicholls 