CELEBRATING THE DESTINATIONS WE MISS

As part of our ongoing Stay Inspired campaign, we ask a few of National Geographic Traveller’s editorial team to toast their favourite destinations

MADRID — CONNOR MCGOVERN, COMMISSIONING EDITOR

My last trip to Madrid was when I started to really understand the city. By day, I explored museums and churches, and wandered through sun-drenched barrios and leafy parks. By night, however, I discovered a different side to Madrid: I squeezed into raucous bars that have barely changed in a century, uncovered the exciting cocktail scene and mopped up the night’s excesses with a plate of churros. It’ll be a while before I can visit Madrid again, so for now I’ll make do with Spain on a screen. Thankfully, legendary filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar’s work captures all the hedonistic, zeitgeisty vigour of Madrid in the 1980s, when the city was rediscovering itself after the Franco dictatorship.

BORNEO — CHARLOTTE WIGRAM-EVANS, CONTENT EDITOR

I'm thinking back on the week I spent with the Kelabit tribe in Bario, a tiny cluster of villages hidden deep in Borneo’s eastern Highlands. As well as learning about village life and exploring some of the 600sq miles of rainforest on their doorstep, I spent long evenings cackling around a campfire.

The Kelabits’ sense of sarcasm is unparalleled, and their dry wit — paired with an incredible warmth — has left me longing to return. For now, I’ll be making do with recreating the cocktail we drank together: pineapple juice, crushed ice, mint leaves and a lot of white rum, but when we can travel again, you’ll find me in the jungles of Borneo.

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FOOD

MANCHESTER — NICOLA TRUP,

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Last year, I took a trip back to Manchester, the city I lived in for university and where, secretly, my heart still lies. Yes, it rains an inordinate amount, but with its red-brick architecture, fantastic food and unbeatable music scene, it’s a beauty all the same. While confined to my London flat, I’ve been escaping to Manchester via film (namely the fabulous

24 Hour Party People, about the city’s music scene in the 1970s-1990s) and radio (thanks to Greater Manchester heroes Radcliffe and Maconie on BBC Radio 6 Music). In the words of Radcliffe, Manchester is “a city that thinks a table is for dancing on” — and once we’re free to roam again, I’ll be back on that table like a shot.

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