‘How I almost set my hotel room on fire in Hollywood’

Let’s start at the beginning, when my best bud B and I had just graduated and had taken our first steps on the path of magazine journalism. During our studies, we had stuck together thanks to a shared passion for ‘the magazines’, from Harper’s Bazaar to Vogue and Vanity Fair, something that our classmates looked down on because they only read Literature. We did that too, but we were just very chill, even before that word existed, and not elitist at all. In that regard, anyway.

One of our favorite topics in those international glossies: how celebrities travel. They don’t just hop on a plane, no, they stuff their largest Birkin full of precious items needed to survive the hell that is flying, in business class. Like a cashmere throw, because it’s always freezing on board, a face mist to combat the Sahara dryness, a jar of Crème de la Mer, also for that Sahara dryness, a collection of literature and magazines (see, it goes together!), because imagine if you’ve already seen all the movies on board, and a travel candle.

The travel candle. That was what B. and I were most fascinated by. It sounded so jet-setter and chic, and that’s what we wanted to be, jet-setter and chic.

Then came the day when we finally saved enough for our first flight to New York. Besides extensive wardrobe conferences, because we didn’t want to be mistaken for tourists there in the Big Apple, many phone calls also revolved around what we thought we needed on board, of course, we wanted to travel in style. Like celebrities. So we were face misting and applying creams like it was a pleasure, there in economy. The only thing missing was the travel candle, but we did have incense with us so that our hotel in New York would smell like home.

Why on earth would you want to feel at home when you’re traveling? That’s the only flaw in the travel candle mystique as far as I’m concerned: I don’t burn it to feel at home, but for the scent memory later when I’m back home. Tubéreuse from Diptyque, that was Miami, the Deep Clover from Votivo my room in East Village and Nag Champa incense in Patmos in Greece (and it kept the mosquitoes away too). Added bonus: your clothes smell wonderful when they come out of the suitcase.

My latest acquisition is Santal 26 from Le Labo, also in a very handy tin for traveling. It went with me in the suitcase to Hollywood two weeks ago. While I was preparing for the interviews in my room in the morning, I lit it to wake up the senses. Wonderful, wonderful. And when I was doing my interviews in the Universal Studios in the afternoon, I thought in the middle of a question about Dr. McDreamy, I mean Patrick Dempsey: my travel candle! I didn’t blow it out! Horror, horror! And while he was talking about God knows what, I hope that’s on my recording, I had visions of helicopters above the W Hotel from all the news networks. A big fire in Hollywood! That could be added to it – there was already one raging with gigantic mushroom clouds in Santa Clarita.

It turned out to be not so bad when I got back to my hotel room. A big flickering flame, a very expensive candle that was now half gone. But my room smelled divine.

Geschreven door Ilonka Leenheer