Really, my dream is to recreate The Explorers Club in a modern way,” says New York-based travel maestro Mr David Prior, referencing the organisation set up in 1905 to promote scientific exploration and field study.
We are walking along a rain-slaked street in the West Village. The air is chill. This is the kind of day to cosy up by the fireplace to read about distant lands, though we’ll settle for what’s on today’s itinerary: sliding into a table at favourite local Italian Via Carota for some hearty pasta.
Food is the perfect place to start talking about Prior, the travel club that Mr Prior, a former travel writer and editor (for Condé Nast Traveler, T: The New York Times Style Magazine and more) has just launched, with the aim of bringing his editorial nous to bear on creating special experiences for its members. “I think you look at the world through whichever is your lens in that moment,” he says. “And food is the gateway for me. Even when I was growing up in Australia, waking up to all sorts of ingredients – pumpkin, pomegranate, molasses – I was wondering, ‘Where does that come from?’”
