They return for a massage the firmly rooted side of a Mount Shasta's alternative culture a scene which completely blows its cool

They return for a massage, the firmly rooted side of a Mount Shasta's alternative culture, a scene which completely blows its cool in the quarterly newspaper Directions. The existing site in a fake Roman Villa in Malibu is magnificent enough, the new palace opening in December should be even more so. Oh, and Taco Bell do an excellent bean burrito with guacamole and sour cream for under $1.Favourite hotelsThe budget winner is the Pigeon Point Youth Hostel, with spartan accommodation in former lighthouse keepers' cottages, and a hot tub cantilevered out from the cliff-tops high above crashing surf. Here, you can soak away the sunset hour watching pelicans brushing their wings. If you can bear the conspicuous wealth of Palm Springs and are prepared to visit in summer when hotel prices plummet, make for Villa Royale, a cluster of exquisitely decorated suites clustered poolside where a sumptuous breakfast is served with aplomb.Favourite mealBreakfast. Billioniaire John Paul Getty bequeathed a hat-full of cash to the J Paul Getty Museum, now so embarrassed with riches that it is unable to spend the annual millions allocated for new works.

There was nothing for it but to smash a window, spend a freezing night hunched in the back seat and dig myself out the next morning.Best bargainsHow much does it cost to visit a spanking new billion-dollar art gallery commanding one of the best views over LA? Nothing. Once bogged down, a demon in my brain suggested that I could escape by selecting "drive" and then getting out to push this two-tonne behemoth I put it in gear then got out and closed the door. I put them in the overhead airline locker on the opposite side of the aisle and disassociate myself from their pungent smells during the flight.. I took a bottle of 1966 Noval Vintage port to China which I decanted and drank with wine friends on the Great Wall.

Small 20cl bottles of Old Tawny port make good presents and sustain me on the road.An essential good luck charm that never leaves my pocket is a silver collapsible corkscrew. Another is a four leaf clover I found in a Norfolk field a week before I joined Noval.Living in Portugal, I miss good Stilton so stock up on Cropwell Bishop five pounders and from Portugal I bring bacalhau - salt cod - for friends. I take a hat to suit my mood, usually the wrong type for my destination climate.I have a marvellous travel shaving kit from Jermyn street with brush and shaving stick in little tubes that give a proper shave. Laptop and modem go along plus an essential little kit that converts them to international telephone plugs; something no computer shop sells. I have a mobile phone but as I'm embarrassed to receive a call in front of anybody it is switched off except in the privacy of my hotel room when it isn't really necessary.A good book - currently Balzac's La Comedie Humaine - is selected for occasional evenings when it's good to stay in the hotel room with poached egg supper and a glass or two of Noval 20-year-old port.The most weighty things are bottles of port and the wine I buy to take home. I always take running shoes and sports kit round Europe and the US.