Joanna Halpin

I am a relatively chilled traveler with few travel rituals, but I do always play “The Big Ship” by Brian Eno at takeoff. When I return, I always seem to bring back a nice collection of pebbles and shells from wherever I have been—a ritual that my mum had when I was a child and used to make me laugh, but now I have adopted myself.

On this trip, my bag was lost for the first week of my trip and I realized, very happily, that I could survive without the things I had packed. Even when my bags were thankfully found, I was so liberated by having had no choice and the realization that I didn’t “need” anything. It has encouraged me to strip back and reduce the amount of things I convince myself I need. 

However, I did travel with the full LESSE family of products. The Regeneration Mist and Ritual Serum were particularly amazing for this trip—it was so nice to be able to refresh my skin with the mist after swimming and applying sunscreen all day. The serum is so hydrating and was perfect to soothe my skin after long days in the sun. 

I escaped to Menorca which is a beautiful, small Spanish island with tiny narrow roads lined with fields, perfect long sand beaches and hidden coves. I loved spending time visiting the different beaches, swimming in the salty ocean, laying in the sun, eating local cheese and tomato baguettes, exploring the little towns, and cooking meals back at the house with friends… the best bits of any European holiday. The small size and scale of the island made everything feel accessible—you could easily drive to multiple places in a day without feeling like you spent all your time in the car. It was such a special place with the most amazing beaches and the clearest of water. 

If you visit, you must see The Hauser & Wirth gallery. To reach it, you have to take a little ferry from the port at Mahon. It is such a lovely experience and the restaurant, Cantina, is so delicious. I’d say the perfect time to go would be late afternoon so you can look around the exhibition and sculpture gardens before enjoying dinner at sunset.

Next, I recommend swimming at the tiny, rocky spot called Cala Blanca. The water here was just so clear and it gets deep pretty quickly so you don’t have to walk out for ages before you can swim.

Finally, I unfortunately don’t remember the name of the bar… but go to Cala Galdana at sunset and sit at the little beach bar to the left of the promenade when facing the ocean. It’s the perfect location to drink a Campari spritz and eat potato bravas while you watch the setting sun over the cove and little boats.

Images and words by Joanna Halpin.