Simon Mills
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/ 1 November 2007

Cuba libre

"At last, we are now on the freeway!" said my driver, exhaling proudly, adjusting his sunglasses and revving our white Hyundai hatchback to a recklessly exhilarating 80kph. I allowed myself a little smirk at the liberal use of the term "freeway" — a bold Americanism that appeared to be over-selling the rather rudimentary stretch of road ahead of us.

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/ 16 July 2007

Back to skinny

Back in 1990 I ”modelled” in a show for Romeo Gigli in Milan. It was a humiliating experience because I was the least gifted of all the male models. But mostly it was my legs that let me down. This was a skinny-legged year in Italian fashion and my prop-forward pins were too unfashionably beefy for the yellow pants I was poured into, writes Simon Mills.

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/ 13 March 2006

Shades of green

”Back in the 1990s, I visited Kona Village Resort on Hawaii’s ”big island”. A truly beautiful and charming place, the overblown telegenic hula of Elvis and Steve McGarrett’s high-rise Honolulu nearby seemed a million miles away. With a fresh flower lei around my neck, I quickly settled into the ”barefoot luxury” of what the hotel blurb called the real Hawaii”, writes Simon Mills.

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/ 25 November 2004

On the trail of natural highs

”You have to take it,” insisted my friend Alex, a vigorously hedonistic, endearingly irresponsible type. ”If you go to the Mexican desert, you simply have to try the peyote, otherwise it’s a wasted trip.” Simon Mills rides the mind-blowing Chihuahua al Pacifico railway into the Copper Canyon for a glimpse of the real Mexico — but steers well clear of the peyote.

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/ 26 May 2004

Stars get in the swim with legend Pierre

Any day now Pierre Gruneberg will return to his little apartment, just by the flower shop in the small town of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat in the south of France, and prepare for another summer in the swimming pool. Gruneberg (73) who has held down a winter career as a ski guide and instructor for the past 50 years in Courcheval, will stow away his salopettes and unpack his swimming costume.