Jules Perowne's Unpacked – Détails, épisodes et analyse

It’s a wrap for this season as Unpacked breaks up for Christmas. Light the fire, pour a glass and join Jules Perowne as she reprises some of the wit and wisdom of our remarkable guests during 2025. 

From recreating London’s legendary Simpson’s on the Strand, to rewilding 200,000 acres in Scotland, to celebrating the World’s greatest city (spoilers: it’s London), to LATAM’s soaring growth and AI’s scary/brilliant/game changing effect on the luxury travel sector. 

All this and a good old fashioned rant or two. 

Huge thanks to our guests in 2025 – here’s where you’ll find them:  

00.38: Luxury Travel

Jules Perowne at ILTM, Cannes

11.36: Restaurants

Jeremy King, restaurateur 

Maria Shollenbarger, HTSI Travel Editor, FT

18.48 : Wildland 

Fran Kellett, sustainable travel expert

Joe Dunn, Director of Built Development & Ruth Kramer, Interior Designer, Wildland

25.36: London

Paula Fitzherbert, Global Head of Communications, Maybourne (Claridge's, The Connaught, and The Berkeley) 

Annie Fitzsimmons, National Geographic author and travel expert.

31.00: LATAM & Mexico

Mary Holland, New York correspondent, Monocle, and regular contributor to the FT and Condé Nast Traveler.

Javier Arredondo, Vice President of Sustainability at Virtuoso, and media expert. 

43.15: AI 

Anant Sharma, Founder & CEO, Matter of Form 

Chris Hughes, CEO, Navigator

The travel industry stands at a fascinating crossroads where artificial intelligence meets wanderlust. With ChatGPT now serving 2.5 billion daily prompts and rapidly approaching Google's search volume, travellers are increasingly turning to AI for everything from Scottish road trip itineraries to hotel recommendations. But as algorithms become our new travel advisors and Google transforms into an AI-powered answer engine, a critical question emerges: what happens to the irreplaceable human touch that makes travel truly magical?

In this episode of Unpacked, Jules sits down with Anant Sharma, Founder & CEO of Matter of Form and Chris Hughes, CEO of Navigator, to explore how AI is reshaping the way we dream, book, and experience travel.

We ask: what happens when tech meets taste, and where does that leave the magic of human intuition, imperfection, and a truly brilliant travel adviser?

Ep 4: “The reality of flying today. The good, the bad and the ugly”

Jules Perowne removes belts and shoes with air mile zillionaires Mark Ellwood of the luxury bible Robb Report, and Colin Nagy, Skift columnist and Head of Brand strategy at Instagram. 

Over no more than 100ml of wine, they discuss everything from the app that airlines don’t want you to use… IVs for jet lag… customer service from the sublime to the monstrous... and why terrorists don’t pack scented candles.  

Ep 3: “Let’s hear it for the vaginal facial!”  In the latest from the Unpacked studio, Jules Perowne delves into spas, fitness and wellbeing. Watsu, moon circles, gong baths, body positive pottery making – before you laugh too loud, there’s $5.6 trillion to play for. 

Her exquisitely moisturised guests are the Queen of Spas and the King of Fitness: Sunday Times spa expert Susan D’Arcy, and Harry Jameson, Founder of Pillar Wellbeing and now heading up the members’ health club at Raffles in the OWO.  

Ep 2: “…I looked at Sumba and said, this can be somewhere incredible – let's go for it. And I moved to the jungle.”  

We meet the remarkable James McBride, the hotelier’s hotelier and co-founder of NIHI Sumba. From an extraordinary career, James recounts his first job at a tennis resort with no tennis courts… and creating NIHI and its spa safari and equine therapy…and the one piece of advice every traveller needs to know. 

Ep 1: “Enough of $800 burgers and iPads to close the curtains.”

 Unpacked is unleashed… in this first episode, join travel PR CEO Jules Perowne together with Scott Dunn Private’s Jules Maury and former Tatler Travel Editor Fran Kellett. 

They discuss their craving for simplicity and authenticity… the insanity of long-haul air fares… and an island too perfect ever to reveal in a podcast. (But they do.)  

Diving deep into the world of extraordinary travel and remarkable hotels 

Mexico, and Latin & South America more widely, is now a serious player in the global travel landscape. 

A land of style, design and art; jungles and snow-capped volcanos; sumptuous cuisine, and with beaches to end all beaches. And with ultra-high net wealth soaring, and 78 million inbound travellers a year, investment in luxury hospitality is surging.
 
Elsewhere the figures from outbound travellers are equally staggering, with Mexican travellers spending $11 Billion on trips in 2024. 

Shooting the breeze with Jules, Unpacked welcomes Mary Holland, the South African-born New York correspondent for Monocle magazine and contributor to the Financial Times, WSJ Magazine and Condé Nast Traveler, whose global perspective perfectly captures this southern hemisphere shift. 

And Javier Arredondo, Vice President of Sustainability at Virtuoso and former architect of Latin America's luxury travel media landscape, who brings insider knowledge of how this transformation is reshaping the industry.

We’re also pleased to announce the launch of our brand-new Unpacked newsletter. Complementing our podcast, expect dispatches filled with curiosity, candour, and jet-set irreverence.

Subscribe via this link: Unpacked Newsletter

Five years on from the world-shaping events of the pandemic, London isn't just surviving; it's thriving.

Jules sits down with Paula Fitzherbert, Global Head of Communications at Maybourne, whose hotels in the capital include Claridge’s, The Connaught and The Berkeley. 

And Annie Fitzsimmons, National Geographic Author and Travel Expert. An American with a deep love of London, her knowledge and insights are a match for any top concierge… 

From indie shops and comedy clubs; to a Peckham rooftop cinema and a Mayfair chippy; to the simple joy of the Afternoon Tea Bus; and the world’s most unlikely housemates: Handel and Hendrix. 

London is a cultural, spiritual and gastronomic feast. If only we knew it… 

The 220,000-acre Wildland project in the Scottish Highlands is one of the largest conservation projects in Europe. 

Its ambitious 200-year vision is centred on allowing nature to heal and thrive, and to rekindle living, working glens. 

Hand-in-hand, cottages, bothies and even castles are being artfully restored – and invite you to come and stay.   

Fresh from their own adventure there, Jules and sustainable travel expert Fran Kellet were blown away by what they saw. In this latest episode of Unpacked, they’re joined by Joe Dunn, Wildland’s Director of Built Development, and Ruth Kramer, interior designer and creator of Wildland’s ‘Scandi-Scot’ aesthetic.  

Discover more at wildland.scot