Hello and welcome back to the Travel Diaries podcast.

Thanks for being here.

I'm Holly Rubinstein.

I'm a travel and entertainment journalist.

And here each week I'll be speaking to a special guest about their adventures around the world and the travel experiences

that have shaped their lives. And when it comes to extraordinary travel adventures, it doesn't

get much better than Sir Richard Branson. Richard, as I'm sure you probably know, founded the

Virgin Group. No doubt you've probably flown on a virgin plane or taking a virgin

train or maybe you're even planning to take a Virgin Galactic into space. It looks like it's

pretty soon on the horizon. Alongside his numerous businesses, Richard is continuously setting

records as an adventurer from being the first across the Pacific Ocean in a hot air balloon, can you imagine, to the fastest crossing of the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle, and he's even starred in an episode of Friends, which, you know, is also right up there for me.

I managed to grab a chat for this bonus episode

in the lobby of his brand new hotel, Virgin Hotels, San Francisco.

My fiancé and I actually stayed there for a night just after the hotel opened,

and we were really impressed.

It's clearly the place to be in San Francisco right now.

And Virgin Hotels is a new arm of what the Virgin Group are up to at the moment.

I think there are hotels opening in Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans, as well as in San Fran.

And if you're in the city, I'd recommend also checking out its rooftop bar, Everdeen,

which is definitely worth

a visit, great cocktails and brilliant views.

This is what I call a short haul episode, which I guess is self-explanatory, but I'm going

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