SUITCASE SERIES: Portia Hart, Founder of Blue Apple Beach, Cartagena

This week we caught up with Portia Hart the Founder of Blue Apple Beach in Cartagena, a hospitality business in South America, to find out what she never travels without, their packing tips, and what their most memorable trip has been so far…

Portia is a true powerhouse, social entrepreneur and hotel owner. Half white, half Afro-Caribbean and with a dual British-Trinidadian nationality, Portia left a privileged upbringing in Europe for Colombia in 2015, with the dream of learning Spanish. In the following years, she has built a hospitality business in Cartagena from scratch and is now the owner of a boutique hotel, a beach bar on Tierra Bomba island, 30 minutes by boat from the city, and an environmental social enterprise, Green Apple Foundation.

Blue Apple’s founder, Portia Hart, spent nearly a decade working with yachts on the Côte d’Azur (and having lunch on the beach) before moving home to the Caribbean (her mother is from Trinidad & Tobago). In Blue Apple, Portia gave Cartagena a beach club that blends top level comfort and personalised service with a laid-back, home-away-from home setting, that places community and staff on an equal footing with guests.

Blue Apple Beach is an exclusive beach club and hotel where life is all about escaping to enjoy lazy days and nights in a Caribbean island paradise. The focus is on great food, washed down with plenty of provençal rosé and delicious cocktails, all set to a tropically inspired soundtrack. There is a cosy, laid-back, island vibe where, a far cry from a tourist-trap, locals and in-the-know visitors to Cartagena enjoy lazy days, music and great food in a beautiful setting. Blue Apple Beach House is a converted private home available for those looking to live the private island life. It offers five stylish bedrooms and five independent cabanas.

In this week’s Suitcase Series, we take a sneak peek into Portia’s travel psyche…

What’s been your most memorable trip and why?

I’ve been on four trips which have left me a changed person and it’s hard to choose one. The first, when I was 18, was the “standard” gap year round-the-world ticket. I went with my best friend (and she still is) to the USA, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. It was the era of internet cafes, letters home and cameras with film and I’m grateful to have had that disconnect and total immersion in the adventure. The other three have all been with my father. We’ve walked the Northern route of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela (Spain) together ten years ago, then in recent years visited Ladakh in the Indian Himalayas, and Bhutan. As a result of these trips – which always involved a lot of walking, I’ve come to know my father as a friend and a person beyond the role of ‘Papa’. Together we’ve learned about letting go of attachment (Buddhism); simple living (pilgrimage); surprised a good many people – I’m often mistaken for his younger girlfriend, as people are so unaccustomed to seeing father-daughter travellers). At 75 years old he braved white water rafting in the Himalayas – he’s a marvellous travelling companion. We do one a year now (this year wine tasting across Italy), and they’re always a highlight.

What’s your favourite ever hotel?

I found myself unexpectedly alone for a few days in Cuixmala in Mexico weeks before the pandemic. Although it’s completely bonkers (a Moroccan palace with a herd of zebra (!?)) I fell in love. Beyond the extravagance, I discovered a staff who cared deeply about what they do – especially those in charge of the biodynamic farm and the conservation of thousands of hectares of land. The sense of calm and beauty, combined with the feeling of being at home in a place that is so lavish, is a rare achievement. They also take stewardship of nature seriously. I learned a lot there, that I would bring back to Blue Apple Beach with me. I long to return.

Where or what is your escape?

Ironically perhaps, for someone in travel, my refuge is my small flat. I live alone in the middle of the Old City in Cartagena, and every time I come home I relish the silence. It’s a rare privilege to have a space to yourself where no one needs you, you find things as you left them. I have an intensely social job, so the isolation is a joy.

If you could go anywhere tomorrow it would be…

I’ve been a sci fi fan since I was about 8 years old, and I’ve always said, I’d be the first to sign up if the chance arose to go and start society on a new planet. In the absence of that option though, I would say Japan. I lived there for a year when I was 20 and haven’t been back since. It was the closest thing to a parallel universe that I could have imagined at the time. Everything was just as advanced as back at home, but in a different direction. I have never forgotten the deep culture of respect that I learned there – for yourself, for others, for everything you do. I would love to go back, rekindle my rusty Japanese, eat shabu-shabu, lock myself in a karaoke box for a couple of hours and see what direction things have been heading in over the last two decades.

What’s your idea of a luxury wellness holiday?

As I write, I just got back from a run and workout in the Moroccan desert, where I used rocks for weights. Being active is an absolute must when I travel – I never leave home without my trainers. Wellness for me is about balance, so my idea of a restorative holiday is one where I can blend nature, sport, time to read, good company, wine, real food and work (yes work! It stresses me out to come back to a million emails and problems to be solved, so I stay on top while I am away). I am not at all into depriving myself so you’ll never find me on a retreat which is about abstinence of any kind. Holidays are not meant to be punishments, and neither is work. If I had a job (or a life) I needed to escape from, I’d change it.

My top bucket-list destination is…

If I love a place, I want to go back, so I don’t think of anywhere or anything as something to be ticked off. I also find that ‘bucket list’ mentality when applied to tourism is quite destructive. I often hear Colombia described as someone’s bucket list destination. How reductive. I’ve lived here for 10 years and still have half a country to discover. A first trip somewhere is a taster, even if you never have the chance to return. Next year I will visit Botswana and South Africa for the first time (with Black Saddle horseback safaris and African Bush Camps) and I am excited to see if these are places I will want to go back to.

If you could sit next to anyone – dead or alive – on a long-haul ﬂight, who would it be?

My great, great aunt Mona. She was born in 1900 and married to a Rear Admiral in the British Navy who shipped her out (literally) to Hong Kong in her twenties, when the world was a very different place. She was completely wild, didn’t conform to any of society’s rules (and there were so many) and lived the fullest of lives. She used to say she had a very forgiving husband, which is remarkable for her age. She used to say about her life: “I cast my bread out onto the water, and it came back buttered”. She took risks, leapt before she looked and relished every moment – even the hard ones. By the time I was old enough to know her, she was in her 90s and couldn’t abide annoying little children like me, so I’d like a long haul flight back to Hong Kong with her to listen to her stories first hand.

What is your jet-lag recovery tip?

I give myself social jet lag most weeks, as there’s always an event or two going on in my line of work, so I think when I have geographical jet lag my body just rolls with it. In general, my rule in life is: sleep when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry, move when you can. My body is very forgiving.

To the left: Jamaica. To the right: Formentera, Spain

What is your suitcase stalwart?

I have had the same Brics carry-on for 20 years and it has been everywhere with me. I’m also a big fan of leather holdalls by the Colombian brand Sabandija, which I have gifted to everyone in my family. My next purchase will be an Ortlieb Duffle (Germany). It looks like regular duffle with some very subtle wheels. I have rejected wheels all my life, as someone once said to me “Would you ever see James Bond with a wheely suitcase?” But I have decided to give in a little. After all, I am not James Bond.

What is your number one packing tip?

Take 5 small gifts that represent your country. You never know when someone you meet might do you a good turn, and it’s a delight to be able to say thank you with a souvenir. I usually have some Colombian coffee and at least one of these earcuffs by Colombian jeweller Bamboleira. Every time I wear mine someone asks after it, so it became a go-to gift.

I never travel without…

My silk pillowcase. I’ll stuff a jumper into it when on the road, or cover hotel pillows with it, but it’s an instant luxury upgrade wherever you are if you need to get your head down.

In my beauty / toiletry bag I always bring…

Sunscreen and dental floss. The first for me. The second for everyone around me 🙂

For more information visit https://www.blueapplebeach.com/

SUITCASE SERIES: Portia Hart, Founder of Blue Apple Beach, Cartagena