January / February 2007
10 Trips of a Lifetime
By Marika McElroy
Learn to be a winemaker. Take the fashion-insider’s track through Paris. Whatever your aspiration, the right time to plan the trip of your wildest dreams is now.
1. Australia
Dive the Great Barrier Reef from a Private Yacht
A week on the world’s largest coral reef system demands a vessel of commensurate superiority. The boat for the job: the 131-foot power catamaran Seafaris from Yachtstore. The yacht’s delicious onboard extras range from a mini-theater and 30-foot jet boat to a helipad and a full complement of professional fishing equipment. A seven-member crew leads up to ten passengers on diving expeditions, arranges for massages, or grills freshly caught mackerel at the open-air teppanyaki bar. Possible Barrier Reef adventures include snorkeling amid giant clams off Lizard Island, fishing for yellow fin tuna near Snapper Island, lazing on the sundeck, and watching sea life cavort under the super-powerful night lights. After the day’s pursuits, passengers drift off to sleep in one of five spacious staterooms, including a master suite with a king-size bed and retractable plasma-screen satellite TV. Departures: Any day through 2007; seven-day crewed charter from $112,000, not including food, fuel, and other consumables (add 25 to 30 percent of charter rate) or gratuity (15 to 20 percent).
2. Paris
All-Access Parisian Shopping
Découvertes leaves no velvet rope uncrossed on an eight-day foray into the world of Parisian fashion. The privately guided haute pilgrimage begins with a trip to an 86,000-piece costume exhibit at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and to the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré for shopping with a fashion expert at Chanel, Hermès, Roger Vivier, and more. For jewelry aficionados, an afternoon amid the shops of the Place Vendôme (Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels, and others) adds irresistible sparkle. Each night, fashion hounds can retire to the 93-room Hôtel de la Trémoille in the eighth arrondissement. There, silk and faux furs embellish the warmly modern rooms, and hatches to the hallway allow for seamless, private room service. As the week progresses, the experiences grow increasingly exclusive: an insider’s visit to the Saint-Ouen flea market in search of several hard-to-find vintage-couture experts, a rendezvous with vintage guru Didier Ludot, and, for those with euros to burn, entrée into the Yves Saint Laurent VIP lounge to view the new collection. A private tour of Louis Vuitton’s former home outside Paris, where priceless luggage collections bask in the light from Tiffany windows, concludes the trip in style. Departures: Any day through 2007; from $7,470, including accommodations at Hôtel de la Trémoille.
3. Napa Valley
Live the Winemaking Life
There’s more to becoming a winemaker than leaping feet first into a vat of cabernet clusters. BeautifulPlaces introduces would-be Mondavis to the world of tannins and terroir in high style during a four-week intensive immersion in California wine country. Home base for the grape escape is the opulent two-bedroom Kodo House, perched on a hill above 75 acres of rolling land and vineyards between Saint Helena and Calistoga. The month commences with a helicopter tour over Napa, Sonoma, Lake County, and Mendocino, and lunch at a winery such as Lancaster Estate. Lessons from veteran winemakers such as Steven Leveque of Chalk Hill Estate and Julie Johnson of Tres Sabores, as well as meetings with viticulturists and sommeliers (one possibility: Evan Goldstein, the James Beard Award-winning author of A Perfect Pairing), run the vinous gamut, from examinations of soil and climate to talks on fermentation or production and distribution. Each week highlights a different varietal with tastings and private dinners in Kodo House’s dining room, where hand-forged chandeliers hang over hardwood floors hewn from French boxcars. For the capstone of this journey through a vintner’s life, participants blend a barrel of their own wine to produce 25 cases. Departures: Any day through 2007; from $70,700 for two. Itinerary is customizable for shorter stays.
4. Costa Rica
Pitch In – With the Whole Family
For families with as much desire to have good fun as to do good, Generations Touring Company presents a vacation with a cause – or several. The company, which specializes in family trips, serves up a customizable eight-day Costa Rican holiday that’s equal parts rain-forest revelry and farmland restoration efforts. Because Generations works with locally based nonprofit groups, the company can tailor an itinerary to a group’s wishes (recently, one family of doctors pitched in to work at a medical clinic near Manuel Antonio National Park). An itinerary might include an afternoon of wrapping gifts at an orphanage followed by rafting mellow Class III rapids on the Sarapiquí River. Kids can meet their Costa Rican peers at a small middle school in Monteverde, where the afternoon’s activities run to tidying up the grounds or planting a tree with a sustainable-farming group in the small town of Sarchí. Departures: Any day through 2007; from $15,900 for a family of four, including accommodations and meals.
5. Rwanda and Uganda
Commune with Mountain Gorillas
The world’s only remaining wild mountain gorillas roam the ranges of Central Africa. Volcanoes Safaris introduces travelers to the majestic giants during a 12-day trek through Rwanda and Uganda. The company, which has been leading gorilla safaris for ten years, counts the Clintons and the president and board of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund among its clientele. Gorilla tracking in the Parc National des Volcans (Rwanda) and the aptly named Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (Uganda) yields ample glimpses of the gorillas playing, snacking on leaves and shoots, and napping at midday. While conservation efforts (including those of the late Dian Fossey) have rescued the animals from extinction, they are still endangered. Also on deck for the primate quest: golden monkeys swinging through the Parc National des Volcans, evening game drives in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park, chimpanzees in Kyambura Gorge, and pygmy antelope in Maramagambo Forest. Volcanoes outposts, such as the Virunga Lodge, with its 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains, afford gorilla trackers luxe bases for winding down. Departures: Multiple dates throughout 2007 and 2008; from $5,273.
6. France
Ride a Tour de France Stage
For serious cyclists a chance at the adrenaline rush of a lifetime lies in the Pyrenees with Custom Getaways’ spin through the Tour de France. The ten-day cycling extravaganza begins on July 22 in Mazamet, where participants hobnob with racers in the start village, take a leisurely ride through the sunflowers, and then watch the arrival of the stage in Plateau de Beille. Highlights from the rest of the trip include one night at a medieval castle, another in Saint-Emilion, and participation in Tour stages such as Foix to Loudenvielle (ride as few as 30 kilometers or as many as 100), with a race-vehicle escort and a photo on the podium at the finish line. The ode to two wheels concludes in Paris, where participants toast the Tour’s arrival from a suite above the action on the Champs-Elysées, and follow the big moment with a dinner cruise on the Seine. Slots sell out quickly for this yellow-jersey fete, but 2008 will bring another Tour – and another opportunity to experience it. Departure: July 21, 2007; from $6,795, including accommodations, rides, and some activities and meals.
7. Beijing
Attend the 2008 Olympic Games
Travelers carrying a torch for competition in the name of global goodwill get prime seats for the action at the games of the XXIX Olympiad. Roadtrips leads sporting (or sport-watching) types on a seven-day Olympics-centric journey to Beijing, where they can watch swimmers knife through the water in the new National Aquatics Centre or cheer on gymnasts as they tumble toward gold in the swoop-roofed National Indoor Stadium. When not attending the top track event or volleyball game du jour, visitors can explore the nestlike National Stadium, revel in the views from atop the Great Wall (with a private guide who is fluent in Mandarin and English to elaborate on the area’s history), or pinch mangoes and sniff durians on a privately guided jaunt through city markets. Olympics fans rest their heads at the opulent 827-room Great Wall Sheraton Beijing. Departures: August 8 and 14, 2008; from $10,350, including guides and accommodations.
8. Space
Get Starstruck
Spaceketeers, commence your countdown. In the interest of taking the general public to the outer limits, Virgin Galactic aims to have tourists ogling the curvature of Earth from its SpaceShipTwo around mid-2009. The history-making flights, in a craft modeled on the Ansari X Prize-winning SpaceShipOne, will originate from the Mojave Desert (and eventually from yet-to-be-built Spaceport America in New Mexico). Here’s how it works: The mother ship, WhiteKnightTwo, climbs to 50,000 feet, where it releases SpaceShipTwo. The six astronauts and two pilots inside then rocket to 360,000 feet at three times the speed of sound, passing from the cobalt blue sky into the black of suborbital flight, where they will float weightlessly out of their seats for about 15 minutes before the ship begins its descent. These thrills don’t come cheap, but for sheer wonder and a chance to touch the sky, this might just be the pinnacle. Astronauts-to-be in North America can book flights with Virgin Galactic exclusively through Virtuoso travel specialists. Departures: Beginning around mid-2009; from $200,000, including three-day training and Virgin Galactic astronaut wings.
9. Tanzania
Climb Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro has long delivered an embarrassment of bragging-rights opportunities, from its vertiginous Kibo summit (19,340 feet), reachable sans mountaineering gear, to its five distinct climate zones (climbers pass through montane forest, moorland, alpine desert, and more en route to the top). In recent years, scientists’ findings have added an additional allure to summiting Kilimanjaro: The volcano’s famed snows are receding and expected to disappear in the next 10 to 15 years. Climbers with Epic Private Journeys make a midnight summit attempt and arrive to watch sunrise from the rim of the crater. Former Australian army officers guide the trip (one is a doctor), and a high guide-to-climber ratio means that travelers get to hike up the mountain with little more than a day pack, stopping at fully portered camps to rest along the way. The summit attempt is the culmination of the nine-day trip up the storied mountain – and an opportunity to experience the highest point in Africa before it changes forever. Departures: March 5, June 9, August 11, and October 7, 2007; from $4,209.
10. Planet Earth
Fly Around the World
TCS Expeditions does globe-trotting in ways Phileas Fogg never dreamed of. Witness its 24-day around-the-world private jet trip. The chariot for the worldwide overview: a Boeing 757 reconfigured to seat just 74 passengers (commercial airlines carry more than 200 people in the same model). The destinations: points as distant as Papua New Guinea and Machu Picchu. Travelers wander the white marble expanse of the Taj Mahal, witness the great migration of wildebeests and zebras on the Serengeti, and haggle for rugs in the markets of Marrakech. Easter Island, Angkor Wat, and the Great Barrier Reef round out the itinerary. En route to each new destination, experts lecture on the wonders to come as passengers sip cocktails, dine on meals prepared by the jet’s private chef, and rest up for the next adventure in two-foot-wide seats, tired only from the day’s excitement and never from schlepping luggage or languishing in security lines. Accommodations for the sojourn range from Dubai’s 292-room Madinat Jumeirah Al Qasr Hotel (modeled on a sheik’s summer residence) to the secluded 78-suite Serengeti Sopa Lodge. Departures: January 29 and October 29, 2008; from $52,950, including accommodations, meals, beverages, transportation, and activities.
What are the hottest destinations for 2007?
International City Break
1. Dubai
From beautiful beaches and indoor skiing to some of the planet’s glitziest hotels and shopping, Dubai is the darling of the International scene.
2. Buenos Aires
3. Cape Town
4. Barcelona
5. Paris
6. Istanbul
7. London
8. Rome
9. Sydney
10. Bangkok
Most Exciting U.S. City
1. New York
What better town for going big than the Big Apple?
2. San Francisco
3. Chicago
4. Santa Fe
5. New Orleans
6. Boston
7. Charleston
8. Miami
9. Honolulu
10. Seattle
Place to Have an Outdoor Adventure
1. South Africa
From big game to big reds, the safari standout and Winelands destination will continue to draw outdoors enthusiasts.
2. Patagonia
3. Antarctica
4. Canada
5. Botswana
6. Morocco
7. Bhutan
8. Namibia
9. Mongolia
10. Honduras
Sizzling Island Escape
1. Maldives
These coral islands in the Indian Ocean house some of the most opulent tropical resorts around.
2. French Polynesia
3. Turks and Caicos
4. Mauritius
5. Fiji
6. Bali
7. Hawaii
8. Canary Islands
9. Saint Bart’s
10. Puerto Rico
FUN for the Whole Family
1. Costa Rica
The Central American nation that introduced the concept of ecotourism continues to lure families in search of rain-forest adventures.
2. Australia
3. Walt Disney World
4. Alaska
5. Hawaii
6. Tuscany
7. Grand Canyon
8. Mexico
9. New Zealand
10. South Africa
Dreams in brief
Antarctica March with the penguins on Zegraham Expeditions’ trip to the Snow Hill Island colony aboard the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov.
Canada
Select your own diamond and watch it transformed from loose stone to cut gem with Horizon & Co. » Barcelona Shop Barcelona’s famed Boqueria market with a Michelin-starred chef, followed by a cooking lesson, all arranged by Plus Travel Spain.
England
Gain paddock access to the Royal Ascot through Noteworthy Events.
Ireland
Spend eight days hobnobbing with lords and ladies in some of the country’s most historic castles, courtesy of Adams & Butler.
Italy
Have the country’s top attractions to yourself with after-hours, private visits to view The Last Supper, Saint Mark’s, the Sistine Chapel, and more through IC Bellagio.
Jamaica
Stay in the villa where Dr. No was filmed during an over-the-top journey through the country with My Tropic Escape.
Germany
Take a BMW driver’s training course in Munich through Weichlein Tours.
Greece
Cruise the Mediterranean on the Christina O, Aristotle Onassis’s yacht, complete with a 1960s-theme party, through Hellenic Tours.
Guatemala
Take Vivaventure’s helicopter trip to the Maya site El Mirador with famed archaeologist Richard Hansen.
Sri Lanka
Wade through hip-deep Indian Ocean surf (or ride an elephant) to reach the tiny resort of Taprobane Island, where Mackinnons Tours can arrange for a private stay.
Thailand
Rescue an elephant from a life of performing on the streets through the adoption program at the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai.
Zimbabwe
Camp on the banks of the Zambezi River during a canoe trip that takes you past thousands of hippos in Mana Pools National Park, with Wilderness Safaris.
Send this article to a friend
Print Version
© Copyright 2007 Virtuoso Life