Filed under: Journeys

Just in time for leaf peeping season a new resort has opened on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, New York. The High Peaks Resort is located on the site of the former Lake Placid Hilton and is offering couple-centered packages including “Romancing the Peaks” which features two nights accommodations; bottle of wine, fruit and chocolates upon arrival; two High Peaks bathrobes; room service or breakfast for two in the dining room each morning, and three-course dinner for two at the Reflections Restaurant. The hotel also has extensive banquet facilities which can accommodate up to 800 guests and is hoping to cash in on the area’s scenic beauty as a wedding destination.

The resort includes a “floating” lobby with a two-sided stone fireplace, three indoor and outdoor pools; a fitness center with the latest equipment, and spa with array of treatments. Located at the resort directly on Main Street is the Dancing Bears restaurant with street-side seating, casual dining and great beverages. The Reflections Restaurant has an outdoor patio overlooking Mirror Lake and regional menus of fresh, healthy cuisine that utilize local produce and the finest fish and prime meats from New York and Canada.

There are 79 guestrooms with double queen beds and 54 with king beds, several with fireplaces, whirlpool tubs and direct waterfront access. All have European-styled bathrooms with natural stone tiled walk-in showers, granite vanities and Molton Brown of London amenities; work desks; flat screen televisions; wireless and wired high speed Internet access, and multi-function music systems with MP3 players and movies.

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Filed under: Journeys

Starting next month, you can hire the private train carriage built for the Prince of Wales in 1919 on an unparalleled journey through the heart of Australia. The carriage will be available on The Ghan’s journey from Adelaide on the continent’s southern coast to the port of Darwin at its top, one of the world’s great railway excursions. The historic carriage was built for Edward, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII and then the Duke of Windsor), for his royal visit in 1919. Accommodating up to ten guests in its ornate wood-paneled lounge and suites, the beautifully-restored carriage costs about $15,000 for a one-way, two-night trip.

[via UrbanDaddy]

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Filed under: Journeys, Wine

The Flora Springs Winery in St. Helena, California has one of the most intriguing tasting rooms I’ve seen in a while. The Room was designed by Joe Miroglio of Miroglio architecture and the stucco stripes are meant to evoke the look of the caves where Flora Springs has been aging their red wines year after year for 30 years. Inside there is a 32-foot, steel and oak tasting bar. There are also private tasting rooms and upper and lower patios terraced by rippling covered roofs. There are tastings at the Popcorn Bar as well as the Temptastings in the Tasting Cave which include food pairings matched to small production wines. Tasting prices range from $15 to $50 for the single vineyard pairing.

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Filed under: Journeys

It’s not looking to be a good week for train lovers. Yesterday, I mentioned that GrandLuxe Rail Journeys was shutting down their luxury train operations. Now the AFP brings news that the planned “five-star” train from Beijing to Tibet won’t be starting service in September as had been reported back in March. A reason for the delay wasn’t given nor was a new date for the launch provided. Speculation is that there was a delay in the delivery of the train’s carriages. But the AFP also notes that government figures show that the number of tourists visiting Tibet in the first half of 2008 fell by about 70 percent over last year after the violent riots in March. In a clampdown on the area, Beijing barred all tourists from going to Tibet until the end of April and didn’t allow foreign visitors back in until the end of June.

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Filed under: Journeys

The faltering economy has had a profound effect on air travel, now it’s taking its toll on the train travel industry. GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, which we’ve covered before for their luxury train trips throughout the U.S. and Mexico and their partnership with Amtrak, has announced that they cannot continue to operate due to financial reasons. The Denver Post reports that the company is not sure yet if people who made deposits for trips will get their money back.

The company formerly known as American Orient Express got a new owner in 2006 and seemed to be on track for success. But train travel in the U.S. has become less and less popular and the vacation industry as a whole is suffering.

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Filed under: Journeys

Mauritius, an island off the eastern coast of Africa amid the Indian Ocean, is a tropical getaway that probably won’t attract as many disruptive tourists as the usual vacation spots like Mexico or the Bahamas. On the eastern edge of the island lies the Anahita Resort with plush accommodations, fresh cuisine, an airy spa and an Ernie Els championship golf course. The luxurious residences are complete with the expected amenities and services with the addition of a Villa Master?! Nice. The ‘Master’ will prepare complimentary breakfast and take care of any other in-residence dining needs. The island has recreational and relaxing opportunities alike and is sure to get you away from the stress and hectic life at home.

[via Lussorian]

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Filed under: Journeys

One of the investors in Billionaire, the famed club for the megarich on Sardinia’s swank Emerald Coast, says the club should be shuttered because of the current economic climate. Billionaire, a favored haunt of tycoons who come to frolic with the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Kate Moss and Sean Combs, is controlled by rakish Formula 1 mogul Flavio Briatore (above), but Italian entrepreneur and politician Daniela Santanchè has a 10% stake.

Santanchè says that the ultra-exclusive club, where methuselahs of Cristal go for $50,000 a pop, is an offensive relic of a more wasteful age, the London Guardian reports. “With people struggling to get by, Billionaire should be consigned to history,” Santanchè says. “I myself have put my Aston Martin in the garage and get around in a Fiat 500.”

“Daniela has been in the sun too long,” Briatore, who has dated the likes of Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum, fired back. “What she’s saying is absurd. If luxury is suddenly a problem let’s close Bulgari and Cartier, or even all the discos, restaurants and the whole of the Emerald Coast.” That may not be necessary, in any case. The New York Times recently reported that the hotspot has lost a lot of its exclusivity lately and that some recent visitors aren’t even millionaires, let alone billionaires.

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Filed under: Journeys, Water

When the time comes for you to move out of your home and into a facility, be it a nursing home, assisted living center, or just a retirement community, get ready to pay a huge rent check.

The estimated average annual cost of living in an assisted living facility starts above $30,000, not including the entry fee that could be over $100,000. Retirement communities that don’t offer health care programs may have lower rent, but the waiting list can be long and the entry fees much steeper.

Some savvy seniors have put their savings into a much more lively retirement, like 89-year-old Beatrice Muller, who has spent the last nine years living on the luxury cruise ship RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. There are always physicians on the ship in case of a medical emergency, Muller gets all the food she can eat — it’s much better than nursing home cafeteria slop — and she’s seeing the world and meeting new people all the time. According to Muller, she pays about $7,000 a month, which makes this retirement cost about the same as, or even cheaper than, many high-end retirement communities.

The market is catching on, and now there are whole cruise ships dedicated to full-time residents. To purchase a condo for year-round residency on the Magellan will cost anywhere from $4 - $18 million, but fractional ownership (like time-shares) is available as well, starting under $200,000 for two-week ownership. This ship has 300 ports of call in 150 countries, and features luxury amenities like four fine dining restaurants, an observatory, tennis courts, swimming pools, and golf. Construction is due to be completed on this ship in mid-2010, but you can buy your condo now.

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Filed under: Journeys, The Classicist

Since it first opened in 1961, Barbados’ luxurious Sandy Lane has played host to a never-ending stream of royalty, socialites and movie stars. Arguably the Caribbean’s plushest resort, Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas, David Niven, Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra and Queen Elizabeth all took sojourns there in years past, while the list of current habitués is no less impressive, including Tiger Woods who tied the knot there in 2004.

The ne plus ultra in exclusivity, luxury, privacy and white glove service is embodied by the palatial neo-Palladian-style main building of cream coral stone set in a grove of mahogany trees on a beautiful stretch of beach in the middle of Barbados‘ “platinum coast.” A chauffered limousine (a Bentley for high-rollers) picks you up at the airport and you’re greeted at the front desk with cold towels and fruit punch, a preview of coming attractions, so to speak.

Sandy Lane was rebuilt in 2001, and it’s currently in the midst of a multimillion dollar makeover including upgrades to rooms, the spa, restaurants and public spaces. When it re-opens on October 3, in addition to 16,000-sq.-ft. of new marble, one of the biggest improvements will be an open plan, multi-cultural, all-day dining facility featuring a residential-style kitchen in the manner of a Caribbean Palladian conservatory, with a wine store, beach bar, sushi bar, lobster and live seafood tank, a fresh herb garden and a wood burning oven.

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The resort’s 112 rooms average 900 square feet and feature marble floors and bathrooms, mahogany plantation furniture, private verandahs, plasma TVs and all the bells and whistles. The property features two Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole golf courses, nine championship tennis courts, a 47,000 square foot spa, a John Frieda salon, shops galore (Joan Collins still owes money in one of them) and seven bars and restaurants to choose from. On the beach, attendants will fetch you drinks, clean your sunglasses and even spritz you with Evian water should you so desire.

In addition to the main accommodations, there’s also a five bedroom villa that sleeps 14 with a private pool, butler, housekeeper, chef and 24-hr. security guard for $25,000 a night during the holiday season. But if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.

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Filed under: Journeys

Ever since I read about it in this month’s Archaeology, I’ve been obsessed with the Hidden Treasure of Afghanistan story. In 1988, Omara Khan Massoudi, director of Afghanistan’s National Museum in Kabul and a team of museum workers hid over 20,000 precious artifacts dating from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 100 to keep them from the Taliban and others who would seek to destroy them when civil war erupted. For a long time the collection was believed destroyed or sold but in 2002, Massoudi revealed that he had hidden the items. Now 228 of the artifacts are part of an exhibit which has been exhibited throughout Europe and came to the U.S. this May. It will appear in just four cities, staying in Washington, D.C. until September 7 then San Francisco October 24-January 25, 2009, followed by Houston February 22-May 17, 2009, and finally New York June 23-September 20, 2009. The exhibit features golden bowls, bronze sculptures, ivories, glassware and more. Some pieces which had been imported from around the world and excavated from ancient storerooms discovered in the 1930s and 1940s others are gold ornaments from the “Bactrian Hoard,” found in 1978 in Tillya Tepe.

It’s not coming to my town so I’ll have head to the nearest city near me that has it San Francisco. The Fairmont has partnered with the National Geographic Society on special packages at their hotels in Washington, San Francisco and New York in conjunction with the National Geographic exhibition, “Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul.”Starting October 24, 2008, when the exhibition opens at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, guests will be able to stay at The Fairmont San Francisco with the Golden Treasures of Afghanistan package. The package includes a one-night stay, two entry tickets to the museum, a traditional Afghan treat of baklava and Turkish coffee for two and a set of note cards commemorating the exhibition. Rates start from $299 USD per night, and the package is available through January 25, 2009.

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Filed under: Journeys, Wings

The Westin is taking their Heavenly Bed blankets and pillows and White Tea scent into the airport. First and business class customers who fly United’s p.s.service between New York and California can snuggle under oversized Heavenly blankets and pillows inspired by the Westin’s Heavenly Bed. They will also be offered White Tea scented towelettes and mints, and Westin’s stress-relieving video and music content on United’s personal media players. United will serve a specialty cocktail inspired by the Westin SuperFoods program. A new cocktail will be unveiled each season and served on a brain-teaser coaster.

Westin has also created branded “Renewal Lounges” within United’s Red Carpet Clubs. The San Francisco airport lounge is equipped with a blue-light ActiViva lamp, not yet available for purchase in the United States, which provides phototherapy to make people feel more energized. The lounges are outfitted with plush furniture, fabrics and a nature-inspired color palette along with a LED candle wall and artwork typical of the Westin mellow-you-out-quick style. The Westin signature White Tea scent is diffused throughout the lounges and the televisions play relaxing nature videos. Westin has also created an exclusive, a non-alcoholic SuperFoods elixir to be served in the lounges. Sounds like first class and business passengers will be very chilled out. Economy fliers will remain stressed and frustrated.

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Filed under: Journeys, Pets

Among amenities like 24-hour multi-lingual concierge service and Selene marble baths, the Upper East Side’s Lowell New York does not neglect your pampered pet when it comes to luxe service. Room service is available around the clock for pup and owner alike, and the pet menu serves up such dishes as filet mignon tartar and buffalo marrow. Custom orders can be prepared on a whim, and if it’s just a snack that’s in order, the hotel has gone to the trouble to import Pure Fish Skin Chews from Iceland. Bon appetit, indeed.

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Filed under: Journeys, Real Estate Developments

If you like your fractional real estate on the exotic side here’s a retreat for you. You can own a share of a game and wildlife reserve in Bostwana. The Limpopo-Lipadi Game & Wilderness Reserve is a nearly 80,000 acre reserve in eastern Botswana that is home to lions, leopards, elephants, hippos and other wildlife. Each share will give the owner to reserve a stay in one of the lodges being built on the land. No hunting is allowed and game rangers will be on site to serve as guides and instructors on wildlife topics. Once owners are certified by the rangers they can take their own self-guided trips and sleep out on tree platforms for an up close and personal safari experience if they prefer. Owners will have full access to the reserve for a certain number of days and the more shares they buy the more days they can have. Six lodges and camps are planned for the reserve as well as private lodges for those who buy five or more shares. Private lodges should be completed in late 2009. Each share costs $195,000.

[via IHT: Raising the Roof]

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Filed under: Journeys

Travel is always a great excuse to blow some cash for a fabulous experience and these elite suites help you do just that. Ever wondered how much the most expensive hotel room in the world would cost you? $52,000…a night! (Does that qualify for the Guinness Book?) The gold-medalist in this category (yes, I have been watching too much of the Olympics) is the Royal Penthouse Suite at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland. Curious as to the winner of “budget-breaker” in the U.S. — it’s none other than the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons New York. I’m not sure exactly what that big price tag includes but I would hope that means free champagne and strawberries, a cozy robe to take home and plenty of room service.

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Filed under: Journeys

The first boutique luxury hotel has just opened in Cusco, Southeastern Peru, the historic capital of the Inca Empire. Situated in a meticulously-restored colonial mansion that is probably the first Spanish building ever constructed on the ancient site, La Casona Inkaterra features eleven luxurious suites surrounding a sumptuous courtyard that’s nearly 400 years old. The hotel, which is only a short distance from famed Machu Picchu, a UNESCO world heritage site, boasts modern amenities like radiant heated floors and iPod docks that would have shocked the original inhabitants.

[via UrbanDaddy]

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Filed under: Journeys

Globe-Trotter, the British luggage designer which since 1897 has furnished luxury carryalls for the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill, will soon add another formidable piece to its collection: a bulletproof case designed by Ross Lovegrove. Weighing in at under three pounds, it’s the lightest rigid suitcase of its kind. Even before this news, Globe-Trotter was getting around: the luggage maker recently collaborated with J.Crew to craft limited edition pieces for its new luggage collection, and it showed up last year in the Conran Shop with a special rolling fashion statement.

The Lovegrove piece will make its debut during New York Fashion Week in September, posing from the windows at Moss. Until then, you can still get the perennial classic, the Centenary trolley suitcase in orange (designed by hand from Vulcan Fibre and lined in silk) at Moss for $1,580. The Lovegrove designed Air Cabin, by comparison, will retail for $3,500.

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Filed under: Journeys, Green

We get them whenever we travel but hardly give a second thought to all those plastic keycards from hotels. Sustainable Cards has created wood hotel key cards and they will get their big debut at the Democratic National Convention. Around 70,000 biodegradable key cards will be used in Denver hotels.. The Sustainable Cards will be emblazoned with the Denver 2008 Host Committee logo and made from sustainably harvested wood. Wooden key cards have been used in Europe for years. While it wouldn’t seem like such a small item would make a big difference, switching from plastic cards to biodegradable wood can reduce plastic waste equal to the volume of seven 777 airplanes in one year. The company also plans to offer wood gift cards in the future.

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Filed under: Journeys, Water, Wings

This summer, luxury charter service V1 Jets opened up its seaplane service from Manhattan to the Hamptons (formerly reserved for members) to anyone with the price of a ticket, and it’s proved to be very popular with the gliteratti. The 40 minute trip on an 8-passenger Cessna, which costs $495 one-way, has been taken by the likes of models Adriana Lima and Petra Nemcova, actors Pierce Brosnan and Jeremy Piven, and mogul Barry Diller. V1 Jets was founded in 2003 by hedge fund manager Andrew Zarrow who envisioned a way to utilize the excessive amount of “dead legs” created by private aircraft returning empty after delivering clients to their destinations, saving money and resources in the process.

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Filed under: Journeys, Real Estate Developments

Marnell Corrao Associates has announced the topping off the M Resort, Spa and Casino in Las Vegas. The $1 billion project is located on South Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway a bit of a ways from the Las Vegas Strip. The M Resort, Spa and Casino will have 390 guest rooms, nine restaurants, a destination wine cellar and tasting room, more than 60,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, a 23,000 square foot spa and fitness center and over 100,000 square foot pool and events piazza named Villaggio del Sole. Of course there will be a casino with over 92,000 square feet of gaming space including 1,846 slot machines, 64 table games and a state-of-the-art race and sports book. A March 2009 is planned.

The resort has also entered into a partnership with Taubman Center Inc. to create the first full-scale, department store anchored regional mall to be directly integrated into a casino resort. It will add one million square feet of in-line shopping to the resort and is expected to open in late 2011 or early 2012. Another feature of the resort will be a 63,000 square foot movie theater with 14 screens and 3,100 seat of all-stadium luxury seating with digital sound and premium concession selections,.

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Filed under: Journeys

Vacation…Time off…Getaway… no matter which term you use personal travel seems to be driven more by individual interests than any other purpose lately. In a recent survey taken by American Express Travel, 87% of respondents indicate taking trips for the pursuit of personal passions will continue or even increase over the next two years despite economic conditions. Whether you have always wanted to learn top culinary skills, play a new instrument, or attend a sporting event of your dreams putting your vacation funds towards individual enrichment seems to be the trend and personally I am all for it! Here are the top interests shared by Americans:

• 42% choose destinations for culinary reasons
• 28% take-off for a sporting event
• 25% traveled for adventure
• 21% skipped town for music-related opportunities
• 15% claimed educational interests for their travel

Most people expressed they are also willing to spend more money and stay longer for vacations that further their personal dreams. If you have time off I think why not grow as a person while enjoying time away from the daily grind.

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