Do something luxuriously different in 2013.

BY the time this article comes out, we will be well into the middle of January in this new year. Many of us will have made and broken our new year’s resolutions and then made new ones hoping we could stick to at least half of them. One of my friends once resolved that he would want to do one new thing every month, which I thought was a kind of cool resolution. So in that spirit of doing something different in the new year, I thought I might write about a number of new luxurious things you could splurge on to make this 2013 truly memorable. After all, 2012 didn’t end in armageddon so we might as well celebrate that we’re still here, alive and kicking, no? Just do one or all of them if you can afford the time and money, but doing any of the following is guaranteed to make the year special. We’ll begin with the easiest and relatively most affordable of them all and work our way upwards, shall we?

A class above

Let’s start with splurging on First Class Travel all the way. That’s simple enough. Most of those in business and in senior management positions will have enjoyed premium travel in the course of their work. This year, just for your personal enjoyment and in the company of your partner, why not book yourself a truly pampering holiday and take a flight aboard one of the world’s best airlines? Get one of those private suites on a real long haul flight and enjoy pampering like you have never experienced before. Make full use of the complimentary perks that come with your first class tickets, like getting picked up in a stretch limo or even a helicopter, from your home or pick-up point straight to the airport before being whisked through all the pre-travel checks and right into your private suite. Experience being greeted like a VIP even during a refueling stop, and again later when you arrive at your destination. Its certainly not something everyone can afford to do everytime, but if this is the year you want to splurge on a truly unforgettable holiday, flying out in style would be a very good start.

A luxurious escapade

Enjoy a stay at a luxurious estate hotel. You don’t even have to go far to experience this truly magical break. Some islands right along our shores have truly remarkable properties within their resorts especially designed for those who expect the extraordinary. I shared with you my experience in one of them, The Taraas Villa over in Pulau Redang. There is also the famed Pangkor Laut Resort Estates, where you literally get a small estate for you and your family. There’s the main bungalow for the main couple, and two smaller ones with twin beds for family, personal staff or friends, a dining room bungalow, a private terrace and an infinity-edge private pool over looking the sea. You get a personal chef and two butlers and the hotel staff are especially trained to provide impeccable yet unimposing service, leaving you with the feeling that you are being very well looked after without ever being disturbed. A stay at a place like this will definitely remain in your memories for a long, long time, so if you have the money for it, its absolutely worth it.

Going private

Take a private jet, fill it up with your entourage and fly to an exotic destination. If flying suite-class seems mundane and ordinary to your well-heeled soul, then perhaps you can take it a step further and just have a private jet take you and your loved ones or your best mates, not to mention your assistants and maids and butlers (and whomever or whatever else you absolutely cannot live without) to some exotic destination. If you have your own airplane that’s well and good, but not owning your own jet is no longer a problem these days with private jets readily available for charter. Just book a plane with a capacity to suit your needs, round up every groupie in your circle, lead them to Subang Skypark and be on your merry way. A friend of mine flew us all on a private jet for his birthday weekend in Bali, and we had such a fantastic time from begining to end that we still talk about it today, five years later. How’s that for a memorable holiday? Of course our fabulously wealthy host footing the bill for the entire trip made it even more memorable for us (and for his accountant too, I’m sure).

The aristocrats

Become an Aristocrat and stay at a Chateau or a great house. Have you been watching Downton Abbey and wishing you were living in that era? Well who said you cannot experience it now? You won’t get Carson the butler and his team of merry house servants of course, but you can pretend to be an Earl and stay in a 40-room mansion for a week or so. The gaslights will no longer be there having been replaced by electric lights, and you will have high speed internet and every modern amenity you would expect at a five star hotel, but you can still wake up to manicured landscapes and vast expanses of land outside your window, and you can enjoy it all privately with just your inner most circle around you. Whether you take the Chateau Delande in Burgundy, France, where you can invite 60 friends or the smaller Great Brampton House in the scenic British midlands country side for a smaller party of 20, you can immerse yourself in the fantasy of olden day grandeur with activities like fox hunts and clay pigeon shooting, all for an affordable fee of only from UK20,000 (RM97,448)and above per week. But really, one cannot put a price on making such extraordinary memories, can one?

Sail away

Charter a luxury yacht and hit the open seas. Not too long ago I wrote in this column about some of the fabulous super yachts that the über rich own and showcase in places like Monte Carlo, Sardinia or along the Mediterranean coast. Well here’s the good news, you too can experience that divine lifestyle if you are ready to fork out a measly 200,000-800,000 euros (RM796,656-RM3,186,624) a week. That’s right! For just that amount of money you can charter a luxury yacht complete with crew and service staff to help you escape fom the drudgery of ordinary life. You and 20 to 25 of your guests can be utterly spoiled by the attention of well trained staff aboard a vessel upwards of 80 metres in length featuring amenities like state of the art entertainment, gourmet feasts and on board jaccuzis and spas. Who says you have to actually buy a yacht for tens of millions of dollars to live this fabled lifestyle? For a fraction of it you get to enjoy a week of unparallelled luxury, and not have to worry about the upkeep of the boat after your holiday is over.

So those are my top five luxury selections for doing something extraordinary in 2013. Well, you don’t have to do them just this year, of course. Any time is a good time for luxury. The important thing is to truly enjoy it and not worry so much about what it’s doing to your bank balance. Someone very wise once said, if you have to think about how much it costs, it’s probably not for you. Then again, there is no harm to aspire to the better things in life, is there? Perhaps one day, it might all come true. So for those who can afford it, I urge you to try any or all of the above. For those who can’t (yet), keep it in the backburner for when you can. I hope you eventually make it! And I hope all of us have a great 2013!

> This is the final installment for Priority Lane.

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