There are many great things about luxury travel, but the best is that we get to travel at all. Photo / Four Seasons
Herald writers share their favourite things about luxury travel, from warm nuts to crisp sheets, to First Class lounges.
THIS IS NUTS
I knew I was ruined when I complained that the nuts were cold. It was the final leg of a lie-flat odyssey from
PILLOW TALK
My favourite thing about luxury travel is the pillows. Even more than the sheets. Some magic combination of sink-in softness but with enough loft for you not to drown in it, mmmm. My first time with an extraordinary pillow gave me a sleep more restful than I had thought possible and I fell so deeply in love with it, I didn’t want to leave the hotel room. Even though Paris, yes Paris, was waiting for me right outside the window. When I got home I looked them up, thinking I would buy a couple. The price was somewhere close to the plane fare.
TRAVEL IS A GIFT
As far as travel goes, for me the biggest luxury is how it gifts us access to the world that we’d otherwise not be able to experience first-hand. From crossing borders with an ease not granted to everyone (I’ll never forget visiting regions like Iran, Kashmir and Bosnia), stepping foot in fragile ecosystems across the Pacific and South Asia, to connecting with the people you meet and being part of their life and culture, even just for a little bit. Travel is enriching, and when you think back to a time when globetrotting was out of reach for many — due to geography, technology and cost — it can make my head spin just to think how very lucky I have been. How special to get to see the globe. It’s a pleasure and a privilege, and I think we need to remember what a luxury that truly is.
ONCE YOU GO FIRST, YOU’LL NEVER GO BACK
My favourite thing about luxury travel is ... stepping off the plane looking like a rock star after a long-haul flight. My first experience of travelling First Class was a trip from Auckland to Tokyo. It ruined me for life and that was long before the days of private “suites” and onboard shower spas. Even Business Class looked cramped after that. My philosophy is generally to travel cheaply and use the extra cash for experiences on the ground, but if you have airpoints or money to splash on an upgrade, there’s something to be said for not arriving rumpled, grumpy and completely knackered before the real fun starts.
HE SHOULD BE SO LUCKY
The gulf between luxury travel and Economy Class is at its most stark as you cross the threshold of a First Class lounge. Outside is chaos: other people’s children; over-priced, ill-considered food choices; and loud people sneezing. Inside it’s peace; fine food and fine drink. Where so much of travel is an ordeal, a good First Class lounge is a sanctuary. Best of the lot that I found? Qantas in Melbourne, where I got a massage from Kylie Minogue’s favourite masseuse. As Vesper Lynd said to James Bond: “There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets; this is the latter.”
TURN-DOWN DELIGHTS
My favourite thing about luxury travel is turn-down service. Returning to your suite to find it’s been expertly prepared for optimum sleep, with every detail attended to, from the lights to the temperature to the angle of the pillows. Any detritus from the day has been erased and the mini bar and luxury toiletries replenished. At Taupō’s Huka Lodge, it’s a hot water bottle slipped between the sheets and a fluffy robe hanging from the bathroom door. At Adelaide’s Sequoia, it’s a freshly baked cookie and a pot of herbal tea, the fireplace at a low flicker. If only every night could feel so luxurious.
THE ABSENCE OF THINGS
“Luxury” changes depending on circumstances and stages. When my kids were small, luxury meant camping with other families, adventure, endless sunny days, not wearing much, eating when you like. Sandwiches. Catching fish. Meals made by everyone. The luxury of space, of not being bound by routine, domesticity. Luxury once meant being upgraded to Business Class from Hong Kong to Auckland. I ordered Hennessy and delivered notes to my kids in Economy, saying I loved and missed them and I wished they were with me but that I hoped they enjoyed their 2-minute noodles. Luxury is not feeling guilty about this. Most recently luxury was glamping in Golden Bay on a hill above Tākaka at Drift Off Grid, in a “tent” - I use the term loosely - with views over Tasman Bay and, more immediately, Tata Beach. We lit the potbelly fire inside, made cocktails and submerged ourselves in the outside baths. Luxury is not necessarily the extra, but the absence of things: crowds, commerce, chaos, and light pollution when looking at the Milky Way.
NO COMMOTION
For me, the priceless thing about luxury travel is that it affords you some quiet – no commotion, or haggling for seats and queues, just the low hum of good service and an orderly procession to your destination. Most of the time my travelling is fairly basic, so the opportunity to stay somewhere lovely is exciting. One of my favourite luxury experiences was at the Palazzina Grassi in Venice, you arrive by speedboat and alight into a world designed by Philippe Starck – mirrored walls, white marble, crisp linen and fresh flowers. Whiling away an hour on the rooftop balcony with a view over the Grand Canal and an aperitif in hand. Absolute joy.
TELEPATHIC CONNECTIONS
My favourite thing about luxury travel is the way it breaks down the barrier between the part of your brain that desires things, and the fulfilment of those desires, so you no longer need to think about what will make you happiest because someone else already has. At its best, it has the quality of telepathy: You are lying in the enormous bath looking at the extravagant view and before you can think, “This would go great with some mid-career Herbie Mann and a bottle of booze”, your Spotify account has connected automatically to the roof-based sound system and the sommelier is on the bath-side intercom, constructing a personalised flight of 2014 buttery chards, which arrive before you’ve finished talking and are accompanied by the fried chicken you only just realised you were craving.
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