Luxury Travel, places to stay and fabulous ways to get there.
by Roberta Murphy Thompson Last night, Steve and I invited friends over to share a story and a pasta dinner we brought back from Florence, Italy. Well, not exactly the whole dinner, but a Florence adventure that included a kilo of handmade fettuccine and a pan of onion and cheese stuffed raviolis that we transported from Florence back to Reno in a suitcase. Sauces, salad and asparagus sides were made…
by Roberta Murphy I may dream of disconnecting from all things electronic, but fly into a panic when wifi goes down or more frequently, can’t find my phone. And I know I’m not alone. But there’s a persistent fantasy that I will one day deliberately land in some remote (and beautiful) location where there is no wifi, no television, no internet–and no clocks. I would be with my soulmate and…
by Roberta Murphy Shattering California state records, Southern Califonia luxury hotel resort La Montage recently sold foe $360 million–or around $1.4 million per room according to a recent article in the LA Times. Said rooms, by the way, go for around $600 per night each. This purchase price shatters all recent records in California and comes close to matching other pricy sales, which includes the Hotel Del Coronado, which recently sold…
by Roberta Murphy Imagine my surprise this morning when we were notified that Luxury Home Digest had been named a top travel blog in the world– albeit #87 on the list! Though we’ve written plenty about luxury homes, luxury destinations and favored hotels, more recently we’ve warned about travel to Mexico and Egypt because of political issues and potential dangers to travelers in these locations. And advising our readers to…
by Roberta Murphy Amazing Underwater Hotel Experiences to Become a Reality? It seems underwater hotels are the new rage in bizarre hotel experiences. Finland blew us away with the ice hotel, China with its underground hotel, and now Fiji, Africa and Dubai –and other countries which now have competing underwater hotel experiences for the adventurous and well-heeled. Sites of some current underwater hotels: The Manta Resort in Zanzibar, Africa (Pemba…
We welcome guest writers from time to time, and today Nisha Sharma shares her expertise in another type of luxury travel: Luxury villas around the world that might be rented on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This is perfect for families, groups or simply those who treasure their privacy. Luxury Holiday Villas Around the World Luxury holiday villas offer unique access to some of the most beautiful sights in…
by Roberta Murphy We are making reservations now to attend the National Association of Realtors NAR NARDIGRAS, which will logically be held in New Orleans, November 4 through November 8. We are arriving a couple of days early to attend a two day Cyberprofessional meeting and will spend the balance of our time in unspecified meetings–but will additionally be taking photos and reviewing lodging, restaurants and local “catches.” Time will…
by Roberta Murphy Bernie Madoff is headed for several lifetimes in prison–and which leads us to wonder: Where are the cushiest prisons? And wouldn’t you know, Forbes.com provides a timely list of the top-rated federal prisons. They looked for such amenities as email, proximity to major airports, weather and internal substance-abuse programs, a sentence-reducing ploy used by non-addicted white collar criminals. Other qualifiers for the luxury prison list include pleasant guards,…
by Roberta Murphy We are seeing luxury scaled down on many fronts, and luxury hotels and timeshare resorts are taking it on the chin as well. For the first five months of this year, according the the Wall Street Journal, U.S. hotel occupancy has declined 53 percent. This is the lowest drop in occupancy since 1987, when Smith Travel Research began tracking these numbers. While both luxury and budget hotels…
by Roberta Murphy According to Forbes.com, now may be the best time to make some of those major purchases wise shoppers have been putting off for so long, particularly if one has the luxury of capital. The Forbes list: 1. Homes. Low prices fueled by foreclosures and short sales, coupled with low interest rates and possible income tax credits, make this an opportune time to shop real estate. 2. Cars….
