Space Goddess

Groucho Marx once said, “I don’t want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member!” Well, Groucho, I disagree! Once again, I’ve been included on a panel of travel experts for Forbestraveler.com. Here’s what Jeff Koyen of Forbes Traveler says about the list of the top 400 Hotels in the World and the people who chose them:

The world’s most distinguished travel experts pick the finest hotels

“A once-in-a-lifetime experience that sets a new standard for over-the-top luxurious hotels. This is a masterpiece. If you want to see what living like a billionaire is like—just once in your life—stay here.”

“In 35 years of hotel design and visiting, this is the best hotel experience I have ever had. Such a wonderful location and such wonderful service—it was a magical experience. I was heartbroken to leave.”

“Truly one of the most beautiful spots—and hotels—in the world. What more can I say?”

“These are just three of the many comments we collected from the Forbes Traveler 400 board of travel experts who determined the 2008/2009 list of the world’s top luxury hotels. You’re just dying to know which hotel they’re talking about, right? Well…to paraphrase the Bard, there’s the rub.

When we first published this groundbreaking list two years ago, we broke rank from the other travel magazines and websites that place great emphasis on mathematically ranking the best hotels in the world. Statistically speaking, the only way to make such a claim is to ask several thousand people for their opinions. The world’s best hotels, then, are often ranked by a sea of anonymous web surfers.

Turning to the crowd is good for certain tasks. When you can’t remember the capital of Belarus, ask everyone on the bus. Someone will probably remember it’s Minsk (a fifth-grader, no doubt). But when picking the right hotel means the difference between an unforgettable trip and an unforgiving spouse, shouldn’t you ask people who stay in luxury hotels once or twice a week—not once a year?

So, from a wide variety of industries, we assembled a board of 79  luxury-travel experts. Arianna Huffington is a renowned author, publisher and one-time California gubernatorial candidate; her fellow board member, Todd English, is a celebrity chef and restaurateur. Adam Tihany is a noted interior designer and architect who’s responsible for several high-profile hotels around the world; Tony Wheeler co-founded Lonely Planet, publisher of the eponymous guidebooks.

We were fortunate to have Erik Blachford, current CEO of TerraPass and former CEO of Expedia, opine alongside Peter Greenberg, noted travel writer and The Today Show’s travel editor. And if anyone knows about luxury hotels, it’s Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso, a consortium of upscale travel agents, and Aaron Simpson, group CEO of Quintessentially, a global concierge service for discerning travelers.

We asked our board members to rate nearly 800 highly regarded four- and five-star hotels in seven categories. Because new hotels need time to find their rhythm, we omitted properties less than two years old; and, we didn’t include hotels that are undergoing major renovations. Our experts were promised anonymity so they could speak freely, and they had nothing to gain from any of the hotels they praised (or criticized). We then took the top-rated 400 and commissioned reviews from professional travel writers who have first-hand experience with the hotels (and did not receive complimentary stays during their visits).

The result is the Forbes Traveler 400, a rundown of the world’s best hotels, spread across six continents and presented geographically.”

I am honored to be a member of this panel! I hope you click on the link below to see the Forbes 400!

http://www.forbestraveler.com/forbes400/

Meet the other 78 members of this panel!

http://www.forbestraveler.com/forbes400/panel

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.  ~Seneca

To get away from one’s working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one’s self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change.  ~Charles Horton Cooley

The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.  ~Henry Boye

One of my favorite spots on Earth is about 600 miles west of Ecuador. Actually, it is not a spot—it’s a collection of islands, unique, pristine, unspoiled (for the time being), and the area that spawned Darwin’s theory of evolution of the species—the Galapagos!

I usually recommend a voyage through the islands as the best way to experience the Galapagos and my personal favorite company to use is Lindblad. Yesterday a friend of mine at International Expeditions, Jennifer Reynolds, sent me  information on an exciting option for a Galapagos adventure—rent a breathtaking villa and take day trips to various islands.

Here are some photos of the home and photos of the animals of the Galapagos to whet your appetite to visit this amazing destination:

I’ll let the famous people’s quotes answer the question:

A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” — Moslih Eddin Saadi

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” — Martin Buber

“A man of ordinary talent will always be ordinary, whether he travels or not; but a man of superior talent (which I cannot deny myself to be without being impious) will go to pieces if he remains forever in the same place.” — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled.” — Mohammed

“Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions.” — Peter Hoeg

“The journey is my home.” — Muriel Rukeyser

“To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” —Freya Stark

“Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else.” — Lawrence Block

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” — Robert Frost

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” — Pat Conroy

“I should like to spend the whole of my in life traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home.” — William Hazlitt

“Hitler didn’t travel. Stalin didn’t travel. Saddam Hussein never traveled. They didn’t want to have their orthodoxy challenged.” — Howard Gardner

I tried to think of a catchy title using words like “Wow!” or “Amazing” or “Incredible”. First of all those aren’t catchy words; in addition, they are overused; and third, they don’t adequately describe the exhiliration, the awe, and excitement I felt when I first saw Eve. Eve is very young and is the prodigy of Burt Rutan and Bob Morgan. She is sleek, sexy and a Virgin! Despite her youth she is already a mother. Immaculate conception? Hardly!

Who is Eve? Her full name is VMS Eve and she is Virgin Galactic’s new mothership! Introduced in late July to the press and to Astronauts who have already made a reservation to experience Space, Eve and I met on August 15th. As one of the 47 original Accredited Space Agents in the US and 1 of fewer than 100 ASA’s worldwide, Virgin Galactic flew us to Mojave, California to view firsthand the new mothership. By the way, Eve was named after Sir Richard Branson’s mother, Eve!

We landed at Scaled Composites and were greeted and hosted by Burt Rutan, winner of the Ansari X Prize in 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Rutan. We met Bob Morgan, lead engineer for the project (who, as a young child, lived for a very short time in my home town, Highland Park, Il), several other important team members and Brian Binnie, test pilot, who flew Spaceship1 on her second flight to Space, securing the Ansari X Prize.

In addition to the excitement of watching history in the making, I was struck by the humility of all the team. When Burt, Bob, and Brian did Q & A with us, they talked in plain English. They stressed the team effort and how all participants are familiar with all phases of the design, build, and soon-to-happen testing. I was inspired by the lack of ego and the sense of true community.

I had my picture taken with Eve and as soon as I get it, I’ll post it here! Meanwhile, here are 2 photos—one from the initial rollout in July and one of all of the ASA’s on August 15th!

Tune in Tuesday, August 12th, at 10:00 AM to the Walt Bodine Show 89.3 FM, KCUR when I’ll discuss space tourism!!!

I just checked the website, www.kcur.org , and noticed that the topic for Tuesday’s show is “odd” jobs. Unusual, perhaps—cutting edge, most definitely—but, “odd”???? Maybe they are just describing me and not what I do—you think?

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Lonesome George twice.  He resides in the Galapagos and has chosen bachelorhood for years. Now the great news is that Lonesome George is about to lose the “lone”!

Read on:

http://www.galapagos.org/2008/index.php?id=139

Okay, I have no excuse for not blogging since we returned from our safari! Well, actually, I have several excuses but none are valid (except for the one about waiting for the stars to be aligned with the orbit of Jupiter—that, my friends, is a very valid reason!).

I will try to upload a movie I made of our safari to Botswana and Zambia. It was our 5th safari in 9 years and we loved every minute of it! Thank you, thank you, thank you to our friends at Wilderness Safaris! We had an amazing adventure! To whet your appetite: we saw a buffalo tree a lioness, a hyena stalk one of Legadema’s cubs (Legadema, a leopard,  is the star of a National Geographic film that chronicled her life), and two starry-eyed humans celebrate their 10th anniversary with a private candlelight dinner a deux at Vumbura Plains (that would be yours truly and Michael, of course!)

Next post I’ll update you on White Knight 2, the mother ship for Spaceship 2. She’ll be unveiled in 2 weeks to the press and I’ll see her a month from today. That reminds me, have you reserved a seat on Virgin Galactic, yet? What are you waiting for? Trust me, the stars have definitely aligned with Jupiter!

No matter what day you think it is, while reading this post, pretend today is June 8th! Unlike Toto, we didn’t hate our version of Oz! We loved our safari and the friends we made along the journey. Like Toto, we came back on June 8th to Kansas! I believe a well-balanced life of a traveler consists of planning glorious journeys, taking the journey, happily returning home, and, best of all, savoring the memories!

As soon as we get our photos together, I’ll post a link to the Picasa website to share with you!

Now, it’s Sunday,June 8th, in the late morning and in Mauritius it’s 9 hours ahead. My body is here in KC, but my body clock tells me I’m still many thousand miles East of here. Jet lag and all, it’s great to be home!

NOTE: For those of you who faithfully followed my directions in my original “pre-Safari” post back in May, bravo! I must admit that I am now totally confused because I am writing this and envisioning myself being back from our journey AND I haven’t yet left! Since I didn’t take my laptop with me, I pre-entered my posts as if we were communicating from Africa. Confused yet? I’m dizzy! I think I need a vacation!

Tuesday       June 03 2008                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Today you will be assisted onto your helicopter transfer from Shumba Camp to Kafue Airstrip, for your light aircraft transfer to Lusaka Airport for your scheduled flight SA 63 departing at 1:50 PM to Johannesburg

 On arrival at OR Tambo International Airport off flight SA63 at 4:00 PM you will be met by a Wilderness Safaris representative, who will transfer you to Grace Hotel.

Grace in Rosebank is located in the heart of Rosebank and surrounded by boutiques, art galleries, art cinemas, high quality craft markets, restaurants and clubs. The hotel has 73 rooms in total comprising 60 double size or twin rooms, 10 one-bedroom suites and 3 one-bedroom penthouse suites. Each room has an en suite bathroom with bath and separate shower, mini-bar, satellite TV, wall safe, tea/coffee making facilities, hairdryer, air-conditioning and telephone. The suites each have a separate lounge and guest toilet and the penthouse suites are larger than normal suites, and have a private balcony.  Flavoursome cuisine is available in the hotel’s fourth-floor dining room, which opens onto a rooftop pool and terrace garden where one can enjoy light alfresco meals. Specially selected wines can be enjoyed from Vinothèque. The ground floor sitting room with its fascinating library and complimentary Café Complet, which offers tea and coffee with pastries and cakes, has a warm intimate ambience.  There is a heated outdoor rooftop lap pool as well as The Spa which offers a full compliment of treatments. Adjoining the ground floor is a business facility centre where all modern communication and presentation equipment is at hand, as well as secretarial services. Website:         www.thegrace.co.za