Your dream vacation
Pick 1 of 5 these adventures, then see what your choice says about you.
By Carin Gorrell
“Sounds like you need a vacation,” Microsoft mogul Bill Gates says as he hands you a signed blank check. “It’s on me. The sky’s the limit.”
Dream on, you say? Why not? Gregory Patrick, founder of Tours of Enchantment, a luxury travel-consulting firm based in Houston, spends his time dreaming up vacations for those who can afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars. So imagine for a moment that a billionaire actually did offer to fund your fantasy getaway. What would you do? Go to Club Med? Ride the Orient Express?
“Boring,” Patrick responds. The self-defined “experience designer” insists on creativity, combining his clients’ personality, history, likes and dislikes with an extraordinary level of service — personal butlers, chauffeurs and chefs come standard — to conjure up escapes that only begin with the destination.
Here, Patrick has helped concoct five distinct diversions. Decide which one most appeals to you, then see the box at the bottom of page 9 to discover what a psychologist says your pick reveals about your personality.
1. Whether you’re into photography or gaming, target South Africa to track the “big five” game animals — lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo — on a safari by jeep, canoe or train. Go native by participating in an authentic tribal ceremony led by the prince of the Zulu tribe, a direct descendent of Shaka Zulu. Then, after dinner with three Nobel Peace Prize winners — Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk and Desmond Tutu, all area natives — retire to one of Johannesburg’s five-star hotels or a fully modernized treetop bungalow.
2.”Time-travel” to an estate near London, where you’ll awake one morning as an English noble and, dressed in custom-made period costume, get swept up in a 1775 murder mystery. Another day brings 1815 and the Battle of Waterloo, re-enacted by more than 300 soldiers as you observe from a hot-air balloon. Last stop is 1907, at the peak of the British Empire, and dinner with actors portraying era icons. All that, and there’s still plenty of time to shop London’s finest boutiques or get whisked off to Scotland to play 18 holes at St. Andrew’s.
3. Want a true New York experience? Be careful what you wish for. Amid a whirlwind week of five-star restaurants and Broadway shows will come a few quintessential Manhattan moments. When your limo pulls up to Bloomingdale’s, for example, a masked mugger dives in to rob the driver. And at a Saturday afternoon Yankees game, the two Brooklyn natives you’ve just befriended generously order hot dogs, pretzels and beer for your entire row … then sneak out and stick you with the bill. It’s all covered, of course; you’re asked only to expect the unexpected.
4. See firsthand how the other half lives when you book a stay at a millionaire’s tropical home. Nestle into Necker Island, owned by Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson and appropriately located in the British Virgin Islands. His 74-acre atoll boasts a Balinese-style villa with huge balconied bedrooms, a swimming pool, hot tubs and tennis courts. Spend your days baking on the beach, or take to the sea on a private yacht to swim or fish the warm waters. Later, while enjoying the sunset over a gourmet meal, savor a sudden shower of thousands of rose petals, dropped from above by plane.
5. Make the crowd go wild when you take on your favorite pro athlete or sports team in front of 500 screaming spectators, all hired to chant your name. A hockey fan and a team of friends might fly by private jet to British Columbia to face the Vancouver Canucks in a full-out, three-period game. Hit the showers afterward, then rehash your most victorious moments over dinner with the team. You’ll return home with autographed pictures and bedecked in an official, personalized jersey.
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Now — which trip most appealed to you? If you chose …
1. “You’re looking for a thrill — touching the shark,” says psychologist and personality expert Samuel Karson, Ph.D. Safari-goers typically are young risk-takers, individuals who are active, adventurous, bold, outgoing and impulsive rather than restrained or rule-bound. “Risk-takers tend to be carefree and not to see danger signals.”
2. “Time travelers” are intellectuals or history buffs, those who seek adventure through learning and sharing ideas, Karson says: “They have literary and even professorial interests. They spend a lot of time with books; they aren’t typically extroverts.”
3. “This would appeal to someone who likes to be entertained,” Karson says. New York-goers aren’t shy or retiring, but they do like the comforts of big-city life and are constantly on the go. “Thrill, thrill, thrill,” he says. “This is for a passive adventurer. Your participation is relatively limited.”
4. “This trip sounds romantic. It might attract a younger crowd, but certainly the young at heart,” Karson says. Romantics tend not to be tough, practical or realistic; instead, they’re more sensitive and interested in aesthetic beauty. “This is someone who likes to be pampered,” Karson says.
5. “A competition would attract someone who is very imaginative, fanciful and easily seduced from practical judgment,” Karson says. It also might appeal to people who crave fame and don’t mind achieving recognition based on others’ accomplishments. “This is the escapist’s dream.”