Here’s a round-up of luxury travel stories that have caught the eye this week. To make sure you receive these new weekly alerts in your web browser, please click on the red bell icon in the bottom right hand corner of the page and click ‘subscribe’ (works on desktop only – for other ways to subscribe, please click here). This will also alert you to any other posts on the blog. Should you wish, you can unsubscribe at any time, by clicking on the icon again and selecting ‘unsubscribe’.
France records all-time highest temperature of 45.9C
France recorded temperatures nearly two degrees higher than its previous record and firefighters continued to battle historic wildfires in Spain as much of western Europe remained in the grip of an extreme early-summer heatwave on Friday. The French state weather forecaster, Météo-France, said the temperature in Gallargues-le-Montueux in the Gard département hit 45.9C at 4.20pm on Friday… [read more]
Take a look inside the luxury jet billed as a ‘flying cruise ship’ that the Red Sox took to London for their series against the Yankees
The Boston Red Sox flew to London in style for their upcoming series against the New York Yankees. While baseball players might be used to chartered flights, the Red Sox took things to another level for their trip to London, flying aboard the Crystal Skye— a Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner wide-body jet from Crystal AirCruises. According to The Action Network’s Darren Rovell, the flight cost the team $500,000, but taking a look around the interior, it’s easy to see why the trip is so expensive… [read more]
Here are 9 crazy features found on high-end luxury cars
They’re not called high-end luxury cars for nothing. They take opulence a step further with all kinds of outrageous options that would have most people scratching their heads. But hey, it’s all about what you want, right? You have to have that one veneer, that intricate clock, and that special exterior color that doubles the manufacturing time of your Bentley or Rolls-Royce. Here are nine crazy features on high-end luxury cars that you can find today… [read more]
Singapore’s second ‘ultra-luxurious’ Raffles hotel is coming to Sentosa in 2022, and a Raffles Bali will open next year
The Raffles Hotel on 1 Beach Road has for a long time been recognised as one of Singapore’s most iconic and historic brands. Now, the brand is bringing brand new excitement to the hospitality scene here with a planned second hotel set to open on Singapore’s Sentosa island… [read more]
Luxury done differently: why Seattle’s billionaire society prefers biking and hiking to fancy hotels and traditional fine dining
On first glance, Seattle is decidedly unflashy. Walk the length of Pike Place market, in fact, where the stalls sell hippie t-shirts, sauerkraut and bagels, and the vibe feels happily countercultural. But if first impressions make you think Seattle is the city that luxury forgot, all hash cakes and sensible shoes, you’ve missed something major. With multi-billion-dollar businesses such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon all headquartered here (not to mention Jeff Bezos himself, the richest man on the planet), this is a place that delivers luxury readily, just discreetly – and differently… [read more]
We really enjoy hearing from our readers and would love to hear your views on any of these stories! Please click on the comments below and share your thoughts. Thank you.
Have a story you’d like to share? Please contact us for details.
Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.
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9 Comments
Interesting story about Seattle’s billionaires and luxury. I stay in a lot of luxury hotels and eat in many good restaurants as part of my work and after a while Luxury becomes the norm, it’s just routine. I can appreciate that for some people Luxury is just the freedom of having time and space to themselves. When every minute of your working life is programmed the ultimate luxury is doing what you want with who you want.
I read recently that the three richest people in the United States hold more wealth that the bottom 50% in the entire country, which is somewhat alarming. Given the fact that two of those three people live in the same neighbourhood of Seattle, and both have their businesses based there, it’s little wonder there’s no shortage of luxury there.
I would like to do know how many passengers the Boston Sox packed on board their wide-body jet. When you think of the number of players, coaches, physios, analysts, nutritionists and media spokesmen they would need you are probably heading for a big number.
And what about the luggage? Every squad member will need playing kit and training kit. They also probably have a few bats each. I think we are probably talking way beyond the luggage allowance that you would normally get with a commercial airline scheduled flight.
Sure these baseball guys aren’t 220 pounds NFL giants but they are still going to be packing away the calories on an 8 hour flight. They ain’t going to be happy with your regular plastic tray of airline food. I can see them having to load a huge quantity of food on board for these professional athletes.
I don’t know how many went on board but it can hold 88 passengers. There are 9 players in a baseball team and usually 40 players on its MLB roster, so – even if all of them travelled – that would still leave quite a few other seats for others…
The ‘heatwave from hell’ has certainly been getting a lot of press attention. It’s scary to think how unprepared the UK seems to be for extremes of whether, both in the winter & on the hottest days, where people are ill, there’s no air con in homes because we don’t usually need it, and public transport can grind to a halt. I think we had a high of 30C yesterday, so I can only imagine how much those in France would struggle with up to 45.9C! I bet that luxury jet the Red Sox took was nice and chilled. That’s one impressive flight!
If these high temperatures become a regular feature then it will have a major impact on segments of the travel industry.
I am considering a trip around some European cities and air-conditioning is certainly now a major criterion when selecting a hotel.
Then reading a number of hotel reviews it was evident that most guests now have expectations of air-conditioning too.
Sadly, it is many of the older, elegant and historic hotels, which have not yet been able to install air conditioning, presumably the installation costs represent a major investment.
What’s worrying about this heat wave is that it is quite early in the year, remember it is still just June.
Also with France bearing the brunt of the heat what will it do to the vineyards? Will they be frazzled? A couple of days of heat over 40 centigrade can not be good for the vines, Will 2019 be a disappointing grape harvest?
France records all-time highest temperature of 45.9C
France recorded temperatures nearly two degrees higher than its previous record and firefighters continued to battle historic wildfires in Spain as much of western Europe remained in the grip of an extreme early-summer heatwave on Friday. The French state weather forecaster, Météo-France, said the temperature in Gallargues-le-Montueux in the Gard département hit 45.9C at 4.20pm on Friday… [read more]
France records all-time highest temperature of 45.9C
France recorded temperatures nearly two degrees higher than its previous record and firefighters continued to battle historic wildfires in Spain as much of western Europe remained in the grip of an extreme early-summer heatwave on Friday. The French state weather forecaster, Météo-France, said the temperature in Gallargues-le-Montueux in the Gard département hit 45.9C at 4.20pm on Friday… [read more]
Take a look inside the luxury jet billed as a ‘flying cruise ship’ that the Red Sox took to London for their series against the Yankees
The Boston Red Sox flew to London in style for their upcoming series against the New York Yankees. While baseball players might be used to chartered flights, the Red Sox took things to another level for their trip to London, flying aboard the Crystal Skye— a Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner wide-body jet from Crystal AirCruises. According to The Action Network’s Darren Rovell, the flight cost the team $500,000, but taking a look around the interior, it’s easy to see why the trip is so expensive… [read more]
Here are 9 crazy features found on high-end luxury cars
They’re not called high-end luxury cars for nothing. They take opulence a step further with all kinds of outrageous options that would have most people scratching their heads. But hey, it’s all about what you want, right? You have to have that one veneer, that intricate clock, and that special exterior color that doubles the manufacturing time of your Bentley or Rolls-Royce. Here are nine crazy features on high-end luxury cars that you can find today… [read more]
Singapore’s second ‘ultra-luxurious’ Raffles hotel is coming to Sentosa in 2022, and a Raffles Bali will open next year
The Raffles Hotel on 1 Beach Road has for a long time been recognised as one of Singapore’s most iconic and historic brands. Now, the brand is bringing brand new excitement to the hospitality scene here with a planned second hotel set to open on Singapore’s Sentosa island… [read more]
Luxury done differently: why Seattle’s billionaire society prefers biking and hiking to fancy hotels and traditional fine dining
On first glance, Seattle is decidedly unflashy. Walk the length of Pike Place market, in fact, where the stalls sell hippie t-shirts, sauerkraut and bagels, and the vibe feels happily countercultural. But if first impressions make you think Seattle is the city that luxury forgot, all hash cakes and sensible shoes, you’ve missed something major. With multi-billion-dollar businesses such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon all headquartered here (not to mention Jeff Bezos himself, the richest man on the planet), this is a place that delivers luxury readily, just discreetly – and differently… [read more]
We really enjoy hearing from our readers and would love to hear your views on any of these stories! Please click on the comments below and share your thoughts. Thank you.
Have a story you’d like to share? Please contact us for details.
Interesting story about Seattle’s billionaires and luxury. I stay in a lot of luxury hotels and eat in many good restaurants as part of my work and after a while Luxury becomes the norm, it’s just routine. I can appreciate that for some people Luxury is just the freedom of having time and space to themselves. When every minute of your working life is programmed the ultimate luxury is doing what you want with who you want.
I read recently that the three richest people in the United States hold more wealth that the bottom 50% in the entire country, which is somewhat alarming. Given the fact that two of those three people live in the same neighbourhood of Seattle, and both have their businesses based there, it’s little wonder there’s no shortage of luxury there.
I would like to do know how many passengers the Boston Sox packed on board their wide-body jet. When you think of the number of players, coaches, physios, analysts, nutritionists and media spokesmen they would need you are probably heading for a big number.
And what about the luggage? Every squad member will need playing kit and training kit. They also probably have a few bats each. I think we are probably talking way beyond the luggage allowance that you would normally get with a commercial airline scheduled flight.
Sure these baseball guys aren’t 220 pounds NFL giants but they are still going to be packing away the calories on an 8 hour flight. They ain’t going to be happy with your regular plastic tray of airline food. I can see them having to load a huge quantity of food on board for these professional athletes.
I don’t know how many went on board but it can hold 88 passengers. There are 9 players in a baseball team and usually 40 players on its MLB roster, so – even if all of them travelled – that would still leave quite a few other seats for others…
The ‘heatwave from hell’ has certainly been getting a lot of press attention. It’s scary to think how unprepared the UK seems to be for extremes of whether, both in the winter & on the hottest days, where people are ill, there’s no air con in homes because we don’t usually need it, and public transport can grind to a halt. I think we had a high of 30C yesterday, so I can only imagine how much those in France would struggle with up to 45.9C! I bet that luxury jet the Red Sox took was nice and chilled. That’s one impressive flight!
If these high temperatures become a regular feature then it will have a major impact on segments of the travel industry.
I am considering a trip around some European cities and air-conditioning is certainly now a major criterion when selecting a hotel.
Then reading a number of hotel reviews it was evident that most guests now have expectations of air-conditioning too.
Sadly, it is many of the older, elegant and historic hotels, which have not yet been able to install air conditioning, presumably the installation costs represent a major investment.
What’s worrying about this heat wave is that it is quite early in the year, remember it is still just June.
Also with France bearing the brunt of the heat what will it do to the vineyards? Will they be frazzled? A couple of days of heat over 40 centigrade can not be good for the vines, Will 2019 be a disappointing grape harvest?