In the new age world of high tech glitz,   these hotels have adopted the back to basic approach according to Food and Wine Magazine.   

St. John,  USVI:   In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Caneel Bay recently removed TVs and telephones from its 166 rooms.

Papoose Creek, Montana:   The new Lodge at Sun Ranch offers luxuriously refurbished homesteader cabins in a spectacular setting. 

Lake Malawi,  Africa:   And at Malawi’s new Pumulani resort, guests can avoid motorized transport by exploring Lake Malawi on a wooden dhow, a traditional African sailboat handcrafted by local builders.

And to add to this list:

Taupo,  New Zealand:    True retreats in every sense, the rooms at the Huka Lodge at Huka Falls, Taupo, New Zealand are harmonious and deliberately simple in approach. Designed to allow the beauty of the landscape to dominate while providing soft light and layers of well appointed luxury.    Luxuriously  sleep under a mesh canopy bed  in your private cabin alongside the Taupo River.     All that is missing is… Brad Pitt…

In British Columbia,  Canada,   Canadian Mountain Holidays will fly you to a remote lodge where you will enjoy nothing but wonderful food, friends and champagne powder ….  with the occasional massage and hot tub thrown in.    Better than fantastic…

Get back to basics …

 So when Forbes published it’s article entitled  ’In Pictures: World’s Most Decadent Parties’ identifying  these around the world global extravaganzas, I decided that –  in the spirit my son’s eighteenth birthday and the wonderful tradition of May Day - this would be an appropriate time to write about these Most Glamorous Events.   Trade in those winter blues for dancing shoes!  These are the places to see and to be seen, offering glamor, glitz and a year full of memories.    Mark your calendars!!!

New Years Eve, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA                                          Dec 31-Jan1

Carnival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil                                                            Feb 2 – Feb 5

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA                                        Feb 2 – Feb 5

Gay Pride Parade,  San Francisco, CA USA                                        June 28- June 29

The Running of the Bulls,  Pamplona, Spain                                        July 6 – July14

Bastille Day, Paris, France                                                                     July 14

The Love Parade,  Dortmund, Germany                                             Aug 25 – Sep 1

Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany                                                            Sept 20 – Oct. 5

One more ‘Not-to-be-Missed’  in the eyes of the author, is LA’s ‘Grammy’ Celebrations.   Typically the second Sunday in February, Los Angeles hosts this diamond and star-studded event.  The red carpet is adorned with beautiful people and beautiful fashion.  Only outdone by pinnacle musical performances  by the world’s leading musical artists.  

And where is May Day celebrated in fashion?    Please post your comments….

TheStyleGroup identifies what it believes to be the ‘top 10 Private Luxury Jets’.  Number One is the Boeing Business Jet.  With 91 sold today, this 807 sq foot interior aircraft can be decorated to look like a private home.   For your next birthday celebration?

The list:

1.  Boeing Business Jet

2.  Bombadier Challenger 604

3.  Gulfstream V

4.  Embraer Legacy

5.  Citation X

6.  LearJet 60

7.  Hawker 800 XP

8.  Citation V

9.  Beech Jet 400A

10.  LeerJet 31A/35

http://www.thestylegroup.com/top10_jets.htm

Not to be outdone by nine others.  Read

1. Las Ventanas al Paraiso: Los Cabos, Mexico

Las Ventanas takes its loving so seriously it’s hired a director of romance. Pick from a menu of amorous experiences, including “cinema on the beach for two,” “sea & stars massage for two,” and the “men in white” program – where male guests learn how to prepare a meal.

2. L’Hotel: Paris, France

A “Pavillion d’Amour” in the early 1800s, L’Hotel is now among the most seductive Small Luxury Hotels in Paris. Its six-story atrium leads off to 20 lavishly designed bedrooms, while the original cellar is home to a private steam room and Roman bath that can be booked for couples’ private use.

3. Nam Hai: Hoi An, Vietnam

Nam Hai’s private villas are set on a secluded stretch of the famed China Beach. If a private butler, outdoor shower and ocean-view vistas aren’t enough, couples can slip into the spa and have a specially prepared Love Bath, laced with “love potion” (a blend of essential oils) and flowers, topped off with champagne and canapes.

4. Maxim Bungalows: Cofresi, Dominican Republic

The magazine that gave us “Secret Sex” and “Celebrity Bastards” has, improbably, opened one of the hottest resorts in the Caribbean. To get your blood pumping, Maxim marries high luxe with high adrenaline (think kiteboarding and couples yoga). Alternatively, you can charter their 55-foot yacht for a private sunset cruise.

5. Tides Zihuatanejo: Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Terracotta-tiled suites with personal plunge pools kiss this exclusive patch of Pacific shoreline. But it’s Tides Zihuatanejo’s private isle in an azure lagoon that sets the scene for a romantic candlelit dinner.

After reaching your table by canoe, dinner begins with champagne and a menu delivered in a bottle.

6. Mykonos Grand: Mykonos, Greece

Perched above the beach where Shirley Valentine was filmed, the white sugar-cube boxes of Mykonos Grand offers a romantic package: Book a suite with a private pool and the hotel will throw in a personal chef, a rose petal turndown service and a Kamasutra Seduction box – which includes naughty delights like vanilla crème body soufflé and sweet honeysuckle dust.

7. The Fairmont Orchid: Big Island, Hawaii

After a massage in Fairmont’s waterfall gardens, retire to your ocean-view suite for a special “Make Room for Romance” turndown. Then follow a trail of orchids leading to a floral heart on the bed. Champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries prep you for a steamy bath laced with salts, bubbles and floating candles.

8. Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire: Hampshire, England

Re-enact Darcy’s love for Elizabeth at this Georgian manor presiding over gorgeous heritage gardens. Couples can tour the Four Seasons Hotel estate by horse-drawn carriage or drift down wooded canals in the hotel’s own cruiser. Pause for a picnic lunch, or better yet, learn to make “a romantic meal for two” from the executive chef in a private demo.

9. The Rania Experience: Maldives

The ultimate fantasy-island experience where couples stay on their own private atoll in a three-bedroom villa serviced by 30 hosts (including chefs, butlers, spa therapists and scuba instructors.) The Rania Experience $12,000-per-night package also features exclusive use of an 86-foot yacht with a Jacuzzi and cinema.

10. Jade Mountain: St. Lucia

Only 24 three-walled “sanctuaries” compose the exclusive Jade Mountain hillside resort. With open floor plans, you can slip straight out of bed and into your couple-sized chromotherapy tub – or into your glass-tiled infinity pool with views of St. Lucia’s green-peaked Pitons.

If you are a golfer (which I like to pretend I am), you will enjoy reading through and visualizing these top 100 golf courses around the world.  I like to mentally play the holes as I visualize the layout and make my own list of the courses that one day I would truly love to play.  And I was surprised to realize how many of these courses I actually had played…Cypress Point, St. Andrews, Pebble Beach, Ballybunion,  Turnberry, Pinehurst,  The Country Club and Muirfield in the top 40.  Not bad for a novice. 

But the Oscar in my view goes to the Dominican Republic.  Well known for Casa de Campo and the famous ‘Teeth of the Dog’ (with a bark as well as a bite!),  this has often been referred to as ‘the Carribean’s most complete resort’.  Now,  neighboring Casa de Campo to the South is luxurious Cap Cana.  A spectacular links course designed by Jack Nicklaus,  this course will bring even the most experienced golfer to his knees.  Nothing that can’t be cured by the spas, dark rum and white sand beaches which await you at the 19th hole.

Luxurious.  Decadent.  Beautiful and Spectacular.

http://www.top100golfcourses.co.uk/htmlsite/topcourses.asp

You drop off a small cliff into a pillow of untracked snow beneath you. And another. And another.  Snow brushes past your face and flies into your mouth.   Powder.  Champagne powder.

This is heli-skiing.  Adventure skiing at it’s finest.

Miles from where you started, the helicopter skirts you to new terrain.  Untracked glaciers, flumes, chutes and bowls.  3000 foot verticle descents.  And that’s only one run.

After a week with Canadian Mountain Holidays,  the world’s largest and finest helicopter ski company, you may be honored to have earned your name etched in gold on a placque on the wall.  That’s for the 200,000 foot super-achievers.  200,000 feet skied in one week.

And the ‘Million-foot’ club?   That’s right.  Once you have skied 1,000,000 feet you are honored with a free (depending on how you look at it!) Bogner ski suit.   And if you are lucky, a bottle of Dom (or two) will be uncorked as well.

I remember saying on my first trip, “If I die doing this,   it  was worth it”.   That was 8 trips ago.  And I am still saying it.

Sinfully fun.   Simply the best.