Expect the unexpected
Crafting one-of-a-kind travel experiences has become a booming industry. By Ute Junker.
When it comes to bucket list destinations, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan takes some beating. This deeply Buddhist kingdom is known for the care it takes to preserve not just its spectacular high-altitude landscapes, but also its traditional way of life. There are no fast-food joints in Bhutan, no billboards, no traffic lights, just a deep sense of spirituality and connection with the land.
That makes every day spent exploring Bhutan a special experience, but some experiences are more special than others.
MyBhutan is one company specialising in luxury travel, including dinner and a river tour. The tour starts with standing on a sandy riverbank in the lovely Punakha Valley. Rolling hills hide the horizon, while in the foreground is a perfect view of the illuminated Punakha Dzong, a uniquely Bhutanese building that is part spiritual centre, fortress and administration building.
A musician plays near a bonfire, while closer to the water, the gently flowing Mo Chhu (or Mother River), a lantern-lit table has been set for dinner. This is just the overture, because the real highlight comes after dinner with a moonlit rafting trip down the river. Usually the Mo Chhu is off-limits after dark, but MyBhutan has special permission from the government to offer the experience. This is not a white-knuckle river rafting trip, and the raft is kitted out with tables and chairs. Not one person spills a drop from their wine glasses as the raft journeys down the icy river, fed by meltwater from Himalayan glaciers.
In this sparsely populated valley, the stars shine scorchingly bright above our heads, and the flowing water and calls of nocturnal birds are the only soundtrack. When the rafts pull in at another beach, hot chocolate and marshmallows are ready by another bonfire.
“The rafting experience is all about the things we love in Bhutan,” explains MyBhutan’s Matthew DeSantis. “You have the cultural grounding in the beginning looking out over the dzong, with its huge cultural importance, the adventurous component of the raft ride, the sense of being really close and connected with nature, and the serenity of that beach at the end.”
It is also an illustration of how much the luxury travel sector has evolved. Not so long ago, five-star travel was all about high thread count sheets and Michelin-star dining. Now the focus is on providing one-of-a-kind experiences, which means tour operators and hoteliers
have to work harder than ever before.
“Our clients come to us expecting the unexpected,” says Ann-Marie Chapman of Abercrombie & Kent. “In Istanbul, we’ve had guests in the Blue Mosque when the only other people there were the cleaners. In India, we take you to the Taj Mahal before other travellers get in.” On an African safari, it might be arranging for guests to sleep under the stars on a raised platform. “Listening to lions roar while you lie in bed looking up at the stars, that’s really special,” says Chapman.
For the company’s top-tier offering, the private jet journeys — multi-week, multi-country itineraries that cost upwards of $200,000 per person — it means pulling out all the stops. On one visit to Hobart, for instance, passengers had their own private Salamanca Market-style experience even though they arrived on a Wednesday, not on a Saturday when the market is usually held.
“We arranged for about 20 stallholders to set up on a remote beach on an island off the mainland and helicoptered all our private jet guests over,” says Chapman. “We had all that fabulous produce set up, cheese and oysters and local champagne and wine and gin, and entertainment as well.”
The secret to making it all work, Chapman says, is local knowledge. “The key thing is that we have own offices on ground. That means our staff really understand our clientele, they understand what they are interested in. And they also have the relationships with local families and local organisations that allow them to create those experiences.”
Also essential is the ability to think big. Chapman recalls clients who invited 10 of their friends to India to celebrate a milestone birthday. “They wanted the ultimate birthday experience,” she says.
The team created an itinerary that involved fireworks over the City Palace in Jaipur, donning traditional dress for a drive around the streets of Jaipur in vintage cars, and an arrival experience complete with a band, acrobats and even painted elephants.
Tour operators aren’t the only ones getting creative. High-end hoteliers are finding new ways to keep their guests happy. Sydney’s Four Seasons Hotel recently launched a set of daytrips for guests to immerse themselves in some of Australia’s most iconic destinations, from the Blue Mountains to the Red Centre.
“A lot of international travellers forget how big Australia is and they want to see Uluru in a day. Travelling commercially that’s not possible, but we can make it happen,” says chef concierge Josh Blake.
The experience includes transfers on a private jet and the opportunity to walk around Uluru and visit Kata Tjuta in the company of an expert guide, before returning to Sydney in time for dinner.
“We use four or five different suppliers on that one experience so the logistical arrangements, making the transitions seamless, is the challenge,” says Blake.
Also on offer is a daytrip to Lighting Ridge tailored for guests keen to learn more about Australia’s unique gemstone, the opal. Accompanied by opal specialist and jeweller Gary Coffey, travellers don hard hats to visit an opal mine and learn more about these gems found nowhere else in the world.
“To go down the mine and understand the process of what’s involved in trying to find these gemstones, the amount of earth you need to go through to possibly find something that has any value, you get a realisation of how rare this gemstone really is,” says Coffey. Guests who want a unique memento of the experience can even design their own piece of opal jewellery.
Creating a memorable day out is one thing, but peak luxury operators constantly refine their experiences. Some months after the moonlight rafting session, MyBhutan’s DeSantis says it has become one of the company’s most popular offerings.
“After doing it a few times, we recognised how romantic the setting on that beach at the end is,” he says. So the team found a way to dial up the wow factor even further by incorporating a quintessentially Bhutanese experience with a hot stone bath in a wooden tub, making the experience even more magical.
“We have these hot stone baths half submerged in the river. You follow a trail of candles there, and you can see the steam coming out of them,” DeSantis explains. Left alone on the beach, the couple can each relax in their own tub, cooling off in the icy river water between sessions.
This is an extract from an article that appears in print in our thirteenth edition, Page 132 of Winning Magazine with the headline: “Expect the unexpected”. Subscribe to Winning Magazine today.
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