So much for summer Fridays at Galavante, where it’s been a busy few months of travels, member events and exciting new opportunities for our company. I feel like I haven’t been traveling nearly enough, but making each trip count.
I was recently in Iceland, where with almost 24-hour daylight, we really took advantage of the nightlife Reykjavik has to offer along with hearty dinners of Icelandic lobster and cod.
To balance things out, I also made my way to St. Barths again, to work on exciting new collaborations with Eden Rock, the Sereno and the Guanahani. It was on the trip to St. Barths that I especially was reminded how much I love my job at Galavante, which is to source the best in experiences, along with VIP treatment, for you. We chose three properties in St. Barths that could not be more unique from each other, and look forward to getting you hooked up for the season on the isle that defines idyllic.
Every once in awhile, a trip becomes a new experience for me, and pushes my boundaries beyond what I thought I could do. It happened for the first time for me in the Atacama Desert in Chile, when I traveled with Explora.
I was reminded of that life-changing trip when recently, I had the fortune to check out my old colleague from Blackstone’s new hotel portfolio, The Eleven Experience in Crested Butte, Colorado. After settling into the 12,000-square-foot country western mansion in the middle of town, and adjusting my own personal oxygen-controlled room to help me manage the altitude, I cranked up the Grateful Dead on what I assume was the Sonos speaker system in my suite and unabashedly did the happy dance.
Over the next three days, my city butt got kicked on 7-mile mountain climbs across double exposure ridges and what I classify as terrifying downward hill single-track mountain biking. In other words, I kind of had the time of my life. It’s also inspired an article I’m writing for Huff Po, on why these type of adventure travels for me, are normally girl’s trips. Stay tuned for exciting coverage on the Eleven Experience this next few months.
It’s no secret that NYC to me is my favorite place in the world, and the first glimpse of the skyline on the return home is often my favorite part of traveling. Which is why it’s befitting that we have started to host member events here in NYC, home sweet home.
We’ve had three very different, yet tremendously successful events with our partners red flower at their beautiful store in Nolita, the Viceroy Anguilla, Alto Atacama and Italian Style Villas at the Cosmopolitan Club and recently, with the vonBroock brothers, Marco Zelko and Tradewind Aviation at PHD, where we had over 250 guests celebrating Travel & Cocktails. It’s with this evolution of Galavante from our online magazine to membership club and full-service travel bookings that makes me realize how far we’ve come.
Four years ago, in October 2010, I remember distinctly saying we would never have travel bookings. Well, in September, we will not only continue to have our personal travel concierge service for members, but a new online booking system, that will get you hooked up on your own terms and time with airfare, hotels and villas all over the world. The moral of the story? Never say never.
