With an Unlimited Budget, How Would You Spend Your Summer Vacation?

July 20, 2016 5:00 am
Hot air ballon over the Namib desert (Jonathan & Angela Scott/AWL Images/Creative RM/Getty Images)
Hot air ballon over the Namib desert (Jonathan & Angela Scott/AWL Images/Creative RM/Getty Images)
(Matthew Wkaem/Digital Vision/Creative RF/Getty Images)
(Matthew Wakem/Digital Vision/Creative RF/Getty Images)
Matthew Wakem

 

If money were no object, Americans said in a recent study by Groupon that they would spend an average of $43,154 on their dream vacation. To us at RealClearLife, that seemed a little disappointing. If the sky were the limit, why not truly go there? Well, Bloomberg Pursuits reached out to industry experts, from photographers to renowned chefs, to find out their dream vacation. These destinations ranged from usual places with unexpected experiences to luxurious around-the-world odysseys. RealClearLife has provided you with a sample of the top trips from this list. To read the full story by Niki Ekstein, head over to Bloomberg Pursuits here.

 

Industry Expert: Tom Marchant

Marchant, co-founder of bespoke tour operator Black Tomato, said his perfect trip would be a private jet charter down the African continent from Cairo to Cape Town, stopping in between. Among the places Marchant would stop would be the Okavango Delta in Botswana and Bale National Park in Ethiopia. The tour operator says he would love to ride in a hot air balloon over the Namib Desert and climb the Brandberg mountains in Namibia.

Chobe National Park in Botswana (Buena Vista Images/Creative RM/Getty Images)
Chobe National Park in Botswana (Buena Vista Images/Creative RM/Getty Images)
Hot air ballon over the Namib desert (Jonathan & Angela Scott/AWL Images/Creative RM/Getty Images)
Hot air ballon over the Namib desert (Jonathan & Angela Scott/AWL Images/Creative RM/Getty Images)

 

Industry Expert: Andrew Zimmern

Host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, Zimmern certainly knows his way around a spice market or two. However, his answer may surprise you. Zimmern’s dream trip is a toss up between two options: either renting a Learjet and circumnavigating the globe–stopping in places like Capri, St. Petersberg, Hong Kong, Samoan Islands, Quito, and many others; or funneling all his money into providing food, water, and electricity to an impoverished village in perpetuity. “That would be pretty f–king cool,” he said.

Piazza Umberto in Capri, Italy (Sabine Lubenow/LOOK)
Piazza Umberto in Capri, Italy (Sabine Lubenow/LOOK)
Getty Images/LOOK
Aerial view of Cathedral on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg (Amos Chapple/Lonely Planet Images/)
Aerial view of Cathedral on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg (Amos Chapple/Lonely Planet Images)
Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images

 

Industry Expert: Horst Schulze

Schulze, CEO of Capella Hotel Group and former president of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, says he’d enjoy journeying down the western edge of South America, starting in Peru. After a private tour of Machu Picchu and tasting Lima’s best high-end restaurants, he’d move on to Chile and then Easter Island, the Galapagos, and finally, Tierra del Fuego. “Where better to take in nature than on a Zodiac boat, cruising along glaciers, watching whales and penguins?” Schulze asks.

Machu Picchu  in Peru (Moment/Creative RF/Getty Images)
Machu Picchu in Peru (Moment/Creative RF/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Mountains near the capital city of Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. (Michael Leggero/Moment/Getty Images)
Mountains near the capital city of Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. (Michael Leggero/Moment/Getty Images)
Getty Images

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