 Isabella Rossellini, style icon and onetime companion of Twin Peaks director David Lynch taught me everything I need to know about packing for a luxury trip. I was interviewing Rossellini as she lauched her role as brand ambassador of Silversea Cruises. Her staterooms contained her suitcases for the two week cruise to Vietnam--actually one small carry-on bag. "Less is more," she told me. "I take a few elegant pieces that can go from day to night and then for makeup, I bring two lipsticks: a nude for day and a crimson for night." Personally, I'd prefer to travel like a turn-of-the-century diva, with steamer cases and a greyhound on a diamond leash--but since I have yet to prove a familial connection with one of the crowned heads of Europe, I try to go with Isabella's advice. If you're thinking, how can I choose two lipsticks for everything, think Tom Ford, king of elegant understatement. I love his Spanish Pink lipstick and a crimson pout of Wild Ginger is calling my name this summer. --Gretchen Kelly   by Michael AlpinerIt seems New Hope has grown up with me, but I know that’s not true. It evolved long before I did, and will continue to morph, so much so that my children will revisit it with their families, and it will be an altogether different place.  The first time I experienced New Hope, Pennsylvania, I was nine, but I returned many times over the years at different stages of my life. At first, it was a way to show off my own little travel jewel nestled in rural Bucks County. One trip when I was single might have included a stay at a romantic Victorian bed & breakfast, while later, as a husband and father, I chose a discount motel where my own father taught us the joy of economical travel. In either case, certain shops have become mainstays for my New Hope excursions. Love Saves the Day is a retro-style store selling vintage dresses, celebrity memorabilia, gag gifts, Elvis statuettes, old magazines, and everything in between. To quell my sudden sweet tooth, I visit Moo Hope Ice Cream, which carries such unique flavors as Coffee Grinds, Moosetracks, and Joey Bag of Donuts. In my more Goth moods, I pay a call on Gypsy Heaven, a white magic novelty store where most patrons come away with patchouli oil rather than eye of newt. I skip McDonalds, and choose instead El Taco Loco, with emphasis on the “Loco.” The stores of New Hope morphed as quickly as did its patrons (or vice versa). Once a haven for antique shop enthusiasts, New Hope has become an all-inclusive canvas for the colors and textures from all walks of life. It is as likely to shoulder past a family carrying souvenirs, as it is to smell the worn leather of a biker dude who brushes past you to rev up his Harley. New Hope, a thoroughly welcoming and non-judgmental town, has always attracted the Bohemian artist as well as those of the LGBT community. Daylight turns to dusk, and I enjoy drinks and live music at John and Peter’s, a casual spot where I can sample a local brew, and hear talented musicians en route to their dreams. It seems New Hope has grown up with me, but I know that’s not true. It evolved long before I did, and will continue to morph, so much so that my children will revisit it with their families, and it will be an altogether different place. What stays the same, however, is that feeling that when a town opens ups its geographic arms, one cannot help but to feel like he/she owns a small portion of it.  We define luxury as experiences that lift you out of the ordinary into a place where indelible memories are created.
Here are ten ways to uplift your trip to the luxe side of life. 1. Experience a spa treatment that takes advantage of local, indigenous herbs, practices or traditions. Luxury is remembered through all the senses. The smell of jasmine oil on your skin or the scent of champa incense will live in your memory for years to come. 2. Talk to locals and find out where they eat. Choose a place that you'll remember forever, whether an amazing meal at a hole-in-the-wall or a high-end restaurant on which you splurge half a paycheck. Luxury is about connecting with culture through taste, one of the most lasting sense memories you can make. 3. Bring your best outfits and dress the hell up. If you look Instagram-ready, you'll feel that way, too. Luxury is sartorial bliss and nothing makes you feel, as the French say, "Bien dans son peau," or good in one's skin like wearing something wonderful. 4. Wherever you are, find a place where you can wander, sit down, and be alone with your thoughts--let the surroundings infuse you with a unique, out-of-the-ordinary energy. Write something in your journal while you're there. Luxury is solitude and silence--increasingly hard to access in this too-connected world. 5. Learn to say the word, "Beautiful" in the language of the country you're in, and take every opportunity to tell people you meet that you find their country and their culture, "Beautiful." Gratitude is a form of emotional luxury. 6. If you're traveling as a couple, spend some of the day apart doing things that the other isn't necessarily interested in doing. Then get together for a "date" at a local restaurant and share the images and souvenirs from your independent sojourn with your lover/friend/spouse. Luxury is about independent exploration and the joy of sharing your adventures. 7. Delve into the spiritual life of your destination. Visit a temple, mosque, church, cathedral or other holy site, and learn as much as you can about it. Make sure that your clothing conforms to local customs, and keep an open mind. Luxury is as ineffable as a call to prayer, a candle lit beneath an ancient icon or a centuries-old temple of a goddess. 8. Enjoy the luxury of "wasting" time. Don't get up early in the morning. Laze around in your hotel for the morning, don't rush anywhere, put the schedule aside and drift through your day. Luxury is not being chained to a schedule and having all the time in the world to enjoy yourself. 9. Taste the local wines, spirits and homemade brews. If you're lucky, you'll get invited to taste local whiskeys or digestives that are often made at home or by artisanal spirit makers in local restaurants. Remember the limits of your in-flight liquid allowance but try to take a bottle or two home with you so you can relive your journey with each sip. Luxury is a sensible escape from sobriety. 10. Splurge on something special that will always remind you of your journey. Something just for you. A piece of local art, a great pair of leather shoes or a bag bought from the artisan who made it...if you love it and you can afford it, take it home or have it shipped home. Luxury lives in our memories and memories attach themselves to the treasures we bring home. [Some of our own special treasures from our journeys will be available on an exclusive, curated basis on our own site, extremeluxurygetaways.com where you'll be able to read the story of where and how we acquired the artifacts from our own travels.]
Just about every writer has his/her own sacred locale to which inspiration, creative spirit, and literary harmony is connected. The writer might revisit once a season, or perhaps once a year, often enough to feel a part of the place, yet seldom enough to feel each return trip is special.  Just about every writer has his/her own sacred locale to which inspiration, creative spirit, and literary harmony is connected. The writer might revisit once a season, or perhaps once a year, often enough to feel a part of the place, yet seldom enough to feel each return trip is special. T.S. Eliot wrote: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” For me, that place of exploration and inspiration is Caumsett State Park, in Huntington, Long Island. I first journeyed there as an undergraduate at Queens College as part of their weekend writing workshop. For a time, Queens College rented out the Marshall Field Mansion which sits majestically atop a promontory overlooking the Long Island Sound. For three days in the early spring of 1986, I discovered my place in the world as a writer. We lived in the mansion for the weekend, ate and slept there, and had our writing workshops there. The staff planned nature walks, movies, and tours of the grounds. The staff from the college included Marie Ponsot (who later became my poetry mentor) and the late novelist Bharati Mukherjee. I learned what it was like to be part of a writing community. I learned that great wealth can buy the most magnificent view of the Long Island Sound. I learned that Avon Skin-so-Soft doubles as a great tick repellent…and I learned that the stars at night are best enjoyed in a shared blanket with a very attractive member of the opposite sex. One cannot live by poetry alone. Before I graduated from Queens College, I attended two more writing workshops at Caumsett, and even made the arrangements for the last workshop weekend in 1988. I have returned on first dates, as a husband and father, or just as a lone traveler, choosing a less populated road. One Fourth of July, as throngs were saturating the sand at Jones Beach, I was soaking in the sun in a solitary moment with the Marshall Field mansion, peeking from above, at my tanned skin. I revisited that feeling I had nearly twenty years earlier, that this was my property, my 1600 acres of land, that it was 1921 again, and a bell would call me to dinner. I would climb the hill and dine with the Carnegies and Phipps, or perhaps I was in some art deco movie set, an avant garde production with no script and a natural backdrop. Each return visit now brings to mind the poetry of Wordsworth: I bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams, Wherever nature led: more like a man Flying from something that he dreads, than one Who sought the thing he loved. I find my spiritual center at Caumsett State Park, passing the ramshackle buildings that used to be a dairy farm, across the fields where I’ve seen bluebirds scatter among the brush in frenetic joy, walking through the woods until I reach the mansion…and know the place for the first time.
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