Fall Foliage 2015! Happy Autumn!

I know it's hard to believe but Autumn's here again, beginning today in case you haven't noticed! Things have been so nutty and busy around here that I'm totally out of touch with the calendar.

It's always so hard to let go of summer and face the cold weather ahead. Plus this day signifies the onslaught of holidays about to hit us like a steam roller - like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's - bring it on.

But maybe we can take a moment to enjoy this wonderful transition between hot and cold and look forward to the natural beauty during this time of year. If you happen to live in a Fall Foliage Zone you'll soon be seeing the trees in your area displaying brilliant colors of pink, red, orange, yellow, gold and purple - like a last splendid gift before going dormant for the winter.

Even if you don't live in these zones you can still see the colors by taking a drive through the ritzy neighborhoods in almost every American city in less temperate areas. You see, not to be left out the rich hire landscapers who import non-indigenous trees specifically to enjoy these fall colors.

If you have the time and money of course, you can take a leisurely train ride through the regions where fall foliage is a big tourist attraction. Some of these trains even have pleasantries like cocktails and hors d'hoeuvres being served along the way.

My rich employers have even rented the entire Presidents car (aptly named "Determination") on the New Hampshire fall foliage train for themselves and their rich friends. Reminiscent of the grand days of railroad barons, it's a lavish private parlor car with a grand piano, and chefs and waiters to cater to every need along the way. But this same train has other cars for regular folk, with reasonable prices to enjoy the view.

Meanwhile, to help get us in the mood for this amazing time of year, here's a dreamy YouTube link to the little sparrow Edith Piaf and her lovely rendition of 'Autumn Leaves' - 'Les Feuilles Mortes'.

Thanks for dropping in tonight, and Happy Autumn!

Andrew

Flying First Class: New Luxury for the Rich!

In the last post about Ethiad Airways' luxury three-room suites I should have mentioned that there's a lot of other airlines that are getting into the game of catering to the super rich.

For decades we've all known about the spacious first class cabin up in the front of the plane - screened off from the riffraff by forbidding closed curtains. We know they have plenty of leg room and that their seats recline all the way into beds for overnight flights. We've heard about the sumptuous steak and lobster meals and the fine wines and champagne, served on real china with glass stemware, silverware, and linen napkins - compared to the casseroles in plastic trays that are shoveled out back in coach.

But now things are going to extreme. While most airlines can't compete with Ethiad in offering three-room suites, they're still going nuts in trying to lure and accommodate the rich. Some of them are installing what they refer to as 'suites' but in reality are just small cubicles with space enough for a narrow bed right beside the already-wide seats. Each cubicle has it's own big screen TV and the linens on the bed are of the highest quality. The meals are chef created and the wine list is not unlike a fine restaurant. Nevertheless, there's certainly no private toilets in these cubicles like in Ethiad, so rich people still have to stand on line to pee just like everyone else on the plane.

Whether or not this extraordinary accommodation for the rich has anything to do with why seats are squeezed so tightly together back in coach I haven't a clue although my suspicions are high.

If you have time this evening to indulge in sheer fantasy about how the rich travel, here's some fun YouTube links to a few airlines that are unashamedly promoting their groveling to the rich with their so-called suites. Personally I'm concerned about all the elaborate table settings and what happens when the plane hits turbulence - with all those wine glasses and china plates hitting you in the face or dumped in your lap. Maybe that's a risk the rich are willingly to take, so who am I to judge?

In any case, take a look at these airlines and see for yourself what they have to offer - provided you're rich and can afford it:

Lufthansa
Air France- La Premiere Suite
British Air
Singapore Airlines

Thanks for dropping in this evening. I hope your holiday travels are as smooth and comfortable as possible. If for some amazing reason I do get to go home for the holidays, I'll be sitting way back there in coach with my knees squeezed up to my chin.

Andrew

Etihad Airways: Luxury Travel for the Rich!

During this holiday time of year many of us are making travel plans to see our family, friends, and loved ones - although not necessarily in that order. I'm hoping and praying, of course, that my nutty employer will be making travel plans as well.

It's no big secret that the rich travel differently from the rest of us, is it? If they don't have their own jets and are forced to fly on commercial airlines, you can bet you won't see them sitting back there in coach along with the rest of us, with their legs going numb from crowded seats and crying babies all around.

Instead, they'll be up there in first class with plenty of space, peace and quiet, and seats that recline all the way into beds for overnight flights. Some airlines even have private cubicles for the rich and famous, and of course their crying babies are left at home with their nannies.

You won't see them in the airports either, huddled in the crowded waiting rooms at each gate. They have their own luxurious first-class lounges complete with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and when all the riffraff have boarded the plane they're escorted to their first class seats just moments before the plane takes off. Nice, right? Champagne and lobster will be on their dinner trays, complete with linen napkins and silverware, as opposed to plastic knives and forks back there in coach.

But now there's something quite extraordinary I want to tell you about - a whole new way for the super rich to travel. It seems that Etihad Airways from United Arab Emirates is installing private rooms on their Airbus A380 Superjumbos for the discerning traveler. Designed for only two people, it's called "The Residence" and consists of a private three-room suite.

The living room has a big flat-screen TV, a chilled-drink bar, luxurious leather furnishings and a dining table; the separate bedroom has a double bed with fine Egyptian cotton sheets; and the bathroom not only has a shower but also high-dollar toiletries and bathrobes like you might expect in any five-star hotel.

But it doesn't stop there. There's also an on-board gourmet chef available to them and a personal assistant from the Savoy Butler Academy to see after their needs - including their fancy dinner with vintage wine, hotel reservations, and a limousine to get them there.

At currents prices this private suite will cost between $43,000 to $48,000 round-trip to get you from here to there. Which is only about $24,000 per person after all, and considerably less than having your own private jet and pilot. In any case, no doubt you'll wake up refreshed with a nice shower before the plane lands.

Here's a link to "The Residence". See for yourself.

Thanks for dropping in tonight, and happy holiday travels,

Andrew

The Hyder House: Vacation Rentals for the Rich!

Do you remember my friend Linda, the leading post-production editor for TV reality shows in New York? Well yesterday she sent an email from La Guardia airport telling me she was off to a wedding at the famed Hyder House in central Mexico.

My imagination exploded and I realized it's time to start a series about where the rich like to play and frolic. You see Casa Hyder is not like a hotel. You can't just call them up and book a room for the night.

What you can do, however, is load up your private jet with fifteen or twenty of your most dreadful friends and rent the entire place for a few days in one of the most famous vacation rentals in all the Americas.

It's quite intimate and small, but I think it has ten or twelve guest rooms. The place is well known for its lavish wedding parties but I happen to know about a certain gentlemen who filled up the entire house to celebrate his divorce.

Once rented, Casa Hyder comes with a complete staff; house keepers, laundry techs, and a world class chef to titillate the palate with both classical Mexican cuisine and Italian. According to Linda, breakfast was served in a flower-perfumed garden which in her own words she called ecstasy! 

No words from me can adequately describe the tranquil town of San Miguel de Allende or this awesome Spanish Colonial home. But I found a really dreamy YouTube video that explores Casa Hyder in exquisite detail. If you have a few moments just hit this link. You'll not be disappointed.

Thanks for dropping in this evening,
Andrew

PS: If you want to rent this place you'll probably need to go through a vacation rental website. Here's one that seems to know what they're doing. As with many things among the rich, you'll notice that the prices are 'Upon Request' - which means open for polite negotiation or else buzz off.
      

Do Rich People Take Vacations?

I love this question, and so appropriate for this time of year. But are you kidding me? From my point of view rich people are on vacation 24/7, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year.

For most of us we get a miserable week or two off once a year, right? And we use the time to rest and wind down, maybe make some improvements around the house, or perhaps take a family trip to the beach, Disney World or the Grand Canyon - depending on our energy and available cash. And we call this a vacation.

In most European countries everyone from corporation CEO's to dishwashers and garbage collectors get a full month off every year! To rest, recover and re-energize themselves for the work year ahead. But for some dastardly reason here in America we're not that nice or generous to each other in our work places - which is thinly described by our government and corporate executives as our highly-productive work ethics here in the USA.

Work until you drop is what they really mean. But hey, just before you drop, go ahead and take a week or two off. Gee thanks, corporate America. If it weren't for Labor Unions we wouldn't even get that, would we? Or holiday pay either.
  
But getting back to the original question the answer is no, rich people do not take vacations - at least as we understand them. Vacation from what would be the first question! Sleeping 'til noon every day?

They travel throughout the year both for business and pleasure. They take journeys when they visit several countries in a row. They take sojourns to the deep jungles of Africa or a climb up Machu Picchu. And they may take a  pilgrimage to their holy sites at the Vatican in Rome, or Nepal, Mecca, or Jerusalem. And they definitely take respites to their favorite rehab clinics in Switzerland to drop a few pounds or have a little nip and tuck here and there.

But do rich people take vacations? No. That's what we do - the rabble, the drones, the workers. Even in a high-paying corporate job your Employee Handbook will tell you how many months or years you have to work to get just one week off, and how many more years to get two.

I didn't mean for this to come across as negative about American productivity and our so-called work ethics. But honestly, why can't Americans have a whole month off like Europeans? It doesn't make any sense.

Andrew

Private Railway Cars for the Rich!

Recently my employers purchased tickets for a journey on the world-famous "Orient Express" from Paris to Istanbul - and we're all thrilled of course to get rid of them for awhile. But did you know that some rich people have their own private railway cars?

If you have around a million dollars to spare you can purchase a private railway coach (also called a Private Varnish) that includes a sitting parlor, a full kitchen, a dining room, bedrooms (called Staterooms on a train or ship), an observation platform on the back of the train, and even bunk-beds for servants - someone like me.

The luxury of a Private Varnish is limited only by the imagination. You want a baby-grand piano in the sitting parlor? Tiffany stemware in the bar? Fine Italian Pratesi sheets in the staterooms? Whatever you wish.

In addition to the interior design and the purchase price of the car itself, it'll cost you another $15,000 - $20,000 a year for storage, insurance, and maintaining the car to Amtrak standards. And then, it costs anywhere from $500 to $1,500 to have it pulled from storage and added to the make-up of a scheduled train or locomotive.

As of this writing (2011) Amtrak charges about $2.10 per mile to pull a private coach. That would be roughly $6,000 just for mileage from New York to Los Angeles. But double that amount if you want to get back home, right? Then, there are other charges such as over-night parking on Amtrak property, septic services, coach washing and cleaning, crew charges, and so on.

While having your own private varnish is a huge status symbol of course, you don't actually have to own one to enjoy the luxury and leisure of  private-car travel. There are companies out there that will rent private cars for family reunions, business meetings, and for eager politicians going on the stump, trying to recreate Lincoln's and FDR's famous cross country "whistle stops", giving speeches from the observation platform at the back of the train. These rentals can cost you an easy ten-thousand a day, and up.

Having said all that about owning a private coach and attaching it to a scheduled train - there's always one step above in the world of the rich. Get this: there are some rich people in this world (a few at best) who own not only a private car but also their own Locomotive. Which just blows me away.

Mercifully, my employers do not have their own private coach, and thank God! I would HATE being trapped with them for days on end in such close quarters. I'm sure you understand.

Thanks for dropping by this evening,
Andrew

FAQ: "Are There Female Butlers?"

As a male butler in an American billionaire's home I've often been asked this question as to whether or not there are female counterparts. The quick answer is yes, but let me explain.

I read a quirky article (in the Boston Globe, I think) that said about ten percent of butlers world-wide are female gendered. But in America, this percentage is much, much higher. However, instead of the title Butler it seems female-gendered candidates in this position are more often referred to as House Managers or Personal Assistants.

But to be such you must have not only Personal Assistant skills for secretarial work, such as book keeping, organizing, personal shopping and so forth - but you must also know how to run a house filled with museum-quality furniture, plus entertainment skills for all the parties and events. Things such as the following:

-Keeping a household budget and paying bills.
-Setting a formal dining room table.
-International protocol for dealing with guests.
-Hiring and training staff, from making luxury beds to sterilizing telephones.
-Fabric care - not only for clothes but also for furniture fabrics and carpets.
-Deal with vendors and contractors and negotiate the best rate.
-Trouble-shoot anything from a dying orchid to a water heater or swimming pool pump going out.

To those who have shown interest, these are acquirable skills from any butler or house staffing school in the country, and there are several good ones on Google.

So if you're curious about going into this profession, as far as I can see gender is not really an issue, certainly not here in America. But knowledge certainly is!

Hope this was helpful, and thanks for stopping by,

Andrew