Travel With V.I.P. Access Worldwide
By Wendy Perrin
Each year for the December issue of Conde Nast Traveler I and my team, fellow staffers Brook Wilkinson and Kathryn Maier, compile "The Fabulous 50" -- a list of 50 of the best insider-access travel experiences worldwide. "Insider access" means access to places, people, and events that are off-limits to the general public -- from museums and monuments to archaeological digs, royal families, indigenous peoples, and traditional festivals, all of which give you special insights into a foreign culture. You too can have these experiences . . . IF you know the right sources to contact (which, of course, we provide).
I'm amused to see that the blogger behind lifeasdaddy seems ready to book himself on the experience Brook tested for this year's feature article accompanying the list. She patrolled Sydney Harbor by Jet Ski, helicopter, etc., tracking down sharks with Australia's ace Surf Life Savers. Mr. LifeAsDaddy expressed zero interest whatsoever in replicating MY experience. Then again, all I did was discover a lost civilization in ancient Mesopotamia.
Click here to read LAST year's list of 50 special-access experiences, 48 of which can still be had. It was for last year's feature story accompanying the list that I got inside Moscow's so-called KGB Museum -- actually a private club for officers of Russia's FSB, formerly the KGB. Alas, the museum is no longer accessible: Early this year it closed its doors to everyone except FSB agents. As the news unfolds about Alexander Litvinenko, the former FSB and KGB agent who died of radiation poisoning in London, I grow more and more glad that I saw the museum, and learned what I learned from it, when I did. When it comes to the Fabulous 50, carpe diem!
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Hi Wendy. Thanks for stopping by my lifeasdaddy blog. Perhaps I may explain?
I was excited to see the background to the spectacular photo of the Surfwatch helicopter on page 175 when I cracked open my latest copy of CN Traveller. I knew many of the buildings in the immediate background and worked in a hotel for five years on that Manly beachfront. I knew many of my blog readers from North America would be interested to know about the locations Brook mentioned, as they are quite close to my home in Killarney Heights, Australia. Some of my readers are also volunteer Surf Lifesavers, and I wanted to make the point that we live a life here in Sydney which can be the envy of many.
I had not yet read your item about Rumkale and the modern-day Mesopotamia, but you are right to mention that ancient wonders can be revered just as much as our everyday wonders here in Sydney.
But, life being as short as it is, I'm pleased you got a laugh out of it anyway.
Posted by: lifeasdaddy | December 01, 2006 at 09:17 PM