Tough to please the rich

This is the summer holiday season and everyone is trying to do what they can, within their budget to celebrate this season. But if one looks at the way in which the super-rich Indians holiday, it once again brings to fore the huge growing divide between the rich and poor.

Lara Morakhia is a jewellery designer  and she takes at least six holidays every year with her family. And when not travelling, she wants to tick off as many as she can from her bucket list of “50 greatest restaurants” which is all across the world.

With money not being a restriction, the uber rich want to do things which are more about an experience, like someone hiring footballer Cristiano Ronaldo’s yacht for 25,000 euros a day or taking a micro flight over the Victoria Falls or going on a gypsy music trail in Hungary.

The favorite for many is African safari and especially Rwanda and Botswana, where a holiday for a family of four can cost Rs 75 lakh. This “package” includes luxury tents that come with butlers, helicopter transfers and even satellite phones for rent!

There are some who wanted to experience Japan’s cherry blossoms but all by himself and his wife; he wanted no one around. A luxury travel agent arranged a seven-day walking trip along secluded routes, with stay in traditional Japanese homes, meeting with a soba noodle maker and a ceramic potter, to get a glimpse of the local culture.

Then there was this family from North India who spent Rs.1.2 crore on a 6-day trip to Ibiza. They wanted a yacht which was specifically black and white in colour, which belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo and was hired. There was another luxury travel agency which curated a 100-day honeymoon holiday for 20 ultra rich newly wed couples, which covered 36 cities, included a Coldplay concert in Hamburg, a visit to the Audi and Porsche factories, a three-day workshop in France on how perfumes are made, worn and shopped for, visit to a watch factory in Switzerland where a custom-made watch was gifted to them. All their luggage—shopping and items they didn’t want to use—was shipped to their London flat after every stop. Their laundry was managed out of Chennai. Their clothes were washed and delivered to their next destination or to their London apartment, if they did not need them for the next stopover.

Wow! And we are happy going for a two-day trip to Lonavala or Matheran! Guess as one gets richer, it gets more and more difficult to please. Simplicity is indeed the essence of life.