The ultimate luxury vacation

Some folks yearn for the 2 week camping trip, others for a beach, others for the luxury hotel and spa in a fabulous city. like Paris or Rome. I would not mind that, but for the current cost of traveling overseas. No matter where you go in the US, the employees are never obsequious enough for me - even at a Four Seasons level accommodation. For the truly heights of butt-kissing accommodations you need to go to France or Britain. And then, you need to fly, and unless you want to spend more on airfare than the fanciest suite in Paris for a week, you end up flying coach. Even then, you still need to go to an airport, and deal with the crowds.

But this is not about that . .. this is about travel with true luxury. Luxury of time, Luxury of space and luxury of ease. It may sound silly, but we have a vacation home on an ordinary middle class street on an ordinary public golf course in a small town in South Carolina. That town is truly the last small town on the coast between Down East Maine and Miami that is not over developed and ugly. Nor is is very expensive. This is an ordinary 3 bed 2 bath home, with the only distinguishing element being a pool.

Yet, provides the ultimate oasis. The reason is that we do not have to pack anything. Even traveling to a posh suite in Paris or Maui or wherever, you have to pack your stuff. You need to plan, and choose and select and pack and deal with the hassle of air travel and the risk that Chuck in Connecticut will rifle through your stuff because your stuff got sent there instead of to Charles DeGaulle. You have to lug your stuff to your posh suite, even if the butler puts it away.

In our case, we can fly our own airplane into the local small county airport, only 5.5 miles from the house, take a free courtesy shuttle van to out house, drive the van back to the airport with our local vehicle, go food shopping at the supermarket on the way home, and there we are - home.

We have clothes and toiletries and games and toys and liquor and food and everything we could want. ALREADY THERE.

We decide to go, and 6 hours later we are sitting on the porch having a libation. No TSA body cavity search, no rude french cabbies who are really islamic terrorists in training, No hassle. We save time. The ultimate luxury. I realized that waxing my wife's car for a mothers day gift today. I washed, and waxed and vacuumed and cleaned, and then waxed it again. Then I'll cook dinner for her. I gave her the luxury of time, of not worrying about when she can find time to clean the car, and not worrying about cleaning, or choosing a restaurant to dine in and to wait in line on mothers day. A quiet day. Simple, with family. And freedom of time.