Our High End Lives

It's been a high end couple of weeks for the Parnes'. We have finally started to take much-deserved advantage of our jobs. Last weekend we flew to Lombok on a work assignment to write about the hottest new luxury boutique hotel on the island.  It opened a few months ago, so they invited us out to check it out.

We arrived to find out that we were the only guests for the first night and that two other rooms would fill on the second night.  It turned out the other two rooms were for a photographer and fashion model in town to do a shoot, so we basically had the place to ourselves.  

The hotel is on a deserted stretch of beach in the northeast corner of Lombok. It's part of a small chain (this is property #4) of 'art hotels' that are each absolutely gorgeous.  We expected it to be impressive, but it was unreal.  

Being the only people there, we were given the best suite (which goes for $450+/nt) and treated like royalty.  Our suite was easily the nicest room we will ever stay in in our lives.  The entire footprint of the suite was 140 square meters, which included the private plunge pool overlooking the ocean, koi pond and enormous outdoor bathroom.  The room itself was 80 square meters, which is bigger than our two-bedroom apartment in Jakarta.

We spent two full days lounging, getting massages, snorkeling and just enjoying the luxurious surroundings. We also enjoyed a lovely romantic private dinner on the beach. Needless to say, we'll have nice things to say in the magazine.

This past weekend I was flown to Singapore to report about a luxury hotel there.  I took Haviva with me out of pity. While it wasn't a beachfront hotel all our own, it was an executive room with access to the non-stop buffet and open bar of the executive lounge.  It was also inclusive of a ridiculous complimentary dinner at the upscale Cantonese restaurant downstairs. 

The highlight of the weekend was our pair of fourth row seats to the Saturday matinee of Avenue Q, which the theater comped us for having written a nice story about them.  It was the cast and crew of the Filipino production, and it was fantastic.  Neither of us has seen the Broadway production, but it's hard to believe it is any better. 

Sunday we spent the day at the Singapore Zoo, enjoying the fresh air and organized splendor that is Singapore.

Back to reality this week as it's crunch time for getting our December issues out...