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A "luxpedition" is an adventure travel experience tailored to each client.
- Are "luxpeditions" the new glamping?
- When "glamour camping," people pay hundreds of dollars a night to sleep in tents with king-sized beds, en-suite bathrooms, and Wi-Fi, but one London-based company is taking that even further by adding extreme adventures to the mix.
- Brown + Hudson is betting on the idea that people want authentic and rugged travel adventures, but they also want high thread-count sheets, hot showers, and Michelin-starred cuisine.
If you're a thrill-seeker who also loves luxury, your perfect travel experience might just be a "luxpedition."
It's similar to glamping, which entails camping in a luxury tent with a bed, feather duvet, and often Wi-Fi and running water.
But a luxpedition takes that a step further by throwing rugged adventures into the mix, too. London-based company Brown + Hudson, who coined the term "luxpedition," offers unique trips for those who want their adrenaline rush accompanied by luxurious amenities.
"A Luxpedition is for those who want their Bear Grylls experience during the daytime but, at night, want to blast away the dust, dirt and sweat with a power shower and slip beneath crisp, clean sheets," Philippe Brown, the founder of Brown + Hudson, said in a press release obtained by Forbes. "Or maybe, somewhere along the trail, they'd like a loved one helicoptered in to join them - so they can share in the excitement for a night or two."
Past trips have included taking a family through Utah by raft, aircraft, all-terrain vehicles, canyoneering, and mountain bike by day, and then spending nights in luxury camps built from scratch, with privately chartered flights to ensure no time was wasted, according to the company's website.
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The trips combine adventure and luxury.
Another luxpedition entailed taking clients on a 12-hour camel ride somewhere in the Middle East, Forbes reported. Eight hours in, they stopped in the shade of an oasis to find cold glasses of their favorite craft beer.
"Perhaps your luxury and motivation will be found in a tent with a heated floor, a sat phone when you least expected it, a shower when you hadn't seen water for ages and Michelin-starred cuisine," reads the company's website. "Alternatively it might be a chopper to take you surfing at the beach, fresh socks, chilled Champagne and massage."
Those with an appetite for adventure and with the bank account to pay for the luxury version of it can turn to a variety of companies to satisfy their every want.
Two ex-British Army Captains cofounded Pelorus, a company which plans travel experiences for the super-rich. The trips are unique and range from a $52,000 Angola tribe experience to an espionage mission with counter-terrorism experts.
The emergence of these adventure-focused luxpeditions follows that of glamping, a travel trend that has gained popularity in recent years. On an island in New York Harbor, people pay up to $700 a night to sleep in Scandinavian-inspired tents with king-sized beds and 1,500-thread count sheets, en-suite bathrooms, electricity, Wi-Fi, and a French Press coffee bar. And an ex-Wall Street banker came up with Tentrr, a sort of "Airbnb for camping" that lets travelers find and book upscale campsites on private land.