Farewell Travels: Hello Travel Designer

Westporters are no strangers to luxury travel. Whether it’s a helicopter to the Hamptons or a private jet to Jasper, you (or a neighbor) has done it.

Or heard someone brag about it, in the Balducci’s checkout line.

But there is luxury travel, and then there are people like Susan Farewell.

Today’s New York Times has a feature story on “a subset of travel planners — they prefer the term travel designers — who do far more than simply book trips. They manage the travel portfolios of their affluent clients.”

Susan Farewell

The piece includes Farewell Travels — the eponymous owner’s company. Like other travel designers, Farewell makes house calls (to observe family dynamics), and does “reconnaissance … the better to make recommendations on lodging, tour guides and special excursions.”

As an example, the Times article cites Westport clients Russell and Bobbi Crocker. Farewell planned a trip to South Africa and Zambia for the couple — then went ahead to check everything out.

After returning, she booked a different — presumably better/nicer/more something — for the Crockers.

The Times reports how she works:

Ms. Farewell’s initial meetings with new clients amount to an intake. She isn’t interested solely in where they would like to go, but in where they have been, their “style” (large hotel or boutique? adventurous or not so much? sedentary or active?), the ages of their children, the length of time they are willing to spend on a plane, the number of days they have available and the money they want to allot to travel annually. It’s not unusual, she said, for some small families she works with to spend $50,000 for a weeklong trip (not including the private jets).

“This is not a line item for many of my clients — this kind of travel falls under the heading of education rather than recreation,” said Ms. Farewell, who meets annually with such clients to review trips from the previous year and determine the next logical step. For instance: Would it be better for them to go to Greece this summer, or might this be the summer to take the children to Africa?

“It’s all about setting people up for travel success,” said Ms. Farewell, who has a minimum fee of $500 for putting together the itinerary for a weeklong trip. “There are no do-overs, because your kids will never be this age again.”

The Times story notes that one client — hopefully not Farewell’s — would never use his particular travel designer again. At a remote location, the man was served frozen — not fresh — orange juice.

I’m sure no Westporter would ever feel so entitled.

But if he did, I’m also sure that Susan Farewell would tell him where to go.

(For the full New York Times story, click here.)