Munich's Oktoberfest is always awesome, but trust me, it is even better from the VIP section

As loyal readers know, I am a huge fan of Munich’s Oktoberfest.

This epic annual party is a true bucket list, once in a lifetime experience. Or in my case, several times in a lifetime  – I just can’t stop going.

As I reported last year, 2010 was the 200th birthday of the fall harvest festival, which has morphed over two centuries into the biggest excuse in the world to drink excessive quantities of beer (nearly 7 million 1-liter steins annually!), dance, party and consume vast amounts of wiener schnitzel, unrecognizable pork products, bratwurst, and innumerable other sausages (more than 200,000 wursts just within the Oktoberfest fairgrounds). And it is a once a year excuse for well-endowed women to don traditional Bavarian dirndl dresses that are, to put it mildly, quite flattering (check out my pictures and posts).

What's a dirndl? Come to Munich this fall and find out!

But here’s the catch: in recent years Munich’s 16-day Oktoberfest (which despite its name always begins in mid-September) has gotten uber-popular, with over 6 million attendees every year, and grown steadily, with last year’s bicentennial shattering all previous records. Police even had to curtail admission to the 100-acre site.

As a result it has gotten much more difficult to attend and enjoy Oktoberfest. The catch is that in order to drink beer, enjoy the music, and have a good time, you NEED to have a seat or table inside one of the 14 massive beer tents, but there are a lot more attendees than spots. Like season tickets to the Yankees, tables are booked by the same people each year, and it is very difficult to reserve spots if you are not a Municher, so most foreigners (not just Americans but from every country on earth) show up full of hope, only to stand outside and not be allowed into the massive tent beer halls. Even if you get in, many still roam the aisles looking for a seat they cannot find, and are not allowed to order.

Hard to find a seat? You bet!

So here’s the thing: the best way to do Oktoberfest is as a VIP. Now the best way to do almost anything is as a VIP, so that is not exactly shocking, but in this case, there is almost no other way. Most tents are owned by one of Munch’s six breweries or a related company, and each as a VIP section with lots of reserved tables with better service, a special tent entrance, and in short, a VIP experience that removes all the hassle.

Just how do you become an Oktoberfest VIP?

Well you can be in the beer business and buy a lot of beer. So if you are the CEO of Chili’s, or own the largest beer distributor in California, you’re in!

If not, there is still one option.

Authentescapes is a high-end luxury travel agency that specializes in putting together one of a kind VIP trips that offer a unique form of experiential travel. All of its itineraries, which are tropically offered just once a year, tie together special events, first rate lodging, and behind the scenes access, with special guest experts to lead and educate participants. For example, they have a wine trip to Tuscany that includes a private pig roast with former Police front man Sting at his over the top villa, a trip to the famed Palio horse race in Italy’s Sienna escorted by Salvatore Ferragamo, and the Ultimate Oktoberfest Trip to which this post alludes.

“Zythology: Celebrate the Beers of Europe,” as it is called, is a 9-day beer centric trip co-hosted by the King of Beers himself, Anheuser Busch brewmaster George Reisch, the guy responsible for making more beer than anyone on earth, along with renowned celebrity chef Roy Yamaguchi of the eponymous Roy’s restaurant collection, who handles the food. The trip starts in Brussels with VIP visits to the highly regarded Stella Artois and Leffe breweries, culminating wit a gourmet multi-course Leffe beer pairing dinner arranged by Chef Yamaguchi. Next the group heads to Amsterdam and  legendary Westvleteren Brewery, inside the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus, whose beer has been regularly rated the best on earth (sort of the Pine Valley of brews!). After a brief tourism stop in Cologne, each member of the party is handed the keys to a Porsche (really!), and a GPS, and drives themselves on the famed Autobahn to Munich, hands the car in, and enjoys a private tour of the Spaten Brewery. For Oktoberfest, the group hits opening weekend, the absolute best part of the festival, with VIP access to watch the downtown grand opening parade, after which the Mayor ceremoniously taps the first keg and the party is official ON! Two nights of VIP admission to the Spaten and Lowenbrau tents follow. In comparison, on your own it is tough just to get a hotel room in the city.

Okay, so its costs $8,000 a person. But for beer, and Oktoberfest, it really does not get any better than this. It is like using one of those really high end golf tour operators to buy a spectator package to the Master’s. I guess that’s why I call it the Ultimate Oktoberfest Trip.

These folks did not book with Authentescapes. They are waiting to get into a beer tent. Most of them never will.

This may be the most beautiful golf hole on earth - but you have to go to Mexico to find it!

Quick, do a Google Search for “Mexico’s Best Golf Courses,” and in the Top 5 results you will see the special guest blog I did for the website of Delta Vacations.

I have long been a champion of golf in Mexico, which has among the highest average quality of courses of any country in the world, and my Delta blog is a handy quick and dirty overview of the best regions to go and the best courses in each. I’ve also covered Mexico a lot on my own blog, so to read more, click here, here, here or here.

But remember, whatever you do, if you got to Mexico, DO NOT BRING YOUR iPhone! This is going to be even worse if AT&T, who loves to screw its customers, succeeds in buying T Mobile.

Anyway, here’s why I did the guest appearance: Delta Vacations can be a pretty great deal for the traveling golfer. They are not alone. Other airline vacation sites, including Continental Vacations and United Vacations can help you get to the tee faster, cheaper and with more opportunities for free travel.

The layperson may not know this, but with few exceptions, the airlines typically do not run their own vacation sites, but rather sub them out to third party tour operators or large travel packagers. This gives the public the best of all worlds; access to below market plane fares coupled with a vast inventory of hotels, resorts and transportation providers, all offering the vacation operator low, negotiated bulk rates.

Think about this for a second: no matter how internet savvy you think you are, at the end of the day, does it make any sense for any hotel in the world to offer you a lower rate than the guy at Continental Vacations who is booking a hundred rooms with the same hotels, year in and year out. Nope.

Guess what? There's a lot to do off the course as well, like these Mayan ruins at Coba.

As an expert travel writer and very frequent traveler who almost always makes his own very detailed arrangements, for many years I was skeptical of “package” vacations. But last fall, I used Delta vacations for my trip to Munich’s 200th Oktoberfest, an awesome experience about which I have written several blogs, and posted lots of pictures. After having tried every possible alternative, the combination of the airfare, ground transfers and hotel was impossible to beat on my own, and unlike some consolidator and other below the radar fares, you not only get all your miles, you usually get bonus miles when booking with one of these airline vacation sites. As I have mentioned before, frequent flier miles are an increasingly valuable currency for the frequent or golf traveler, since if you can make “status” on an airline these days, it eliminates all the newfound charges for baggage, better seats and what not, which can really add up. Using an airline vacation site for your next trip won’t just save you money on the trip, it could help save you a hundred bucks or more on baggage fees on all your other trips going forward. And you could be that person sitting in the emergency row aisle seat who is already reading the paper when you finally get on and head to your crowded middle seat and fight for overhead space that is already taken.. Finally, this is not just true for the airline you frequent, but for all the airlines in its alliance, like Sky Team for Delta or Star Alliance for Continental. It just makes sense.

One more thing: if something goes wrong on the trip tor gets changed or I miss my flight, I want to be calling Delta Vacations to make the changes, not SomeGolfTrip.com.

In addition, these packages almost always include transfers, something a lot of people don’t think about. Flying into Cancun to play Mayakaoba? A cab is gong to cost you well over a hundred bucks roundtrip, but since you don’t pay till you get there, it is easy to not count that cost when comparing deals. Trust me, I’ve done the legwork and sites like Delta or Continental Vacations, which offers lots of golf packages here and abroad, might not have the best deal every single time, but they are definitely worth a look.

Virgin Atlantic's flight attendants, the "Red Hotties," were voted the most attractive in the sky

About two years ago, fellow golf writer Michael Patrick Shiels and I had the pleasure of flying across the pond from Newark to London in Virgin Atlantic airway’s Upper Class, thanks to a very generous upgrade from the airline’s friendly marketing department – we don’t usually drop several thousand dollars on a flight.

We were headed over to play golf in Scotland, but the flight itself turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Virgin recalls the glory days of air travel with an actual bar, one you can sit at, in the two-level Upper Class section at the front of its 747s. So as soon as the seatbelt lights went off, Michael and I visited the bar, sat down and ordered gin and tonics, and mesmerized by both the cocktails and the very attractive bartendress, proceeded to waste the entire flight at the bar. It felt like it had been 10 minutes, and we were shocked when the pilot announced our descent into London.

I have to say, it is a very James Bond way to fly.

So it came as no surprise to me that the Australian, Daily Telegraph and USA Today all ran stories today about the results of a survey by a business travel industry group, proclaiming Virgin Atlantic’s flight attendants the most attractive in the sky.

Of the 1000 travelers surveyed, more than half (53%) cast their votes for the one airline, which is really very impressive – as is this commercial from Virgin Atlantic capitalizing on what it calls the “Red Hotties.”

Just in case you are teeing it up somewhere VA does not fly, Singapore Airlines’ cabin crew came in a distant second, with 18% of votes, while the rest of the Top 10 was rounded out (in order) by Etihad, Emirates, Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, TAP, KLM and Iberia.

It’s worth noting that not a single US airline made the cut.

Yours truly takes "hotlaps" at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway with veteran Indy Car driver Arie Luyendyk Jr.

The Indy 500 is more than just the famous race of any kind, it is also the world’s largest single-day sporting event. In big years, it has attracted more than 400,000 fans to the stands and infield of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, aka “The Brickyard.”

As if Indy was not big enough, this year is extra special: the race turns 100 in 2011 (on May 29, as it is always Memorial Day Weekend). The very first Indy 500 was way back in May 1911, and to honor the event, the city has planned a month-long bash planned for this epic celebration. This includes everything from parades to the world’s largest half marathon – culminating with a run around the racetrack oval!

Unlike the Superbowl, Indy is not hard to get tickets to, but hotel and flight reservations are likely to be trickier issues. That’s why I am giving you a few months heads up, but don’t dally, start booking now.

Last year I attend the 200th anniversary Oktoberfest in Munich (see my pictures here!), and even though I had been before, it was extra special. I expect the same to be true for the 100th birthday of Indy 500.

LO rocks the Brickyard!

All the info on the race can found at the Speedway’s site, while the month long lead up, the 500 Festival, including the half-marathon, has its own dedicated site.

Vroom!

Don't settle for just one - drive all four of these German beauties at high speeds!

Sorry Henry Ford. Seems the most valid claim for the invention of the automobile lies across the sea with the Benz Patent Motor Car, introduced in 1886.

That makes 2011 the 125th birthday of the car, and a good excuse to check out a new package offered by a Bavarian tourism promotion conglomerate, including the cities of Stuttgart and Munich (yep, where I recently wrote about and posted fun photos of the 200th Oktoberfest!) and carmakers BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz and Porsche.

The 8-day Premium Cars of Southern Germany Tour combines stays in 4 and 5-star hotels with exhilarating drives through the Bavarian forests and countryside and ain the “any speed is too slow” passing lanes of the Autobahn. Behind the wheel of a 5-series, E-Class, Panamera and some (?) Audi. Each 2-day segment includes a choice of several optional day tours, which can be a driving experience (AMG Experience, BMW Safe Driver Training, etc) or a castle, vineyard or city tour, or yes, even a round of golf at the Ingolstadt Golf Club. Along the way there are private auto-related visits and tours.

Basic packages are 8-days and start and end in Munich, but can be extended or customized. Save your beer drinking by the liter at famed Bavarian beer halls like the Hofbrauhaus until after you have turned the keys back in.

You know it is a righteous party when people are paying to take breathalyzers - and betting on the results!

As I mentioned in my last post, I just returned to Munich to be part of history at the Bicentennial celebration of the largest party on earth, Oktoberfest.

This is what I saw.

Your's truly enjoying the world's largest party.

Oktoberfest is like a county fair except for the huge beer tents lining the midway, some of which hold over 10,000 drinkers. Outside, visitors survive mainly on sausages.

It's not all about the beer.

But it is mostly about the beer!

You'll see a lot of "interesting" things at Oktoberfest.

Munich's Oktoberfest is a great party - if you have a seat inside a tent like this one.

The 200th Oktoberfest just wrapped up in Munich and if you were not there, the bad news is you missed it. The good news is you missed it.

I am just back from Munich and the closing weekend. It was my second Oktoberfest, but much different from my first just a few years ago, thanks largely to record setting crowds and revelers bent on celebrating the Bicentennial within an inch of their lives.

It's not so great if you one of the many thousands hoping against hope to get in.

The thing that impressed me most about the world’s largest party is how peaceful and organized it is. Sure there are drunks, but the drinking ends relatively early, German society is very orderly, and for the most part if felt very safe and welcoming.

Not this year.

Oktoberfest 2010 set all kinds of attendance records and sales records, especially the Saturday of closing weekend, the bustiest single day out of more than 3000 days in the history of the festival. Unfortunately these crowds brought mayhem, rampant drunkenness, fights and most impressive of all, frequent beat downs from the vast numbers of riot-geared cops.

So on one hand, this may have been a party to miss. On the other, I’m still glad I went. I had a good time and none of the many people I know who went had any real trouble.

The question is what will next year bring? I am predicting a return towards normal Oktoberfest but not quite all the way, because now that an extra 1.5 million visitors, give or take a few thousand, have tasted it, I am sure it will continue to draw larger crowds. And it is already hard to get a spot in one of the may tents, the only paces you can drink beer (along with the associated outdoor but enclosed beer gardens). There’s really no point going if you can’t get a tent seat.

So here is my advice: Book early and make sure you reserve tables. This is harder than it sounds but possible. Each tent is individually owned and operated, so you have to contact them directly, ideally more than 6 months in advance to make arrangements. All the tent info can be found at the official Oktoberfest website. Ditto for your hotel and air, since everything sells out. I booked mine through Delta Vacations, which bundles hotel rooms and airfare together and then sells them for less than you can buy them separately on your own, and these packages work especially well for sold out events like O-fest since they block rooms and seats for resale in advance. (Hey, Delta Vacations works great for golf trips too!) Next year’s dates are 9/17-10/3, 2011.

Here’s my final piece of inside advice: This was the 200th birthday of Oktoberfest, but due to cancellation from war, crashed economies and the occasional cholera outbreak, it was not the 200th Oktoberfest. That’s the next biggie, so mark your calendar for fall 2023.

What a long strange trip it has been. 100 blogs around the world and going strong!

After a year of doing this, I hit my 100th golf blog this week!

I wanted to thank you for reading, for your comments and feedback, and well, just for being you.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I have decided to do a re-cap, and like American Idol (which will not be the same without Simon), I’ve let America vote.

So after 100 blogs, here are the Five you loved best, starting with the single most visited one I ever wrote:

1. Finally A Champion to Challenge Tiger Woods
(By the way, I was right – Martin Kaymer won the KLM Tournament just last week!)

2. Conde Nast Puts the Stupid in Golf Journalism: Part 3
(Don’t forget to read parts One and Two as well. Maybe even before Part 3!)

3. Major Courses You Can Play!
(This is one of my favorite topics in golf travel, and sadly, a year after I wrote it, none have been added to this list)

4. Don’t Let “Bunkergate” Stop You From Rushing To Play Whistling Straits
(I didn’t, I am just back from Kohler and ready to tell you all about it!)

5. Vail: The Best Made Simple
(Okay, so this is not a golf blog, but it is travel, and as I plan to emphasize ski travel more in the winter to come, glad to see you all care so much!)

Florida's renowned Innisbrook is one of the luxury destinations you might be able to snag at a deep discount by using a "private sale" site like Jetsetter.com

Try a private sale travel site.

These new style of websites are doing for luxury travel what Hotels.com and Priceline.com did for the mass market – creating efficiency and pricing unsold inventory at substantial savings to help the supply and demand curves intersect.

Basically the idea behind private sale sites is this: they contract with luxury hotels, resorts, cruise ships and travel packagers worldwide, get access to blocks of unsold rooms for particular dates and either sell the rooms or entire packages at heavy discounts, typically 40-70% off list. Even though hotel list prices, or “rack rates,” are pretty high to begin with and usually more than you would ever pay, these sites offer real bargains – I’ve checked it out.

There are three major players right now: Jetsetter.com, Voyage Prive and the newest, Sniqueaway, from TripAdvisor.com. Jetsetter has been around for a while, has hotels here and abroad, and recently added a lot of active trips (trekking, bike trips, etc) with high end companies like Ciclismo Classico, and also has a lot of far flung eco and adventure lodges in less visited locales. But then again, they just added Florida golf powerhouse Innisbrook resort to their list, so it is pretty varied. I haven’t had  chance to check out Sniqueaway, but Voyage Prive has been doing business in Europe for years, where it has 5 million members, and just expanded to the US.

Here is how they all work: you join, usually through an “exclusive” invitation from an existing member, but they all want members and if you poke around the websites you can usually find an offer to join. Then you either get email updates or check back with the site and they put particular properties on sale for particular dates. These are not auctions, the details, prices and availability are very clear, but usually the booking windows are short, like the sale might last only 5 days, though the dates for which you can book are much greater. I just checked Voyage Prive and was able to find available dates at a top NYC hotel during fashion week, when everything in the city is sold out, for less than anything I could find on conventional sites like Kayak, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc, or through actual travel agents like Amex Platinum. I am pretty web savvy with travel, and this was quite literally the best deal I could find.

Right now, hotels are on sale in such diverse places as Disney World, Tahiti, Vegas, London, Barcelona, Milan, Venice and Aspen. There are cruises too, and safaris, and yes, even golf resorts. Voyage Prive currently has package at the Renaissance Palm Springs for 60-74% off list, one night for $85, 6 nights for $339, and it is hard to beat that deal.

The sites cost nothing to join, you just have to join.

St. Lucia's Pitons are the most spectacular peaks in the Caribbean - and the view every Jade Mountain guest wakes to.

Jade Mountain is a great hotel. But there are lots of great hotels. 

More importantly, Jade Mountain may well be the most unique great hotel anywhere. 

The resort’s owner, Nick Troubetzkoy, is an architect, and Jade Mountain is his life’s great work, like Michelangelo’s David. Because it is unique, was virtually impossible to actually construct, and requires an incredibly high level of service to keep going, no chain, not even venerable Four Season or a boutique player like Aman Resorts would build such a thing. In fact, it would be a good bet that no one other than Nick Troubetzkoy would, and for that, I am very grateful. 

Jade Mountain is located on St. Lucia, an island so besieged by natural beauty that it is known as the Helen of the West Indies, as in Helen of Troy. St. Lucia is gorgeous from top to bottom, but its most impressive and best known feature are the Pitons, Gros and Petit, two poignant towering mountain peaks, connected at the hip like Siamese twins, one just slightly taller than the other. They are not the highest peaks in the Caribbean, but they are easily the most breathtaking, and not by chance, there is no better view of the Pitons on the entire island than from the spot on which Jade Mountain sits. And because Troubetzkoy loves that view, every single room faces it. 

Except that here are no rooms at Jade Mountain. 

Or villas. Or suites. Or cabins, bungalows or cottages. 

The accommodations here are so bizarrely original that the preferred term is the only one that does them justice: “Infinity Pool Sanctuaries.” 

Every one of Jade Mountain's "Sanctuaries" has a private infinity pool with a stunning view of the Pitons and the Caribbean Sea below.

Each Sanctuary is totally unique, but all have three things in common. 

First, a private infinity pool terraced into the hillside staring straight at the Pitons. Not just any pool, each is individually mosaiced with special tiles Troubetzkoy chose for the way they reflect light underwater. Each pool is also equipped with chromotherapy lighting guests can adjust to sooth their karma (so are the stunning bathrooms with huge walk in shower towers). 

Second, each Sanctuary is completely open to the view with no wall or window to interfere: the view itself is what Troubetzkoy calls the “fourth wall.” As in only a railing between your bed, sofa, pool, chaise lounges and the sea. Some guests are understandably freaked out by the idea that their hotel room is not hermetically sealed, and by the occasional feeling of being watched, but thanks to the ingenious layout of the place, he has thoroughly ensured that no paparazzi can see in from anywhere on the land or sea. There are only two helicopters available on St. Lucia, and the Troubetzkoys know both owners, assuring an absence of fly bys. This security was apparently enough for Sir Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame and that paparazzi favorite, bad girl singer Amy Winehouse, both of whom had reportedly stayed in my Sanctuary. 

At Jade Mountain, the "Fourth Wall" of every guest room is the Caribbean itself.

Third is that they are insanely decadent, romantic, sensual and comfortable, to the point where one couple set a record for checking in and then literally not emerging from their sanctuary for five days and nights. Not once. 

I understand the motivation, given that Jade Mountain makes a spectacular place for a honeymoon, anniversary, tryst, or any kind of romantic escape. It is also an awesome place to recharge the batteries, simply sit around, get some sun or read. 

It is not so good for watching TV, since there are none. No telephones either, except the one button cell phone they give you to keep in touch with your personal butler. The place is a fantasy escape from the real world, pure and simple, and while folks who can’t live without fourth walls, flat screens, cell reception and internet are probably the ones who need Jade Mountain most, they shouldn’t come. 

The Sanctuaries are all cantilevered into the hillside in way so that none can see into another, each has a stunning view, and the entire hotel, which is quite small, looks like a space ship dropped onto a mountain top. “Floating” is the term most used to describe almost everything about Jade Mountain. The space ship resembles a wedding cake cut in half, since there are only tiers on one side. On the other are an elaborate network of concrete walkways suspended in the air, one connecting the front door of each Sanctuary with the mother ship, and on the top floor sits the Jade Mountain Club, where three meals per day plus cocktails and afternoon tea are served. The roof of the Club doubles as the sun kissed yoga pavilion. 

The white buildings on the left are part of the Anse Chatenet sister resort. The terra cotta tower higher up is Jade Mountain, with each level featuring a Sanctuary cantilevered into the hillside.

Less than two dozen over-the-top rock star Sanctuaries, the restaurant, office, yoga, spa, fitness center and view make up the entirety of Jade Mountain. 

Except not quite. 

You see, before he tackled his dream project, the 5-star Jade Mountain, Nick Troubetzkoy built another resort, the solidly 4-star Anse Chastanet, on St. Lucia’s gorgeous beach of the same name. Anse Chastanet has been there for years, and has a great reputation as a very upscale all-inclusive catering to divers, beach lovers and once again, romantics. It sits on the beach directly below Jade Mountain, and guests of the upper resort have access to all the facilities of the lower one, but not vice versa. That means that Jade Mountaineers have all kinds of restaurants with all kinds of cuisines, two sets of yoga classes daily, two spas, a calendar of outdoor fitness classes and nature hikes, elaborate guided sea kayaking excursions, the only purpose-built mountain biking (they call it jungle biking) complex in the entire Caribbean, miles of foot trails with old sugar plantation ruins,  two beaches, every form of watersport imaginable, sunset cocktail cruises, and an onsite PADI 5-Star dive center, one of the best in North America. Then there are hosts of guided of-site activities, like an arduous hike up the Pitons (taller, steeper and especially hotter than it looks!) 

None of this comes cheap, as room rates at Jade Mountain soar well over $1000 per night. That makes the optional all-inclusive upgrade a bargain in comparison. Basically once you add it, all your meals – as many as you can fit in your gut – are free, in any of either resort’s restaurants, or as the five-day sequestered guest found out, room service is also covered, along with wine, spirits, and beer. With rooms this awesome, you have to do room service at least few times, because it is hard to leave, but the resort’s other charms are, well, charming. The final selling point are the butlers, who besides being at your beck and call and providing shuttles down to Anse Chastenet and the beach, bring daily surprise snacks and desserts, turn bedding into romantic sculptures, and generally accommodate every whim. 

I have been to many of the best and highest rated resorts of all sizes on earth, and Jade Mountain is near the top of the heap, just like its natural setting. What is so special about Jade Mountain is not the best food, or best location, or best service, but can be summed up in one word: 

Unforgettable.