- I didn’t grow up traveling in luxury, but my job has allowed me to take my family on beautiful trips.
- My twins have stayed in mostly high-end accommodations and have been to many luxurious places.
- I worry that they are in for a rude awakening as they get older and have less access to luxury travel.
when i was a child family vacations it meant road trips to the beach or a national park in our buggy. I didn’t start getting my passport stamped seriously until I was in my early 30s.
I knew nothing about luxury travel until much later when my career began to take shape freelance travel writing.
That’s when I started finding opportunities to walk around the globe, staying in the best hotels with access to rare experiences. This happened around the time my twins were born – so, unlike their parents, they didn’t know anything other than being noticed. luxury travel their entire lives.
And they have no real context against which to compare their experiences.
We live modestly, but my children are used to experiencing the finer things in life when we travel
My family has stayed in some incredible villas and hotels. Alessandra Dubin
Even though we live in a modest two-bedroom house that’s a century old and leaks when it rains, our family’s typical travel accommodations are pretty tricked out.
Most of the resorts we visit put us in suites with amenities like private pools, personalized chocolates, and massive soaking tubs in the many marble bathrooms.
My children spent the summer between which they turned 10 trips to the rising five-star Shangri-La Tokyo and the Four Seasons Cabo del Sol on the coast of Cabo San Lucas.
Our suite at the Four Seasons spanned more than 2,000 square feet—significantly larger than our home in Los Angeles—with its own plunge pool and outdoor shower tucked into a private, manicured courtyard.
The summer they turned 8, we stayed at a cottage by the sea The canoe, a Caribbean island with a reputation as the place where billionaires go to escape millionaires. We got there by private plane.
My children get this special access not because of their family’s tax bracket—like many of the other guests at the properties we visit—but because their mother is a luxury travel writer whose job offers unique opportunity.
But they’ve never traveled any other way and are sure to be in for a rude awakening when they grow up and hit the road for themselves, using their age- and income-appropriate resources.
I imagine a future in which their college friends organize a low-budget trip for spring break and they are completely stunned by real-world conditions.
The i know these types of carefree trips are sometimes the most fun – i was a frequent camper and serious destination hiker before i had kids. But luxury travel is all my kids have ever known.
I hope I am setting a positive example for my children, but only time will tell
My children are used to experiencing benefits when we travel. Alessandra Dubin
Luxury travel is addictive and my family is spoiled by the comforts my job affords us.
Although I still have my camping gear, we tend to embrace the finer side of travel during my children’s limited and limited breaks from school.
I like to think I’m setting a positive example for my kids: I work hard at my business, a business I rushed to build after a corporate layoff. I hope they learned from me that work can be fun, rewarding – and yes, fascinating – when you lean in when you love.
But has it skewed their expectations forever their access to luxury travel from a young age? Only time will tell.