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LUXURY TRAVEL
Got $1 million? Live it up in Abu DhabiFor the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/24/08
You've done it yourself — closed your eyes and wondered what you would do if you just won the smallest of lottery pots — a cool million.
Most of us dream about traveling to far away places to escape the humdrum life of the little people.
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The seven-star Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates is calling all millionaires with a new travel package priced at a cool $1 million (give or take a few tens of thousands of dollars) - for two persons (Dh3.67 million).
What's included? Naturally, round-trip first-class airline tickets and a one-week stay in the hotel's finest suite.
But let's stop here a second. This suite? It's about 7,300-square feet. You walk into an entrance with Swarovski crystal chandeliers and the entry hall leads you to your dining room where "only the finest cuisine is served" (hope so). The plush living area is decorated in all silks and Daum crystal masterpieces (www.daum.fr/#). The Palace Suite has a master bedroom and two guest bedrooms - each having lavish marble bathrooms with jacuzzis and rain showers.
The nice little guest touches include round-the-clock services of a butler, daily breakfast in the hotel's Brasserie (no doubt you could ask for it to be served in bed), Hermes bath amenities, daily newspaper, fresh flowers and fruit, use of the fitness center, pool and beach (nearly a mile of private beach for guests) and airport limo transfers.
Back to the one-week package: Also included is a Maybach luxury "saloon" (that's a sedan) with a driver, daily spa treatments and special gifts worth more than $100,000. For him, it's a gun from the English gunsmith Holland & Holland and for her a pearl necklace.
But wait! There's more.
The package includes day excursions within the Middle East on a private jet. One excursion is to Iran to watch the creation of a one-of-a-kind Persian carpet. Another trip is to Jordan for a Dead Sea mud spa treatment and yet another to Bahrain to deep sea dive for pearls! Then the pearls are set into a custom piece of jewelry to take home.
But those side trips aren't set in stone and only suggested. Should a guest prefer instead to travel to Beirut or Iran for snow skiing — well, that could be arranged too.
The Pearl Grand room, or the Coral Grand room - with either a partial sea view or a view of the gardens - are actually affordable for the masses at about $360 a night (1,325.00 United Arab Emirates Dirhams).
So we can't all spend a one-week's holiday in the place of kings and sheiks. But at least there's the Internet for a virtual peek, www.virtual-emiratespalace.com. For more, www.emiratespalace.com.
And for more on the strong developing tourism trade in the United Arab Emirates, visit www.uaeinteract.com/travel
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Clara
Bosonetto Maerz's column is published weekdays on ajc.com.


