A protracted spell of global uncertainty might not be the best time to launch a luxury travel company, but The Luminaire hopes its tailor-made trips will appeal to big spenders with broad horizons. Noting that big spenders want more than sumptuous hotel rooms and endless pampering, the start-up is tapping into the trend for high-end self-improvement.
The new company bills its operations as a combination of education and adventure, collaborating with historians, explorers, and other notable travellers, to offer up their expertise on custom crafted itineraries.
The first batch of journeys range from trips to the artistic milieu of the French Riviera, to the medieval glories of Florence, with specific events like the Venice Biennale also embraced. Here you’ll be hosted by local architect and historian Francesco da Mosto, getting a rare insight into the city’s past, present, and future. The more artistically inclined can book a photographic tour of the West Country in the company of photojournalist Sir Don McCullin CBE.
The Luminaire’s flagship trip for 2022 is a journey to Antarctica with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the man who has done more than any other to preserve the spirit of adventure and derring-do. The recent discovery of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance by a drone submarine, still perfectly preserved in the icy waters of the Weddell Sea after over a century, has reignited interest in the polar regions.
The expedition with Sir Ranulph will mark the first time the septuagenarian has joined a private exhibition, spending nine days with a select group aboard a private expedition yacht. On hand will be a team of glaciologists, marine biologists, ecologists, and adventurers, carefully selected by the Luminaire to cater for ‘a new archetype of traveller.’
Additional information and terms at TheLuminaire.com
Venice during the Biennale, from £14,395 per person
Photography with Sir Don McCullin CBE, from £12,450 per person
Scientific expedition to Antarctica, from £118,025 per person
