The bed is gone!!!! I had to eat it in pieces. I enjoyed it but peeled off some of the sugary cover. I have been enjoying the blanket on these cool evenings. Memories of Travaasa continue........

What a wonderful idea.

Congratulations to everyone who attended.

I forgot to add that I work with alot of European veterinarians and one of the things they miss the most (besides universal health care) about Europe is the ability to inexpensively travel from one great city to another on the continent. It is always a culture shock to them when they arrive in Philadelphia to see how expensive it is to fly to different parts of the US - they say this country is not very good for quick little weekend getaways like it is in Europe

It would be great to live on the other side of the Atlantic and do quickie trips in Rome, London, Paris, etc. but at least in Philadelphia, I am close enough to NYC, Washington DC, Baltimore, etc. which are all nice for quickie trips - not as nice as Paris but works for me ;-)

Well, mountie, not certain you will get answers to the 'benefits' part of your above question.

A similar event in the future? Anything is possible.

I have not been to any of these but they all sound wonderful - Victoria Falls Lodge is on my bucket list!

Great Hotels. We enjoyed the Dorchester in Washington, DC a while back, but you did not include it here, why?

Mountie - Jim has stayed at several LL properties. Let me see if I can coax him into adding to our group blog, but as you said, it's tough to pry Jim away from the phones

Kyshel - The OW airport transfer was another huge perk of my lebua stay. I imaging you'll really enjoy it after a loooong Transpacific flight, but for us it was such a breeze to be whisked out of Bangkok on a shockingly traffic-free Sunday morning, met at the airport by another lebua rep and walked all the way to the security line!

Yep, danielboldea, I do live on this side of an ocean. And I do spend many, many long weekend out fishing in the same ocean.

I, and I only speak for myself, don't care to take time, arriving hours prior to scheduled departure time nor standing in TSA lines, nor any of the other associated travel inconveniences involved in trips of short duration.

If I'm going to invest the needed time to do the above, them I want much longer ground time.

Just my opinion.

Otherwise, jump in my boat and head out to the high seas!

Wonder why we don's see a few words from Concierge Extraordinaire Jim Sanchez?

Maybe Jim doesn't have time to take many trips, since he is always on the telephone booking travel for us!

-O-, Austin does sound interesting. I've head a lot of people talk about what a great city it can be for a long weekend.

I've only stayed in a W hotel once and that we in Fort Lauderdale. It was a little expensive, but certainly attracted some interesting women, especially on their beachside party terrace during sunset and later into the night. My room wasn't anything special, but maybe I didn't get upgraded.

As I have mentioned in other postings throughout the lounge, I think the Luxury Link Social Experience was an interesting idea, even though I didn't attend. I have enjoyed looking through all of the other posts and photos.

I hope management at Travaasa Austin benefited from having the LLers attend and increase social media exposure and I hope, once completely evaluated by LL headquarters, that a similar event might be scheduled for the future.

Great poll--thank you all for sharing your experiences. Ben, I'm looking at Lebua again. Thinking about adding to Banyan Tree. First Lebua w/OW transfers since we arrive at midnite, get our jet lag settled, then continue with our Thailand travels.
I echo BJ03 on South America.

Nicely written. The W sounds funky! Travaasa was a great experience.

Great post. Now, let's get the team to South America to enjoy those properties!! Would love to see the team's favorites in Chile and Argentina!!!

PS- welcome back Ben!

You caught the essence of Travaasa in so few words--BRAVO!! Kinda wish I'd "vegged" for at least one dinner.
There is so much to do there--I think we just needed another day...maybe another visit?
We probably should have stayed, since we had to wait it out for second standby to ATL.

Sounds like you live on the other side of the ocean. City breaks are very popular with Europeans. Who wouldn't want to buy an inexpensive ticket (sometimes under $100), fly under 2-3 hours, and stroll the streets of cities like Rome, Florence, London, Paris and the list can continue... ?

A city break or an extended weekend will always be better than nothing in my book!

I have concluded that London is the best base for this type of travel. It is amazing how many destinations are offered and at what cost.

The bed was an ornate cookie made to look like a bed. The blanket was a sheet of icing (or marzipan or fondant) on a cardamom shortbread type slab cookie. It was displayed in a clear plastic box--very cute I think the box might have tasted better? We didn't dare try the cowboy hat, so we left it for the housekeeper for a little snack.
I like your chili style. Did you make yours in an hour, too?
BTW--ask your fishing pals about 4 dings.

Well, it sounds like the trip to Travaasa has made an impression on most of those who attended. I'm a bit out of the loop on bed eating, but I'll Google it and see if I can learn more.

btw, big thanks to omegaet for the PM with the prize winning recipe for Vegetarian Chili.

I made a batch last night and it turned out to be pretty darn good.

I did use omegaet's advice to adjust the recipe to my taste. I substituted ground top sirloin for the tofu, added an extra Jalapeno and a half cup of tequila and a full bottle of beer. My neighbor and his wife stopped by to enjoy the chili.

She really liked it, but seemed to get sleepy shortly after eating her second helping.

Not to be a contrarian, but 'quickie' anything doesn't work for me. I want the full monty or I'll like skip it and wait until I can indulge myself. Short trips, involving air travel and the associated hassles are certainly atop my Never To Do list.

So, glad the rest of you have the capacity to do things in short spurts, but I can't join in.

Oh No about the bed....isn't it good????? The coffee was very good. Can't wait to try the throws. It has been so warm here though. Enjoy K!!!!