Finally, 2006!
Last week I received an email Invitation for the New Year celebration at the Setai Hotel in South Beach Miami. Check it out:
Jet Network’s Billionaire Passport
New Year’s Getaway package: For just $195,000, you will be treated to a trip to the Setai Club via a Gulf Stream IV private jet after arriving at the airport in one of the hotel’s Bentleys or Range Rovers. The package also includes a stay at the hotel’s 10,000-square-foot penthouse. E!’s stylist, Robert Verdi, will then take you to Bal Harbour for consultation on a New Year’s Eve outfit; you’ll then receive custom watches made by Jacob the Jeweler (much like the one Nick Lachey lost at Delano few weeks back and then found in his luggage.) Hairdresser Ric Pipino will do your hair before you hit the big New Year’s party at the Setai (more info about this next week).
Well, the least I could say is that it sounded original and probably very convenient.
Wait for me Miami Beach; I am ready to hit the New Year with you.
Where I stayed, I was treated like a princess. All of us shared the same need to be connected with the other side of the continent; around us, Razor, Blackberry, Nokia latest cell ring tones continuously played their tunes, Nextel, wi-fi, Mac laptops, Entourage, Outlook Express, iPods, professional cameras, plasma Tvs — since being together was not enough, we wanted more. We also noticed different nationalities, Brazilian, French, Tunisian, Mexican, Israeli, and American. In a mix of English spoken with all different nuances and accents, we exchanged our experiences on our lives, works and cultures. Wherever we would move — at the beach, in the apartment, cars, parties, restaurants — it was a very elaborate and amusing operation. Hotels like the amazing Setai, Shore Club, Victor, Delano, were checked, lounges and bars like the Mint, the recently opened Glass, and the Sky bar were visited ‘til dawn; sunrise breakfast at Miami juice and at the Raleigh were appreciated.
I was with some of the people I care most: my friends, among new friends.
I must tell you that a new experience in the old-new year transition — whatever it is — gives you a feeling of continuous movement trough renewal and transformation, and the most important lesson of all is not really where you are but who you are connected with. Love, care, friendship, companionship, laughter are the best recipes to see the old year leave, even spending the eve at home on a good and comfortable pillowed couch in front of a TV dinner — as long as you commit to something new.
At last, the young 2006 finally arrived, and by welcoming the New Year the way I did, I got a permanent visa on my billionaire passport for at least one more year.
Happy New Year to all.
Check my next blogs on the Setai and Victor hotel.
Many thanks to my friend Andres Arellano and his partner, the amazing P.R Tamar Burton, from Miami. After all, as he’s been teaching me, “We’re just doing what we’ve got to do.”
Related Links:
The invitation
The jet company
The Jeweler
The Stylist
The Hairdresser
