Black Card Living

While I have a fairly healthy bank balance there are some things that are a bit beyond my cheque book, and a private jet is one of them. With jet prices running into the millions and per-hour maintenance and running costs in the multiple thousands it simply doesn’t make sense to buy a jet unless you’re permanently in the air.

There is an alternative, however: Fractional Jets. I’m a big fan of fractional purchasing as it allows me to enjoy some of the luxuries of the mega-rich on a merely “just a bit rich” budget, and jets and aircraft are just perfect for the fractional approach. No capital costs, no hassles, and my 50 hour account with Flexjet has been one of the best purchases I made while traveling. Although I’ve hardly used it so far it has got me out of one business related emergency, and there’s nothing quite like being able to call on your own jet when you’re in a serious hurry.

The best thing is that you’re paying for the jet rather than per-passenger, so it’s a great way to take friends or family along. I expect to hit the end of this years contract with a good 20 hours of flight time left, which I’ll spend taking friends and family on a nice trip. With 8 seats available the cost will be significantly less than first class tickets would be for them, and the service is far superior. If that isn’t good value I don’t know what is.

Early on when planning my trip I decided I didn’t want to be lugging around a huge two week suitcase or toppling all over trying to keep a rucksack under control. I was going to travel light, keep no more than a week’s clothes, and look for places to do laundry or buy cheap replacements as I went. Formal wear, if needed, could be hired, and if I needed an expensive outfit I’d buy it and add it to my semi-permanent roster.

I found exactly what I was after when searching for leather bags: Thomas Lyte’s range was well made enough to last a round the world trip, looked good to me, and best of all I could get one in bright yellow. No more squinting at the luggage carousel!

I ended up getting a leather weekender bag and a leather despatch bag, the latter being one of the best purchases I made when planning the trip. The despatch bag takes my laptop, a paperback and a packed lunch perfectly, and has been with me almost every step of the way.

The weekender bag, while lovely, didn’t turn out to be quite so successful. While it fits more than a weekend’s worth of clothes it turned out doing laundry or clothes shopping each week was more than I could stand. A more capacious replacement came in within a few weeks, almost as well made, but unfortunately nowhere near as easy to spot after deboarding.