Foreign Travel? Alien More Like...

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Anyone who knows us also know we love Greece, and in particular, the Ionian island of Corfu. Sadly Covid has knocked foreign travel on the head for us for the time being as for so many people: even given the affordance of restrictions being lifted and our Double-Jab status - the shine has been taken off it for the time being: mask-wearing in Messonghi just doesn't sound like fun to me. Perhaps a private apartment complex would solve this conundrum? Then the only hassle would be the getting to there from here - three-and-a-half hours in a plane in a mask is surely tolerable.

Well I did spot one such place in an ad in the FT Weekend. It's part of a (small) group of mini-resorts run by a company called Ultima Collection, sleeps twelve in six double ensuites in a complex built into the hillside overlooking the coastline of mainland Greece and Albania. It features the usual infinity pool, indoor and outdoor dining areas and many more of the standard gew-gaws of modern 'luxury' living, such as a gym, Turkish bath (I think that's what it is) and even a glass lift to take the strain off when going down to the private landing to one's yacht tender.

The price for this little haven in Greece that carefully avoids actually having to meet Greek people, or anyone else for that matter? A mere €130,000 per week. But for that alone you'll have to fend for yourselves. If you require the services of staff, chef, nanny and driver to name a but few of the available extra services, I'd tack on another twenty grand or so to the weekly bill. This, dear reader, is how the other half live - or rather considerably less than half. People to whom dropping three-hundred-thousand Euro on a fortnight's stopover in Greece counts as little more than pocket change; a sum that to most of us would be an unattainable annual salary and one the vast majority of the planet's population could probably never earn in a lifetime. I despair at the inequalities in this world.

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