Susan Kime - Luxury Travel Journalist - Blog - Of Lizards, Conferences, International Polo and Returning Home

Sunday

Apr292007

Of Lizards, Conferences, International Polo and Returning Home

Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 10:18PM

If anyone has been wondering where I have been, let me assure you that I am not dead, I was just in Florida for a very long time: 10 days. Being a native Californian, I had never thought much about the other state in the union that ALSO has Disney, Sea World, Universal Studios and a lot of oranges and retirees. But after ten days there, doing very diverse things, I have a lot to say.

First, I went to the IMN Conference in Orlando, where I presented four times, on an array of serious subjects endemic to the Private Residence Club Industry -- this included a presenting macro economic views, critical mass strategies of club membership, the undergirding of themed fractionals, and strategic directions involved in successful marketing and PR. It was exciting, but tiring. I had some time to look at Orlando, a town in Central Florida that did not even exist many years ago. Everything looked shiny and new, clean and organized, because it was. There were also many families there, many children running around. Though there were happy ones, there were also some very grouchy children with verys stressed out parents. I was reminded of the phase we as a family went though on our illustrious, and now mythic, FAMILY VACATIONS.

We would all get in the car, with the three dogs and drive somewhere -- Haddon and James, my two sons, would be fighting; the dogs, all Bassets, would be drooling and shedding, my husband would be in a happy altered state when he was driving -- and I would be swearing, each year I would never do this again. We all laugh at it now, but I saw the same kind of short-lived misery with a few of the families and the angry Princesses at DisneyWorld. Others seemed OK, so there is always a balance. But wait!! there's more...

After the conference, I was asked to be a guest of Saratoga Polo at the International Polo Tournament in West Palm Beach. I had not witnessed a Polo tournament for years, and certainly not at this level -- so I said yes. The house that was rented for us was an interesting place -- full of exotic orchids, some of John Lennon's original art collection, and also, had a few lizards and a small snake that greeted me when I got to my bedroom. Not scary, but just surprising.

What was more surprising was the artistry of the game of Polo, as seen as up close and personal as one could get. It is the second most dangerous sport in the world ( first is auto racing) -- and after seing it up close, I know why. Those horses go very fast, stop on a dime, and then go the other way. It is a sport where, I would imagine, all the Player's cognitive and spatial facilities must be in tact, and the risk is extreme. At the field the week before, a Polo player had been killed.

After spending a weekend there, going to two formal dinner parties, an Argentinian barbecue, and then the match, I came home. I was so happy to be with Ron, Dudley and LuLu. No matter how odd or exotic my travels, I am always happiest to return home. I am reminded, always of the last few lines of TS Eliot's poems

.....We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time......

Susan Kime |

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