If you had all the money you needed and all the time you wanted, what would be your ideal cruise vacation? That question was posed to me recently, and the first thing that came to mind was buying or leasing a luxury motor yacht for a private cruise. That way I could "cruise the world" for a year and stay as long as I liked in each location. (If your dreams are smaller, you could just cruise one of the seven seas.) Believe it or not, there are places on the Internet you can check out these yachts for lease or sale.

Being an accountant, I would have to first do an analysis to determine whether I should buy or just lease for a year. At $200,000 or more per week, I would probably buy one if I needed the yacht for a year or more (and money were no object)!
In addition to a good captain and staff, the crew for the yacht would of course include an excellent chef, and a naturalist/historian who could help explain some of the places we visited and wildlife we saw. We'd probably have stopovers in cities with great restaurants, so that would give my guests and I an opportunity to taste as well as see the wonders of the world.

Finding shipboard companions for my round-the-world trip would not be a problem. Friends would probably come "out of the woodwork" for a chance to sail on my luxury yacht. I would probably not want to spend an entire year with any of my friends or family (except my spouse). So, I would rotate them in and out for a few weeks each. They could fly and meet the ship wherever I chose. Isn't this fun?

The next decision would be where to start. We'd pick up the yacht on the Georgia or Florida coast near our home to start out across the Atlantic. To match this new luxury lifestyle, my first stopover might be in the Mediterranean, docking my yacht at all of the latest "in" spots. The harbor at Monte Carlo might be a good choice to see and be seen. I would probably dress up and drop in at the Grand Casino. (After all, who cares if you lose a few thousand $$$?) After sailing along the Riviera, and anchoring at the cities and harbors along the way, I would probably want to spend some time soaking up the sun in the Greek Isles before seeing the pyramids and heading through the Suez Canal and down through the Seychelles Islands off the coast of Africa. I'd have to get a few good books and videotapes (and a computer with a satellite modem) to keep me occupied while sailing across the Indian Ocean. After all, having the internet to help plan my cruise stops is definitely a necessity! Especially the About travel channel! Having never been to most of Asia, I would want to spend time in India, Thailand, and Vietnam for sure. Then we would have to hit Singapore and Hong Kong (for shopping!).

Here the decisions get a little more difficult. Should I have my captain take the yacht north to China, Japan, Korea and Alaska, or south to Australia and the South Seas' islands? Decisions, decisions, decisions! Let's say we flip a coin and it directs us south. We would snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef, and take long shore excursions in Australia and New Zealand before heading across the Pacific to South America. I'd want my small ship to stopover at Easter Island and Pitcairn Island along the way to break up the long journey across the Pacific. Since I've been through the Panama Canal, I would want to "take the long way" around the tip of South America, but before sailing down the western coast of that continent, I would spend time in the Galapagos Islands and take a side trip to see the ruins at Machu Picchu. Sailing up the eastern coast of South America, we would have to take time to see the Iguazu Falls. My guests would probably insist on spending a couple of days in Rio de Janeiro before we cruised up the Amazon River. Finally, we would spend some relaxing days in the Caribbean before heading home.

Now that I have dreamed my 'round the world cruise, I guess I will have to go back to real life--seeing the world in small bits and pieces, a week or two at a time. But that's okay, I still have many years left "in" me to travel!