REST AND RECREATION

Hotels are offering far-out experiences to draw well-heeled travellers.

It used to be offers of muay thai lessons, cooking classes and reef snorkelling. But, with almost US$500 billion (S$624 billion) spent on luxury travel and accommodation by the wealthy last year, the pressure is on for hotels to provide ever more extraordinary experiences for worldly guests. One of the most exciting activities to pop up: a Roman “death match”.

Taking advantage of its historical setting, and evoking the swords-andsandals flicks that have been making their rounds in popular culture, The Rome Cavalieri, which is under the Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts group, is offering gladiator training, all in the good hands of trainers from Rome’s Gladiatorial School.

Over the course of two hours in the hotel’s private park, participants will learn hand-to-hand combat, as well as the history of ancient Rome and its gladiator culture.

“The participants go away with a better level of self-esteem,” says instructor Piero Giusto. “They gain awareness of skills they didn’t realise they had or to which they never gave importance in the past.”

Training is with wooden swords, says Giusto in an introduction video. “We give them a tunic and then they have to sweat, sweat, sweat.”

We assume that means the six-pack abs of Spartacus and company don’t come easy. romecavalieri.com

TAKING FLIGHT

The Bunyip Scenic Rim Resort in Queensland, Australia, will see you soar 1,300m in the resort owner’s sleek fibreglass glider.

Not only will you be able to bask in the magnificence of the arc of mountains known as the Scenic Rim, you will also have a shot at flying the glider yourself. bunyipscenic rimresort.com.au