Around world the in£ 80k!

Three weeks. Nine of the globe’s most iconic sites. A cocoon of luxury. But would YOU shell out to go ...

MAny of us will notch up several iconic Wonders of the World on our travels over a lifetime, if we are lucky.

We might get to see the Taj Mahal in India, or perhaps Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Australia’s Great Barrier reef or the Andean citadel of Machu Picchu. But how about ticking off all these — and more — in one giltedged, Pol roger-fuelled swoop?

And on a luxury trip, with private jets, an executive chef, an on-call doctor, lecturers, flunkies — oh, and access to a mobile lavatory.

Well, now you can. Just as the upper classes had their Grand Tours in the 17th and 18th centuries, today the moneyed classes are jetting off to criss-cross the globe in the shortest possible time, and the greatest possible comfort.

On a TCS World Travel tour, the jet waits for you, rather than you waiting for the jet. On landing, a chauffeur takes you from a private terminal to your next five-star hotel. Perish the thought of enduring endless security checks at inhospitable airports.

your cases will be waiting for you, courtesy of the luggage concierge who oversees its hotel transfer. you will also find an envelope containing local currency — what the company calls ‘walking around money’.

you will take in ten destinations, starting and ending in Orlando, Florida, and spend 86 hours flying. you get a toiletry bag full of L’Occitane goodies and, on flights longer than five hours, a three-course meal.

Curious about your fellow passengers? There will be up to 80 — mainly Americans of a certain age and net value. you’ll fly in a converted Boeing 757 with reclining seats in Italian leather, and Bose noise- cancelling headphones. Flights are westbound (said to reduce jet lag) and take place during the day, so ‘red-eye’ shouldn’t be much of a problem.

There’s no form-filling for immigration and customs. It’s all done for you — just sign.

Forgetting which country you’re in, or, which unESCO World Heritage Site you’ve just visited, is all part of what travel company TCS World Travel, founded in Seattle in 1991, calls alls ‘a a journey of a lifetime’. lifetime . The next available trip is in January 2019 and comes in at £134,000 per couple.

But first you have to get yourself to Orlando, where you spend a night at the Four Seasons resort (included in the price), and meet your fellow travellers. Flying first class from London Heathrow to Orlando can add up to £12,255 per person, or £3,619 if you’re prepared to slum it in business class. So the total cost of the trip could be nearly £160,000 per couple.

So what else do you get for your money? MARK PALMER finds out...