A first-class way to blow the inheritance

WOrKING at a travel agency in Sydney in the late 1960s, I became great friends with one client, a sprightly elderly lady. She’d grabbed my attention from the moment she came into the office when she told me she wanted to book a holiday to Britain — stressing money was no object. as I started reeling off the various flight options she interrupted me and said, with a huge smile: ‘I don’t need all the details, my dear, as long as I fly First Class with British airways!’ She went on to say she wanted chauffeur-driven limousines to take her to, and meet her on arrival at, every airport throughout her trip. as well as a suite at the dorchester in london for the first two weeks, she requested a two-week, chauffeur-driven tour in a rolls-royce, taking in Oxford, Stratford-upon-avon, the Peak district, the lake district, the Yorkshire dales, Cambridge and Canterbury, staying in the most prestigious hotels. Never having received such a request before, it did cross my mind she was indulging in a flight of fancy at my expense. however, three weeks later she came to collect her travel documents and thank me for arranging her trip — the most expensive holiday I’d ever arranged for a single person. Over the next two years, until I left the travel agency, I booked this lady a number of similar, no-expenses-spared trips to europe, South america,

Canada, South africa and

Japan. It was while we were discussing details for her third trip that I mentioned I was concerned she was spending a great deal more than was necessary. I told her that with a little research, I could save her quite a lot of money. leaning across my desk, she patted my hand and said, with a smile tinged with sadness: ‘I know you could, my dear, but my husband left me an extremely wealthy woman when he died 11 years ago. ‘Since then, none of our seven children has really been of any help or comfort to me. Under the terms of his will, anything I leave will be shared equally among them. ‘So I have made it my mission to ensure that as much as possible of his fortune is distributed to charity and ensure that I get to see all those places I’ve always dreamed of visiting!’ I like to imagine the look on her seven children’s faces when they eventually discovered just how little of their father’s estate was left for them to share.