Remember the days when the only reason you needed to go to a spa was that you felt like it? Yeah, so do I, but it looks like they're behind us for a while. A tight economy makes even luxury decisions tough to execute, resulting in a similar tightness in necks and backs. When you need that deep-tissue rub most, it seems, it's hardest to reach. So, I'm pretty excited to see spas make it easier to pry open your wallet for a bit of bliss.

Spa AQUA is making it pretty easy for you to enjoy Cancun. The latest deal cuts 50 percent from the nightly room rate and lops dining and spa service by 25 percent. If you're looking for excuses to dust off your passport, this is about as good as it gets. Need to be seduced? Consider the adobe clay sauna and mandarin and rose aromatherapy pool. Yep, that's where I was hooked, too.

This destination bills itself as a "modern lifestyle resort," with a "sensory stay" philosophy. Call it what you want, but I'm drawn to anything that clears the tension from my mind, back and shoulders. Integrating Asian techniques into its spa therapies, you can enjoy rice wraps and a variety of massage treatments, including Shiatsu, Samuprai and (my favorite) Shinodarah. Western touches include milk wraps and diamond facials. Manicures, pedicures, fitness centers and the other spa stables are also offered.

The resort, of course, is just the beginning. Once you're in Cancun, walk along the beach, grab a filling meal and sip more than your share of tequila. Forget about home for a few days: you've earned it.

As I learned on my last two trips to the United Kingdom, there aren't many places where you can light up a cigar. Had I known about The Montague on the Gardens, I probably would have altered my travel plans a bit. The hotel bar has a dedicated outdoor cigar terrace, which for puffers, amounts to a bit of tranquility in an otherwise hostile world.

Toward the back of the hotel, like-minded guests can gather in the bar for a drink before stepping outside to a blissful smoking location with a great view of the Bedford Estate's private gardens. I tend to bring my own cigars when I travel, but sometimes like to sample the locally available fare and The Montague on the Gardens offers plenty of incentive. The bar has more than 20 brands on hand, including the coveted Cohiba Siglo VI. Smoke it gently while sipping a glass of Remy Martin Louis XIII, and you'll struggle to find a more enjoyable situation.

The hotel itself is designed to impress. It's a Georgian townhouse hotel with 101 rooms and suites – not to mention a two-bedroom apartment. This four-star establishment is within walking distance of the West End and The British Museum, and the "Type A" crowd will be happy to know it isn't far from London's Financial District.

Whatever the day's distraction is, though, return to The Montague on the Gardens and settle down for the evening with the cigar of your choice. Savor each draw, and punctuate it with your preferred spirit. Perfect.

Pebble Beach will always reign supreme among California resorts, and deservedly so, but at $500 for a round of golf its rates aren't exactly recession-friendly. If you're looking for a more affordable golf getaway on the Pacific Coast, consider this: The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, an award-winning clifftop retreat 45 minutes south of San Francisco, is offering an unlimited stay-and-play package through year's end.

For a nightly rate of $399 for one player or $519 for two--a savings of $250–$500 per day--guests can play as many holes as they choose on the resort's two 18-hole courses. The Old Course, co-designed by Arnold Palmer, is an American parkland-style layout that finishes in dramatic fashion, with a par four that skirts the edge of a bluff. The newer Ocean Course, featuring more seaside holes and open expanses, draws its inspiration from the great windswept Scottish links; as testament to its character, it hosted a local qualifier for this year's U.S. Open.

In addition to golf, the special offer also includes complimentary valet parking and access to the hotel's spa, known for its co-ed Roman mineral bath.

The 40th anniversary of the first moonwalk is swiftly approaching: July 20, 2009. And although it's been long in the making, Virgin Galactic moves ever closer to making a space journey a reality for private citizens willing to spend $200,000. (A bargain, really, considering that arranging private space travel today costs about $20 million.) On May 28, 2009, Virgin Galactic announced the successful completion of the first phase of tests of the rocket motor that will propel space tourists up, up and away.

There are still more tests to go, but at this point, the plan is to start sending passengers into space as soon as late 2010. (Delays are very likely, so no need to go into an oxygen-free environment just yet -- don't hold your breath.) There's no moonwalking in the cards, but there is traveling at 3,000 miles an hour to 70 miles above the earth's surface, experiencing weightlessness and a view of more than 1,000 miles in all directions.

If you want to get to this before the been-there-done-that's set in -- at current tally, there are 300 people from 42 countries waiting for their turn -- it's worth signing up early. You can accomplish this exclusively through luxury travel pros Virtuoso, who are the first "Accredited Space Agents."

In fact, Virtuoso founder Matthew D. Upchurch is a candidate to be among the first to make the trip. Whether he's on the very first flight will be determined by a lottery -- he's got a 1 in 14 chance. But hey, the odds of reaching the moon at all forty years ago had to be longer than that.

There's nothing like summer berries. It's no surprise that July is National Berry Month. This is the month of strawberry shortcake, fresh blueberries in your cereal and raspberries that leave your mouth stained a happy red. To celebrate this month of berries the the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego, California will host an official Berry Butler courtesy of Driscoll's, the nation's leading provider of fresh berries. The Berry Butler will be on premise every Friday and Saturday, July 3 through August 1 to greet guests with fresh berries. The Berry Butler will also help young guests whip up fresh smoothies and will stage tastings. Tastings and berry treats for guests of the resort will be free of charge, compliments of Driscoll's berries. Other berrylicious events at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort include demonstrations by Executive Chef Marc Ehrler and cocktail and mocktail courses conducted by the Loews Mixology Team using Driscoll's strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.

Driscoll's has an alliance of independent farmers growing their berries and Loews hotels supports farmers as well. Their "Adopt-A-Farmer" program is an initiative supporting area farmers, fishermen and independent purveyors. At Loews Coronado Bay Resort, this includes partnering with 12 local farming communities and utilizing more than 60 seasonal herbs and vegetables from its own organic garden shown above.

Fractional jet firm Flexjet picked up props from the Robb Report in its 21st "Best of the Best" issue last month. A great way to keep the prolies away when you travel, this Bombardier-backed company offers "debit cards" for private jet access, so you can buy what you need rather than take on the hefty burden of maintaining your own bird. Both the Flexjet 25 Jet Card and Bombardier Skyjet program got nods from the magazine beloved by the world's wealthy.

Fred Reid, President of Flexjet and Skyjet, was obviously psyched about the results, saying, "By offering a full range of award-winning aviation solutions – from whole aircraft management through our Flexjet One program to fractional jet ownership, jet cards and charter – we are uniquely positioned to help companies and individuals best meet their changing needs."

A few new programs have been announced to give jetsetters more options. The revamped ""Walk Away Lease" program comes with a lot of the perks of fractional ownership ... but you can ditch it with only 90 days notice. And, roundtrip travel comes with a 15 percent discount.

The Flexjet 25 Jet Card is available in 25-, 30- and 35-hour increments and allows card-owners to choose how many days they want access: 275, 325, 355 or 365.

Like travel shows on television? Then you'll love Voyage.tv a new luxury travel site that offers original lifestyle programming that is available both online at www.voyage.tv and in 20 million homes via Video-On-Demand, The beautiful high-definition footage includes culinary tours, visits to spas and health resorts and shopping experiences. Right now Voyage.tv is showcasing the Caribbean with programming on 11 islands with future spotlights to include New York, Mexico, Hawaii, Tuscany, Bali and Marrakech.

Voyage also includes personal insights from local Resident Editors with dining and nightlife recommendations as well as articles from leading travel publications and video profiles of leading hotels and resorts. And if your viewing inspires you to action, Voyage has partnered with a third-party company (Trisept Solutions) to provide vacation packages. John Pasmore, the president of Voyages North America told the NY Times that he expects the revenue of the site to be equally divided between advertising and bookings. Advertisers appear in display ads but also in spots at the beginning of videos.

One intriguing feature is that Voyage.tv allows public access to its digital mash-up library of full motion video encompassing over 20,000 HD clips, as well as a library of stock images and, in the future, music tracks. Members are encouraged to combine this footage with their own travel video and photography and even produce their own 'feature' videos for the Voyage.tv site.

President Obama got a tour of the Pyramids with Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and you can too. The charismatic Dr. Hawass, who has also been part of a host of documentaries on Egypt's rich past, headlines a weekend discovering the wonders of Cairo November 27-30, 2009. The Wonder With One Of The Seven Wonders package features one night at Fairmont Towers, Heliopolis and two nights at Fairmont Nile City with breakfast and dinner; a full day tour of the Great Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara; a guided tour of the Cairo Museum, Nile Felucca ride and a dinner lecture with Dr. Zahi Hawass. Rates for the three-night package start from $960 per person.

Beer might be the iconic way to celebrate American Independence Day, but maybe this year, times call for something a bit stronger.

Like, how about rum? The rum category is second only to vodka in the United States, according to Tommy Bahama, makers of ultra-premium rum. So while it's not exactly fair to make a bad pun about rum being the spirit of America, you'd be far from unpatriotic if you incorporated it into your July 4th plans.

Four reasons to toast with rum this Independence Day:

1. As a spirit, rum was first distilled in the Caribbean -- most likely Barbados -- but it quickly became popular of the northern colonies in the New World. It turns out that the country's founding fathers -- among them Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, were no different than most manly men of their time -- they knocked back a few pints of the beverage distilled from sugar cane .
2. Rum wasn't just for Revolutionary War types. From John F. Kennedy who reportedly sipped it over dinner while watching the 1960 election returns, to Ernest Hemingway, who was a big fan of the daiquiri. (Although not for Papa would be the gussied up drinkable-dessert-Slurpees of today -- in Havana, he favored the daiquiri at El Floridita, which he liked to be made with two shots of rum, lime juice, ice, no sugar, and sometimes a touch of grapefruit juice and a few drops of maraschino liqueur, writes Wayne Curtis.)
3. Like most facets of American history, rum's history is complicated. The sugar cane that was used to create the molasses which became rum was produced by Caribbean slaves who existed under brutal conditions, writes Jan Rogozinksi in a Brief History of the Caribbean. Raise a glass in tribute, and in remembrance of a time when independence was not as widespread as it is today.
   
4. Rum innovation continues strong today. The finalists for the annual drink of this year's upcoming Tale of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans were all variations on the julep - the original American cocktail. But while a julep is typically made with bourbon, the winning cocktail was the Creole Julep -- made with rum. It was created by Maksym Pazuniak, bartender at Rambla and Cure. Here's the recipe:
   
   2 1/4 oz. Cruzan Single Barrel Estate Rum
   
   1/2 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb
   
   1/4 oz. Captain Morgan 100 Rum
   
   2 dashes Fee Bros. Peach bitters
   
   2 dashes Angostura bitters
   
   8-10 mint leaves
   
   1 Demerara Sugar Cube

Many top drawer people in the Northeast spend summers in Maine's preppy enclaves. Photographer Sarah C. Butler's new book Portrait of a Maine Island is a love letter to one such locale, Northeast Harbor.

In this never-before-seen collection, Butler showcases her extraordinary art portraits of Northeast Harbor's local inhabitants, architecture and stunning land and seascape, as viewed from properties like this 2006 Estate of the Day.

60 people and places are brought to life through original photographs that "convey and identify what it is that makes Maine culture so distinctive." Martha Stewart, who has an estate on nearby Mount Desert Island, often uses it as inspiration.

Butler doesn't just focus on the well-heeled summer residents however. A post-mistress, mechanic, carpenter, lobsterman, librarian and artists are all included, as well as a visual journey through the area's coves and rocky necks.

A basic trip to Los Cabos, Mexico implies a large hotel room with a view of the beach. Within minutes of putting your bathing suit on, you'll have sand between your toes. This sort of baseline can make it tough for a hotel to stand out. If every one is within striking distance of that lovely turquoise water – and each has an attentive staff and cozy digs – what can one hotel do differently? Upon entering my room at Hoteles Marquis Los Cabos, I learned the answer: everything.

You realize that Hoteles Marquis is a special resort when you pull into the driveway. A covered outdoor lobby is framed by a dramatic space, with the curved walls leading your eye to a carefully designed display that links the statue to the pool to the water ... and ultimately to the horizon. Practicality is not sacrificed for the sake of design, however, as cool air is corralled to offset the powerful Cabo sun only footsteps away. The registration process is as swift as it can be, and a refreshing drink makes it a bit more enjoyable. Hey, forms have to be filled out and credit cards imprinted – nature of the beast.

The U.S. Open just came to an end out on Long Island, drawing enormous crowds of fans who were undeterred by the unfavorable weather. Even if it hadn't rained, they would have struggled to enjoy the experience, as the event's organizers designed it in a way that made attendees earn their pleasure. And, the complaints were many. I heard one guy complain about $9 hot dogs, and the lines were awful. Trying to drive to the Bethpage golf course was a nightmare, as some had to park up to half an hour away and take buses to the tournament.

Many mused that there had to be a better way. And, there was. If you want to enjoy the U.S. Open next year, keep the following tips in mind. Plan ahead, and you can engineer a fantastic experience, even if the United States Golf Association is trying to prevent it.

1. Stay in the city
This may not be applicable next year, since the open isn't held at the same golf course every year. But, if the event is taking place on Long Island (and this goes for anything, not just golf), stay in Manhattan. You will have a bit of a hike in front of you in the morning and evening, but you'll also have the city at your disposal – which is definitely worth the trouble. I stayed at 60 Thompson down in SoHo, and I'm now more than happy to recommend it. The stylish hotel offers a great contrast to the attire worn by golfers (and golf enthusiasts).

Despite tough economic times and growing concern for the environment, Mercedes continues to produce the powerful performance vehicles which enthusiasts crave. In fact, we just reported on a pair of the latest just the other day. Unfortunately few have the cash to spend on them, but don't lose heart: Mercedes has other ways of getting you behind the wheel of one of its legendary AMG performance automobiles. Already in operation in Europe for a couple of years now, the AMG Driving Academy is preparing for an American tour. Less than two grand will buy you a full-day Stage I experience in a variety of Mercedes AMG vehicles, including the C63, SLK55, SL63, CLK 63 Black Series and the new E63 AMG. There's also a more advanced two-day Stage II program, but if you want the full-on experience, Mercedes is offering participants the chance to drive the upcoming new SLS supercar ahead of its market debut at the legendary Laguna Seca race track in Monterey, California. Programs are also available in Palm Beach, Florida, and Lime Rock, Connecticut, so unless you live in Wyoming, there should be an AMG experience coming to a race track near you.

Want the kind of wedding that your friends and family will always remember? A destination wedding can feel like a risky option in this economy, but you'll be surprised -- a vacation may be just what everyone needs. The Ritz-Carlton is making destination weddings even more enticing this summer by offering the Reconnect Package at many of their hotels, including their sunny Caribbean & Mexico locations!

The package is more than just a high-priced luxury wedding tied up in a bow. Actually, a lot of the services are free! The Reconnect package includes:

• Ceremony Location (such as the above)
  
• Wedding Specialist
• Wedding Concierge
• Minister
• Signature Bouquet
• Signature Boutonniere
• Signature Location Décor

Also, expect a $100 daily resort credit and a free three-night stay on your first anniversary! Sound to good to be true? It's not, you just need 25 friends and family members to book rooms.

What's more, your wedding guests will enjoy a $100 daily resort credit for use at restaurants, the spa, and for recreation activities such as the Culinary Center at The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun, where guests can explore cooking, wine, and Mexican tequilas, the award-winning White Witch Golf Course at The Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Jamaica, Silver Rain, a La Prairie Spa at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, BLT Steak at The Ritz-Carlton, San Juan Hotel, Spa & Casino, and sailing on the Lady Lynsey at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas.

Want to see what it will look like? Here are some exclusive Luxist photographs of the wedding setup at the Ritz-Carlton, San Juan Hotel, Spa and Casino -- at sunset, no less.

If you happen to be heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico, the hotel options are dizzying. There's an endless stream of accommodations in every price range, but if you're looking for effortless, relaxing luxury, complete with a pristine beach and a prime location, I highly recommend the Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel, Spa, & Casino (above).

The Ritz-Carlton is located right on Isla Verde beach (pale, fine sand and completely cleaned out for swimming), two miles from the airport and six miles from Old San Juan. I actually had the pleasure of staying at this resort in its inaugural year (my parents say it was under construction but all I remember is the hot tub and the big door to the beach, which look the same -- the tub and the door, that is; the beach was rocky back then), as well as earlier this month.

There's an extra luxurious way to stay which may actually end up saving you money: Stay on the Club Level. Not only do you get access to the exclusive 9th floor -- accessible only by key -- and a gorgeous, two-bathroom suite, but there's a Club Lounge up there where you can have expedited check-in and check-out service, a super-attentive concierge and, best of all, free food and drinks all day long. Now, I don't recommend trying to make a luxury meal of the (lovely) buffet, but when you want a light lunch or a quick snack? The Club Lounge offers elegant, tasteful dishes -- including local desserts -- as well as wine, champagne, and pretty much anything you want if you just ask (this includes the endless morning coffee working people like me require). Considering what snacking (and drinking) can cost you at a many-star hotel, paying extra for the Club Level may actually work to your advantage -- and at the very least it eliminates the calculator from the frugal mind which is constantly adding up the daily costs of your vacation.

The hotel offers a full-service, well-regarded Spa and Casino, as well as some top notch restaurants, including a BLT Steak and Il Mulino. There is also a Tiffany & Co. and a Little Switzerland, for the shopping-inclined, and like I said, Old San Juan, with all its fabulous food and drink options, is just a six mile cab ride away. The real amenity of this hotel, though? Ritz-Carlton service. When you head down to the beach and drag the chairs all over the place, an RC employee will probably approach you -- and ask if he can drill a hole in the sand for you and plant an umbrella. Seriously.

For more beautiful photos of a beautiful property, click below.