Wishing on a star - Westfair Communications

Wishing for a speedier economic recovery? Shawn Abaspor can”™t deliver on that ”“ but he is offering a “wish-list” service for anyone looking to get away from it all for a little R&R.

Stamford-based Vitesse Worldwide is rolling out a trip planner program in which it will work to make happen any trip a client may need booked ”“ including to the moon, Vitesse teased on its website.

Contacted in mid-October, CEO Shawn Abaspor would not say whether Vitesse is getting certified to offer trips on British entrepreneur Richard Branson”™s proposed Virgin Galactic service, which is now taking reservations for what it promises will initially be a suborbital space travel service.

But Abaspor was happy to talk about other elements of Vitesse Worldwide”™s wish-list service, an outgrowth of the company”™s expanding list of executive travel services, including limousine, aircraft, security and myriad concierge services.

Those services include: expediting passport and visa requests for spur-of-the-moment trips abroad; attendance at singular events such as the American Music Awards next week in Los Angeles; or securing unusual gifts ”“ for instance, hand-blown glass chandeliers inspired by those at the Bellagio resort.

“I handpick our affiliates around the globe and I go meet them and make sure they meet our standards,” Abaspor said. “We are a one stop shop (for) luxury and executive travel.”

Vitesse Worldwide is not the first local company to craft unusual destinations into an itinerary ”“ in August the Bellagio hosted the Virtuoso Travel Mart Exchange, an annual, invitation-only confab allowing agents affiliated with the Virtuoso luxury travel network to confer one-on-one with vendors including Virgin Galactic, which hosted a cocktail reception as it certifies agencies to offer its service.

In a survey released in January, Virtuoso gave no indication of the impact of the recession at that point on its members”™ businesses. Virtuoso members said African safaris remain the most unconventional destination request for family trips, followed by Antarctica, Madagascar, and hikes in unusual destinations such as Nepal, North Korea and Cyprus.

Closer to home, Tauck World Discovery won an award at Virtuoso Travel Mart as the best escorted tour operator, with the Norwalk-based company having made an art of unusual travel destinations dating back to the Great Depression, with its “Tauck Culturious” option focused on immersing travelers in local culture and working with the filmmaker Ken Burns to craft itineraries focused on the Civil War and America”™s national parks.

Virtuoso has multiple other members in Fairfield County, including Cruise Resort & World Travel Inc. and Pequot Travel Ltd., both in Fairfield, and Pathfinders Travel in Westport. And Fairfield County has other boutique travel companies that fly under the radar catering to specific activities, including Ski & Scuba Connection L.L.C. in Greenwich and Sunrise Birding L.L.C. in Wilton.

Virgin Galactic has made no promises on whether its customers will eventually be able to see a sunrise from the moon. It continues to progress on its space tourism service, however, dedicating a new Spaceport America in New Mexico last month in a ceremony attended by the state”™s governor and a congressman, the latter who in praising the company perhaps summed up the appeal of tourism aiming to make a wish come true.

“It”™s about us as people being able to overcome every obstacle that falls in front of us,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce. “What we”™re experiencing here is literally nothing short of being able to get in the back seat with Chuck Yeager as he breaks the sound barrier; (to) be on the Mayflower, or maybe with Columbus as he started across the ocean ”¦ We have here a renewal of the human spirit.”