By Larry Olmsted

What did you have for lunch today?

If you were staying at Minaret Station, a luxury New Zealand lodge so remote you can only get to it by helicopter, your lunch might have begun with helicopter flightseeing over jaw dropping fjords before landing on a private beach. Then your hosts would head off into the surf and return with hand caught lobsters while you watched and sipped champagne. Then you’d load everything up and fly over some glaciers to a stunning alpine plateau for a picnic campfire feast of lobster and the nation’s famous lamb, washed down with the best Kiwi wines.

As lunches go, it’s pretty epic. That’s why it was just named one of the world’s 25 best travel experiences … continue reading

Award-winning travel journalist Larry Olmsted is the author of “Real Food, Fake Food.” He is a Contributing Editor to US Airways Magazine and Cigar Aficionado Magazine and “The Great Life” columnist for Forbes.com