Sleep inside a 1,200-year-old monastery. Float between two tectonic plates. Sit three metres from a wild gorilla family. These are the rare, access-driven experiences worth crossing the world for, and how a luxury travel advisor makes them real.

The world is louder than usual right now. But the clients who are traveling the best this year are the ones who stopped planning alone. Here is what a luxury travel advisor actually does in a moment like this.

UNESCO laurel forests. Wicker toboggan rides. Wine Churchill drank while painting. The world’s largest New Year’s fireworks. A spring flower festival that fills an entire city. Madeira is the European island that surprises everyone. Here’s how to plan it right.