I was barely back in my imperfect paradise of Costa Rica, that special place I called home for a year, one day before being whisked away by seven of my girlfriends for a weekend in a dream five-bedroom beach house in a tiny town called Pan de Azucar. The Sugar Beach Hotel hideaway is near the more famous beaches Flamingo and Conchal. We had a blast! Nothing but walks on the beach, laying in the sun, fruity drinks, and good food… After months of hard work, this was my kind of vacation! When time flies while doing absolutely nothing, you know you’re around some very good friends. All you need is a few days at a Costa Rica resort to actually spend the time with them and recharge.

Can you tell it was dry season? We prayed for rain — when we weren’t walking the gorgeous beach or eating tons of food in our dream beach house on the hill. Sugar Beach delivered amazing meals (my favorite: seared tuna salad) and provided all-night security guards. Our five-bedroom house was fully equipped with Wi-Fi (although for once, we were barely on it!) and claims it can comfortably sleep 12. I believe it!

With views like this, we got comfortable pretty fast.

The water glistened in the daytime…

… and glowed at sunset.

Everyone brought groceries, so there were plenty of snacks. One of my favorites: mango salsa. I miss having mango trees in my yard!

We were almost always the only ones on the beach.

This is my favorite kind of pool: Not only is it a stunning infinity design, but it drops off into thick jungle, creating a blanket of peace and quiet. It is difficult to explain how heavy the jungle can feel. Although there were plenty of other guests at this charming resort, we rarely overlapped for long at the pool. When we did, everyone was nice and friendly.

I spent a lot of time walking around the grounds by myself. In addition to the enormous iguanas I saw, I also loved looking up at the flowering trees.

Eight girls, one beach house. Honestly, I could never imagine getting a group this big together anywhere outside of Costa Rica. Heck, even four people, half this size, at home feels like a crowd! There’s just something about the tropics that makes everyone chill out. Everything about that culture and mindset makes me happy.

We always have fun! Here, Melissa, Cheryl and Tatiana show how it’s done.

 Costa Rica, I miss you!

To rent this beach house or any of the resort’s smaller bungalows, visit Sugar Beach.

Big house, tiny private beach: girls’ weekend in Costa Rica brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

Who needs sleep? Like I always say, it’s a jungle out there!

Daydream of the Week: Sunny Beach Bulgaria brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

My picks? Read on!

Blue Ribbon: I was a huge fan of Blue Ribbon’s restaurants when I lived in NYC. so it was an obvious sentimental fav when it opened at Cosmopolitan. Yet, my need for “new” places kept me away for a long time. That was a huge mistake! Once I started going, I couldn’t stop. The restaurant’s shishito peppers are magical, its fried chicken to die for (and half-off after ten pm). But  I have twice eaten my weight in sushi there, leaving everything up to the chef. Every bite was better than the last!

Some of the best restaurants in Vegas are sushi spots.

Koi: Parking is a huge pain at Planet Hollywood, and their valet is always full. So I rarely make it up to Koi. But my recent dinner there with Coco Austin before she took the stage in Peepshow made me realize that I should just learn to wear flats and hike to Koi. (Tourists taking cabs aren’t affected by any of this.) This LA import’s crispy rice with tuna is the best in town, and I love the lobster tacos. Then order up plates of its delicious sushi.

Nobu: I struggled over whether to put Nobu on this list, as it just isn’t a place I’ve ever gone to for classic sushi. But a new locale just opened in the (first-ever in the world) Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace, and the tiradito and yellowtail with jalapeno were so memorable that I had to include. Besides, how could I not include the first-ever Nobu on a room service menu?

Blue Ribbon’s omakase chef’s choice menu includes several artistic plates of mouth-watering sushi.

Sushi Roku: Have your cab drop you off right at the “new” valet at Forum Shops, and head up to the third floor. In addition to the mouth-watering sashimi and freshest rolls, this Strip gem offers the best views of the bright lights. Bonus: Unlike so many restaurants in Vegas, Roku is open for lunch.

Yellowtail: Chef Akira Back is my absolute favorite in town, and I was going to Bellagio’s Yellowtail (just feet from the north side entrance of the casino) so often at one point that I started to feel like a groupie. Don’t ask questions — just start with the tuna pizza. I promise you won’t regret it (and might even order two). There’s a pop rocks roll I love, novelty aside, that you sort of have to order. Make sure to order their special crab hand rolls (the waiter will know), and then finish up with a few plates of your favorite rolls and nigiri.

Top five sushi restaurants in Las Vegas brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

I don’t call this country paradise for nothing!

Daydream of the Week: Pan de Azucar, Costa Rica brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

I was born near Washington, DC and lived in various cities around there and then in Orlando until I was 16. Being the “local” in a tourist town has never bothered me. But Vegas is different, as people associate it with hedonism: gambling, staying out all night, even strip clubs. This may be the “happiest place on earth,” but it has a dark side.

All of this makes us locals chuckle. “How do you do it?” exhausted tourists often ask as they nurse a hangover on Sunday afternoon, as I show up fresh-faced for brunch. The answer is, I don’t.

Outside of a select group of nightclub devotees, most fun-loving locals are on a completely different  social rotation than the visitors. We attend private cocktail parties, dinners and galas on the Las Vegas Strip during the week, and for the most part hang out in the suburbs on the weekends when the “weekend warriors” invade town. Yes, living in Vegas is the best of both worlds: Henderson and Summerlin both have great restaurants and bars, plus easy drives to Whole Foods, yoga studios, dry cleaners, etc. It’s funny to me how surprised my friends are who visit me that I have a more “normal” lifestyle than they do, coming in from LA or NYC. And prices are still so low. I have a three-bedroom townhouse-style home with a backyard for my two dogs – for about the same rent than I paid for one closet-less bedroom (of three) that was so narrow I had to get off my bed by scooting to the end, years ago in Manhattan. Yet, the Strip is there when I need it, for shows, amazing dinners, a glass of champagne with friends.

The best things about living in Las Vegas are the unique events we get invited to. We not only have access to all of these great restaurants and shows, but we get invited to be a part of their history, too. When Human Nature opened at Venetian, its producer, Smokey Robinson, sang the finale with them on stage – after the Supremes’ Mary Wilson took a bow and Deniece Williams (“Let’s Hear it for the Boy”) jumped in to sing “My Girl”. No restaurant opens at Wynn or Encore without Mr. Steve Wynn himself making the rounds. And Cirque du Soleil’s “Beatles Love”? I have seen it twice. On both opening night and its five-year anniversary, I sat in awe, watching Paul McCartney bop in his seat, singing every song, as Yoko Ono sat stone-faced nearby.

If I ever leave Las Vegas, I will miss its small town-ness, even though it is one glamorous small town, with unparalleled access to amazing people and unique experiences.  Yes, Vegas is a deservedly tourist-luring spectacle with so much to offer wide-eyed visitors.

But actually getting to live there is what’s been the life-changing experience for this local.

Living in Las Vegas brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

From one paradise to the next, I owe a lot to these two places!

Daydream of the Week: Borneo brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

Jessica Black and Julius Scarlett attended the Luxury Travel Conference in Vegas in 2011.

Anyone who has met me knows two things: I am a dedicated, life-long travel junkie — and I am a borderline-annoying pro-Vegas cheerleader. So imagine my excitement when I discovered a born-in-Sin-City (wait for it) travel agency! And it is one of the fastest-growing luxury travel companies in the US. The founders of Scarlett Hospitality met while attending the University of Nevada Las Vegas during their upper division courses in hotel  management. Before they graduated in 2007 and 2008, this go-getter group got their feet wet working at luxury hotels on the Strip such as Caesars Palace, Mandalay Bay, and Wynn. Vegas is nothing if not over-the-top — I couldn’t think of a better education for planning luxury vacations all over the world. And this group has the passion: Founder/CEO Julius Scarlett and Director of Business Development Jessica Black actually ended up leaving their UNLV graduation early to whisk off to Europe for two weeks. These are my kind of people! Their start-up evolved into a full-service travel agency, which books and tailors trips from hotel to dining to entertainment, as well as a hospitality consulting firm that performs customer Quality Analyses for clients such as Mandarin Oriental.

I hope you enjoy getting to know Scarlett Hospitality as much as I did!

The gorgeous Red Rock pool in Summerlin © Red Rock Resort

How did Scarlett Hospitality Group get started?

Jessica Black: Scarlett Hospitality got started in 2009; we were three UNLV graduates who wanted to take luxury travel to the next step. We wanted to create a real “experience” for people who travel, not just provide a hotel and then let them figure it out. And we wanted to send our clients to places we would go to ourselves, places we have stayed in, and that we loved.

 

Does that mean you’ve stayed in every hotel that you recommend? Scrolling through your top picks, I found many of my favorites, including Sanctuary in Scottsdale, Amangiri in Utah, and Bardessono in Napa.

JB: Yes, we have stayed in every single hotel in our collection. We take great pride in recommending these hotels, and we want to be sure we are making a reliable recommendation. We want our clients to trust our judgement, and in doing so, we have stayed in and rated every hotel we offer experiences for. We all have a true passion for travel, so it’s not all that bad!

MGM Grand’s famous Skylofts are highly recommended by Scarlett ©MGM Resorts

Why did you choose Las Vegas as your first location?

JB: All three of us business founders were once Las Vegas residents, and over the many years we lived there, we saw so many people in and out of the city — even during the economy crash, Las Vegas kept a very lively tourism industry.  We wanted every single one of those people to really experience Las Vegas as a high-end, luxury destination, to have amazing experiences and world-class cuisine.

Las Vegas Strip ©Trump

What is your favorite hotel in Las Vegas to send clients and why?

JB: We have all worked at luxury hotels on the Strip, so we have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Our favorite Las Vegas hotels are Wynn and Cosmo. Our clients always have great experiences there and always take away amazing memories.

Where are your offices located?

JB: We have an office in Las Vegas, of course, as well as Beverly Hills. If you can’t find us in the office, it is because we are traveling and getting to know new hotels. But we can get in touch with you from anywhere else in the world.

Where did you get the name Scarlett Hospitality?

JB: Our CEO, Julius Scarlett, came up with the idea of using his last name. Scarlett to us means luxury, amazing experiences, cashmere… It means being able to enjoy the finer things in life.

Encore’s spa is one of the most luxurious in Vegas ©Wynn

What makes Scarlett Hospitality different than other online travel agencies?

JB: Scarlett Hospitality Group bases all of our hotel options on our personal luxury experiences at each of the properties. We take great pride in creating a custom experience that we know you will love. We have a ‘custom travel concierge’ that is available free of charge to plan your entire vacation. We will make sure you come home and have memories of the absolute best experiences.

What are you working on in 2013?

JB: We have already started to roll out our newest expansion, and are getting into the Canada and Mexico luxury markets: We have recently added hotels to our collection from Vancouver to Riviera Maya. We will start to add Europe in the fall.

Henderson’s Green Valley Ranch is a suburban oasis ©Green Valley Ranch

Home-grown in Vegas: Scarlett Hospitality brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

Cheers to the good life…

Daydream of the Week: Nicaragua’s San Juan del Sur brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

Everything in the first ever Nobu Hotel is a nod to his Japanese heritage.

I still remember the first time I ate at Nobu. I was still at my very first job out of school, and sitting in that famous Tribeca restaurant, I thought I had made it. Chef Nobu’s food is so amazing that I guess it was only a matter of time that the brand expanded, but when I heard that it was taking over a tower at Caesars Palace, I thought it was genius. There was no way it wouldn’t quickly become one of the best hotels in Las Vegas. Earlier this year, I had the honor of sitting down with co-owner Robert De Niro for a story in Vegas magazine. Since then, I’ve been counting down the days until I got to see this project for myself. He talked about this exciting launch of the very first Nobu Hotel, which was his idea and now building locales as far away as Riyadh.

But for now, I have stayed in the only one in the world!

I loved how clean and simple the hotel and rooms were, with the emphasis on service and amenities. The lobby was tiny and almost hidden, which I appreciated, and it was so easy to get to from self-park.

I absolutely fell in love with the toiletries, which included a bath glove, spa hair-ties, a wooden toothbrush, night cream, and makeup remover. I admit that I took home some of these goodies. Packing for my next weekend trip just got easier!

And did I mention that the entire room service menu was created by the famous chef? Breakfast includes green tea waffles, teriyaki steak and eggs, and omelettes with options like unagi and king crab. After 11:30 am? Choose from Nobu’s famous tiradito or black cod butter lettuce appetizers, or dine on lobster rolls or rock shrimp buns… without leaving your room.

Many hotel rooms in Vegas offer views of parking lots or the roofs of other buildings. (Cosmopolitan is a definite exception; I always look out onto the Bellagio fountains.) My room at Nobu? A perfect shot of the fun Paris casino.

The hotel’s aesthetic might be simple, but the modern touches aren’t. To use the elevator, run your card under the light, and step in. You will be taken right up to your room — without having to press a single button inside.

At first, it’s unsettling to step into this elevator, because as the doors close, you automatically reach out to touch your floor — but there are no buttons to push.

And of course, I couldn’t talk about the hotel without mentioning that it is mere feet from… A Nobu restaurant of course. I hadn’t eaten at one in years, and every bite was as melt-in-your-mouth delicious as I remembered.

I can’t wait to stay on the Strip’s newest hotel again! And of course, I look forward to dining at the restaurant as often as I can talk people into going with me.

First glimpse into the first ever Nobu Hotel brought to you by The Jungle Princess.

I know I’m as much of a city girl as I am a lover of the tropics, always feeling the push/pull between the fast life and the slow lane. But there really are such amazing parts to both!

Daydream of the week: Panama City brought to you by The Jungle Princess.