If I’m honest I’m not really all that into the the Ritz Carlton/ Four Seasons kind of thing. I find the whole thing to be a bit pretentious. It’s kind of -middle managers gone wild- for me . It’s just not my scene. I prefer something with a bit more soul like the Riad Lotus or Le Sirenuse. I had heard about the One & Only hotel group, but I kind of put them into the same stuffy category and just never went.
I was planning a mini retirement to Cabo and the two places that kept popping up on my radar were the Esperanza and the One & Only. I thought, what the heck, let’s give the One & Only a whack. So off we went.
Words can NOT describe the soul that’s in this place. OMFG. I have NEVER experienced anything like this. When you land you’re greeted at the airport by your valet who escorts you to an awaiting Hummer. When inside, you’re handed a bottle of Evian and moist towels to recover from your trip. “It will take us exactly 23 minutes to reach the gates of the property” the driver says. So, I pull out my chronometer (my iPhone) and time him- he was dead on- almost to the second!
When you arrive at the entrance, there’s someone waiting for you with- Popsicles. Yep. Popsicles. To be exact they were frozen strawberries made into the shape of a popsicle. After a private check in experience, you’re taken to your room to meet your butler. My Butler. Really. “Hi my name is José, please ask me for whatever you need during your stay. I will be here for you. If you don’t see me standing outside your door just hit this button next to your bed and I will be there in 2 minutes, Mr. Robert.” Ok. Ummm I’ll bite… “I’m training for a marathon and I need to stay on my running schedule, would you happen to know where a good place to run is?” He says he’ll find out. “I will find out for you right away Mr. Robert”. O.k. thanks I said. “Mr. Robert, If you and Mrs. Kim would like to sleep outside on the deck tonight, overlooking the ocean and under the stars, just let me know and I’ll have your bed prepared for you outside.” Ummm. Really. O.k., Lets do it!
After we unpacked, we left the room to go check out the rest of the property. The weirdest thing was happening, it seemed like every person I passed stopped and put their hand on their hearts and said hello to me with a genuine and sincere intention . Did I turn into the pope or was I having some weird out of body experience? No. Wait a minute. They actually were doing this. When I say everybody, I mean everybody from housekeeping to the gardeners. It was insane. I started to actually look forward to it after a while. You know, waving my pope hands in the air back at them.
So on we go to find the restaurant for lunch. I see my butler out of the corner of my eye kind of looking at me- but not. It was weird. He kind of looked like he needed to pee or something. I said “Jose how’s it going?” He said, “Oh, fine Mr. Robert, I just wanted to let you know that I have completed all my research and the length of the property around the perimeter is X square meters and I would recommend that you begin your training on the north side and continue along this route I have created for you.”‘ Ummmm. Thanks?
Next, it was back to the room for a quick shower before dinner. When we entered the room it looked like an elf had sprinkled Christmas everywhere. There were three shots of Tequilla, h’ourderves and two One & Only baseball caps. It was like Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa all wrapped into one. Ummmm. Ok, let’s do some shots and head out for dinner.
We walk into the restaurant, we’re shown our table and hear this big booming unmistakable laugh. Is that? No. Really? Will and Jada and 10 of there closest friends partying. Is this the s*** or what? After a night partying like a rock stars, we slept on our “outside bed” and hit the infinity pool in the morning.
I think this is probably the piest de resistance. This lady in a hat (kind of dressed like Jungle Jim but the girl kind) comes over to us with a basket (like a little red riding hood basket) and asks us if she could wash our sunglasses. Ummmm. Wash our sunglasses. Really? “Yes it is very nice and it will only take two minutes sir”. she said. Ummm. O.K., It’s kind of hard to explain this one so watch this video below.
One & Only Palmilla Cabo Sunglass Cleaning from Jet Set Life on Vimeo.
All in all I’m man enough to admit it. As Fonzie says i was rrrrrr….rrrrrrrr. Wrong. This place was totally amazing and I can’t wait for their next property to open in Cape Town.
Hey Rob, thanks for dropping by my site and inviting me to hang out with you guys in Buenos Aires.
Your site looks great. Jason and I don’t focus on chic, sexy travel on our site, but we love our jet setting lives!
You guys will really love Buenos Aires. It feels like Paris with South America thrown into the mix. Taxis are cheap and the subway is even cheaper, but you’ll probably prefer taxis.
One & Only sounds like heaven! I went to their site and it seems extremely inexpensive…is it too good to be true? For a week at One & Only Palmilla…it would run me….$$$?
Any help would be greatly appreciated! This may be the first of many mini-retirements!
Thanks,
Katie