The Billionaire Explorers Club

In search of the world’s most extravagant adventures.

- Jared Paul Stern

You’re rappelling down the crater of a 4,000-year-old dormant volcano in Iceland, hoping to hell the thing really is inactive and you’ll find a cold microbrew at the bottom instead of boiling lava. Your arms feel like they’re about to snap off and there are still 300 feet to go. Even better, you’ve actually paid money for this. A lot of it. But all you can think about is recovering in time for the next potentially fatal, deeply satisfying feat—and capturing it all for your feed.

The more dangerous and inhospitable certain parts of the world become, the more determined some of us are to explore them. And there’s never been a better time to go in with guns blazing. Hitching a ride on one of the world’s first commercial space flights, with no guarantees of returning to Earth the easy way; scaling dizzying heights and then jumping straight back down again with only a wing suit between you and total oblivion. These things are so much more enjoyable when there’s a magnum of vintage Dom Pérignon waiting back in your five-star yurt.

When money is no object, you should be able to go and do what mere mortals can only dream of. And you can, if you know who to talk to and how to write lots of zeros. This fall, for instance, fabled adventure travel company Abercrombie & Kent will debut the first of its new Inspiring Expedition series for those who want to conquer uncharted territory—and do it first-class all the way. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart (or wallet), which is just the way it should be.