I plan $100,000 adventures for the ultra-rich. You can have a once-in-a-lifetime trip without a billionaire budget.
As told to
Joshua Nelken-Zitser
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Courtesy of Oliver Browne
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Oliver Browne, 44, who founded True Summit Adventures in 2022. He is based in Albania. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.
A trek to Everest Base Camp with a helicopter return, heli-skiing in Albania, crossing Mongolia's Altai Mountains and Gobi Desert by horseback and camel, and exploring Bhutan while staying at Six Senses.
These are some of the adventures we've taken our ultrawealthy clients on, which cost an average of around $100,000 per trip.
What I've learned over the years, however, is that you don't need a billionaire budget to have these kinds of experiences.
Our clients are a mix of private-equity supremos and people who got rich in tech
When I founded True Summit Adventures, I focused on mountain adventures and trips to places I knew well, like East Africa and Nepal. As our client base grew, we expanded into superluxury adventures with broader appeal.
The experiences we offer include luxury frontier travel, polar yacht charters, and safaris on foot, horseback, or by helicopter. Clients stay in bespoke luxury canvas camps erected specifically for their party, rather than sharing a lodge with other guests. We typically cover accommodation and experiences, but not the cost of international flights.
Courtesy of Oliver Browne
Our clients are an eclectic group: a mix of younger people who made their fortunes in tech, and older private equity supremos. They want to be pushed out of their comfort zones and meet interesting people. That's one reason we offer icon-led adventures, where world-famous adventurers act as our clients' guides.
It's not about sitting on a beach for a week and drinking margaritas, but pursuing something more meaningful.
When planning a trip, I try to think: if I were superwealthy and money were no object, what would I want to do?
Courtesy of Oliver Browne
From 2006 to 2015, I played polo professionally and went on adventures to places including Argentina, Pakistan, India, and South Africa, which introduced me to a lot of superwealthy people.
After I retired from polo, I worked in the family office space for about five years. Between those jobs and polo, I've worked around ultrawealthy people for about 20 years. In 2019, I went to South America and Asia to climb, and by 2021, I was no longer trying to be Oliver the investment professional, but Oliver the adventurer, and I haven't looked back.
Decide what will make the trip magical and budget from there
Although I organize extravagant trips, it's not how I usually travel. I've traveled the world on a shoestring budget before, doing everything as cheaply as I could, such as when I traveled solo through Mozambique during my gap year.
Whatever trip you're planning, the key is to decide which elements matter to you and will make the trip feel magical. Once you know, prioritize those elements, and plan the adventure within a budget you can afford.
I think there's an iteration of most adventures for different price points, as long as you're willing to sacrifice certain things.
Instead of chartering a yacht for a week for $120,000, you could book a cabin with an adventure cruise company and pay a fraction of the price. You won't have the same amenities or privacy, but you'll have a similar experience.
On safari, you might not be able to stay at the best lodge in Arusha, Tanzania, but you can find a perfectly reasonable three-star hotel nearby.
Bhutan can be fiendishly expensive if you fly there by private jet, stay at Six Senses, and travel by helicopter. Alternatively, you can fly via Kathmandu and stay in a four-star hotel that's still pretty nice.
Superluxury travel offers access to superior logistics and accommodation, but for me, luxury isn't always the be-all and end-all of an adventure. It's about being in a new place, climbing a mountain, seeing the sunrise, and watching wildlife.
To see the world and have amazing adventures, all you need is curiosity, interest, time, and a certain amount of money, but not a billionaire budget.
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Joshua Nelken-Zitser
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Joshua Nelken-Zitser is an award-winning Senior Reporter at Business Insider’s London bureau covering wealth, spending, and consumer culture.Through features, on-the-ground reporting, and As Told To essays, he explores how people use their money, from everyday spending to the lifestyles of the ultrawealthy, and what those choices say about modern life. His work focuses on the culture of money: how money shapes places and people, and how the world around them influences how they choose to spend.Joshua previously spent five years on the news desk, reporting from the US, across Europe, and the Middle East. In 2024, he received the Axel Springer Award for Change — Journalistic Piece of the Year and was highly commended at the British Journalism Awards for a multi-year investigation into subsidized gender-transition surgeries in Iran.His debut book (TRAUMA BONDS: How Generational Trauma Shapes, Divides and Connects Us) will be published by HarperCollins in January 2027.Got a tip? Email [email protected]. You can also follow him on X or Instagram.ExpertiseFeatures and reporting on affluent lifestyles, consumer spending, and the culture of money, alongside first-person stories about how people live and spend.Popular articlesWealth and spending:Series: Welcome to the 'Hamptons of England'Series: Living large in tiny homesThe new luxury real-estate agent uniform: Botox, stylists, and designer wardrobesI watched the ultra-rich descend on Venice for Jeff Bezos' wedding — and was shocked by how little locals cared'Clients bring back entire wardrobes': Tailors say Ozempic is reshaping Wall StreetThe new millennial flex: spending thousands on a birthday weekend at a chateauInternational features reporting:Iran will pay for your gender-transition surgery, but it comes with a cost — your dignityShe was killed by a look-alike she met on Instagram, police say. It thrust her family in Africa into a true-crime nightmare.How the trans alpaca ranchers of Custer County, Colorado, are forging a new frontierThe European housing crisis warping millennial life: The average Croatian lives with parents until 33Lithuania is the world's happiest place for under 30s, but it's also Europe's suicide capitalThe 'fairytale' French castles being used to shelter Ukrainian refugeesMost armies ignore autistic people. Israel is calling them up.
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