Group creative director at luxury lifestyle group Quintessentially

“I have been known to plan my holidays two years in advance. I mostly book up to a year ahead; the flipside is that a lot of my work travel only has a week or two’s notice – some memorable trips have been to Senegal, Belize, Zanzibar and Myanmar. I love to plan (almost as much as the trips themselves). I am an app junkie and use Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Skyscanner to research. I keep a list of places to visit in my Wunderlist app so I don’t lose track of where I want to go, and spend hours sourcing quirky one-off boutique hotels via Mr & Mrs Smith and i-escape, and researching remote destinations such as Misool island in Indonesia and the Bijagós islands in west Africa – some of the best fun I’ve had has been in off-the-beaten-track places. Quite often my holidays are timed around work trips for me or my husband, and my friends also plan group holidays together. I keep running lists of where I’ve been from previous years so I can ‘transport’ myself back there at any given time.”

Caroline’s 2017 travel Calendar

January: Palm Beach, Florida and Colombia
“I started the year in the US with family – most of them live there so I’m there a lot. Then I flew to Cartagena in Colombia to meet my husband and spent 10 days there with a side trip to the jungle and beaches in Tayrona National Park and finished up in Bogotá.”

March: Dubai, UAE
“I’m often in Dubai on business but I make sure I stay in nice hotels (this time, I spent five nights at the One & Only Royal Mirage) and usually extend around a weekend so that I have a chance to explore.”

Early April: New York, USA
“I’ll be there for a week, staying at an Airbnb in the Meatpacking District with Quintessentially’s creative director.”

Mid April: Hvar, Croatia
“I’m happy to revisit certain places – we went to Hvar last year. A friend has opened Hidden House (hidden-house.com), a small boutique hotel in Stari Grad, and it was so amazing we’re going back this Easter.”

Early May bank holiday: Nantucket, USA
“I’m staying at Greydon House (greydonhouse.com), a new 20-room boutique hotel. I found the place on booking.com and then sense-checked it with a client who spends summers there.”

When travel planning becomes an art form: meet the women who make the most of their holiday allowance