98 SIDELINES APRIL 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Continued on page 100
e
By Jan Westmark-Allan
W
hen my phone rang with an offer to take part in
the “Polo in Paradise” package from The Four
Seasons Resort Palm Beach during my visit to
Wellington, Florida, I had to think about it – for about one
second! I glanced outside at the cold wind whipping across
the mountains and started packing my bags. I was ready for
polo, paradise and plenty of it.
I thought I knew what paradise was – after all I had lived in
South Florida for 20 years and many people consider the sunny
south to be the ultimate utopia.
It seemed like investigative
journalism was in order – to
discover if “Polo in Paradise”
really did exist. My daughter,
Abby, decided she needed to
join me in my quest for the truth
and took time off from school
and booked a fight from Boston
to Florida. (Note to all wannabe
investigative journalists: if a
person in Boston agrees to join
you in Florida you can easily
deduct that the weather is below
freezing in their fair city and a
blizzard is on the way. That was
exactly the forecast.)
Although we had never
stayed at the Four Seasons
Resort Palm Beach or enjoyed
the “Ultra VIP Sunday Brunch &
Polo,” we were willing to give it
our best shot. The Four Seasons
is the offcial hotel partner of the
International Polo Club Palm
Beach and we were willing to
“partner” up too. We arrived at
the resort on a Friday evening
and were immediately given the
royal treatment – Prince Harry
and Kate Middleton had nothing
on us. We were shown to our
room where a balcony with
a gorgeous view of the pool,
beach and sparkling Atlantic
Ocean showed off what the
resort had to offer. Standing on
Discovering Paradise!
the balcony enjoying the postcard view, we started taking notes: it
appeared as if we had arrived in paradise.
The Four Seasons offers plenty of bonuses with this vacation
experience and the “Ultra VIP Sunday Brunch & Polo” package
came with a bottle of champagne, personalized La Martina
polo jerseys and an offcial polo bag delivered to our room by a
handsome Four Seasons employee. As it turns out, paradise is a
pretty nice place.
On Saturday morning we decided to take a stroll on the beach,
but only made it as far as the beach chairs. We tucked ourselves
under a bright orange umbrella for more investigative work and
quickly discover that while sitting in paradise the desire to work
fades away. The desire to
enjoy nirvana, however, kicks
into overtime. We enjoyed the
beach for a few hours, including
the resort’s ever-attentive staff,
recording it moment by moment
with our cell phone cameras.
As part of the investigative
process, we posted the photos
on our Facebook pages to see if
our friends in the north thought
we had discovered paradise.
They did.
By Sunday morning we had
reached the conclusion that
the Four Seasons Palm Beach
needs to be on everyone’s
bucket list. I am pleased that I
can check if off mine although
I will probably add it back
on my list – there are three
polo packages and I only
experienced one – so two more
trips are in order.
Once we had discovered
paradise at the resort – it was
time for polo. Our destination
was the International Polo Club
Palm Beach for the VIP Sunday
Brunch and it turned out to
be the perfect Palm Beach
afternoon. Clear blue skies,
amazing food and front row
seats for an afternoon of action-
packed polo was all part of the
experience. We stomped divots
We left our name on the beach – proof that we were there!
Sidelines attended this game as part of the “Ultra VIP Brunch &
Polo” package through the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach,
the offcial hotel partner for the International Polo Club Palm
Beach. Photographer Alan Fabricant, who shoots polo action
in Wellington for Sidelines, captured the excitement as Port
Mayaca’s Carlucho tried to push Tommy Collingwood off the ball.
Photo by Alan Fabricant