Luxury travel is alive and well. Recently I was on a flight to New York for a weekend break. An all-business class affair, I had so much room I couldn’t reach the seatback in front of me to read the a la carte menu. That, my friends, is what I like to call a good problem. A trickier problem is choosing how to travel in luxury – plane, train, boat or car? I’ve tried them all, premium of course, and so far flying was proving a great choice.

There was a head and neck massage in the executive lounge before boarding, gallons of champagne before take-off, roast lamb and an excellent New Zealand pinot noir wine for lunch and stewardesses who knew my first name. I landed at JFK and hopped in a yellow taxi. In no time I was enjoying a cold, crisp beer with friends at the rooftop bar of the Dream Hotel overlooking Times Square on a hot, steamy night. That, as they say, is how it’s done.

Sometimes though, it’s better to be a driver than a passenger. Why not hire a motorbike? I did in Vietnam last summer. It’s cheap, less touristy than Thailand, there’s great street food everywhere and the scenery varies from the mountains in the north to beaches in the east. Hire a motorbike and travel from Hanoi to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) on mostly the 1 or the QL1 highways via the imperial city of Hue and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hoi An. There are lots of companies in Hanoi but it’s best to get a feel for them on the ground. Remember, you’ll need to get the bike back to Hanoi! About.com have some great tips on preparing for motorbike rides. Or you can enjoy travelling in a group with organised motorbike tours from the likes of Adventure Bike Tours. Get some inspiration for the world’s ten best motorcycling routes from Ask Men.

Travelling overland by train instead of a plane means seeing the places you travel through. It’s also much easier to meet people. When it comes to luxury train travel, the Orient Express is the last word. Sure, there’s the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian, but they’re hardly luxury. Splurge on a week-long trip from Bangkok to Singapore, Paris to Venice or try a day-trip around countryside to the south of London for a fraction of the price.

I was amazed what came out of the kitchen and into the fine dining car on the British Pullman route – three-courses of silver-service that any restaurant would be proud of. Inside, it’s palatial, with moveable armchairs and thick-pile carpet. In the bar, it’s much easier to enjoy your Martini shaken, than stirred – you’re on a train, after all…

For more great train tips, check out Seat61.