London - A travel company is offering the ultimate day out for James Bond fans: the chance to step into their hero’s shoes and master the skills required to become an elite British Secret Service agent.
A range of 007, To Be Bond experiences has been launched by Exsus that combines special forces and secret services training with glamorous European locations.
Would-be spies will be trained by ex-special forces members, some of whom helped actor Daniel Craig to prepare for his film role as Bond.
Prices start from £6 624 (R118 000) per person for a one-day Operation Explosive Entry experience in the UK, and go up to £198 000 per person for the ultimate four-day Operation Connery.
The range of “missions” includes hostage rescue at a glamorous location outside Prague.
As the name suggests, the package involves rescuing a hostage or valuable item while clearing a building room by room using covert intelligence techniques.
You’ll also be required to tackle the enemy and overcome any hidden booby traps in the process.
The company’s “ambush survival” package is based in Prague and features training at a counter-terrorist training facility by weapons experts who will teach you how to fire Bond’s weapons and fight your way out of a surprise attack at an eastern European checkpoint.
The day costs from £8 064 per person and ends with a black-tie dinner at five-star hotel, the Alchymist Grand Hotel, in Prague’s city centre.
And if you book yourself on to the company’s demolitions day, you’ll probably need to upgrade your travel insurance. The experience in the Welsh mountains – which costs from £6 624 per person – involves learning how to assemble and use explosives efficiently, as well as how to spot and destroy them.
But it is Operation Connery that provides the ultimate James Bond trip – and for which you will need a Bond villain’s bank account.
The four-day trip costs a cool £198 000 per person and includes stays in Nice, Monaco, Geneva and Prague, along with speed-boat chases, helicopter rides and training at a secret mountain facility.
After arriving in Nice, would-be spies – told they have been followed to the airport – are transferred to Nice harbour where they board a speed boat to their hotel in Monaco.
Following an in-room massage the Bond protégés meet their fellow spies over cocktails and receive their mission orders before attending a briefing from Head of Secret Intelligence, M and weapons and gadget man, Q.
The day ends with dinner and a trip to the casino before flying off to a secret mountain training facility in Geneva the next morning.
After a day’s training by British Special Forces and Secret Intelligence Service agents, the rookie spies continue on to Prague for further training before being flown by helicopter to a hilltop mansion overlooking the Czech countryside to complete their secret mission.
The company also offers trips to GoldenEye Jamaica, the former home of James Bond author Ian Fleming.
The writer penned all 14 of his James Bond novels at the luxury resort near the town of Oracabessa, where rooms now cost up to $8 000 per night.
Fleming bought the 6 hectare plot, which had formerly been a donkey race track, in 1946.
The property was also owned by reggae superstar Bob Marley who purchased it in 1976, 12 years after Fleming’s death.
Marley then sold the property to the current owner, Chris Blackwell, founder of the Island record label, who used it as a place to entertain friends before opening a small hotel. – Daily Mail
l www.exsus.com