As you've no doubt already heard (and cried about), Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have called it quits. Divorce is not easy for anyone, even celebrities, and in times of stress, we all need to find a way to cope.
Of course we at Condé Nast Traveler recommend travel as the best medicine for the broken-hearted. We're not alone: Recently post-break-up vacations have been on the rise -- so much so that hotels are branding getaway offerings as "divorce packages" and our own cadre of CNT-vetted travel specialists are reporting an uptick in "divorce-moon" requests.
Among the examples, the Riviera in Palms Springs has a break-up butler for its "On the Rocks" package, CasaVelas in Puerto Vallarta offers a coffin for your wedding ring at a farewell cocktail party and you can find "Life after Divorce" type treatments at various resorts and spas. (Hint: Sedona is a common hotspot for healing and forgiveness retreats and workshops.)
Related: The Best Spas in The World
We asked four Condé Nast Traveler travel specialists to recap the types of divorce-moons that they've helped plan, and why they think they turned out, well, better than the marriages.
The Beach Cure
"I've booked packages for recently divorced clients," says Meg Austin of The Travel Society. "One woman wanted to travel with her girlfriend for fun and pampering and opted for an all-inclusive vacation at the Grand Velas near Playa Carmen in Mexico. another went to Valentin Imperial Maya for some quiet time in a safe environment with no kids. She got long walks on an endless beach, private dives with only a dive instructor, yoga classes, a well-appointed room right on the beach and yummy room service."
The Group Therapy Trip
"The single most important thing that we do is steer the recently divorced away from totally independent travel arrangements," says Richard Bruce Turen of Churchill & Turen Ltd. "Independent travel produces too much time alone and far too much time to think about the days of yore when they traveled the world together. Cruises and the better escorted tours are usually far better options as there is a warmth and sense of camaraderie that, more often than not, produces lifelong friendships."
The Even-Better-Than-Eat-Pray-Love Experience
"We had one newly divorced client who really wanted the Eat, Pray, Love experience in Bali" reports Leslie Overton of Absolute Travel. "She asked us to arrange a surf program for her but when she found a very mixed, international crowd of surfers instead of her fantasy of good looking, blond, muscular men who would help her with her board, she wound up hanging out at the amazing resort, relaxing alone -- probably what she should have done in the first place!"
The Girlfriend Getaway
"In the last two years we had the opportunity to arrange a few 'divorce' trips," says Andrea Grisdale of IC Bellagio. "One was to one of our beautiful seven bedroom villas where the wife invited eight of her closest girlfriends; she wanted say thank you to the people who had supported her during this tough period. No expense was spared and they had a wonderful, fun and relaxed time enjoying some Italian lifestyle experiences but also a lot of time by the pool admiring the views and area too."