Glamping, i.e. glamor camping, could soon replace the spa experience as the next getaway for the rich and moderately adventurous. For those who have done the cruise thing, the villa thing, the canal boat vacation thing, glamping offers a chance to leave the infrastructure behind and strike into the wilderness without the ugly necessity of going without cappucinos and iPod rechargers.

My wife and I met a British couple in Ecuador years ago who had just completed a walk along the Inca Way from Cuzco to Machu Picchu. I was totally impressed that they could complete such an arduous multi-day trek along the spine of the Andes, at over 15,000 feet.

I was less impressed when they explained that local Sherpas did most of the work. In the morning, the Sherpas fixed their breakfasts, and while my friends sauntered up the trail, their bearers broke camp, hurried up the trail until they were well ahead of my friends, then prepared a hot lunch ready for my friends on arrival. My friends were glamping -- glamor camping, although the term hadn't yet been coined.

Now, however, glamping is all the rage, thanks to the coincidence of several factors. Money is one essential -- or, more accurately, easy credit. Convenient access to once-forbiddingly remote sites is another, and the worldwide air network has made short work of distance hurdles. There are many entrepreneurs used to responding to the whims of the indulgent class. More sophisticated equipment, from tents and sleeping bags to gourmet food and electrical equipment, now brings the comfort of a La Jolla estate to the backcountry.

No more rocks under your sleeping bag, picking mosquitoes out of your oatmeal, or drinking rainwater off of your tent fly. Glamping brings the softness of your Sterns & Foster, the crisp pop of a chilled Tattinger, and the convenience of Dean and DeLuca to the African Veldt, the Alaskan wilderness or the Colorado River canyon. With such a service, the privileged class can have their wilderness and still enjoy their glumping, glartying and beauty gleep.

It's a gleat life, eh?