Table of Contents

• Deep Dive: Welcome to the New Escape Economy

• The Cata-lyst

• Marketing Moves

• This Week in Tech

• Moment in Culture: A New Members Club

• TL;DR

Hello Pleasurists,

As the days get longer, and the temperatures get warmer, we find ourselves on the brink of another season of summer getaways. But this year, something’s different…

In 2025, travel has become more than movement; they are rituals of renewal that are deeply tied to how we feel, who we are, and who we’re becoming.

We’re not just booking flights, we’re booking feelings. And the formats we seek now are immersive, therapeutic, and increasingly boundaryless.

WELCOME TO THE NEW PLEASURE ESCAPE ECONOMY

Travel is no longer limited to planes and passports. It’s expanding in form, function, and frequency, showing up in everything from digital retreats to sleep rituals tucked into your hotel room.

Two ways we’re seeing people escape are:

1. Transdimensional Journeys: 
   Escape is no longer limited by geography or gravity.
From Roblox-hosted yoga to headset-guided sound baths, healing is happening across dimensions. Metaverse spas now offer synced breathing tools and ambient soundscapes, while apps like Outdooractive layer trails with real-time elevation data and personalised wayfinding.

• Alo Yoga's Metaverse Sanctuary – A wellness sanctuary within Roblox, offering users virtual meditation and yoga sessions.

• Virtual Voyages – Virtual reality to explore destinations and cultures digitally, catering to those seeking escapism without physical travel.

• Set-Jetting – Inspired by popular TV shows and films, travellers are visiting filming locations, blending entertainment with real-world exploration, and fulfilling escapist fantasies.

2. Therapeutic Sabbaticals: 
   Silence camps. Psychedelic sabbaticals. Burnout recovery residencies. Mindfulness journals tucked into pillowcases. Sensory-rich hotel lobbies. Curated bath hours. Or AI-guided walks in your own neighborhood are reframing what it means to ‘escape’.

• Unplugged Cabins – Off-grid retreats that provide tech-free environments, encouraging guests to engage in nature and mindfulness.

• Sleep Tourism – Hotels and resorts are offering programs focused on sleep health, incorporating AI-powered beds and relaxation therapies.

• NatureDose – The app prescribes time outdoors the way we once prescribed antibiotics.


The Takeaway:

This isn’t about escape, it’s about recalibration.
A soft reboot. A systems check. A shift in state, not just scenery.

These experiences don’t pull us away from life, they help us re-enter it, slower, clearer, and more equipped.

So, where’s your next escape? How about joining me in LA? See below for more.

C.Will

Join Us on A Cultural Innovation Safari in LA
This September, join us to explore The Future of Pleasure, a 48-hour guided immersion into LA’s most cutting-edge experiences, rituals, and sensory frontiers.

Designed for innovation leaders looking to spark change within their business. We’ll go beyond the buzzwords and straight into the rooms, flavours, technologies, and minds driving the future of pleasure and wellbeing.

🍵 Sip and taste what’s next
🧠 Explore leading-edge retail and nightlife
🎤 Meet the makers behind the breakthroughs
📓 Leave with insight, not just inspiration

Here’s 4 varying ways to escape this week…

Walk, Don’t Scroll

Can walking make you more productive, creative, and connected? Craig Mod thinks so. Craig turned walking into a productivity system to clear mental clutter, spark creativity, and sharpen focus. His book Kissa by Kissa captures what he found along the way: café culture, thick toast, and the joy of going slow.

Read the article

Explore the book

Is Instagram Killing the Countryside?

AFAR explores what happens when sleepy towns go viral. A smart take on travel, charm, and the cost of going “too discoverable.”

Read more

Art Deco Turns 100

Everyone knows NYC’s Chrysler Building, but what about the Deco gems hiding in Morocco, Mumbai, or Mexico City? This global guide celebrates a century of symmetry, jazz-age ornament, and buildings that still manage to feel futuristic.


Inspire your next escape

Where in the World Is It Still Quiet?

Condé Nast Traveler’s Arati Menon and travel writer Yulia Denisyuk joins host Lale Arikoglu to explore some of the last tranquil places on Earth, from the otherworldly salt pans of Botswana to the vast stillness of Wadi Rum, Jordan. A calming reminder that silence is still out there, you just have to know where to listen.  

Listen on Spotify

Marketing Moves

This week’s creative pulse showcases that the strongest brand flex might just be restraint.

Bottega Veneta writes between the lines

The brand that famously ditched its logo strikes again, with a global poetry installation in cities like Tokyo, Chengdu, and Milan. Simple, typewritten Italian verses on blank billboards offer a quiet invitation to pause, feel, and maybe even guess the brand. Proof that sometimes, less says more.


Read the story →

Aston Martin and The Rolling Stones go full analog

No digital gloss here. Shot on 35mm film and set to a classic Stones track, this Formula 1 collab is all texture and tension. It’s a love letter to legacy, but with grit. This one reminds us that in a world obsessed with tech, the soul still sells.

 See the spot →

This Week in Tech

Interfaces for intimacy and interpretation…

Subtitles for Life

A new smart glasses prototype transcribes speech to your lenses in real time. Originally built to support the hearing-impaired, it's now gaining broader appeal as a tool for navigating loud spaces, fast talkers, and cross-cultural conversations. Think of it as closed captions for daily life.

Read more → 

RAW Ring: What if We Could Detect Love?

The creators of the RAW dating app are developing a biometric smart ring that tracks emotional states like stress or arousal using sensors and AI. Marketed as a way to build trust and transparency in relationships, the ring has already sparked backlash for veering into emotional surveillance and feeling more Black Mirror than connection-building. A prototype expected in September 2025.


Explore more →

Moment in Culture: A New Members Club

Nylon is launching a free, invite-only membership program aimed at “young tastemakers,” promising curated events, insider perks, and brand access. On paper, it’s a smart pivot, building value through exclusivity instead of scale.

But in an era where connection is currency and loneliness is peaking, the question arises: Do we really need more velvet ropes?

The challenge now isn’t just building audiences, it’s building belonging. While curated circles can drive buzz, the real opportunity might be designing spaces where more people feel like they’re in the room.

TL;DR

• The New Escape Economy isn’t just where you go; it’s how you feel, heal, and recalibrate.

• Escapism is now transdimensional: think Roblox yoga, VR retreats, and AI-guided nature walks.

• Wellness travel is getting richer: from sleep tourism to silent sabbaticals and burnout recovery residencies.

• The smartest brands are building journeys that don’t disconnect us from life, they help us re-enter it, clearer and more grounded.