By MARK SABBATINI
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE
October 4, 1998
For most people a trip to Alaska is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates obviously isn't your ordinary guy.
It isn't everyone who can charter a private yacht only a few weeks after hanging out with 500 rich-and-famous types in Juneau on a privately chartered cruise ship. And an ordinary guy isn't so worried about security two weeks after the yacht trip that he refuses talk about it.
But luckily for Inquiring Minds there's Michael Orelove, who got to carry some of Gates' luggage two weeks ago. The Juneau resident was among about 10 locals who sent Gates, his wife and friends on their way to a helicopter and chartered yacht trip of the Inside Passage.
"I knew about it a month before, but I was sworn to secrecy," Orelove said in an interview Thursday. His former brother-in-law, Marty Behr, is a partner in American Safari Cruises, the company that provided the yacht.
"Before and during the visit people are sworn to confidentiality," Orelove said. "Afterward there's no confidentiality. Maybe it's even good business."
The trip was apparently planned before Microsoft co-founder and fellow billionaire Paul Allen threw an August party aboard the Crystal Harmony, a 960-passenger cruise ship dubbed by some publications as the finest in the world. That event saw Juneau's airport overwhelmed with a record number of jets and corporate planes, and hundreds of residents flocking downtown so they could catch a fleeting glimpse of the likes of James Cameron and Jeff Goldblum on their way to the ship.
Gates' return trip was much more subdued - just him and few friends aboard a 12-person yacht that costs up to $108,000 for an eight-day trip, not including tips and premium-quality booze. They flew in on two corporate jets one for the passengers and one for the luggage - got helped into some bunny boots when they arrived and set off by helicopter to check out the glaciers.
Afterward, the helicopter flew them to the yacht, which was waitlng at Tracy Arm.
"This way they got to enjoy Juneau without the press and the public trying to follow them every step of the way," Orelove said.
Gates, by the way, didn't confirm any of this. Microsoft spokeswoman Kimberly Kuresman, after consulting with some corporate types, said "Bill is such a high-profile kind of guy that for security reasons they don't like to say anything about his schedule."
Dick Roundtree, owner of Aero Services, which fuels planes at the airport, said he heard Gates might be coming into town and doing some helicopter touring, but doesn't know if the trip actually happened. Employees at Juneau's four helicopter touring firms said they weren't aware of any such trip, although some said the people who would have done the flying weren't around to ask.
Orelove said he never actually got to meet Gates, but at least he'll always have the memory of carrying his bags.
"I've got a picture," he said.
Home, Contact Us,
Free Email,
Bistro Blends Orlando
Copyright © 1996-2004 by Orelove
And Company. All rights reserved worldwide.
Product names, service marks, trademarks, and logos used herein are the property of their
respective companies.
