Aaron Simpson, co-founder of the concierge company Quintessentially, is feeling pleased with himself. Having recently purchased an eight-bedroom finca in Ibiza, he has become the latest member of the LonZa crew, a growing number of successful young professionals who base themselves full-time between London and Ibiza. Simpson had been doing the NyLon route, splitting his time between New York and London, but the time has come, along with a shift in values, "to get more sunshine into my life". He's been an Ibiza regular for 15 years, so the island was the obvious choice for him.
Simpson's decision was made easier by the introduction of Ryanair's direct winter flights from London Stansted. Previously, the off-season trip meant a long connection with a punishing price tag attached. Now, the island is only two hours (and about £40) away all year, making the split lifestyle a truly viable option. Nicknamed the Ryan Rave by the LonZa posse, the flights have been hugely popular - and you never know who you'll bump into. Ibiza newbies such as Bruce Parry and Stephen "the Barefoot Doctor" Russell are regulars, as are established faces such as Jade Jagger and James Blunt.
The jewellery designer Natasha Dahlberg is another fan. She grew up in Ibiza and, although she now lives in west London and Brighton, has a permanent studio there, where she sets up every summer with children in tow, claiming her 10-year-old daughter, Molly, has a more active social life there than she does. "My parents settled here in 1968 and were original hippies," Dahlberg says. "They were breaking away and looking for a different life." She believes that the LonZa crowd are following in their footsteps.
The New York writer Julia Chaplin calls this group the "gypset", or gypsy jet set. "Their goal is to reimagine life and build it in their own vision," she says. "Ibiza is a gypset enclave because it's one big social experiment, where the relaxed, charged atmosphere means things just happen." Things that lead to great business opportunities. The LonZa lifestyle can be every bit as lucrative as its NyLon precursor. For example, Dahlberg met a group of women on the beach who have become regular clients - she hosts two trunk sales for them in New York every year. Then there's Edward Kennard, who's in the oil business. He has a permanent summer office in Ibiza and does business via video conference with his company's Marble Arch HQ.
Just how accessible is LonZa? Prices on Ibiza have rocketed, and according to the property mogul John Stone: "The smallest house will still go for £500,000." But there are still deals to be had - in "distress sales" of recession-stricken development projects. LonZa remains a fairly exclusive club, which, in turn, means the networking opportunities are only getting better. Indeed, Hayden Trethewy, who owns Aura bar and restaurant in Mayfair, is launching his own members' scheme this summer - the Aura 100 - "to give something back to the people who come here year after year". For Trethewy, who regularly heads back to London for business meetings, LonZa is about "a certain standard of life". In other words, a life with a lot more sunshine and fewer rules. Are you tempted to join the gypset yet?
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Claudia Solti 35, James Carrington, 35, and Booboo
Solti, a film-maker, and her singer-songwriter husband, Carrington, bought a modernised finca, Can Bikini, two years ago, which they rent out when they're not using it. Solti had been looking for a second home on the island since her first visit to Ibiza in 2001. "I met all kinds of people on that trip who immediately made me feel like part of the community," she says. And now, "loads of my friends from London have also bought here. We all live round the corner from each other there, and they're just up the road in Ibiza, too".
The couple are based in Belsize Park, in north London, where Solti grew up, but, being freelance, they can "work from anywhere" and also spend a lot of time in LA. Carrington composes music using his laptop, but when in Ibiza borrows his DJ neighbour James Cameron's studio. "Sometimes I find it easier to work here than others," says Solti. "Some trips are very tranquil, others are all about going out and partying."
"It's a bit like having a country house in the UK," Carrington adds, "but without the rules and prejudices that can sometimes stop you from really being yourself." And, he points out, the cheap winter flights mean it costs the same and takes the same amount of time as a commute to, say, Cornwall for the weekend. These two know where they would rather be.
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Georgina Scarbrough, 31, and William Penn, 38
They worked as a fashion editor and video-shoot producer in London, but it was over a boozy lunch in Ibiza that the couple had the idea of setting up a production company on the island. "We'd both travelled all over on shoots, but had never found anywhere as beautiful as Ibiza. We met and fell in love here, too," Scarbrough says.
When a close friend was killed in a car accident, "it hit home that life isn't a dress rehearsal, and we decided to go for it". They bought a plot of land and set about building a home, which they also use as a location for shoots with magazines including Grazia, Elle and Glamour and brands such as Joseph and MaxMara. Regular visits to London for client meetings are a must ("I go wild in the aisles at Topshop, too," she says), while Penn also gets down to Brighton to visit his daughter, Maisie, 15. "She loves the fact we live here, and comes out on all her school holidays."
Serena Cook, 35
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When Jade Jagger invited Cook to Ibiza to manage three rental villas, little did she realise it would launch a career as the island's best-known fixer. "It was a right place, right time cliché," says Cook, who had previously run her own restaurant in Bogota and managed Oliver Peyton's ventures Sugar Reef and Coast. Running her concierge company, Deliciously Sorted, sees Cook decamp annually from Ladbroke Grove, west London, to "a rented little house on the prairie, complete with a teepee in the garden".
"I travel back to London once a month during summer," she says. "I need to stay in the loop, and it's important to get off-island and feel the energy and professionalism of London." Winter visits to Ibiza are spent at her music-producer boyfriend's house. Cook, who first came to Ibiza aged 19, says it's the sense of wonder about the island that keeps her coming back. As for the Big Smoke, "Japanese food and a takeaway curry" are what she misses most.