Our Travels

As soon as the festive season is over, the TV ads start encouraging people to book their annual holidays. So far, so good. I would also urge you to book early and pay a deposit to secure your 2024 holidays. But if this is all feeling a bit deja vu, here are a few ideas to get you excited about travelling again, about looking forward to a new adventure, somewhere different.

January is always a bit flat. How about heading to the Hagar Mountains in Ras Al Khaimah? This tiny emirate, about 45 minutes from Dubai, will surprise you. With five-star hotels and white sand beaches it is already a winner, but add a 1.75-mile zip line, a balloon flight over the mountains, a thrilling toboggan ride, nature reserves and excellent food and you can see why this is a great choice.

Only one more sleep till Christmas now and you may have already had your fill of TV ads, Christmas music in shops and Christmas meals with the office or groups of friends. The Christmas build-up seems to come earlier and earlier these days. What can we learn from all this?

Well, as avid travellers, we could jump on the bandwagon and start thinking about Christmas 24? Have I gone mad? No, in fact, many of the world’s most desired resorts and villas get booked up a year in advance by repeat customers. As soon as they leave the resort for home, clients secure it for the following year. This is why some places never seem to be available over the festive period! Well, two can play at that game! Don’t forget that you can secure your booking with a deposit now and then you have about ten months till you need to pay the balance.

In addition, flights go on sale in early January, and you may never see these sale prices again. More than ever before, these genuine sale fares are to be snapped up. It is no longer a case of hedging your bets and waiting to see if prices come down later in the year. I’m prepared to stick my neck out and say that they will only go up.

By the time you read this, we will be counting down the days till Christmas and most of us will have our decorations up and arrangements made for the big day.

But there may also be some of you out there whose plans have suddenly changed or who have decided you want to do something different over the festive season.

Availability will be tight, but I am hopeful I will be able to find you something last minute. If you can’t stand the cold and desperately seek some sun and warmth, we could look at the Caribbean, the Maldives, the Canaries, the Middle East, or the Far East.

I’ve been reading a lot in the travel press about how air fares are going to rise. It is not a question of if, but when. In fact, you may have been looking online yourselves and been surprised by the cost of flights to places you are used to travelling to. Have you asked yourselves whether this is just a passing glitch? Surely fares cannot have almost doubled in price? Perhaps you have decided to wait and see if they drop again? The bad news for travellers is that prices are definitely not predicted to drop.

There are several factors that affect the cost of air travel, including the rate of inflation. The high rate of inflation we are seeing at the moment might fluctuate very slightly but is unlikely to drop significantly. Then there is the high price of oil, linked to the ongoing war in Ukraine, and this does not seem likely to resolve itself any time soon, sadly. Airlines are also under great pressure to upgrade their planes to meet low emissions targets and there is an urgent need to fund research into sustainable fuel. We must, if we want to save our planet, stop polluting the atmosphere but all of this costs vast sums of money.

Ouch! Rising prices will affect us all. The good news is that it will hopefully make us think twice about how often we travel and how.

If you think about travel to Australia, you may immediately picture backpacking students. Maybe you did this yourself on a gap year, or maybe one of your children did? Or you may associate travelling around Australia with hiring a giant motor home. These are just stereotypes. Not for you?

You may not necessarily think of Australia as a luxury destination, but I can assure you that a first-class experience is definitely possible Down Under.

So many of us in the UK have relatives living in Australia. Maybe they went out on a £10 ticket back in the 70’s or maybe they fell in love while touring round as a student and ending up marrying and staying. I know it is hard for relatives, especially grandparents when their families live so far away.

Lots of my more mature clients travel out to Australia every few years to visit family. Others may never have been and want to tick it off their list. It’s exciting, but a bit daunting travelling such a long way. How can it be made easier?

November is a very exciting time for the UK Travel Industry. We all eagerly head to the World Travel Market in London, a huge event spread over four days where tourist boards and suppliers from all over the world congregate to showcase their countries and their products.

For those of us who work in travel, it’s like entering a giant sweetie shop. So much choice, so much to sample and new products to learn about. The world of travel is constantly evolving. It wasn’t so very long ago that Libya and Syria were tipped to be the next big thing and the travel industry put past differences behind them and waited to show the world what amazing historical sites these countries could offer. Then war broke out. This year, we will rally around Morocco and offer our support. We are here to help each other, just as we will be when current conflicts come to an end and other countries need our help to build their tourism up again.

If you would like to help support those affected by the recent earthquake in Morocco, consider supporting the Charitable Travel Fund emergency appeal here.

It is of great concern that many popular tourist sights are being ruined by mass tourism. Steps are already being taken to limit the number of tourists to certain places. Too many visitors mean there is the risk of damaging ancient sites and monuments, landscapes, and disturbing wildlife.

Venice is about to introduce a tourist tax and has banned all cruise ships from entering Venice. I have been horrified to see hordes of people queuing up to cross the tiny bridges that are dotted all over this beautiful city. Surely, there can be little pleasure in sharing your experience with hundreds of other tourists and the noise a large crowd of people generates. These special places are meant to be enjoyed in peace, with time to reflect and wonder, rather than being moved on in a hurry.

Assuming you agree, what choice do you have? You do have options, especially as a luxury traveller.

The world’s first 100% sustainable flight will take off on 28th November from Heathrow to New York, running on a special plant-based fuel. This is, hopefully, the way of the future and very welcome news!

There’s also talk of a new supersonic flight on this same route. If you’re old enough to remember Concord, the dream is to make the Atlantic crossing in one and a half hours. Don’t hold your breath, though, it’s a long way off yet. I am relieved to read that the developer, NASA, says “We are also collectively conscious of the need to account for safety, efficiency, economic, and societal considerations. It’s important to innovate responsibly so we return benefits to travellers and do no harm to the environment.”

Thinking of a last-minute October half term holiday? The Middle East is the obvious choice, for the weather. With so many hotels in Dubai and building never slowing down, I’m sure I could find you availability if we can get the flights, so don’t leave it too late.