This is certainly a question I am asking myself a lot at the moment in terms of travel. Hopefully the road map out of lockdown has given us all a glimmer of hope and that come 17th May, we may be able to start travelling overseas again. But at this stage, we don’t know where will open up and indeed, what requirements we will need to satisfy before we can get off this island.
I am sure many of you, like me, are limping through lockdown 3.0. Being truthful, it’s certainly hard to motivate myself, especially working in travel. We hear so much about the hospitality industry being badly hit, which it most definitely is, but little is said about the travel industry and how it’s totally on its knees, both here and overseas. That’s why it’s more important than ever that, before you think about making a booking online you consider whether you could actually book your trip with a human being instead. It doesn’t have to be me (although I can book everything), but booking through any travel professional will help protect jobs, livelihoods and businesses in an industry I love - as well as giving you a much better experience.
But let’s look ahead to when we can travel. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had a mix of bookings from clients. Some people are booking up things in the UK with easy cancellation policies, just in case the date for international travel opening up slips. This gives them the option to be able to make a last minute dash abroad, as and when things open up, and if not they are safe in the knowledge they have something booked here to ensure they can escape their own four walls. This is definitely the right way forward in my view and is certainly the policy I have adopted. Albeit it does mean that availability in the UK for good accommodation (hotels or rentals) is limited.
Other clients have airline credits (let’s face it, who hasn’t?!) and have been busy booking flights, knowing date changes are possible without a fee. I am then booking their accommodation with hotels that have super flexible cancellation policies. Greece is proving popular at the moment, both in terms of the islands and the beautiful Peloponnese on the mainland. There are also some fabulous new hotels openings which I am excited about, so let me know if you are interested in these. Equally the Athenian Riviera is also a bit of a hot spot and is great to start / end a Greek island hopping trip, maybe taking in cosmopolitan Hydra or the heady jasmine and grand neo-classical mansions of Spetses, or even may be getting lost in the islands of the Cyclades.
I have got quite a few bookings for Italy too, from the island of Sicily to Puglia. In addition, I am planning a trip to Venice for one client. They have been before, but this time the draw is seeing this stunning city without the crowds: The chance to experiencing the Doge’s Palace without the queues; taking in the view from Piazza San Marco out over the lagoon, without it being blocked by a monstrous cruise ship; and actually being able to get into some of the best restaurants without having to book months in advance.
From Venice my clients will then head south to an unspoilt region of Umbria where they will be checking into the most beautiful family owned estate. Here, alongside a 36 bedroom boutique hotel set within a millennium old castle, there are also 10 totally private houses, each with its own pool. Scattered across the wild expanse of the estate, one of the houses will be home to my clients for a week. Renting one of the houses also means they have access to the hotel’s facilities and estate restaurant and bar. It was a toss-up between heading south to Umbria from Venice or north to the Dolomites for fresh air and hiking.
As well as making bookings close to home for this year, I am also looking at a number of bucket-list trips for clients in 2022. Stay tuned to my upcoming Newsletters for details of some amazing once-in-a-lifetime trips. You can also keep up to date with a lot more of my travel musings and inspiration over on Instagram.
Please do get in touch if you are itching for a change of scene, but are unsure where to go - I would love to help. My expertise, first-hand experiences and extensive network of fabulous industry contacts, enables me to create luxury, perfectly planned trips to hidden gem destinations both here in the UK and further afield. My aim is always to take away the strain of arranging your holiday, so that you can enjoy a seamless travel experience and peace of mind.