From self-boarding to undertourism, 26 predictions for how we will travel this year
Foresight can be a troublesome thing. For proof, you need only look to Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy, who according to Greek mythology was blessed in being able to have visions of the future but cursed by the fact that, by default, nobody ever believed what she saw.
Still, it is one thing to tell your father that his city will be destroyed and he is doomed to watch it happen while powerless to stop it; quite another to predict how the world of travel will shape up in 2019.
There may not be anything on the horizon quite as dramatic as a giant wooden horse stuffed with enemy warriors – but a lot will happen in relation to holidays and getaways in the next 12 months. And some of it is outlined here. There will be new flights, cruise ships, ski lifts and hotels; there will be anniversaries, films and TV shows that influence our decisions on where to go. And there will also be the small issue of Brexit, of course.
Here we outline some of our predictions – and we feel confident that you will believe us...
A is for ACTIVE CRUISING
The general assumption is that a cruise involves a lot of sitting about on deck with the occasional day exploring a fascinating port of call, but not much in the way of exercise. This will change in the summer with the arrival of Blue World Voyages – a start-up marketing itself as “the world’s first cruise line dedicated to sports and wellness”. This will equate to a series of on-board gyms, spinning studios, yoga spaces and a swimming pool that is created by lowering a floating frame on to the sea.
Voyages are likely to visit Cuba, Costa Rica, Chile, Peru and the Mediterranean, but will focus on places offering “great hiking, great cycling and water sports”. One-week sailings cost from $3,500 (￡2,780) per person, though flights are extra – and anyone registering an interest now receives a ￡150 on-board spa/sports credit (blueworldvoyages.co.uk).
Such energetic innovation will not be confined to the ocean. May will see the launch of AmaMagna – by river specialists AmaWaterways (0800 320 2335; amawaterways.co.uk). This bells-and-whistles vessel will have a wellness studio with space for up to 40 guests, and a retractable watersports platform. The boat will work the Danube – a seven-night Melodies of the Danube break, due to depart on June 9 and journeying from Budapest to Vilshofen in Germany (via Bratislava and Vienna), starts at ￡2,628 per person excluding flights.
B is for BREXIT
The European Commission’s recent intimation that, following Brexit, Britons will not need a visa to visit the EU for stays of up to 90 days but will need to enrol in the new scheme Etias (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) has brought a modicum of clarity to the question of how we will travel on the continent after March 2019. Etias, the EU equivalent of the USA’s Esta scheme, is due to come into play in 2020. Citizens of 61 selected non-EU countries, including Britain, will have to pay €7 (￡6) for a brief online background check, but should be cleared immediately to journey within the Schengen zone for three years. However, other issues which might affect travellers remain. Just before Christmas, the European Commission began implementing its Contingency Action Plan to mitigate potential disruption in a “no deal” scenario. This includes temporarily allowing British airlines to continue to fly in and out of the EU. But even this depends on UK agreement, so while the possibility of a “no deal” Brexit still hangs in the air, it may be wise to avoid booking a getaway which involves travelling to or from an EU country during the first week or two of April.
C is for CRUISING THE CURRENTS
The rise of river cruising shows no sign of abating. The latest edition of the River Cruise Review – a report published by the Cruise Lines International Association – in September revealed that bookings for slow-boat breaks by UK travellers had leapt 21 per cent in 2017, with British passenger numbers cresting the 200,000-mark for the first time.
The main players in this surge are Europe’s two key rivers for travel, the Rhine and the Danube – meandering giants whose mixtures of splendid scenery and historic cities makes for grand journeys. Options are myriad. Saga (0808 278 6392; travel.saga.co.uk) is offering a regular eight-day Best of the Rhine itinerary, which follows the river south-east between Cologne and Basel, pausing in Strasbourg en route. It costs from ￡1,199 per person, including flights.
Viking River Cruises (0800 319 6660; vikingrivercruises.co.uk), meanwhile, serves up a Passage to Eastern Europe cruise – an 11-day odyssey down the Danube between Budapest and Bucharest. Prices start at ￡2,545 per person, including flights.
Of course, there is no need to stick to the staples. Uniworld (0808 302 3621; uniworld.com) offers an eight-day Brilliant Bordeaux cruise, which uses France’s wine capital as a start and end point for fun on the Garonne. It costs from ￡2,099 per person, including flights.
D is for DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
It will be of no matter to the creatures, from the aardvark to the zebra, that he has profiled in his whispered tones over six decades, but Sir David Attenborough’s decision to voice a show for Netflix marks another shift in our viewing habits – away from conventional television and towards streaming services. Both the great naturalist and the BBC have been keen to stress that this is not a severing of his ties with Auntie (their recent series, Dynasties, was a huge success) but Our Planet is certainly a coup for the digital giant. And while details are relatively scant – the series will run in eight parts, all of which will be available from April 5, and will feature footage of 50 countries, filmed over four years – this new take on an old-media favourite is set to be essential fare.
“Our Planet will take viewers on a spectacular journey of discovery, showcasing the beauty and fragility of our natural world,” the 92-year-old said in November. Where? It’s a fair bet the Sahara will feature, so if you want to trace hallowed footsteps, you could try the Southern Morocco odyssey offered by Naturetrek (01962 733051; naturetrek.co.uk) – a regular 10-day birdwatching group trip that searches for the feathered inhabitants of the globe’s largest desert. It costs from ￡1,695 per person, including flights, with five departures in 2019.
E is for ESCAPING THE EUROZONE
While it is difficult to make concrete predictions about the chess game that is Brexit, the strength of sterling since the referendum has been rather easier to ascertain. Where, at the end of May 2016, you could trade ￡1 for €1.31, the exchange rate (at the time of writing) is a mere €1.10. Bad value if you are planning to visit France, Spain or Italy this summer.
Of course, should Britain resolve its relationship with the EU in a way the markets deem successful, sterling could bounce. But it may also make sense to book a sunshine holiday beyond the eurozone. Almost four years after the terror attacks which so hurt its image (and nearly two years after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office rescinded its effective ban on Britons travelling there), Tunisia is increasingly in focus. In November, Thomas Cook’s latest Holiday Report spoke of “enthusiasm for Tunisia” among its customers – a popularity that owes much to the country’s cheapness as a destination. As an example, a seven-night half-board break at the five-star Sindbad resort in Hammamet – flying from Manchester on May 12 – costs from ￡514 per person (0844 855 0515; thomascook.com).
Turkey, where the embattled lira is trading at just 6.75 to the pound, could be another port in the travel storm. A seven-night all-inclusive stay at the five-star Vogue Hotel Bodrum, flying from Bristol on May 23, costs from ￡844 per person with Tui (020 3451 2688; tui.co.uk).
F is for FAR-FLUNG FAMILY TRAVEL
The era of people packing away their passports at the first cry of a newborn is over. Thomas Cook’s report also revealed a jump in long-haul family trips. In August, transatlantic bookings with Thomas Cook Airlines by parents travelling with children were up 44 per cent on the same month in 2017. The July-on-July increase was higher still; a remarkable 64 per cent.
“This trend is predicted to continue, with early family bookings for long-haul flights to America for next summer up 22 per cent, year-on-year,” the report added. And while Orlando was, perhaps unsurprisingly, named as the most popular destination, the top five also featured Las Vegas. Good for kids? Why not? Seven nights (room only) for a family of four (two children under 10) at Caesars Palace – with its Roman-centurion shtick and pools like ancient baths – flying from Manchester on Aug 13, starts at ￡4,940 in total.
Those who want to take their offspring across continents, but to somewhere more inspirational than a Nevada casino, could consider the Family Inca Trail Adventure offered by Explore (01252 883959; explore.co.uk). Two departures of the extended, 16-day version of this group trip – which takes in the Peruvian Amazon as well as Cusco and Machu Picchu – are planned for 2019. They cost from ￡3,299 per adult and from ￡2,849 per child, including flights.
G is for GALLERY GETAWAYS
While it always seems a little odd to recall someone’s death with gusto, there is no doubt that the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s last breath (May 2 1519) will be a spark for travels in 2019. Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355; martinrandall.com) has a Lombardy: Gastronomy & Opera tour scheduled for Sept 5-11 – a group trip that will make a pilgrimage to Milan for an audience with The Last Supper at the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie (from ￡3,830 a head, with flights). The same masterpiece is at the heart of the Best of Milan Experience offered by On The Go Tours (020 7371 1113; onthegotours.com), a guided day that also ticks off La Vigna di Leonardo – a vineyard which, originally gifted to the great man in 1499, has been “replanted” in the gardens of the 15th-century Casa degli Atellani (vignadileonardo.com). A three-night break in Milan, at the Baglioni Hotel Carlton (including breakfast), flying out of Heathrow on May 16, starts at ￡529 per person with British Airways Holidays (0344 493 0787; ba.com/holidays).
Alternatively, you could ask the same airline to carry you from the same airport on the same date – to Palma de Mallorca, and the Nixe Palace (three nights costing from ￡458 a head, with breakfast and flights). This five-star resort is a stroll from the Miro Foundation (miromallorca.com), where the Catalan genius’s studio has just reopened after restoration.
H is for HONEST PRICING
We have all been in that do-I-don’t-I? situation – caught in a moment of minor consumer panic as the screen tells us that there is but one more room available at this particular unbeatable (and never-to-be-repeated) price. To book or not to book? That is the question.
But it may not be for much longer. Last June, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reported back on an eight-month investigation into hotel booking websites, and the practice of “pressure selling” – telling would-be customers that only a small number of rooms are on offer at a certain amount (even though this may not be accurate), in the hope of inducing an impulse purchase. The CMA did not name specific companies, but has indicated concern. “Booking sites can make it so much easier to choose your holiday, but only if people are able to trust them,” said the body’s chief executive Andrea Coscelli.
After this announcement, the CMA asked websites to look at how they present their pricing, and consider if it is reasonable – but 2019 may be when the good-cop routine stops. “Our next step is to take any necessary action, including through the courts if needed, to ensure people get a fair deal,” Dr Coscelli added. Change, and clearer costs, may be coming.
I is for INTERNAL TRAVEL
Whatever emerges from the Brexit labyrinth come March, one beneficiary of our leaving the EU in 2019 is sure to be the British travel industry – as many holidaymakers seek refuge from the uncertainty by setting up breaks on home soil.
A raft of new tours suggests there will be demand for holidays in the UK. Peter Sommer Travels (01600 888220; petersommer.com) has boosted its brochure with Exploring Wales: Millennia Under The Gaze Of Mountains, a seven-day guided group trip, scheduled for July 14-20, which will dissect the history of south and west Wales via Roman sites in Gwent and Tudor castles in Pembrokeshire, from ￡2,695 per person. Cycling operator Saddle Skedaddle (0191 265 1110; skedaddle.com) has added a six-day self-guided Yorkshire Wolds tour to its portfolio – a leisurely proposition that will see participants pedal a 140-mile (225km) circular route in and out of Beverley (via the likes of Pocklington and Malton); from ￡635 per person, including bike hire and hotels. McKinlay Kidd (0141 260 9260; mckinlaykidd.com) has also launched a West Coast Whisky & Gin Odyssey – seven nights in Scotland sampling the best booze in distilleries from Islay to Skye, from ￡1,295 a head.
J is for JAIME LANNISTER
Or Cersei Lannister. Or Arya Stark. Or Theon Greyjoy. Or Daenerys Targaryen. Or Jon Snow. Take your pick. The point being that Game Of Thrones is set to return for its eighth and final series in April, and travel adventures in its armoured bootsteps are sure to follow.
Where? Croatia remains fertile ground, Dubrovnik shimmering on screen as the Westeros capital King’s Landing. Regent Holidays (0117 321 0753; regent-holidays.co.uk) offers a 15-day Highlights of Croatia fly-drive break that spends four nights in the city and also visits Sibenik, the coastal jewel that has served as Braavos, the training ground for Maisie Williams’s Arya Stark. It costs from ￡1,755 a head, including flights and rental car.
House Stark crops up again in Northern Ireland, where Castle Ward in Co Down is now better known as the family’s ancestral home Winterfell. Trafalgar (0808 271 4319; trafalgar.com) has launched a new 10-day Shamrocks and Leprechauns group tour that charts both Irelands, and visits Castle Down for an archery session at the range on the film set. Guests can also dress up in costumes from the show. From ￡2,002 per person, excluding flights.
K is for KENYA ET AL
This year’s Telegraph Travel Awards produced some intriguing results – one of which was the presence of five African nations in the list of your 10 favourite countries. But if three of the quintet – South Africa, Namibia, Botswana – might have expected to be there, having been so-placed the year before, and Tanzania (up from 11th to seventh) was thereabouts in 2017, Kenya’s leap from 21st to 10th was a surprise. This was an emphatic vote of confidence for a place that has been suffering from security issues and negative publicity for much of this decade.
Its resurgence is down to the quality of its safaris – and there is no reason why this upward arc shouldn’t continue in 2019. Expert Africa (020 3405 6666; expertafrica.com), for example, sells a nine-day Greater Kudu Fly-In Safari that spends four nights amid the big cats and elephant herds of the Maasai Mara. It costs from ￡4,596 per person, with flights.
But then, the results are a tribute to African safaris in general. Botswana’s ranking is due in part to the majesty of the Okavango Delta. This can be seen with Natural World Safaris (01273 691642; naturalworldsafaris.com), which takes a careful approach to the country in its 11-day Botswana Silent Safari – gliding into the wetlands by boat, and exploring the bush on foot at the Shinde Concession. Prices from ￡7,650 per person, excluding flights.
L is for LOW-COST SKIING
Skiing is rarely seen as a cheap pursuit, but younger travellers will be able to save a few euros this season – without compromising on style – via the boutique hostels that have been popping up across the French Alps. Ho36 (ho36hostels.com) is leading the way, having opened a low-cost ski-in-ski-out retreat in traditionally pricey Les Menuires (lesmenuires.com) – beds from €22 a night. A sister hostel exists in La Plagne (la-plagne.com) from €21 a night. The pattern continues in Oz en Oisans (alpedhueznet.com), where the Moontain Hostel (moontain-hostel.com) has a restaurant and bar as well as beds from €23 a night. And it has further foundation in Les Deux Alpes (les2alpes.com), where the new People Hostel can accommodate 364 guests, from ￡18 per night (via booking.com).
M is for MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Few things boost the profile of a historical figure like a major cinematic biopic, and the release of Mary Queen of Scots on Jan 18 – with Saoirse Ronan in the title role, and Margot Robbie as her cousin-nemesis Elizabeth I – is likely to revive interest in the 16th century’s most interesting (yet conflicted) monarch. Her story is easily traced at Linlithgow Palace, near Edinburgh (historicenvironment.scot), where she was born on Dec 8 1542 – and at Stirling Castle (stirlingcastle.scot), where she was crowned barely a year later, on Sept 9 1543 – her father James V having died when she was six days old. Both sites make clear her relevance to the politics of the time. A pawn in the European game of thrones, she was betrothed to the French Dauphin before she was five.
Little remains of Fotheringay Castle, in Northamptonshire, where she was executed on Elizabeth’s order on Feb 8 1587 (you can see its foundations by the Nene river near Oundle) – but her tomb holds a prominent position (opposite Elizabeth’s) in Westminster Abbey (westminster-abbey.org). You can locate her too at Borthwick Castle (also near Edinburgh), where she was besieged in 1567. It will host a “medieval” banquet in her honour on Jan 19 (dinner and lodging from ￡375pp; borthwickcastle.com).
N is for NEW FLIGHTS
Every year witnesses a burst of new flights, and 2019 will be no different. British Airways will launch a direct service to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (home of the Andy Warhol Museum; visitpittsburgh.com) from Heathrow on April 2, and a non-stop link to Charleston (the one-time colonial citadel on the coast of South Carolina; charlestoncvb.com) from the same hub on April 4. BA will also drop into Japan’s second city Osaka (osaka-info.jp/en) as of April 1 (from Heathrow).
The trend for “ultra-long-haul” will continue with Singapore Airlines (020 8961 6993; singaporeair.com) – fresh from restoring the world’s longest flight, its 9,534-mile (15,343km) marathon from Singapore to Newark (New York), to the map in October – launching an almost-as-far hop to Seattle (8,070 miles/12,987km) on Sept 3. Norwegian (0330 828 0854; norwegian.com) will further push the concept of “low-cost Latin America” by beginning non-stop services from Gatwick to Rio de Janeiro on March 31, after launching a direct flight to Buenos Aires from that airport last February.
O is for OVERTOURISM
A word that barely existed a year ago has become a key part of the travel lexicon – “thanks” largely to a 2018 that saw celebrated places stretched to the seams by the weight of their own popularity. Venice was an ocean of queues and people-jams on Easter Sunday, when it received 125,000 visitors – as many as Bangladesh receives in a whole year. And a tour bus was briefly hijacked by demonstrators in Barcelona in July – just another protest in a continued outpouring of concern about tourist numbers in the Catalan capital.
The issue will only grow in significance in 2019. Witness the words of Raffaello De Ruggieri, spoken to The New York Times earlier this month – “We don’t want tourists. We don’t want to be occupied by tourists” – just as the city of which he is mayor, Matera in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, prepares to be one of the new European Capitals of Culture. Matera’s celebration is going ahead (matera-basilicata2019.it), as are events in the other chosen metropolis, Plovdiv in Bulgaria (plovdiv2019.eu) – but De Ruggieri is fearful that wider exposure will damage the fabric of what is a community of just 60,000 inhabitants. He may be wrong, but the answer to his worries may be U – “Undertourism”.
P is for POLAR POSSIBILITIES
The idea that anywhere as vast and remote as the frozen continent could be managed by a stroke of the pen may seem a curious one. But next December nonetheless marks the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty – the international agreement, signed by 53 countries, which protects the last landmass as a scientific preserve where military activity is banned.
If this seems a celebratory reason to visit Antarctica in 2019, it is also a reminder to tread lightly. World Expeditions (0800 074 4135; worldexpeditions.com) makes a point of this, taking guests ashore only in small numbers, in the company of qualified naturalists. It has a 10-day Antarctic Discovery cruise, scheduled for March 22, which will focus particularly on whale migrations as it sails towards the Antarctic Peninsula. From $5,750 (￡4,545) per person, not including flights to the departure point (Ushuaia in Patagonian Argentina).
Aurora Expeditions (0808 189 2005; auroraexpeditions.com.au) will also watch its carbon footprint with the launch of Greg Mortimer – a state-of-the-art polar vessel designed with high fuel efficiency, lower energy consumption and reduced light pollution in mind. It will embark on its maiden voyage on Oct 31, and return south in November via two 12-day Spirit of Antarctica cruises, which will come into contact with the South Shetland Islands. From $9,900 per person (flights to Ushuaia are again extra).
Q is for QUEEN VICTORIA
Although she died almost 118 years ago, the woman who occupied the British throne for nearly two thirds of the 19th century rarely falls too far from public perception. The third series of ITV’s dramatisation of Queen Victoria’s life (with Jenna Coleman again wearing the crown) is due to be broadcast early in 2019 – an apposite moment, as the new year is also the ex-monarch’s bicentennial (she was born at Kensington Palace, on May 24 1819). Her birthplace (hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace) will host an exhibition (from May 24) that will let visitors explore the rooms that framed the Princess’s strictly governed childhood. Beyond London, Osborne House (english-heritage.org.uk), her beloved “holiday home” on the Isle of Wight, will keep her flame alive (having opened its doors to the cameras for the creation of 2017 film Victoria & Abdul, starring Judi Dench). And the Victorian Festival – the annual week-long burst of nostalgia that sees Llandrindod Wells in Powys slip merrily back into the Age of Steam (victorian-festival.co.uk; Aug 19-25 2019) – will exude added anniversary enthusiasm.
R is for RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL
The decision by the Central American country Belize to phase out all single-use plastic products by Earth Day on April 22 2019 should be a marker for travels where we consider our impact on the world around us. You can do your bit by travelling with Responsible Travel (01273 823700; responsibletravel.com), an online agency that pools forward-thinking breaks from more than 400 operators, describing its mission as to provide “authentic travel experiences that cause the least damage to people and places”. One example is its Belize Sea Kayaking Holiday – a seven-day group tour where you chart the country’s coast using your own paddle power rather than a car, glimpsing its coral reefs in an eco-friendly manner. Prices start at ￡1,895 per person, excluding flights.
Adventure specialists Exodus Travels (020 3811 4670; exodus.co.uk/responsible-travel) and Wild Frontiers (020 8741 7390; wildfrontierstravel.com/en_GB/responsible-travel) both list holidays that benefit local communities on their websites. The latter works with Tesfa (Tourism in Ethiopia for Sustainable Future Alternatives). Its 14-day Northern Explorer group tour spends two nights at a village near Lalibela, as well as visiting key sights at Axum and Gondar in the African country. From ￡3,565 per person, not including flights.
S is for SINGLE-PARENT TRAVEL
Here is another growing market, as tour operators wake up to the fact that there are two million single parents in Britain and their holiday needs are as important as anyone else’s. Single With Kids (0845 166 8119; singlewithkids.co.uk) deals in “holidays for single parents in group settings”, with lone mums or dads and their broods relaxing together. A seven-night all-inclusive getaway to a resort on the Dubrovnik Riviera on Aug 8-15 starts at ￡1,174 per adult and ￡674 per child under 12, flights included.
Mango Holidays (01902 373410; mangoholidays.co.uk) offers the same dynamic, often with an emphasis on activity. It has a seven-night escape to western Slovenia scheduled for Aug 23-30, based in the west of the country. Participants can boat on (and swim in) Lakes Bohinj and Bled, and cycle the paths on their pretty perimeters. From ￡875 per adult and ￡785 per child aged five-16; flights (to Ljubljana) are not included.
T is for TRAINS
The American rail network is often seen as a slow-moving relic – but in 2019, this will be a good thing. May 10 marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Great Transcontinental Railroad – the first train line which connected the east and west coasts of the United States (the final track being laid at Promontory Summit, Utah). You can roll west yourself on the exact day via the April 27 departure of the Trans-American Rail Tour 2019 offered by Great Rail Journeys (01904 521936; greatrail.com) – a 19-day trip between New York and San Francisco via the likes of Chicago, Denver and Las Vegas. This gives you a slight advantage over train passengers of 1869. The Great Transcontinental Railroad terminated at Oakland and a ferry was needed for the last 12 miles (19km) to the city on the ocean’s edge. From ￡4,395 a head, with flights. Eight departures in 2019.
This year should also – Brexit turbulence allowing – see a fully direct Eurostar (03432 186186; eurostar.com) service between London and Amsterdam. Presently, travellers going to the UK have to change trains in Brussels, as border controls are not yet in place in the Dutch capital. However, the route has been such a success since it launched last April that Eurostar intends to make trains more frequent. “Recognising the commitments from the [Dutch and UK] governments to have [border] controls in place by the end of 2019, we’ll be introducing a third train each day from June,” Mike Cooper, CEO, stated in October.
U is for UNDERTOURISM
One answer to overtourism is to choose destinations that are (relatively) undersubscribed. This may mean thinking laterally, and trying places that offer the same enticements as the old favourites, but less of the headcount. For Barcelona read Valencia (visitvalencia.com), which revels in nightlife and restaurants in Ruzafa and, in Playa de la Malvarrosa, has a beach where you can find space. A three-night stay at the four-star Hotel Melia Plaza, with flights and breakfast, costs from ￡639 per person via Kirker Holidays (020 7593 1899; kirkerholidays.com). Equally, while Genoa (visitgenoa.it) may not have the cachet of Venice, it does have gorgeous Renaissance palaces such as the Palazzo Rosso, which has been redeployed as an art gallery (museidigenova.it), and access to a Ligurian seafront as lovely as that in Veneto. A three-night stay in May at the four-star Bristol Palace Hotel, flying from Gatwick, starts at ￡274 per person via Expedia (020 3564 0868; expedia.co.uk).
Better still, the world is full of unexplored corners. You can find them in Europe. Steppes Travel (01258 601767; steppestravel.com) offers an eight-day Georgia Food & Wine tour that charts this fascinating yet little-seen country. From ￡2,700 per person, flights extra.
V is for VISION OF THE FUTURE
It’s nice to put a face to a name. This old conversational gambit will have a more modern application in 2019, as facial recognition technology becomes more prevalent at British airports. Last May, easyJet began trialling a “self-boarding” procedure on selected flights from Gatwick. It involves passengers’ photographs being taken as they scan their passports and boarding passes at check-in, and their identities being verified remotely at the gate. What once needed several staff members is now – security aside – free of all human interaction.
A little too Big Brother for your liking? British Airways has been adding biometric devices at Heathrow Terminal 5 since 2017, and has even installed them on US soil, at Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami and New York JFK international airports. “British Airways is pioneering the use of biometric technology to benefit customers by simplifying and speeding up their journey through the airport,” said BA’s Carolina Martinioli last March. The future is here.
W is for WALKING HOME
The coming year will feel timely for those who like to place one foot in front of the other on British soil, as 2019 will frame two perambulatory milestones. September will mark the 100th birthday of the Forestry Commission, whose work has forged the likes of Argyll Forest Park – the 82 sq mile treescape on the Cowal Peninsula in the Highlands (see scotland.forestry.gov.uk) which stands as a haven for quiet strolls. December will mark the 70th anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which prepared the ground for the likes of Snowdonia National Park (eryri.llyw.cymru).
Good enough reason to escape to one, or both? Most certainly. HF Holidays (020 8732 1250; hfholidays.co.uk) runs a regular Northern Snowdonia Guided Walking Holiday. The seven-night option scheduled to start on May 10 costs from ￡804 per person, including full-board accommodation at Craftwyn Hall, near Beddgelert. Forest Holidays (03330 110495; forestholidays.co.uk) offers cabins at Ardgartan Argyll – an ideal base for wanderings in Argyll Forest Park. A three-night stay for two in the one-bedroom Golden Oak, checking in on May 3, costs ￡505 in total – hot-tub included.
X is for XENOPHILIA
If recent times have felt defined by mistrust of outsiders, and you are fed up with that, there is an antidote. For what is the opposite of xenophobia? If we stroll the marbled hall of the Greek language, we find “xenophilia” – “an affection for unknown or foreign people”, and a single-word manifestation, if you will, of the thought that travel broadens the mind.
How to convert this idea into actual travel? Perhaps via a holiday which lets you meet the locals in their own context. TravelLocal (0117 325 7898; travellocal.com) specialises in such matters, crafting trips that bring visitors closer to their hosts. These include a 14-day India Cultural Immersion Tour – which, as well as showing off the sights of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, lets participants volunteer at a school and work on a water conservation initiative at Chandelao, a village close to Jodhpur. From ￡1,730 per person, flights extra.
Travellers can also glimpse local life on the Eastern Capitals & The Dalmatian Riviera break offered by Insight Vacations (0808 302 5261; insightvacations.com). This 14-day group odyssey travels south through Austria, Slovenia and Croatia but finds its arguable highlight in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with dinner and home-made cuisine in a family home in the capital Sarajevo. It costs from ￡2,825 per person, including flights; there are 13 departures in 2019.
Y is for YOUR OWN WAY
Do you need friends, family, lovers or partners in tow to enjoy a holiday? Increasingly, research says not. In its annual Holiday Habits report, released in October, the travel association Abta commented on the number of Britons opting to travel alone – which has risen by almost a third since 2011. “Having the opportunity to do what they want is the most common reason,” the report explained, “with more than three in four saying this was the case – up three per cent on last year, and rising to nine in 10 of 35 to 44-year-olds.”
This trend should continue in 2019, as specialist operators tap into this growing market. Travel One (020 7929 7773; travelone.co.uk) has added Puntarenas on the Pacific edge of Costa Rica to its brochure: nine-night, half-board holidays for single travellers at the four-star Hotel Punta Leona cost from ￡2,159 in February, including flights from Gatwick.
Solos Holidays (020 8951 2900; solosholidays.co.uk) takes a slightly different approach, arranging collective guided breaks for lone tourists, and covers an enormous range of destinations. It offers a 15-night Enchanting Indo-China option which will skip through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and is scheduled for April 13. From ￡3,599 a head, with flights.
Z is for ZER-MATTERS
The general principle of skiing is that you go downwards. But up is also important – and Alpine resorts are proving as much this winter with the unveiling of new state-of-the-art lifts. Swiss playground Zermatt (zermatt.ch) has just inaugurated the world’s highest tri-cable lift system – the Matterhorn Glacier Ride, which will whisk skiers from piste to piste with added speed, connecting the Trockener Steg and Klein Matterhorn peaks. Not to be outdone, Zermatt’s compatriot Andermatt (andermatt.ch) is playing a similar card, inaugurating the pacy Oberalppass-Schneehuenerstock gondola to neighbouring Sedrun – which further facilitates movement around the two resorts’ joint SkiArena (skiarena.ch).
Seven nights in Zermatt at the four-star Hotel Ambassador, flying from Birmingham on Jan 26, cost from ￡1,058 per person, including breakfast, via Inghams (01483 345656; inghams.co.uk). Powder Byrne (020 8246 5300; powderbyrne.com) offers escapes to chic hotel The Chedi in Andermatt. Five-night stays in March start at ￡1,845 per person, with flights.
C is for CRUISING THE CURRENTS
The rise of river cruising shows no sign of abating. The latest edition of the River Cruise Review – a report published by the Cruise Lines International Association – in September revealed that bookings for slow-boat breaks by UK travellers had leapt 21 per cent in 2017, with British passenger numbers cresting the 200,000-mark for the first time.
The main players in this surge are Europe’s two key rivers for travel, the Rhine and the Danube – meandering giants whose mixtures of splendid scenery and historic cities makes for grand journeys. Options are myriad. Saga (0808 278 6392; travel.saga.co.uk) is offering a regular eight-day Best of the Rhine itinerary, which follows the river south-east between Cologne and Basel, pausing in Strasbourg en route. It costs from ￡1,199 per person, including flights.
Viking River Cruises (0800 319 6660; vikingrivercruises.co.uk), meanwhile, serves up a Passage to Eastern Europe cruise – an 11-day odyssey down the Danube between Budapest and Bucharest. Prices start at ￡2,545 per person, including flights.
Of course, there is no need to stick to the staples. Uniworld (0808 302 3621; uniworld.com) offers an eight-day Brilliant Bordeaux cruise, which uses France’s wine capital as a start and end point for fun on the Garonne. It costs from ￡2,099 per person, including flights.
