Where and how to travel in 2021
When your travels resume in 2021, where and how will you travel? We make eight predictions including that you’ll want to escape into nature and celebrate your missed milestones
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For nearly a year now, our lives have been put on hiatus in so many ways. We’ve experienced an ‘anthropause’ – a term which describes a global-scale, temporary slowdown in human activity.
During this slowdown, we’ve missed out on so many occasions, both the minute as well as the milestone: weddings, big birthdays, graduations.
We’ve also missed out on travelling. Thanks to brilliant scientists and the hope that the vaccine has given us, 2021 is looking like the year in which people will resume their lives and travels – in which they really make their holidays count and belatedly celebrate missed milestones.
So, where will we travel in 2021? And just as importantly, how will we travel? The answers are starting to come into focus. Read on for our eight predictions…
1. We’ll celebrate the milestones we missed
Why? Landmark moments slipped by in lockdown, mostly without adequate commemoration. In 2021, reschedule the celebration, gather up some or all of your special people and head to an exceptional villa for a jubilee holiday to mark a belated momentous occasion.
A villa holiday ensures privacy, safety and flexibility. At an A&K villa – mostly detached properties – you can enjoy land and space without bumping into strangers (or disturbing anyone with your celebration). For 2021, A&K has expanded its portfolio to include more private homes and villas across the world. Together with the services of chefs, butlers and fine concierges, you won't have to step outside of your home away from home.
Another good reason Book your 2021 A&K Villa by 31 January 2021 and receive up to £1,500* credit towards our concierge services. Perhaps hire a car for a few days to explore the area or arrange for a private chef to prepare a delicious local meal for you and your family.
Where and how? You can find A&K’s range of luxury European villas here, but if you’d like to go further afield, we offer private homes worldwide, including the likes of Sirai House in Kenya.
2. We’ll travel to enjoy wildlife in its natural habitat
Why? While the ‘anthropause’ has been beneficial in terms of carbon emissions and animal behaviour, the lack of human activity has been detrimental in some places. Scientists fear that there has been an increase in poaching driven by many factors, including an absence of ecotourism. We want to return to lend our support to animal conservation efforts.
Where? Kenyan wildlife officials have reported a recent elephant calf boom. In Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, 140 elephants were born in a single calving season – a record in this park. Conservation charitable organisation, Save the Elephants, recorded 90 elephant births in Samburu, with more on the way. This is the most significant increase in elephant calves since 2008.
How to visit Kenya with A&K? Our African travel specialists recommend combining Amboseli with Samburu National Park on a tailor-made safari holiday in Kenya. In Samburu, you can stay at Elephant Watch Camp, which has a strong relationship with Save the Elephants.
3. We’ll treat ourselves to take a wellness break
Why? After a year of stress, doom-scrolling; battling comfort-eating-related weight gain, the ‘Quarantine 15’; and anxiety: we need to take care of ourselves now more than ever. A&K’s active and wellness holidays promise a soul-stirring adventure somewhere spectacular.
Where? Sri Lanka, it’s a go-slow haven and the perfect place to embrace the healing power of nature after a long, painful year.
How to have a wellness holiday with A&K? With A&K’s new 10-night Wellness within Sri Lanka itinerary, travellers can salute the sun at incredible locations, learn yoga postures and meditation techniques during a journey across the paradise teardrop isle. Guests will be introduced to wellness practices that calm body, mind, and spirit from day one.
4. We’ll continue to travel in our bubbles
Why? A desire to travel privately, remain bubbled, avoid commercial airports, and cope with the speed of decisions made around quarantine meant that bubble holidays were the safe way for the few to travel in 2020. While some of these reasons won’t carry into the latter part of 2021, the desire to travel privately will continue.
Where? The Galápagos. Enjoy the exclusivity of privately chartered boat exploration of these enchanted isles, while experiencing hand-picked activities recommended by your boat’s crew and our Latin America travel experts.
How to visit the Galápagos with A&K: Enjoy a seven-night cruise to explore the islands in style with your chosen/loved ones.
5. We’ll treat our children to an adventure
Why? Most families took great pleasure in all the additional time together but sometimes being within four walls feels restrictive. Families are looking forward to a rousing adventure holiday that’s fun as well as bonding.
Where? Costa Rica – with its volcanic landscape, lush rainforests, and Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, is a natural playground. It’s a landscape that lends itself to countless activities, such as zip-wiring, canopy bridge tours, white-water rafting, scuba diving, hiking, kayaking, and night-walking safaris.
How to visit Costa Rica as a family with A&K: Enjoy a 12-night Active Costa Rica holiday from £4,570 per person.
6. We’ll return to our old favourites
Why? What many of us want is simply a holiday in a place we love, whether we’ve seen it with our own eyes or just on the screen or the page.
Where? The world’s greatest open-air museum, Egypt offers the kind of bucket-list experiences that many travellers dreamt of while sheltering at home. With the construction of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, much of the tourism infrastructure surrounding the pyramids has been moved underground to rewild the Giza Plateau, as can be seen in the new Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Death on the Nile, premiering in September 2021.
How to visit Egypt with A&K: Enjoy a seven-night Classic Egypt holiday from £2,795 per person.
7. We’ll take an epic adventure
Why? As much as we liked going wild in our country and enjoyed adventures on our own doorsteps, we’re itching to explore further afield once more.
Where? Wild and wonderful Patagonia. This vast region of spectacular scenery straddles Chile and Argentina and sits between the Pacific and the Atlantic. In Patagonia, people are few and far between. It’s the perfect place for an epic adventure, while learning how climate change affects this part of the world.
How to visit Patagonia with A&K? Experience Patagonia with our 17-night Patagonia – past, present & future itinerary.
* T&Cs apply to A&K Villa concierge services offer. Please speak to a travel specialist for further details.