The Blowout was a fixture of my university days at the end of every term in the Students’ Union… in truth every weekend was a blowout.
And with us cooped up in our houses, and saving every penny or cent, the prospect of international travel opening up again in mid-May is all that’s keeping us going.
Our friends, the travel providers, have furnished us with the inside track on what’s moving… and that is the blowout holiday.
Multi-generational
It may come as a surprise to some, for whom living 24/7 with their family this past year has grated, but Abercrombie & Kent are seeing a spike in multi-generational holidays.
With the Maldives in the Indian Ocean a particular favourite.
There’s a JOALI fun time to be had at any of the 73 elegant beach and over-water villas.
Now there’s a big swimming pool outside where you can breastroke all the way to Sri Lanka.
But if you prefer shorter dips then you get your own private pool, indoor and outdoors showers, an indoor and outdoor living area, a dressing room and sun loungers.
Then you can enjoy too a sunset yacht cruise, turtle snorkelling trips, scuba diving, dolphin spotting and private destination dining… and a treasure hunt and picnic to a nearby uninhabited island.
And seeing you want to pack it all in then there is a new JOY in Family Time wellness programme with your favourite yoga, meditatioon and BoxFit or group spin classes.
The rooms come in at from $1924 (approximately £1520) per night based on two sharing a beach villa with pool on a B&B basis.
Me? I’ll give my family a treat by leaving them in peace and reprising my own Atoll adventure.
The Greek Corridor
It seems like for ever that we’ve been promised a Greek Corridor… and let’s face it with 6,000 there’s one for every one in the audience.
The Villa Collection are tempting us with our honeymoon island Corfu, Santorini, Crete, the Mainland et al.
All because it’s only ever cool to smash plates in Greece and it just annoys the Scary One when I do because I’m stir craz
Cherry aid
I didn’t pay much attention to it growing up in Glasgow but for the fact that the tennis ball I banged up against the garage wall would sometimes land in the cherry blossom tree.
But looking back from this long-off vantage point it was a rare treat to see the candy pink blossom.
The Japanese never take such natural beauty for granted, nor of course our go-to operators Wendy Wu who will be giving us the lowdown on all things cherry blossom later this month.
And, of course, I’ll share with all you Bandinis and Bandanettes out there… and might even rock my pink bandana for my friend Wendy.
Travel aid
So we just need to get back out on the road and we must all play out part.
The ECTAA, the group of National Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations within the EU, are calling European and national decision-makers to plan the way for a safe return of travel this summer.
All the prerequisites are there to be able to travel safely this summer. Industry stands ready to set and implement a plan for return to travel this summer.
Pawel Niewiadomski, President of ECTAA said: ‘All we need to do is put the dots together and determine a common European roadmap for return to travel. Travellers and industry need a perspective when and under which conditions travel can resume.’
As often is the case we take our lead from European leaders Germany. The German agency responsible for disease control and prevention, the Robert Koch Institute, has worked out from which countries most foreign infections originated last summer.
The result: the classic organised holiday trip only made a small contribution to the incidence of infections in Germany.
Pawel added: ‘This is proof that organised travelling is safe. But we need the right framework conditions to start up travel based on testing and the use of health certificates to facilitate travel.’
Of course whatever happens the UK will go their own way.
MEET YOU ON THE ROAD
