There will be changes this time for sure and some new rules to follow but we are travelers, changes and challenges are something we aren’t afraid of. Like every incident brings new challenges it brings new trends too. To make your travel goals more comforting yet exciting we collaborated with some young enthusiastic travelers to know about the latest travel trends to make your trip more memorable. Let’s see what their take on travel trends is! During the pandemic, people stayed indoors for way too long and the need to travel isn’t the same anymore. Work from home means we can work from absolutely anywhere under the sky, so ‘Workation’ is the new thing. Just pack your stuff into the car, drive off, book yourself a place away from the crowd for a month or so — and you’re living the dream! I see people opting for more offbeat, authentic experiences for much longer durations. Even though hotels have started offering workcation packages, what the traveller is looking for is experiencing a place and its culture by staying right in the middle of it. Therefore, Air BnBs, tree houses, pods have all gained massive popularity. I recently returned from a trip to Rajasthan, where we chose a boutique property in the middle of Sand dunes in a not-so-famous village called Jamba. Another long trip to Kashmir, where we booked a houseboat in the middle of Dal Lake instead of staying in a hotel as we used to. One of my friends just returned from a month-long workcation in Goa where they booked an old-time villa in South Goa and also took their pets along. I think this is a fantastic new way of travelling where properties take care of the work + leisure needs of the traveller, while they can have a more immersive experience.
How are you, travelers? My name is Isabel and in my networks, I am known as Izabelella, today I come to explain my experience of how to travel in times of pandemic. The first trip I made was to Turkey, just at the beginning of the pandemic in March, the days passed in Turkey and our trip of twelve days was reduced by seven since the state of global alarm was decreed and the country also closed borders. We contacted the consulate and went there to get the solution to return to Spain, (in situations outside your country the first thing to do is to call the consulate that you have) they informed us that they would give us a repair plane to the Spaniards trapped in Turkey to return home, and so it was on March 18 and we were back home. In July and August, we decided to travel through Spanish territory, since the borders were closed and we went to Ibiza and to travel through the North of Spain. Then in September, we sailed to the island of Sardinia, where we saw more security controls for the COVID. In October once everything calmed down again we headed to Paris, how wonderful it is to be able to return to France, at all times I felt safe in front of the situation that we are living in all over the world, with this I mean that the difference of traveling in times of pandemic to the one we had before is very different, but beware! Traveling like this has its positive side, you will not find crowds, places of great tourist interest without people around and above all … you can take a thousand pictures without people, and you will capture the perfect picture you wanted so much. We all have to do our part and respect the decisions of each country and above all a PCR before flying anywhere will help a lot to be safe at all times.
Let’s be honest, everyone’s lives have been affected in one way or another during this pandemic. Especially as travel content creators, we have to adjust to the new normal. Washing your hands and wearing a mask may not be enough while travelling so I will share with you my tips & travel trends during this different time. I have always been a fan of cheap flights, but now I believe star alliance and luxury airlines have done an amazing job of creating a safe environment as it can get during a flight. Each passenger gets a sanitizer kit and that extra space between the sits is always appreciated. Every country has its regulations for visitors. The best thing to do is call the embassy you wish to visit to provide you with the factual details about the regulations and measures. On my recent trip to Paris, all the restaurants were closed so my diet for a week consisted mainly of croissants and delivery at the hotel. All hotels now sanitize the rooms before and after each visitor. Of course, I take a covid test before and after each trip even though it is not required. Fun fact the most touristic places that used to be filled with thousands of people are almost empty. So now you can take that picture you always imagined all by yourself and absorb the true beauty of it.
So after a long year being home-arrested, I planned a trip to Goa in February’2021. I took a flight from Guwahati to Mumbai and from Mumbai to Goa intending to feel the free air again. The airlines provide you with a PPE kit to fly safely and take all the safety measurements for the safety of the passengers. As soon as I landed in Goa, I could feel the freedom in the air. Took a cab through Goa miles and headed towards my first destination- Mandrem. It was a one and half journey and I booked a beautiful place in Mandrem called “Inner Living Yoga and Ayurveda Retreat”. I would say it is the best place I have booked in Goa by far. As soon as I unpacked my luggage, I went to a very peaceful beach in Goa: Querim where I witnessed the most beautiful sunset of my life. We spent the last year witnessing the sunset from the window or terrace. So it was a beyond beautiful feeling when I saw the breathtaking view of the Sun meeting at the ocean. I woke up early the next morning to explore some off-beat places in Goa. I went to the beach called “Elsewhere beach” which is in the middle of Ashwem and Arambol beach. Such a beautiful beach with no crowd around. I spent a very peaceful morning listening to the sound of waves. This was my first trip after the pandemic and I really wanted to feel the fresh air of nature again and this trip refreshed my mind.
Like other things that have been impacted by the pandemic, travel too has recent changes since last year. Road Trips have taken precedence over air travel and travelers seem to be researching a lot more about the destinations they want to visit. However, we have noticed one trend sticking out! Offbeat destinations are in vogue as people now want to avoid visiting crowded tourist destinations. The reason we know this is because we are getting flooded by inquiries for offbeat destination tours for our touring startup, Moto Overlanders. The North-Eastern states along with Sikkim, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, etc are being searched for and most groups ask us to organize tours in these states. Even though we recently launched the startup, we saw a surge in traffic for tours like the North East self-drive expedition, North Sikkim tour, and our tours to remote destinations in South India. Travelers want to be cut off from the rest of the world, protected within the confines of hard-to-reach places, and experience a memorable vacation as well. Crowded destinations like Manali, Ladakh, Goa, Kashmir will also be the major attractions in India but bucking the usual trends are lesser-known destinations that are shooting to prominence now. We prefer off-the-beaten-path destinations and are now looking to help people explore such places as well.
Over the last couple of years, I have seen a sustainable travel trend throughout the spectrum. Most people in the groups that I have travelled with have started carrying a metal bottle with them, that they refill throughout the trip instead of buying a new plastic bottle wherever they go. This is a great feat as – waste generation because tourism is extremely high and it spoils the sanctity and the beauty of the destination.
Read next: Top 11 Trending Travel Destinations for Food Gone are the days when you had to leave your corporate job to fulfill your travel dreams or call fake sick at work to plan your trips. With restrictions being lifted slowly and safe travel being permitted again, travelers have already started exploring the hidden gems around their cities and beyond, giving rise to the culture of ‘Workcation’- one of the latest traveling trend in the current scenario, an effective way of combining work and leisure. Now the dreams of working and living in the mountains, or attending the office calls sitting at a beach shack in goa sipping the Pina colada isn’t a dream anymore. So, escape the monotony of life and work and head out to a beautiful destination and property with good WIFI. Make the most of this opportunity while being safe and wearing a mask. I have taken 9 trips in the last 7 months while working remotely which also included 15 days of Workcation from Goa. Also, heading out for another 3 trips soon which includes the magnificent celebration of Holi at Mathura, the Pristine beauty of Tirthan valley, and then to the land of unimaginable beauty – Kashmir. That’s how April looks for me.
Read next: Influencers Reveal Fashion Trends for Women Our first road trip post 10 months of lockdown was to the beautiful coastal village in Konkan – Dapoli. This road trip was indeed a mixed bag of emotions as we didn’t know what was lying ahead during this trip. One trend which we would like to highlight during this travel would certainly be the immense amount of hygiene and protection we carried out considering the Covid 19 situation. Apart from the usual travel kit, we loaded our bags with extra masks, sanitizers, disinfectant travel and clothes sprays, immunity booster pills, vitamin C and Vitamin D tablets, and also our home kaadha (immunity booster health drink) ingredients such as turmeric, ginger, hing, salt, pepper, lemon which we have started carrying on all our trips. Apart from personal hygiene, we made sure we visited places during off-peak hours to avoid crowds and made sure to maintain social distancing at every point of our trip. We would only want to emphasize the importance of wearing masks all the time and self sanitization during any travels to stay safe and protect yourself and your loved ones. This trend is not normal however it is for our safety and safety always comes first. Read next: Must-Have Traveling Tips to Navigate the Pandemic Due to my stream of education i.e. medicine, I couldn’t travel for almost 5 years of my life at a stretch. I resumed travelling in Oct 2019 and travelled 4 times in 5 months. And then,2020 arrived and what happened after that is worth creating a history. No matter how unfortunate 2020 has been, it surely stretched the dimensions of multiple things in terms of travelling. One trend that got a lot of limelight during the whole of 2020 is the concept of WORK FROM HOME. People changed their workplaces from time to time and started living around multiple corners of the world with a rucksack and their laptops. I, being in the field of medicine, couldn’t do WFH. But this trend gave a lot of economic support to travel vendors. It gave a lot of financial strength to the locals of various minute parts of the country. Working away from home needs nothing but good wifi, good food, and good accommodation. And many people turning their houses into homestays gave this simplest luxury to the crowd that came from cities to seek some peace. Since work from home gave people the freedom to work from wherever people could visit and stay over a certain destination for a week or more without wasting their paid offs. This led them to explore the local areas and eventually highlight the culture of that place. So, in my view, WFH has been a blissful opportunity not only for the employees but also for various startups. A start-up as small as a homestay or a hostel. People who have been travel addicts explored the completely unexplored factors and photographed and published them on their social media. This eventually increased public’s awareness over the unknown beautiful and uncrowned destinations that always lied in our country but went unnoticed. Travel bloggers took charge of their local areas and attracted tourists. All of this has somewhere changed the idea of traveling. So, the one trend that I seem to love the most is the WFH trend. It has given a boost to the local economy since people choose mountains and beaches as their new homes. Homestays and hostels as their places of accommodation. Going solo and meeting locals as their new companions. And this in the end has helped the travel industry grow, our culture grow and it has boosted our creativity and confidence as well. WFH hasn’t only given the peace to the working staff but confidence to stay in the travel business for various travel industrialists.
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