Time to Travel

Missed on all those barrels of laughs in 2020 crises? Well, 2021 is different. It has brought in a glimmer of hope and finally, we could have the time of our lives making travel plans and coming out of our quarantine cocoons. However, we still need to address the elephant in the room, the pandemic and have to take adequate precautions. While you are planning to blow away the cobwebs through travel, here we have jotted the top trends for you.

Caravaning

Let yourself footloose and fancy-free with Caravanning! In post-pandemic times people are hitting roads and ditching public modes of travel be it airways or railways. Caravanning has emerged to be a popular trend as it is cost-effective and a socially distant way to travel where you are not in touch with the swarm of unknown tourists. One can take caravans on rent and choose from a gamut of options that come in design and seating capacity. Traveller Ankita Kumar, who started with Caravan Chronicles with a friend, took a 20-year-old Matador and converted it into a caravan. Their bubbly Caravan travelled across 14 states mapping Kerala to Himachal for over 100 days. She calls it as a key trend for this year.

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Spartan Holidays

As much as being a techie sounds cool, it comes hard on mental and physical health. The constant harmful rays and vibing of our gadgets augment the mental stress, discomposure and cut down physical activity. That’s when we need a digital detox! The concept of Spartan holidays comes with disconnecting from the tech world. It might sound challenging at first, but is going to bring ultimate rejuvenation for mind and soul. So instead of a phone, you can take a real map, a pen and paper, sketchbook, tent poles, some real books to just rekindle the joy of connecting organically with the natural world. In 2021, people are opting for remote places over the utterly exotic and lavish destinations. They are packing bags with minimum essentials to keep distractions at bay. Sharanya Iyer, a cultural and adventure enthusiast who goes by the nickname Truly Nomadly named Tirthan Valley, Kashmir and Mechuka village in Arunachal as one of the remotest locations in India that she has been to and recommends opting for mountainous places. Mentioning her bucket list for spartan holidays abroad she said, “Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia these would be on my top list as they are so close to nature.”

In 2021, people are opting for remote places over the utterly exotic and lavish destinations. They are packing bags with minimum essentials to keep distractions at bay.

Eco-Friendly Travel and Stay

People have become cautious of their carbon footprint and the hospitality industry is also shaping its services around clean travel. Many hotels and lodgings in India are coming with eco-friendly measures like reverse osmosis water filtering, gaining electricity from windmills, preparing proper sewage treatments, using recycled wood waste and propelling organic farming around the lodgings. From Kerala’s Coconut Lagoon and Banasura Hill Resort to Evolve Back Eco Lodge of Karnataka and Dune Eco Beach Resort of Pondicherry, the list of eco-friendly staycations is long.

The top and an easy to use tip for sustainable travel will be to use reusable filtered water bottles and cut down on single-use plastic bottles.

Solo v/s Group Travel

People are seeking to travel with a closely-knit group of known people whom they know or vouch for solo travel rather than go along with a swarm of unknown individuals. “2021 might give a chance to people to reconnect with their family or friends that they have been waiting for a while to do. So group travel will pick up as a trend in contrast to solo,” said Iyer.

Workation

It took a pandemic to popularize the concept of work and vacation together. With most of us doing remote working, enquiries for workation have increased. A survey by vacation rental company Airbnb says that between July to September 2020, there was a 128% increase in searches for terms like “relocation” and “remote work” as compared to 2019.“There have been a lot of accommodations that are providing amenities that make you feel at home and be totally self-sufficient," said Iyer about companies tapping on to such demands.

With such travel trends in full swing, we're sure you going to have a very travelfull year!

Pictures:

Workations photo (to be used for cover NOT near the paragraph)

Eco-friendly travel

Spartan Holidays

Caravan

Solo Travel