5 Things Covid 19 taught us about travel...

5 Things Covid 19 taught us about Travel… 1. The memories will carry you through. It could be the last holiday you had, it could be 20years ago... One thing is for sure, the memories of past trips have resurfaced time and time again during this period of enforced lockdowns and travel bans. The memories are ALWAYS good. Those pounds spent on holidays over the years suddenly seem to have tripled in value. 2. Package Holidays rule! A package no longer has to mean you are herded into a one-size-fits-all bucket and spade holiday. A package simply means that you book the main components of your holiday at the same time, thus activating Package Travel Regulations. This gives you protection and peace of mind that if one component fails (either by an airline going bust, or hotel closing for good) you are entitled to a refund. The package can still be tailor made to suit your exact taste, budget and needs. 3. Book it yourself, you're on your own. We had a good 20 years of DIY online bookings working very well on the whole. The idea of a Travel Agent became out of date - a bit Retro. But along came Covid, and most people who had booked a flight on one website, hotel on another... found it very difficult to get any help. Busy call centres, phonelines switched off, offices empty with all on furlough or redundant. People had to reluctantly agree to vouchers, or worse, just watch their original planned travel date come and go and just hope someone somewhere had picked up the email. Voila, the trusted Travel Agent is back in favour, modernised, with the best tech and most caring manner. 4. We need it. 10 months into working from home, homeschooling, furlough or redundancy.... no social gatherings, unable to celebrate that big birthday with the ones you love. Some of us have adapted, some of us have suffered. Most of us (if not all of us) quietly resolve that as soon as we are allowed we will take that holiday… buy the dress, eat the cake. It’s not the things we miss, as much as the people. And places. Getting out of your hometown, in fact scrap that, getting out of your HOME, is something we need to do for our wellbeing. 5. The next one will be really special. I speak to my clients often and one thing I hear the most is that they won’t be putting off that big trip any longer. A trek to Everest Base Camp... a safari in South Africa... a Glass igloo to see the Northern Lights. Gone will be the days of going "anywhere hot" People will be ticking off that bucket list.... and bringing along friends and other generations in the same family to experience travel together. And make new memories as 2020 hopefully becomes a distant one.