1. Invest in Your Travel Dreams
If it's worth going, it¹s worth saving up for. Luxury travellers are not always the people with the most money; they are those that choose their travel experiences with care. Resolve to put money away each month to make your travel dreams come true. Set up an automatic debit and get smart of on the travel loyalty rewards options, when you¹re gazing at the Mona Lisa or diving on the Great Barrier Reef, you'll have no regrets.
2. Where the Wild Things Are - Put Endangered Animals on Your List
A devastating number of stunning animals are on the
endangered species list - and time is ticking. Make a resolution to see them now, and get inspired to help turn the tides of fate, before it¹s too late. From the orang-utans of Indonesia, the black rhinos East Africa and the Arctic's polar bears, to the Amazonian pink dolphins and
India's Bengal tiger, you'll stand in awe of nature and hopefully be inspired to help the cause to save their lives...
3. Don¹t Just 'Fly & Flop' This Year, Get Experiential!
Make a resolution to give the 'all inclusive' a pass this year, in favour of something off the beaten path. Immerse yourself in the culture of the destination you are visiting. Whether it¹s camping with elephant mahouts in Thailand, an afternoon trekking in
Kenya alongside Maasai tribesmen, dinner with a local family in Peru - spending time with locals is guaranteed to be an enriching travel experience.
4. Resolve to arrive in style.
5. Beat the crowds
'Must see' lists are full of sights, like the Taj Mahal or
Machu Picchu in Peru that you have to see before your die but seeing them in style is the real key. For example Sanctuary Lodge, a five star hotel in the shadow of Machu Picchu, offers private tours of the monument early in the morning or late afternoon when the hoards of day-trippers aren't there. Bespoke travel agents can also organize this kind of thing.
www.orient-express.com.
6. Take Inspiration from a Book or Song That Has Moved You
From Hemingway's ode to the Running of the Bulls in The Sun Also Rises to Kipling's The Road To Mandalay, and from Jazz great Miles Davis' Filles de Kilimanjaro to Sinatra's New York, New York, literature and music have always celebrated the great global experiences. Resolve to have your favourites to jump to life
off the page this year.
7. Sleep in the same bed as the famous (although not at the same time, which is an entirely different ultimate list).
8. Change Your Life with a Sacred Pilgrimage
Vow to get spiritual this year. Explore Israel, homeland of three of the world¹s religions Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Spiritual sites linked to each are found around every bend and you¹re sure to find many that stimulate your soul. In search of Nirvana? Journey to India¹s Bodh Gaya, where Buddha achieved enlightenment or the Holy Ganges River where millions of people take their final voyage from earth into heaven. A trip of this kind is bound to give you a new perspective on your own life.
9. Learn a new Language.
Swahili,
Italian, it doesn't really matter - what matters is that once you've learnt it you travel to the country it came from. Better still travel to the country and then learn the language. How words are used, what they mean, which words even exist in certain languages will help you understand the culture better than a guide book ever can.
10. Get outside your comfort zone.
What presses the panic buttons for you - Jumping out of a plane? Rafting down the river? Make this the year you 'feel the fear and do it anyway'.
With thanks to Kensington Tours for half of these suggestions. Kensington offers custom private guided tours to over 90 countries and was named in the 'World¹s Best 2011' by Travel + Leisure Magazine and one the Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth' by the editors of National Geographic Adventure Magazine.
