The 2020 Arabian Hotel Investment Conference is set to explore how the Middle East’s hospitality industry can harness the opportunities afforded by the fourth industrial revolution in its bid to “transform tomorrow”.

There are few things more magical than hunting down the Northern Lights in Iceland… when you’re successful! But for every great story heard from a friend who witnessed the green and pink dancing curtains 3 nights in a row, there’s the misery tale from another friend who was driven around in a big bus night […]

The post The Northern Lights in Iceland: how to avoid disappointment appeared first on A Luxury Travel Blog.

Bolt has announced the launch of an XL category, giving customers access to larger vehicles via the app. XL is a bespoke category for bigger groups with a seating capacity of up to seven passengers.

Posted: 10/14/19 | October 14th, 2019

When I was growing up, my family didn’t “travel.” Like most modern, middle-class American families, if we went anywhere, it was because we were on vacation — short leisure trips with a fixed start and end, tied to the calendar of the working year, centered more often than not around visiting relatives: to Philadelphia to see my cousins or long road trips to see my grandmother in Florida.

Long car rides, nights at big chain hotels, and visits to theme parks were par for the course.

When I was about eleven (and too young to really enjoy it), we went to Bermuda for a couple of days. And, when I was sixteen, we did take a cruise.

But that was the craziest we ever got.

We “traveled” like middle-class Americans were supposed to. There were no backpacking trips, camping excursions, or jaunts to exotic destinations for us. My friends and their families followed the same routine. They vacationed the way society told them to.

In my mind, this was travel: a planned pause in the rhythm of corporate life, the adult equivalent of being on school break. You worked hard, then treated yourself to an all-inclusive destination a short flight away, or spent your time away from the office in some relative’s living room. You took just enough time off that you could muster the strength to go to work every ordinary weekday for decades, until it was time for that fabled retirement when life could truly begin.

Travel was a time-consuming undertaking you did when you were older, retired, or rich. Or when you were a broke college student and didn’t have a care in the world. That was when you could really see the world and get to understand it.

It wasn’t for the rest of us adults. We had to work. We only had enough time for a vacation.

Growing up in my little vacation bubble, I never realized there was a world beyond hotels, cruises, resorts, and giant bus tours that shuttle you from attraction to attraction. As they say, you don’t know what you don’t know.

So when I first met backpackers on a trip to Thailand, I was shocked. Learning about the backpacking culture on that trip created a paradigm shift in my worldview. I suddenly realized there was more than my bubble. It was like I was seeing life for the first time.

So I came home, quit my job, and went traveling.

I thought of myself as a traveler: an intrepid person peeling back the layers of the world in hopes of getting a deeper understanding of my place in it while simultaneously meeting cool people, having exciting experiences, and getting a little drunk along the way.

One of the most frequently asked questions on my book tour was about maximizing your trip. “I don’t have ten years to be a nomad, Matt. What can I do in just a week?”

Movies, media, and pop culture have taught us that vacations are what you do when you’re a working adult.

Travel is what you do when you have time.

Who can be an intrepid traveler when you only have a week to see a city and a long list of things to see?

When someone tells you “We’re going traveling”, you tend to think of it as something with time. We’ve been programmed to think that way.

Yet, as I mention in my book, travel isn’t really about a length of time. It is a way of thinking.

Whether two days or two weeks or two years, travel is a state of mind.

I define “travel” as including some exploration, digging below the surface. It is external: learning about the world and the people in it. It is also internal: trying new things and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. It is also about getting lost or confused and finding your way out.

That can happen in a day, a month, a week, or a year.

Don’t think of travel as something that necessarily takes longer than a vacation.

Don’t think of it as something that only certain demographics can do.

Don’t think of it as something that requires superhuman powers or energy.

Think of it as something you can do when you put yourself out there, try to meet new people, break out of your comfort zone, and challenge yourself.

If you’re heading off to Paris and want really learn about the city, don’t think “Well, we only have a week. There’s so much to do. We’ll learn more when we come back.”

Your trip is your own. Do what you want.

Throw away the to do list. Break away from the crowds that line the Louvre and the buses that drop you off along a predetermined route. Forget all that. There’s no such thing as must-see anyway.

Think to yourself “What do I do here if I had all the time in the world? How would I visit this city?”

Then do that.

Sign up for a new activity like a cooking class or a weird walking tour. Attend a local meet-up. Use the sharing economy to meet locals. Leave your phone at hotel, get off social media, and go for a walk. Eat at the local market.

Let the days fill themselves in.

Travel is the most magical when you let the days just unfold. It’s the random, unplanned encounters we all remember most.

That can happen no matter how long your trip is.

There’s nothing wrong with a vacation. We all need time to unwind. But let’s put aside this notion that travel requires more time than we get. It doesn’t.

Travel is not about time. It’s about mindset.

So take the traveler’s mindset with you on your next trip.

Put down your “must see” checklist, go with the flow, try new things, meet new people, and push yourself to new limits.

The post Travel, Vacations, and the Issue of Time appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

You can hear the galloping hooves before you see them, the sheer number creating a noise that resounds over the savannah plains of Kenya’s Maasai Mara and reaches you in the game drive vehicle. Rightly called the ‘greatest wildlife show on earth’, witnessing part of the annual journey of 2.5 million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle […]

The post What makes the Great Wildebeest Migration so great appeared first on A Luxury Travel Blog.

Air Austral has signed a firm order for three A220 aircraft. With the order, the Réunion Island-based airline becomes the first A220 customer based in the Indian Ocean region.

Here’s a round-up of luxury travel stories that have caught the eye this week. To make sure you receive these new weekly alerts in your web browser, please click on the red bell icon in the bottom right hand corner of the page and click ‘subscribe’ (works on desktop only – for other ways to […]

The post Luxury travel news this week appeared first on A Luxury Travel Blog.

Professional The Travelling House Sitters Brit and Jay share their top reasons why you should start house sitting right now! Plus their top 5 tips to getting started! Imagine getting to spend a month in Rome. Exploring at your own pace, seeing one attraction every couple of days and then heading home (past your local […]

Read the original post Why You Should Start House Sitting – Plus 5 Top Tips to Get You Started on The Planet D: Adventure Travel Blog.

Radisson Hotel Group has signed Radisson Hotel Tunis in the capital city of Tunisia. It will be the first Radisson branded hotel in the city of Tunis and the group’s fourth hotel in the country.

Private jets have access to over 3,000 airports in Europe, but which airports are most popular with private jet users? We look at the busiest airports in Europe based on the number of movements (landing and take-offs) throughout the year by private jet. Although Paris Le Bourget is top of the list with the most […]

The post Europe’s top 9 private jet airports appeared first on A Luxury Travel Blog.