In this festive time we look back on an incredible year of travel.
The surprises, stories, wow moments and travel experiences that changed us. Plus all the amazing hotels and resorts we were fortunate to explore along the way.
What is your favourite 2022 travel memory? Which travel moment will last you a lifetime?
Early 2022 Was All About Escapism
Scroll back 12 months and the pandemic was still impacting our freedom to travel. Holidays were all about escapism, wide open spaces and destinations open without restrictions.
2022 has been another bumper year for travel to the Maldives. We inspected six Maldives resorts, settled on our top five Maldives properties, and got to know some small boutique properties, like COMO Cocoa Island.
Oman jumped on the radar, with a trip to the iconic Six Senses Zighy Bay, a stunning new hotel in South Oman, and the chance to go wild camping.
Before the cold in Prague had thawed we’d also been trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, done Valentines in Rome at Baglioni, explored Williamsburg in New York City, and done a safari in South Africa.
Explorer Magazine and Exploring Deeper In Different Destinations
As the pandemic drifted away and the year pushed on we could all look differently at travel. The question wasn’t ‘where is open’, rather ‘where can I find meaningful and unique travel experiences?’
2022 became about exploring the destinations less travelled, like our family trip to Jordan, a Costa Rica holiday we organised for clients, gorilla trekking and holidays from Mongolia to Iceland.
EliteVoyage CEO Petr Udavsky explains the concept behind Explorer, the new magazine we published in April.
Travelling is freedom. Our new magazines celebrates travel in its entirety. We want to help you discover places you haven’t heard of before, and find something new in places you might know.
That could be meeting the sisters of the Pink Palace in Amalfi Coast, finding holidays in French Polynesia, tuning into the trend of Puglia, and getting inside Karl Lagerfeld’s final interior project.
Another leap forward for EliteVoyage was announcing our partnership as the first Belmond Bellini Club member in all of Central and Eastern Europe.
Wow, What a Summer for Travel!
By summer time travel was stronger than it had ever been before. It was our busiest time, ever, especially with many new clients going on adventurous trips.
Like two weeks in Galapagos and Ecuador, going on safari in Zambia, having the first of many clients go on holiday in Anguilla. And amazing holidays people could drive to.
We didn’t have much time for our own travels, although we did check out new hotels like Rosewood Vienna, Rosewood Villa Magna in Madrid and Europe’s top castles and chateaux.
Where did you holiday in summer 2022? What did you do differently? Where will you holiday next summer?
Where Will You Holiday in 2023?
Exploring What’s New in Autumn 2022
By September it felt like travel hadn’t been away. The excitement and enthusiasm for holidays just continued from August up to December. Some of the last remaining destinations finally opened up, like New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
We had a keen eye on Africa, with a trip to Kenya, a first-hand experience on the island of Principe, and an exploration of the continent’s amazing contemporary camps and lodges.
Edition II of Explorer magazine was published, with a focus on sustainability, featuring destinations like Costa Rica, Antarctica, Switzerland, Galapagos.
We didn’t forget popular destinations, as our travel designers inspected nine Dubai hotels in two weeks, plus explored new hotels in Lisbon, Barcelona and Madrid.
Now travel has been free and uninterrupted we’ve seen high demand for more exotic and off the beaten path destinations, something we predict to continue in 2023. To help us deliver such trips our team has travelled even wider, including this trip to Saudi Arabia.
Where did you end your year of travel? And what are you most looking forward to in 2023?
Remember a Year of Authenticity and Unique Experiences
2021 will be remembered as the year when a lot of people went to the same place, because only a few places were open for travel.
2022 was the year we rediscovered our curiosity and went in search of unique experiences.
And 2023? Where do you want to go?
