How many of us can still remember the 2021 resolutions we made? Too often we make resolutions that involve deprivation in some way or goals that require extraordinary work or effort. This year let's resolve to add more to our lives, not less. More memories, more new experiences, and of course - more travel!
Excerpt of December 17, 2021 Virtuoso article below by Elaine Glusac can be found HERE.
New year, new you: It’s an annual mantra. Whether you want to reconnect with family, or advance new skills learned during the pandemic, resolve to travel this year. Never has keeping a resolution – including the following seven – felt so compelling.
1. Shape Up
Not everyone gained weight during the pandemic, but a recent study found that nearly 40 percent of Americans packed on the pounds. Experts say shedding them requires a holistic approach – healthy eating, exercise, sleep, and stress management, among other lifestyle changes. Kick-start your progress at the 104-room SHA Wellness Clinic in coastal Alicante, Spain. Eight-day custom programs focus on physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, beginning with a medical exam and followed by underwater massages, personal training sessions, and cryotherapy (plus free time for beachcombing and lounging at the pool).
2. Break Out the High Heels
Cast the Zoom shirt aside and step out where style matters: Buenos Aires. The city’s late-night culture of dining and dancing – milongas, or tango clubs, typically don’t get going until midnight – demands you dress the part. Step one: Comme Il Faut, an unassuming second-floor boutique that specializes in strappy tango shoes, followed by the intimate Rojo Tango show at the 88-room Faena Hotel Buenos Aires. Red meat rules the parrilla at El Desnivel in the city’s San Telmo neighborhood, a prime stop before a night at Salón Canning’s popular Milonga Parakultural in Palermo. For travelers with no tango experience, arrange a private lesson with an instructor, who will later escort to a práctica, or practice session, before the main dance.
3. Raise Your Sourdough Skills
The home bread-baking trend spiked so fast during the pandemic that it created a yeast shortage. Whether it’s a hobby or a calling, why not level up? In Copenhagen, cooking classes at the 92-room Hotel d’Angleterre span savory smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches) and classic Danish pastries. Another favorite: The Cookery School at northern England’s 207-room The Grand, York, which hosts everything from chocolate soufflé intensives to “bakes” focused on teatime fruit scones, mince pies, or sweet and savory tarts.
4. Check Out for a Month
Work-from-anywhere policies enticed travelers to try out new lifestyles, and the urge has only grown stronger. Extended-stay options range from Cuvée’s sprawling eight-bedroom estate on 35 acres in Aspen to a three-story, two-bedroom contemporary London home in Notting Hill with Onefinestay. In addition to matching the home to the traveler, Waldon lines up personal chefs, museum tours with art experts, and activities such as a day with a local genealogist to dive into ancestry and help would-be expats get the most out of their home-away-from-home.
5. Make up for Missed Vacations
Postponed trips and untapped vacation budgets have many travelers thinking big with itineraries that go farther and deeper, such as Abercrombie & Kent’s private jet tours. These trips – both around the world and regionally focused – have proved so popular that the company has doubled departures on its wildlife safaris and cultural-treasures trips in 2022 and added two new journeys in New Zealand and Mexico.
6. Gather the Family (Without Holiday Baggage)
Cast off for a tropical oasis reunion with Villas of Distinction for the likes of an oceanfront four-bedroom vacation home with a private pool on Saint Bart’s or a nine-bedroom manse on Saint John. A beach stay, with swimming and sunning steps away, takes some of the pressure off day-trip activities everyone will enjoy.
7. Check off Your Seventh Continent
With a lineup of new ships and options to fly over (rather than cruise) the infamously wild Drake Passage, it’s easier and more comfortable than ever to explore Antarctica. Last July, Lindblad Expeditions launched the 126-passenger National Geographic Endurance with infinity Jacuzzis and an X-Bow design that rides smoother on rough seas. Ponant recently launched the 245-passenger Commandant Charcot, a hybrid-electric ship with a restaurant from Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse. And this year, Seabourn will debut the 264-passenger Venture with two six-passenger submarines for excursions.
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