Our 2022 Travel Plans
From long-overdue family reunion trips, to exotic adventures in Rwanda and the Swiss Alps, find out where our team of travel experts are planning and pining to visit in 2022. Along the way, discover our best-kept secret… that sometimes even travel advisors leave their planning until the last minute!
Rob: The number one priority is to travel to Boston, primarily to visit our son’s family and meet our youngest granddaughter who is now one and whom we have not met!
Ruth: Our first goal is to go to New Zealand ASAP, as Tony hasn’t seen his family for almost three years now! Then we’d love to visit our friends in Kenya, and hopefully go and see the gorillas in Rwanda – something that’s always been on my bucket list and after a travel hiatus, is even more so now. It's also our plan to see more of Australia, including Darwin and surrounds, the Kimberley, the very south of WA, Esperance, Albany – these areas have always been on our travel list!
Located on Middle Island, Esperance’s iconic pink lake is best viewed by helicopter.
Shelley: I have a couple of domestic trips in the pipeline including a week-long visit to Mildura in April to see the Silo Art Trail, and a two-week stay in Noosa in June for a family birthday vacation.
Allan: This year’s bucket list is a mix of local and overseas trips, everywhere from Adelaide and Noosa, to Austria (for Ski Buzz), Maldives, and Italy.… but who really knows?
Allan & Yvonne have already managed to fulfil their first travel dream for 2022 - the Maldives.
Cate: I have some ideas, but nothing locked in yet. I’m trying to go 'somewhere' for my 30th wedding anniversary... a couple of options booked but we'll see! Plus, a 'reconnaissance' trip to Tweed Heads, which will be more a work-from-home-remotely situation, but at least I'll have a different view!
Leora: After starting 2022 away from home, waking up at a friend’s holiday house on New Year’s Day in Red Hill, I have lots of plans for the year ahead including finally getting to the centre of Australia! To celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday we are doing a three-generation trip to Uluru & Darwin. I cannot wait to stay at Longitude 131 – it looks stunning, and I know it will be out of this world. Darwin is meant to be an interesting city and I love discovering new places. To be honest, I have not seen nearly enough of Australia, so this is going to be a great start.
With everything crossed, come November, I hope to be in South America for a nine-night prize I won a few years ago with Belmond. They have extended it a few times for obvious reasons, and I am really hoping I may be able to get there later in the year. I have been fortunate to do quite a bit of travel with my family whilst growing up, but South America is one place I have never been. This trip looks amazing and lets me experience some beautiful properties in Lima, Cusco, Colca Canyon and then a cabin on the two different rail journeys they offer as well.
Sarah: Domestically, I’m planning a Queensland road trip in February, and internationally, I’m hopeful of a trip to Fiji later in the year.
Machu Picchu is the perfect base to unlock the mysteries of the Incas.
Francoise: Hopefully I’ll be able to visit my hometown of Vevey in Switzerland to see my family. I haven't seen them since 2019, and since then my niece got married and has had her first child! Plus, it's at one end of the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site Lavaux vineyards, which I love to revisit through various picnic walks when I'm there.
Dana: A long overdue trip with the family to Surfers Paradise in January. As our son says, it’s our happy place! It’s here where we feel most alive spending quality stress free time together walking along the beautiful beaches extending all the way from Main Beach as far as Burleigh Heads.
Dana & her family have managed to escape to their happy place in QLD.
Yvonne: After not travelling internationally since March 2020, I cannot wait to start 2022 off with a bang! In desperate need of a switch off, right now, after the mammoth year we have had, I have decided to book Allan and myself on a last-minute trip to the Maldives to kickstart the year in style. Maldives is exactly what I need right now… the calming effect of the turquoise waters, the sound of nothing, the isolation from the rest of the world and an endless choice of activities to keep me happy for the week. Time to reboot, recharge, reflect and allow for some much needed “me” time!
My next adventure is planned for March 2022 - when my brother and I are planning to take our Ski Safari back to Austria. It was the last trip that we were lucky to fit in prior to Covid closing down the world. We were so fortunate to finish our ski journey through Switzerland, so I am hoping we will be able to do so again in 2022. This time we are heading to Austria, where our ski tours all began back in 2015. We have 12 eager skiers waiting patiently with updates from across the globe, all ready to jump into their outfits, strap on their skis and immerse themselves in a little Austrian culture.
From the Austrian Alps, off with the ski boots, and on with the high heels as I head over to Portugal to board the newest Silversea ship, Silver Dawn, along with 550 other industry buddies, for the 2022 Virtuoso Symposium! The first time catching up with my industry friends in over two years and time to discuss the future of travel and where to from here. What a treat!
Then it’s off to Italy for a month in September. Another trip that was cancelled in 2020 that needs to be back on my travel calendar. Although I have been to Italy a dozen or so times, there is always more of this magical country to discover. There is a reason why Italy is the most popular destination for our high-end clients and I am ready to experience pockets of Italy, I am yet to explore and to enjoy more of La Dolce Vita!
And then there will always be the domestic trips and attending the Belmond Travel Consultant’s Advisory board meeting, somewhere exciting around the globe…. just waiting to hear where that board meeting will take me. Love the element of surprise! :)
Siblings & Ski Buzz co-creators, Yvonne Verstandig and Daniel Burger.