Forget bucket lists, living lists are in
OVER the course of an unforgiving year, the pandemic drilled home the idea that we should not take anything for granted. As we wallowed at home watching the coronavirus cancel everything, we realised that travel opportunities can disappear at any moment, and we cannot put off trips for “someday” anymore.
Back in February, Elizabeth Blount Mccormick, president of international travel management company Uniglobe Travel Designers, summed it up best when she introduced the concept of “living lists” to me.
Instead of thinking of travel dreams as bucket-list items (lofty goals to finish before you die), people are making living lists to fulfil while they are very much alive. It’s the carpe diem approach to trip planning (although we may still have to wait for more vaccinations and border openings).
Linda Jelencovich, a Travel Leaders Network adviser with Super Travel of Palm Beach, says people are coming to her with a sense of urgency to book trips with friends and family members after a year of being apart.
“They feel that their time might be shorter because a lot of people have friends that passed away,” Jelencovich says. “It's an interesting thing, you become a little bit of a psychologist.”
Paulette Darensburg, a luxury travel adviser for Protravel International, has been arranging trips for people who have recently lost loved ones hopes spending time with family in a tranquil setting can help bring some peace.
One such trip is for her client of 25 years whose husband died recently. Darensburg has been working with her client’s daughter to organise a family trip to Turks and Caicos.
“I've been hearing details about my client and her wonderful husband and the beautiful life they lived.”
Jelencovich says beach trips | have been a popular request, as are nature-centric destinations such as Hawaii, the Galapagos, the Caribbean and national parks. People are also interested in getting to know more about their heritage and ancestry tours.
Mccormick says many of her once-in-a-lifetime trip requests – including around-the-world cruises, trips to Egypt and African safaris – are already selling out for next year.