How to have your best adventure ever

From kayaking in Canada to climbing Kilimanjaro, Sarah Baxter reveals how to make 2022 the year of the GOAT (Greatest Of All Trips)

Thought 2022 was the Year of the Tiger? Wrong. While Chinese astrology might suggest that the big cat is in the spotlight right now, when it comes to the world of travel, it is undeniably the year of the GOAT: the “Greatest Of All Trips”.

Tigers, say the Chinese, are energetic and fearless, hungry for excitement, the king of the beasts. Well, the GOAT is the king of the holiday. Similarly magnificent and thrill-seeking, GOATs are those once-in-a-lifetime adventures; the big, bold escapades into a reopening world; the passion projects that simply cannot – will not – be put off any longer. GOATs even have an undercurrent of the tiger’s fierce bravado: after two years of restricted movement playing to our deepest fears of missing out, of not having much time on Earth, and of wasting what time we have left, many travellers are feeling frustrated, fully fired up and ready to pounce.

“We are certainly seeing clients wanting to take ‘revenge’ on the pandemic and being determined to make their next holiday really count,” says Kerry Golds, managing director of Abercrombie & Kent. This shaking of the fists at Covid is manifesting as a desire to travel soon and to travel well, says Golds, with bucketlist experiences such as gorilla-trekking in Uganda and luxury cruises down the Nile proving popular.

Indeed, GOATs come in many forms. They are not reserved for Bear Grylls types. Adventure travel is for all sorts and all ages. Here, we have selected an array of incredible trips to suit active explorers but also inquisitive families, solo sightseers and those of a certain age who like their travel discoveries with a dollop of comfort. These range from paddling on Canada’s Desolation Sound to sailing into a barely-visited Indian Ocean paradise, and from playing cowboys with the kids in Montana to trekking up the mountains of Nepal (in style).

Sounds appealing, right? Many people (especially those who retired in the last couple of years) are desperate to play catch-up while they are fit and healthy enough to actively explore the world. This is compounded by a back-of-brain whisper: what if another pandemic happens and we are locked in again? The time is now. And that is why adventure travel – particularly the glorious GOATs, packed with new experiences, physical challenges and eye-opening encounters – is likely to bounce back more quickly than simple sun-seeking jollies abroad.

Those infected with an innate wanderlust don’t just enjoy travel, they need it; even see it as part of their sense of self.

We’ve become used to a broader range of options. When the Queen took to the throne in 1952, travelling abroad was a privilege for the few – in that decade, only one per cent of Britons had ever holidayed overseas. For most, “adventure” constituted a whizz on the Blackpool Big Dipper. Seventy years on, and after two years that felt like holidaying in the 1950s, our brains are recalibrating back to the future and craving the full gamut of experiences to which we had grown accustomed. And we’re ravenous.

“Early on in the pandemic, we saw a spike in searches for big, adventure trips such as trekking to Everest Base Camp and climbing Kilimanjaro,” says Brian Young, managing director of G Adventures.

Saddle up and go: that once-in-a-lifetime holiday is just around the corner…

“As travel reopened, this interest turned into sales, with what we are calling the ‘carpe diem’ effect – travellers who would have put off these trips in the past are looking to seize the day. January was the biggest booking month for G Adventures since the pandemic began, and we saw our active travel style, which includes our big, physically demanding trips, rising to our third most popular choice among British travellers.”

Another great way to do it is to splash the cash. “We’ve noticed that average spend has increased by as much as 50 per cent as travellers seek not only to do longer trips, but also to do them in more style,” says Jim Louth, director of Undiscovered Destinations, which specialises in excellently out-there places. “For many customers the experience is more important than ever. After such a horrible time, and having spent very little on travel over the past couple of years, the budget for some is higher than normal.”

We are not out of the woods just yet; there are still fluctuating rules and lingering uncertainties. Which is an exceptionally good reason for putting your travels in the hands of an expert – the security of booking with a knowledgeable tour operator has never been more important. But the year is beginning to feel largely positive, and as adventure travel experiences a resurgence, we reveal how to have your greatest adventure ever with the 20 biggest trips for 2022. It’s time to get your GOAT.