However, here are six travel resolutions for 2023 for everyone and will make the world of difference.
Fly cabin luggage only
Baggage trackers and AirTags were the top of everyone’s Christmas wish list last year, but why deal with the stress? Such gadgets are more likely to lead to frustration than quick lost luggage resolutions. The checked baggage woes of 2022 are looking to continue well into 2023. Instead of spending hours of your holiday telling call centres “ But I can see exactly where the bag is!” savvy travellers are choosing to fly carry-on only. You’d be surprised how far a 7kg case will get you.
Even if you have to fly with checked luggage, it’s good practice to always keep your essentials and a change of clothes in your cabin bag.
Fly less, travel more
OK, so it’s easier said than done on our nation of many Motu and 2000km separating us from our nearest overseas port of call. This resolution is about giving up air travel but about flying less and travelling smarter.
If 2019 was the year of ‘Flygskam’ or flight shame, 2023 is the year of flight responsibility. The carbon debt of jetting off long haul is an undeniable climate dilemma but to forgo air travel would mean that locations like Europe, India, North America would be off limits to anyone without 52 days annual leave and a high tolerance for seasickness.
Once on the ground it’s about taking fewer air links and exploring the rail networks and public transport. As we discovered in our list of the world’s most luxurious train journeys, rail travel does not mean travelling coach class.
You may not be able to tick off as many countries as one once could, but you’ll find that ‘slow travel’ allows you to pack in a lot more, meaningful travel experiences rather than a blur of airports.
It also leads us nicely into our next resolution…
Don’t forget to see the country
Yes, the floodgates are open and, as a recent Passport Power ranking showed, there are more countries than ever willing to welcome travellers from New Zealand than ever before. Still, I bet there are plenty of NZ experiences still unchecked on our collective bucket lists.
With a new Great Walk - the Hump Ridge Track - opening next summer and plenty of perennial reasons to book a break at home this year.
Of course with international travellers back in the country, New Zealand is already feeling busier than in recent memory. All the more reason to explore some of the 15,000km of Kiwi coastline for some undiscovered gems. As we narrow down our long list of 50 top beaches, for NZ’s Best Beach 2023, it is clear there’s more than enough room to share as overseas visitors return to our shores.
Then there’s a more fiscally astute reason for booking a trip closer to home…
Budget more for overseas travel
Overseas travel is a luxury. 2023 and some astronomical airfares are a reminder of that.
Memories of being able to snag bargain flights to Japan for $800 or even an trip across the ditch for under $100 are unlikely to return this year. Unpredictable jet fuel prices, labour shortages and teething problems from a 2-year pandemic travel shutdown will be with us for some time.
With seat sales being few and far between, travellers will have to plan and budget any overseas travel carefully.
As a top budgeting consideration, rethinking accommodation choices will be a priority for travellers heading abroad.
Don’t always book the BnB
2023 is the year of BnB backlash. Prior to the pandemic the number of visitors in short term holiday rentals was fast approaching parity with hotels, according to an Australian study by STR. The rise and rise of the rental apartment has been met with some resistance in some cities. Emptying out urban centres and driving up house prices, have been the main of from San Francisco to Amsterdam.
Travellers can’t plead ignorance to being part of the problem. Turning up to Paris apartment blocks with railings full of key lockboxes, you can’t help but ask if there’s any Parisiens left in the Arrondissement.
This year, responsible travellers are pledging to share more of their accommodation between hotels and rental apartments. More visitors on city breaks are choosing to stay in hotels. Firstly, because the rise of ‘rental apartment’ means that room rates may be more reasonable than you remember and, secondly, because they don’t expect you to launder the sheets or leave them a review before you go.
Of course in more remote destinations homestays and BnBs remain a great way to live like a local when there are few hotels to be found.
Avoid animals in tourist traps
It’s 2023. This means that we should not be returning with holiday snaps of us posing with drugged big cats. Still PETA estimates there are over half a million animals still exploited in the tourism industry. Despite a pandemic pause, festivals and attractions exploiting animal suffereing have returned such as the Pamplona Bull Run. And tourists are still supporting them.
Like all moral dilemmas there is a difficult distinction to make. Going horse trekking through the Great Plains of America is a completely different beast to riding a donkey on its 20th climb of the day, up the steps of Santorini.
Exotic animals are one of the many reasons people travel overseas.
Some animal encounters are ethical and natural but it’s not easy to tell which is which. When the incentive for conservation and the wellbeing of an animal, the appeal of animals can be a force for good. When there’s an incentive to exploit the animals and an overwhelming pressure of visitors, sadly, they get worked to the bone.
Many travellers are choosing to forgo any “animal experiences” with creatures that live in captivity and avoid any activities which bring them into direct contact with animals.
As we return to international travel, let us take with us the lockdown lessons of the Tiger King into the new year.
